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Comment by lacker | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, the Mazda physical interface is great. More car manufacturers seem to be adopting the wheel to control CarPlay which is a lot nicer than reaching over to use the touch screen.

I just wish the Mazda software was similarly well-designed. They have so many on-screen popups, for everything from "Warning, screens can be distracting! Select okay to acknowledge." to "Your XM radio has lost connection" when I'm not listening to the XM radio. And they display their own popups over CarPlay while CarPlay is active, which I basically never want to see.

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It’d be nice if there was more control out of the box but the HN crowd would probably appreciate that it can be customized with a little hacking https://mazdatweaks.com/

Oh, yeah! I'd love a car with this kind of after-market tweaking.

My 2015 Mazda has a lovely feature where if I get a text message while backing up, the screen is covered in a warning popup prompting me to download the message.

Honestly the head unit is one of the worst I've ever used, though the interface is at least moderately well designed. They clearly had at least one intern try using it while driving. It's just the rest of the entire operating system that's garbage

I got a mazda because I liked their interface design. Owning it for a bit, I agree the software design is horrible. Obnoxious seat-belt warnings while in park is also frustrating.

> More car manufacturers seem to be adopting the wheel to control CarPlay which is a lot nicer than reaching over to use the touch screen.

Who? Virtually all makes are moving to all-touch infotainment systems, even VW here. The VW change is that they were using weird touch-sensitive 'buttons' for volume and steering wheel control and you literally couldn't rest your fingers on the steering wheel. The only reason touch suckls on Mazda is that the display is placed too far away to be reached on purpose.

> The only reason touch suckls on Mazda is that the display is placed too far away to be reached on purpose.

Well, that certainly makes it worse on Mazdas, but those touch screens are terrible on everything.

Well, I can see it being a personal preference. I rent a bunch of different SUVs when I travel so I have some experience with most of the different companies' alternatives. Some of them have rotary knobs / scroll wheels, some don't.

I prefer using the knob to touching the screen. It's much faster, primarily. You have some touch feedback so you don't really need to be looking at the screen for very long. You don't need to move your torso, so you can manipulate the wheel while you're driving normally with your left hand.

I can see it depending on what you're doing with the system. Personally I'm either using Spotify or Google Maps, both of which work quite nicely with the scroll wheel.

> the display is placed too far away to be reached on purpose.

... because there's a dial, obviating the need for touch. Beyond that, without needing to use touch, the screen can be placed further up and forward - meaning there's less "travel" for your eyes between looking at the road and glancing at the centre display.

> And they display their own popups over CarPlay while CarPlay is active, which I basically never want to see.

What year/model is this? I've never had a popup on top of CarPlay, except for the volume bar that appears along the bottom of the screen.

I got a Carlinkit wireless adapter so I don't even see the Mazda UI except for a couple of seconds while the adapter boots up, or if I want to put it on the clock screen because there's nothing on CarPlay that I need.

2019 CX-9

Definitely been improved since then, 2023 Mazda 3 doesn’t have pop ups over CarPlay.

There’s the usual “screens are distracting” notice when the car turns on but after that it uses the speedometer screen to say things like “Service due” or “Safety and Driver Support Systems Temporarily Disabled. Front Radar Obscured. Drive Safely”

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