Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I've been in a latest V60 and it has a big touch screen as well. I didn't drive, but thought it worked ok-ish. Nowhere near as easy to use as the Tesla ones though

Aye E61...... Any pointers would be grand, plate is hv56 vpa. Mot history is excellent, , it's on 111k miles, but that doesn't worry me,...

This makes driving and operating stuff a lot safer than things like the Volvo

I obviously no longer have my Volvo, but you do not need to touch the touchscreen. There were knobs for all temperature things, and all safety things. And the steering wheel controls allow one to do the rest and control the display from there, and there's a heads up display.

I felt that the touchscreen mostly was helpful before driving when setting a route and entering an address and then choosing the pin on the map... and whilst driving I never needed to do that.

I wouldn't mind a touchscreeen that software disabled the touchscreen itself when the car was moving above a certain speed (say 5mph).

I'm really happy that research shows that which we mostly all knew... hardware controls are safest and best for an interface. But I don't think the way forward is to remove them entirely, but instead it's best to control their use.

Agreed - Volvo is still better than Audi / JLR but you still need to use the touchscreen for Nav, Media & some deeper settings on the Volvo.

What I like about the BMW (and Mercedes tbf) is that both have swivel wheels (which can be used eyes free) and deeper voice control that cover all car functions and settings and also have the touchscreen for quicker input when stationary.

The new Audi centre console is a complete fucking disaster as far as usability is concerned:

Not a single actual button and all glossy so any cabin sunlight means reflections so you can't see what you're doing.

Agreed - Volvo is still better than Audi / JLR but you still need to use the touchscreen for Nav, Media & some deeper settings on the Volvo

Nope. Deep functions can be mapped to hardware buttons on the steering wheel menus that show on the dashboard.

I probably won't own another Volvo of this generation, but they had the balance pretty much spot on.

Agreed that the Tesla and Audi are a disaster.

One thing that bugs me about our Seat is that the touchscreen times out every five seconds if the car is moving, telling you to "focus on the road".

This is an utter pain in the arse for us because we don't use the touchscreen when driving...it's always the front passenger using the touchscreen. It almost makes you shout in frustration when flicking through your music collection to be timed out every five seconds!

We have a pretty good selection of hardware buttons and dials actually, not sure I've ever needed to use the touchscreen while driving.

Yeah that mileage is fine, I’ll have a look later and dig out my list.
I’m not au fait with the big engine but the rest is basically the same.

Thanks ! The only thing thats come up really is iDrive gremlins - the rest is the usual big-performance-barge stuff!

That does sound annoying.
It's like they have no conviction in their use case- they've put something in their car they believe to be dangerous when used, so instead of stopping you use it they ought to remove it.

Yes good shout, end up with quite a few different hire cars and all an utter ballache to do simple things, like change the temp, volume, direction of air. Sometimes (peugeot!) needing as many button presses to change direction of air as you need to do something like disabling the parking lights when you lock the thing.

Sounds like they need sensors to detect hands on the wheel, both hands=> no timeout?

But then you could just wrap one arm around the wheel to fool it.
Or drive with your feet.

I mean... anything is possible.

I think cars were better when they weren't ipads with engines

le wrong generation

What technology makes the car safer for the people (cyclists) you ram into? Auto braking and lane control are the only things I'd think would help

I thought that cars have crumple zones and shape modifications for pedestrian impacts now. They certainly rate cars for pedestrian safety now days. I could well be wrong though.

Higher bonnet lines, like on an SUV are meant to be 'good' as I suppose it spreads the impact over a bigger area rather than focusing it in on your legs?

All a bit morbid though.

It’s so when the pedestrian or cyclist hits the bonnet the bonnet doesn’t hit the engine, but rather dimples inward absorbing the force - or rather some of it.

Aston Martin, from memory, had to have struts that fired the bonnet upward in the event of a crash in order to meet the pedestrian frontal impact test of the dummy not striking the engine.

\as do Jaguar on the i/e pace.
Also change in position on impact to reduce fall height/ change where the impact is on the legs.
Its actually super fascinating.
XC40 has extra space under the hood and a cushion over the engine.

I hear they also fire helmets at it.

I wondered how James was earning a living these days

This is an utter pain in the arse for us because we don't use the touchscreen when driving...it's always the front passenger using the touchscreen.

You have to remember you are a probably a responsible minority though. But I agree from a design point of view why put it there if you have no faith it's safe to use?

I find these complex Audi-style centre centre consoles petrifying and I find it incredible they're legal really. It's not a plane, you can't take your eyes off the road while it flies along for a bit on autopilot. I know when I drive I find any fiddling with buttons in the centre massively distracting.

Deep functions can be mapped to hardware buttons on the steering wheel menus that show on the dashboard.

How many people are actually going to do this/work out how to do it though?

Few probably. It was really easy, but I just don't think people ever investigate or customise their interfaces.

Saw this today and screeched to a halt to take a pic. As I was drooling at the side of the road the owner returned. I asked him what model it was as I didn't recognise it. He said it was a 1954 Bentley Continental Fastback, and he opened the boot to show me it had been signed on the inside of the boot lid by the previous owner, Eric Clapton. Imagine the rock and roll shenanigans that went on in the back of this.....

top 10!