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Comment by guestbest | Hacker News Reader

I like my simple analog controls next to the infotainment system. Lucky for me I can’t afford a new car, especially an Aston Martin , so I won’t be affected .

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It looks like this will support physical buttons. From the article: "Drivers can also use onscreen controls, physical buttons, or Siri to manage both standard vehicle functions like the car’s radio and climate, as well as advanced, vehicle-specific features and controls like audio system configurations or performance settings, right from CarPlay, giving them a more fluid and seamless experience."

And if you look at the picture from the article, all the physical buttons are there.

Sorry. Maybe I should clarify. I meant isolated in that I could upgrade or still drive if the infortainmemt system went kaput.

Is there any reason to think analog gauges are more reliable than a digital version of the same?

It really helps streamline the car shopping process. Insisting on physical buttons and knobs for everything narrowed my search down to Mazda quite nicely.

The problem is that you can only really have a single one of these “streamlining” requirements, or your potential vehicle list ends up empty. I’d have preferred a compact pickup (a Maverick or Santa Cruz) in manual (only a couple of cars per manufacturer) with physical buttons (Mazda) and modern structural safety (so no old vehicle) - so I had to compromise on a couple of those wants.

Tacoma's probably as close as you can get, compromising on compact and buttons.

What did you end up in?

Maverick. Tacoma seems great for what you get, but is just more truck than I need. And they’re totally different price points - the cheapest hybrid Tacoma (which is still much worse on gas than the hybrid Mav) is nearly double the price of the base hybrid Maverick.

"Drivers can also use onscreen controls, physical buttons..."

There being screen in the first place is bad. Dim monochrome screens are bad enough, and less than that is now hard to obtain, but having a veritable iPad embedded in the dash is an absolute deal breaker.

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