This x100. I thought no buttons would be a bad user experience, but it’s fantastic. Driving my wife’s Prius prime with its dozens of buttons feels borderline absurd now. So needlessly complex.
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Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk
- Thread starter PracticalMac
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I have only limited experience with Carplay but I absolutely prefer buttons. With a touch screen you have to look at the screen in order to touch or select the correct area. With buttons I can by touch chose the audio source, zoom in/out navigation, change volume, etc. without having to look at the console.
With buttons you soon become so accustomed to the ones you use often, you never look away to use them. They are just there where you need them. I like the fact that I can program certain buttons in my BMW. Navigate home, one button. Call Mrs AFB one button. Favourite radio station. One button. Safe.
I didn’t know they had. What a shame. But to be honest it’s a few years before I’ll be back in the market for another car (hopefully)!
We have a Tesla Model 3, a 2014 Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt. They are each fantastic for their use case. If I could only have one car, it's the Tesla hands down for the tech, supercharging network and resale value. Plus it's fun to drive. The Bolt has been a fantastic commuter car. It's my wife's DD. It has 60k miles on it. She loves it, but he is also not a car person. A Tesla would be lost on her. The Leaf is my beater errand car. It was dirt cheap used, less then $10K and it only had 8,700 miles on it when I purchased it in 2017. Put 30k more miles on it to date. We've taken the Tesla on multiple long road trips. I would never want to drive anything else. AutoPilot is a game changer to relieve stress and fatigue.
You could not pay me to go back to an ICE car. We have about 100k miles of pure electric travel so far.
You could not pay me to go back to an ICE car. We have about 100k miles of pure electric travel so far.
Let's be clear. If a car had physical buttons, but those buttons were also constantly changing their functions, you would dislike it just as much as a touchscreen. So the real issue is not physical vs. on-screen buttons. it is persistent and direct access to commonly used functions, where those buttons are always visible and in the same place, and doesn't require navigating through multiple layers of menus.
I'll attest (as a Volt Owner) that physical buttons that actuate are better than capacitive buttons as well.
The Volt (at least the Gen 2. I have no experience with the Gen 1) has a pretty good mix of physical and virtual controls. The primary controls used while driving are all physical buttons. The virtual controls are more about configuration or dynamic buttons like the radio presets.
I have a Gen 1. Gen 2 has more physical buttons because folks complained about the capacitive ones in Gen 1, lol.
Interesting. Same happened with Tesla and their minimalist approach in early Model 3’s. Tesla’s response was different than Chevy’s though. Tesla removed more physical controls and on the S/X models replaced buttons with capacitive ones. Some learn from feedback, others pursue their own agenda regardless of feedback.
It won't sell in big volumes, but even for my toys electric is looking interesting.
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I know a few folks with the newer S/X and haven't really spent time in those vehicles to say much about them. The 3 did take a bit to get used to though.
I don't advocate for automakers to follow in those footsteps though.
How would that work with EAP/FSD where the car is actually navigating for you? Carplay's Apple/Google/Waze maps are routing you one way, and Tesla's UI is not only routing you differently, but actually maneuvering the vehicle? The difference between your BMW experience and Tesla is, if you subscribe/pay for EAP/FSD, the car will actually be navigating for you, so it would not be a good user experience to have Tesla's maps in the background.
Now if you put your apple device in the background, then there is no need for Carplay, it can be handled via Bluetooth.
Carplay would be nice, but most people I know who own Tesla's seem to not miss it. I put my phone on my wireless charger, with Waze open, and I listen to notifications of redlight camera's, speed cameras, police, and hazards. I don't need it on my screen where I have my FSD Beta interface (showing the road, vehicles around me) and Maps on the other 2/3rds of the screen. I also have my SiriusXM streaming via my phone (I do wish it was built into the car like S/X has/had, I would even pay to have a module added).
I can see Carplay being less intrusive on a S/X with a cluster above the steering wheel, but in the 3/Y with a single screen, it would get in the way of the 15" screen that I currently use the full screen for vital info.
Look, if you want something with relatively decent range per charge, it appears we really have one choice: a Tesla Model 3 or Y Long Range. This recent Carwow video from YouTube shows why:
I would consider a Model Y Long-Range, but I do worry about the quality control issues, though.
I would consider a Model Y Long-Range, but I do worry about the quality control issues, though.
I
I don't think that’s completely true. For example I get more than the 3.9 miles per kWh in my i3. Yes it won’t do as long range but that is not the be all and end all of choosing an EV. I looked at a number of models before choosing mine but Tesla didn’t make the short list.
Given the size of the USA and the still unreliable CCS 1 charging networks here, I'd still take a Tesla Model Y (for now).
In that context, possibly. Although I know plenty with the models I mentioned that have no issues.
CarWow is UK based, and its main business is actually being an introducer to sell cars. So always keep that in mind with their videos, it is for commercial gain with an agenda. But besides that, there is no material difference here between CCS2 and Tesla, both are just as good nowadays. Besides for 90%+ of peoples journeys they never have to publicly charge.
CCS 2 tend to be pretty reliable in Europe (mostly). But there has been a lot of issues with CCS 1 networks here in the USA, unfortunately.
That is a very interesting concept. Something that I could possibly see working in LA, and maybe NYC, but not anywhere else in the US. Unfortunately, these kinds of small vehicles have little success here (ICE or EV).
I do understand it isn't something that would be designed and marketed for here.
Indeed different markets and needs, and the same reason many of the huge cars and SUV’s in the US would never be marketed in Europe.