Everything after THIS was a mistake.
1985 Nissan 300ZX
Oh, that was my first car. Sometimes, the display changed to something weird though, like this:
One of my best good mates in school had an 84 200 that we dubbed Tron cause of this awesome setup. Great share, thanks!
So fucking cool.
85 Subaru XT
looks like something from cyberpunk
Way to retro for cyberpunk, more like matrix
Por que no los dos?
Having auto climate with physical controls is peak. No adjusting dials, your car just gets the internal climate to the temperature you want and that’s it.
Absolutely. It’s easy to say that new technology ruins things, but all of this was new tech once. You could have just invented the potentiometer and made a control panel with nothing but them and it would be just as awful. It’s all about integrating the technology into the experience and designing in a thoughtful way.
I almost agree with this, but I prefer just one more advancement over this: the thermostat kind. I like to just set the temperature so I don’t have to keep adjusting it.
Nothing fancy, no touchscreen bs, just simple knobs. I was perfectly happy with the thermostat feature in my old 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix GT.
My new car is a 2025 model, but it’s an Indian made Japanese Kei car so the interior is super basic. and it has large, infinitely spinning knobs for temperature and fan strength, and a digital temperature readout. I really like them.
When the temp was cold in the morning but now it’s hot, I spin those dials like wheel of fortune to the left and immediately set the AC to cold and fast. No repeated button presses.
The only downside is that it doesn’t have one of those knobs for music volume.
Not only do those knobs sound awesome to use, but I could see them being cheaper and more reliable as well.
Instead of being mechanically connected to whatever custom parts to direct air flow, it can just be an off the shelf encoder sending a signal to a processor that already exists.
This should be mandatory by law. Touch screens should not exist in cars for drivers.
Cloudyelling.gif
I’ve got an old car and it’s still like this. I don’t look forward to the day I have to get a new car.
Yeah like, all I wish my car had was Bluetooth capabilities but besides that I love my older car.
Swap the radio its pretty easy and only costs like $50. I got an old Japanese import that has Bluetooth that connects to my phone as I enter the car. Its also got USB to play music from and charge from.
Good call, I definitely had the thought but never pulled the trigger on it because I never found a specific replacement that I liked. I’ll have to look into it again when I can afford it!
I was considering upgrading to something with a screen and maybe gps, but couldn’t lock a model down.
We had to buy a new (used 2022) car after we ran out old car into the ground. The touch screen controls temperatures. There wasn’t a single variant of the car that didn’t have a giant ass touch screen. It makes me really uncomfortable when the screen no longer works.
There’s also some other things that piss me off.
But Some of the pros (and why we accepted that trade off):
- all wheel drive
- fancy sensors when someone is in my blindside
- it opens when it senses the key is nearby.
- heated seats with controls. (Used to bring hot packs because it gets cold here)
- cameras for the rear
- it does that cool thing where it breaks if it senses you might collide. I hated it at first but I’m old now and it saved me once from collision.
Either way, fuck cars and if public transportation was better here, id use that.
I would be really uncomfortable with a car where I had to touch a giant’s ass to make it go.
Kia doing static controls for entertainment and HVAC is a big part of why I bought one.
I disagree. I like that I can set my temperature to an exact number and the car will automatically adjust to that temp. We should have stopped there. No need for touch screens. That’s was the holy grail of temperature control.
I’d add being able to set a different temperature for the driver and passenger. It’s a godsend for relationships.
Some cars even have a separate zone for the rear. However I’ve only seen that on touch screen models, so they can suck a dick.
I had great fun with it in the back, though. They couldn’t see my temp on the touch screen at the front, just that the zones had been split, and I managed to get the two in the front to bicker because the driver thought the front passenger had split them XD
My Highlander has 3 zone with physical buttons.
My parents car has that and no touch screens. But there was something goofy about it that made it not work very well. Like the driver had to enable it every time or something.
Hard agree. I came to say the exact same thing.
Wrong. This has no ads. How will I become a tech billionaire if I can’t disable your breaks until you watch my ad?
