I have to give credit where it is due, as their touch screens are very responsive and are unique designwise. I dislike using them for everything, but it is very innovative having a screen so large it has its own gravity .
I just hate touchscreens in general. My mother has a Dodge Journey with one and I hate it. Trivial adjustments like removing some bass for a song on the CD you're listening to become dangerous distractions because, instead of being controlled by buttons, they're buried in submenus. I can't imagine having to run the wipers from those too. About the only thing I can think of that's as difficult and dangerous to use as a touch screen is one of those aftermarket radios that has tiny, cryptic buttons because it has to fit in small spaces, and even then not quite as bad.
I like basic touch screens because I like to have a better idea of what I am doing. The visual helps a lot, but complicated systems that are required for basic operation of the car are not good. I like the CRT touch screens that were in Buicks in the 1980s because they have a very simple layout that is easy for me to understand. My car has an aftermarket radio that is so confusing that I need to fumble around with the remote to do anything with it.
My guess is that it's FWD because they built on the Passat's platform to reduce costs, and because they don't really have a RWD platform AFAIK
Hopefully there was something majorly wrong with it before they decided to make it a derby car because most of those panels look pretty straight.
The new vw golf ditched the radio controls for touchscreens to and its a pain to use while stationary luckyly my hasnt got it because my dad and i bought it with the old model year
I quite strongly dislike any infotainment system/screen-thing I've used in any car. All I want are climate and radio controls and the like, simply laid out with physical buttons, switches, and knobs or whatever. Nothing too fancy or complicated. The screens in Teslas are like a nightmare to me. They look pretty cool though.
Aaaaaand there's the problem. It's all about the "ooh and aah" factor, not about the actual using of it.
I am ok with touch screens as long as they are designed to maximise usability within the environment they are used. Preferably with buttons as a secondary form of input in case you don't want to touch the screen. Controls such as volume should always deserve a dial since it is currently the optimal way of adjusting it. So IMO a combination of touchscreen and physical buttons is ideal where both are used to their strengths.
I hate all these infotainment screens as much as some of you hate Priuses. Well, maybe except those 80's screens (like in Buick Reatta) that looked like something out of a spaceship from a science fiction movie. Now they all are styled after tablets. Some of them even look like tablets glued to the interior (Mercedes, I'm looking at you). They distract drivers from the road because they are huge and vivid and draw driver's attention, especially at night. If you want to regulate temperature/change radio station/change fan speed etc. with buttons, sliders or knobs, you don't need to look at them, you know where they are and in what direction should you turn knobs and sliders. With a screen, you need to move your eyes off the road to look at it. Once I saw a VW Passat taxi that didn't seem to have a driver, yet moved fast through the traffic, overtaking all other cars. It wasn't an experimental robotic vehicle, though. It had a driver, but he was crouching behind the dashboard as he was busy with the touchscreen for quite a long time- all while speeding down a busy street. It is getting harder and harder to find a new car without this crap. I wouldn't buy a car with one out of principle.
(If you don't know what a Buick Reatta look like here you go ) now I would agree with you on that my dad's 2004 Grand Prix GTP have buttons on the steering wheel and that should be what most drivers use. "But we have to have to computers to be cool and futuristic" and to you I say "Do the world a favor and Curt Cobain it, because with that kind of stupid, you probably don't have a job" the only thing I think those computers are good for is the rear back up camera.
Well, and stuff like EQ adjustment, adjusting speaker panning (left/right/front/back), satnav, overhead camera of vehicle for tight spots, adjusting vehicle settings and checking the manual to name a few other things. All of those plus the things you mentioned are why modern (semi-luxury?) cars should have displays in the dashboard. Windscreen wipers, heating, volume, etc, should have dedicated controls.
When I get my Reatta working I will make a video dedicated to the touch screen system. Like a review/tutorial.
I could care less about infotainment and all that jazz, just dead weight, what I'd really like to see in cars is a dedicated oil pressure guage, not some idiot light that comes on after the engine is fucked...
My check engine light is so erratic. Smoke pours out of the engine bay and idles rough, no light, but when it runs perfectly smoothly, there is a light.
