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Comment by KindAndFriendly | Hacker News Reader

After the debacle with having only touch "buttons" in the Mk8 GTI, it is refreshing to see that they are back to haptic buttons in the center console and steering wheel.

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I didn't know this about the GTI, but it is my pet peeve with EVs. Tesla thought they'd do the "huge iPad in the middle" thing and every other manufacturer copycatted it.

I have driven a TM3 for a year now. For me it's way less annoying then sitting into a car with sea of buttons.

It has been one of those "it would seem annoying until you actually get to try it" experiences.

The funny thing is that what makes the touchscreen in the model 3 tolerable is that there are just enough tactile controls on the steering wheels to do the most common things. Then the voice interface, limited though it is, can handle some things as long as you're patient.

Yea. The important things physical:

- turn signals

- high/low beam (tho automation has gotten quite good)

- wipers (automation still not as good as the 2003 Saab I had)

- cruise control speed and distance

- PDR

- media volume, play/pause, previous/next

- voice control activation (voice control is pretty bad tho, even worse than siri I guess)

- window control for all windows

- hazards

- honk

Climate control is fine via screen, tho activating windshield max-defog could be valuable as a separate button (can be programmed as an always on shortcut tho).

The Tesla UI used to be amazing and had convinced me that touch UIs could compete with buttons in a car. So much was accessible with one tap.

But with each update, they UI gets objectively worse. They keep putting more and more things behind menus requiring multiple taps, making them incredibly annoying and dangerous to use while driving.

My biggest gripes:

- rear seat warmers require two nested menus to access. They aren't controllable from the main HVAC slide up, even though the seat diagram is still right there.

- mute/unmute turn-by-turn directions used to be a one click operation. Now it's hidden behind a hard-to-tap menu.

95% of the buttons I don't need to be haptic.

But please, let's have climate and volume as 2 physical dials. I promise, I'll be forever grateful, and I won't ever ask for anything more ever again. Just two dials.

Volume is physical. On the steering wheel. Climate is always on the same spot and always visible, so has never been an issue.

It works until you have to do something trivial like changing the windshield wiper mode, or enabling the seat warmer while driving.

Tesla proved that people would accept such an interface, and it massively improves Tesla's profit margins. The trick of passing off something as 'premium' while in fact cutting costs is a really good trick. One that I imagine the other manufacturers wish they could emulate.

You do get used to the touchscreen (I'm on my second Model 3), but I do look forward to a reassertion of sanity. Touchscreen makes sense for some things, not so much for others. I also look forward to the return of IR rain sensors, LOL.

Tesla at least knows how to write software, and compensate for lack of buttons with decent defaults and automation. Legacy manufacturers still have no clue. They can't even let go of the "Start engine" button in their cars.

The rest of the industry just destroyed the value. VW probably listened to Munro to save $0.05 on a couple of springs and wires, and ruined the whole lineup with creaky plasticky fake non-buttons that feel cheap and are annoying to use.

VW managed to marry all of the downsides of touchscreens with all of the clutter and inflexibility of buttons.

Yeah, to me, that's a real reason not to buy a Tesla (I mean, if you needed another one). For my entire driving live (nearly 40 years at this point) I've been able to learn how to manipulate the climate control and radio by feel, without taking my eyes off the road.

With a giant-ass feedback-free touchscreen, that's no longer possible. Hard pass.

Interesting, in my MK8 GTI S I have all physical buttons for radio/hvac stuff, the screen is there but i dont need it while driving. Lower trim for the win :)

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