It's a ballsy move from Mazda. It's a move that definitely goes against the grain for consumer tech. It's better for drivers but I'm sure they lost some potential customers for sticking to their guns.
It seems like a feature that no one would really care about either way that car manufacturers just seem to think people want. It may even be because its cheaper than to R&D a user friendly tactile system with enough features vs just throwing software at it.