To: Driver@Car.com
Subject: Major Alert Notification
Dear <INSERT NAME HERE>, It has come to our attention via our sophisticated proprietary carAI system that you and your friend (Brad) were discussing the owner of this CarCompany Inc, LLC and one of you called him a “Poop-Head”. In light of this recent conversation, we have disabled all non-essential functions in your car until you send $150 to “President@NeedsMoreMoney.com”. If after 90 days this payment has not been received these functions will be permanently revoked until End of Life (Yours or Cars).
Sincerely, Probably Elon Musk.
~CarAI is a service offered at no cost with a irrevocable revocable license. All data gathers with or without consent are the sole property of CarCampnay Inc, LLC. Subject to Terms and Conditions. May be updated at any time by CarCompany Inc, LLC without notification. Any legal issues are required by Arbitration only within the city limits of Pyongyang~
I think you mean brakes, but funnily enough both work in this context.
I did, but wait how does the other one work?
EDIT: Nevermind, I got it. That’s funny. Now I’m happy I can’t spell lol
You can take my automatic climate control from my cold dead hands. Fuck this!
Yours is a decade or two past the true ideal. Not pictured: the 5-inch sliding control that mechanically adjusted between recirculated and exterior air and the drivers and passengers pull-knob by the feet that let exterior air flow in directly. A heavenly touring experience.
Also on the one pictured in your post, I find those lit press to toggle ac and def buttons with indicator lights wore out over time and required a ton of force to switch on the cars I’ve had with them.
Spot the roach
Ironically, my 2018 Subaru is more mechanical than this. 2/3 dials are mechanical, cable-driven flaps / valve for heat and vent control. Only the fan is an electric dial.
Meanwhile in 91:
It’s not that I wanna compare high end at the time, it’s that this low tech took 20+ years to trickle down to basic equipment for no other reason than extra margins.
But to capture both - automatic climate control & touchscreens - some random 80s Buick:
I still remember the lever that you described
This works well and it’s not a hill I’ll defend but automatic control of temperature is better when it’s done well. In the UK we have a culture of driving cars with manual transmission and I’ve never understood it when automatic transmissions exist and are pretty good. People wanna feel like they are in control of stuff.
Not sure about the UK, but I know Germany likes manuals because they last longer when you have a lot of hills and mountains.
Well, as a kid I thought by the time I’ll do my driver’s license there will be no more manual transmissions around.
Turns out, automatic is just still way more expensive to buy AND, as I recently learned, crazy expensive in maintenance.
It’s about 5-10% more in the UK. The maintenance on a reliable transmission is fairly minimal but any mechanical problems are almost guaranteed to be a nightmare buried under a mountain of metal. I’ve been spared that trauma so far but I remember test driving a used VW Passat which clunked with every shift. Thanks for the test drive, bro.
I like electric, because fuel and maintenance is so cheap
I want to set my hvac to a temp and let it sort out whether it should heat or cool.
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The only complaint I have with this is that you can’t control which vents are open when you turn on front defrost. I prefer a button for each vent.
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Except backup cameras. Everything else is bad
Backup cameras are cool but they’ll never stay backup cameras. Give manufacturers that screen, and well, if you have it, you’ve gotta use it
The Sprinter I used to drive for work had a backup proximity alarm that beeped faster as you got closer to walls/cars/etc; it was fantastic. Only downside is I don’t know how well it would detect people
Screens aren’t the problem, touchscreens are the problem. I have a screen but no touchscreen. Works great.
Touchscreens are fine too. Just not for vital functions. I don’t give a shit that the ac in my car is controlled via touchscreen, because I set it to the desired temperature and never touch it otherwise. But it does annoy me as fuck that I have to use the touchscreen to change fon hybrid to full electric mode for example. They could have added a button for that ffs.
One time I rented a uhaul van and it had a backup camera that would show up in the rear view mirror. Not the whole thing mirror, but it had a little screen embedded in it.
Oh that is cool
how hard do you want it? how hot do you want it? where do you want it?
😏
My dacia spring has it exactly like that 😁
You feel how you physically move the airways by rotating the wheel where you choose the air coming out
