Luddites unite!

[PobodY]

Means that you don't have to concentrate on your driving.

No, you can concentrate more on driving and less on the other things going on. - It's like having an extra pair of eyes continually watching the traffic ahead whilst you're checking the sides and rear.

I'm absolutely in love with Distronic; it's the best feature on my car.

 

[Eddy77]

I don't have N issue with tech, per se, and it's easy to say it's all brilliant if you buy new and change your car every three years. But if you want to keep the car beyond that all of this kit goes wrong and costs a fortune to fix. Makes the car uneconomical to repair so it gets scrapped. Chronic waste of resources! I hate all the gadgetry on my old clk....the electric seats, steering wheel, mirrors. All waiting to go wrong and empty my wallet!

 

[Londonscottish]

I like some of those features.

Auto-dimming mirrors, decent sound system and one-touch windows suit me out of that lot.

Saves you having to consider or do things that the car can do for you.

My 35 profile rear tyres aren't really noticeable on air.

Means you can carry on your train of thought without interruption, whilst you waft along.

I'd second that. Actually the Air is amazing in terms of levelling the car out at high speed with four passengers and a packed boot.

And the brakes are also hugely impressive. Vented all round and drilled at the front.

The car is also extremely quiet so we can all talk normally at warp factor whatever with some Cafe Del Mar playing off the HDD.

Did I say I liked my 212?

 

[tron]

Sandero would be a very good option but I would be lucky to get one this year if I ordered today so I cannot go for it.

 

[kid-jensen]

To stop this post sounding like a rant, I'll point my finger at just one piece of technology that I have a perticular hatred for - the touch screen (see what I did there?)...

Any passibly-well designed HMI should be able to be operated (after a period of familiarisation) with out looking away from the road. When was the last time you could do that? The days of flick-switches, probably.
Things definately took a turn for the worse when over-complicated Stereos/Nav systems came along. Having got us used to staring at a screen, rather than the road, manufacturers (driven by the marketing department) bizarrely decided we need to control ALL the functions of a car via the screen.
I'm completely convinced that after yet another fatality, someone will take the mnanufacturers to court for allowing even a moderately alert driver to be distracted for so long.....then we'll see the car companies do a panic U-turn that will make the manic anti-diesel movement of recent months look like a tectonic shift..

 

[PobodY]

I hate all the gadgetry on my old clk....the electric seats, steering wheel, mirrors. All waiting to go wrong and empty my wallet!

Have they gone wrong though, or is it a degree of paranoia? - I feel this way about my balance shaft (rather than the gadgetry); it hasn't cost me a penny... yet.

 

[190]

I made the point about touch screens in post #37. The extreme case I believe is the Tesla where there are no manual switches and just about everything is controlled by the large touch screen. I still don't understand how these designs gets through type approval. When or if cars become fully autonomous it will be fine but in the mean time it's potentially lethal. The car is very Hi Tec and probably has 57 airbags but that will do nothing to save then life of the pedestrian or cyclist that they run in to.

 

[Stratman]

I've also felt uneasy about touch screens, maybe screens in general that take the driver's eyes off the road for an extended period.

Surely anything that takes the attention of the driver away from driving has to be a bad thing, especially if it's not really necessary for the safe operation of the car? Things like instrument light colour, or a pretty picture of front/rear power split for instance (I don't know if such things are actually available but they'll do for examples) especially if they're buried three or four levels deep in the menu, even burrowing down through the levels will take the driver's attention and eyes off the road.

I'm typing this on a laptop, and I can sort of type on the keyboard switches without looking at them, the keys don't change their position unlike the 'buttons' on the screen, which need looking at to use. I see touch/mouse screens in cars the same way, a switch can be operated by feel alone whereas a screen can't.

 

[renault12ts]

Tron...why that forum name?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron

 

[Druk]

Tron...why that forum name?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron

Nah! He's got a pub on the Royal Mile.

https://www.thetronedinburgh.co.uk

 

[Druk]

Surely anything that takes the attention of the driver away from driving has to be a bad thing, especially if it's not really necessary for the safe operation of the car? Things like instrument light colour, or a pretty picture of front/rear power split for instance (I don't know if such things are actually available but they'll do for examples) especially if they're buried three or four levels deep in the menu, even burrowing down through the levels will take the driver's attention and eyes off the road.

I feel that way about the heater controls in the 212. Scroll through this and tab down/up for that...and the panel is not exactly at eye level. It's safer to use your phone when driving than operate the heater. What ever happened to tactile twiddly knob things?

 

[st13phil]

I feel that way about the heater controls in the 212. Scroll through this and tab down/up for that...and the panel is not exactly at eye level.

