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Comment by BigTuna | Hacker News Reader

I don't mind complexity but what I can't stand is having to access that complexity through touchscreens. Without the tactile feedback of a knob or button I have to take my attention off the road to see where I need to press on the screen. That's a major step backwards in auto safety, IMO.

And don't get me started on the lazy manufacturer design trend of bolting a tablet to the dashboard and calling it a day.

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Mazda doesn't get nearly enough respect for their work identifying and correcting this issue.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1121372_why-mazda-is-pur...

Touchscreens/touch panels are shiny, futuristic, dangerous, dumb, and cheap. Manufacturers use them because they lower BOM costs, at the expense of usability and safety. Vote with your wallet folks.

Mazda would make a great EV, but that is sadly not on their roadmap for the foreseeable future. I have been told this is probably an influence from Toyota's large share ownership, not wanting competition in that space.

That's not smart by Toyota (unless they own a very small stake), is it? Mazda competing with Toyota is indeed bad for Toyota but it's also bad for all the other auto manufacturers too. The benefit of that competition goes exclusively to Toyota (among other shareholders) but the cost is shared among all automakers roughly in proportion to their EV market share.

Mazda has been focused on continuing to improve internal combustion engines over the past couple of decades. Specifically, the "Skyactiv" technology they developed was built to help improve efficiency and emissions of modern ICE engines. It's likely Toyota wanted to have some group/company (like Mazda) continue working on improving ICE engines while also investing in EVs.

I think ICE vehicles will continue to have a market, especially in very remote areas of the world where power grids are non-existent or not very reliable.

The guy who designs Tesla vehicles actually used to work for Mazda as chief of design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Holzhausen

I feel like in the old days, Mazda would have been the one to introduce a Maverick sized truck, and they likely would have been leading the way with electric.

Its too bad that the Ford partnership fell apart.

Ford has chosen to grant your wish: https://www.ford.com/trucks/maverick/2022/ - a real compact pickup with hybrid technology available at the base price of $20k.

That was the vehicle I was referencing. I was saying that this vehicle would have been a joint effort if the partnership were still alive. I could see Mazda owning the small EV segment for Ford too.

There is one coming apparently but the range is fairly sad: https://www.mazda.com/en/new-generation/mx-30/ .

MX-30, Mazda's first EV but also ICE model, features touch panel A/C control for unknown reason. I tried it and found that it's difficult to adjust while driving. The decision really weird since Mazda avoid touchscreen for navigation and also avoid for A/C on other cars.

Does mazdas use rotary engines for ll their cars?

Mazda hasn't sold a production car with a rotary engine in a while, I believe since the RX-8 went out of production. Due to the nature of rotary engines they inherently have worse emissions (more like a 2-stroke than a 4-stroke) and while people have been hoping for another production rotary from Mazda it's unclear if they will build another one or not.

I'm kind of hoping the LiquidPiston design works out, since in theory it should fix a lot of the fuel economy and emissions issues (combustion chamber is closer to the ideal round shape), and maybe even be lower maintenance (apex seals move to the non-moving part of the engine, where they can be lubricated more easily). It's not owned by Mazda, though, so even if it works it's anyone's guess if Mazda would even be able or want to license it. Or if gas engines in general will be effectively obsolete by the time the technology matures.

I love the idea of rotary engines, but environmentally they're a disaster (at least in their current form), and even if the problems are fixed they'll still not be significantly cleaner than any other gas engine.

(I'm currently working on trying to covert an RX-8 to electric.)

There's a development here in Spain that seems pretty interesting for range-extenders, by InnEngine. They seem to be in the prototype phase, it's also a pretty interesting design.

Not in about a decade, and only one line (RX).

I suspect it's pretty hard to make a rotary meet EU5; that may have been the last of them (the RX-8)

They now developing rotary engine for EV with range extender because of RE is smaller.

Just looked at the mazda website and what are you talking about? They removed almost all the buttons from the interior to some sort of tablet.

The tablet can only be controlled by the knob (which is honestly kind of annoying) and is only used for infotainment purposes. Most things are controlled by a knob, switch, or button.

Exactly, they replaced the separate buttons with a knob. Great that that physical controls might be needed, but this approach isn't better than the touchscreen. In some respects, its actually worse.

I am old enough to remember "Gorilla arm syndrome" talks.

People just love these big tablets even tough they are an ergonomical non-sense and they have always been for decades. Resistance is futile. Voting with your wallet is useless unless you enjoy the hermit lifestyle.

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