But when you operate the heater controls of a W212 the selection is also shown on the bottom of the COMAND screen which is at eye level

Completely agree regarding non-tactile switches - especially touch screens - though. A huge safety issue, imo.

 

[PobodY]

The extreme case I believe is the Tesla where there are no manual switches and just about everything is controlled by the large touch screen. I still don't understand how these designs gets through type approval. When or if cars become fully autonomous it will be fine but in the mean time it's potentially lethal. The car is very Hi Tec and probably has 57 airbags but that will do nothing to save then life of the pedestrian or cyclist that they run in to.

Doesn't it have collision avoidance technology already? - There's a video of a Tesla car predicting an accident on a freeway before it happens.

Admittedly a cyclist is a much smaller profile for the car to spot, but if the 10 year-old radar system in my car can recognise and avoid hitting a motorcycle, surely they're better than that now?

 

[MancMike]

Teslas are fully autonomous already. And yes even when not self driving, it'll avoid accidents by braking, steering, etc.

 

[Druk]

But when you operate the heater controls of a W212 the selection is also shown on the bottom of the COMAND screen which is at eye level

Completely agree regarding non-tactile switches - especially touch screens - though. A huge safety issue, imo.

I wasn't aware of that Phil although it is dependant on COMAND being switched on...which it often isn't and you still have to look at it even if it was. Doesn't help though in identifying the correct toggle to wiggle in the first place. I find the whole heater thing hugely distracting.

Next you'll be telling me I can operate it using that hateful Linguatronic nonsense.
If I can get it to understand Jockanese that'll be a first.

"LONDON you stupid thing...LONDON"!. Oh! F-off I'll walk, it'll be quicker.

 

[st13phil]

I find the whole heater thing hugely distracting.

I tend to leave mine in Auto mode all the time, so it never really bother me until the frosty winter mornings when I can never remember which button is for the rear demister and which one for the front - and I've only been driving W212's every day for the last six years Fortunately, I'm doing that on my drive before I move off though, so it's not really a massive problem.

All I can say is that if you find the minor controls on the W212 distracting, you'll absolutely love the W205 or W213. Talk about retrograde steps...

 

[Londonscottish]

I wasn't aware of that Phil although it is dependant on COMAND being switched on...which it often isn't and you still have to look at it even if it was. Doesn't help though in identifying the correct toggle to wiggle in the first place. I find the whole heater thing hugely distracting.

Next you'll be telling me I can operate it using that hateful Linguatronic nonsense.
If I can get it to understand Jockanese that'll be a first.

"LONDON you stupid thing...LONDON"!. Oh! F-off I'll walk, it'll be quicker.

I hate linguatronic. And Amazon Alexa. No better than the rubbish corporate phone systems tom 20 years ago.

 

[ianrandom]

The worst touch screen I've used recently was in a Renault Kadjar. Really quite dangerous I thought, so low in the dash that the satnav was painfully difficult.

Then in the speedo binnacle there's a little thing that grows leaves to encourage 'eco' driving, to distract you from the road. And stupid little lines that apparently are lane guidance. Awful - I love good design and if a touch screen or that other stuff is good, I'll probably like it. But it amazed me from the safety point of view.

The S class we had at work a while ago was a joy to use. The whole thing and all its functions were so intuitive, 10 minutes to figure out the lot of it. That's good design.
And the other stuff runs in the background with no hassle.

 

[tali]

I know when to turn on my wipers and my lights.
I do not understand why mirrors need to auto dip and despite having them, do not understand the need for electrically moved seats. Dual mass flywheels do not improve a motor car, nor do 35 section tyres on British roads. Even the "convenience" of one touch windows is not of any real advantage and cooled seats with built in massage? Touch screen systems that require you to be a programmer in order to go out and buy a pint of milk? Am I now under trained to use a blxxdy motor car, a machine I could operate at eight years old?
If I am, Why? In what way does it benefit the road user to deskill the life saving aspects of lookout and control in favour of reskilling to use the 650Watt stereo now available in Ford Fiestas?
(To the ghosts of Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen: how could your company have sunk so low?)

Auto -wipers and lights on cars i've driven have been useless.
Dual mass flywheels-add nothing but expense
Massage seats - no thanks, just feel weird
Touch screen systems i'm okay with - but i do like physical heater controls.Mercs have combo of both - but tbh i find the physical ones very poor and fiddly on all german cars


meanwhile, here's an old bloke struggling with tech

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/4236...ing-lost-on-the-way-to-his-sons-footie-match/

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I hate linguatronic. And Amazon Alexa. No better than the rubbish corporate phone systems tom 20 years ago.

They are both pretty easy to avoid though aren't they?

It's a little like my Mum saying how much she hates FaceBook.