While I agree a business should have something higher and valuable, business is usually so competitive that mere breathing is hard enough. Most die before even mastering that.
I have never driven a Mazda but I watch a lot of car reviews. It seems to me they're the only car manufacturer that gets car interactions right. They actually have a philosophy how human-cars should interact and design everything based on it. Hence everything comes natural and consistent and logical.
I moved from a Mazda to Hyundai and find my Elantra very much like my Mazda 6 in terms of ease-of-use.
It has android auto/carplay. To change songs, increase the volume, mute you use buttons on the steering wheel. There is a physical volume up/down knob as well in case the passenger wants to use it and these can be done via the touch screen as well.
They have done an excellent job blending new technology and continuing to use "what works" from the past.
Too many of these touch screens in cars requires accessing menue's and sub-menu's to do basic things that should be on the steering wheel. My ex-wife's Lexus which cost 5x what i paid for my Elantra wont let her access the navigation system unless it is stopped and in park?? I can simply hold a button on the steering wheel to access Siri and state where i want to go. Far too often if you touch the screen on her lexis you get "vehicle is in motion".. Great.. and i'm in the passenger seat confused as to why this is an issue?
perhaps they should have done a better job planning this out before releasing it to the public?
Personally i feel Hyundai provides better "value for your money". By not having the incredibly complicated model and options packages you find in North American cars they keep their costs down and the variations on their products low.
No need to deal with the NA style "you want package A, you need to get packages B and C as well" crap.
I can't say it's the main reason I would choose a car, but bad UX (the whole thing, from UI to knobs) is certainly one of the no-compromise ones I would bail a car on.
They've had their hits and misses over the years. Not at all typical, I'm sure, but a fun anecdote: I had a 90s bmw at one point, with electronic controls for the adjustable driver's seat down near the floor between the seat and door. The buttons got wet one time when it was raining, and it led to the seat coming alive and trying to crush me against the steering wheel while in highway traffic. Mashing on the controls didn't work and the motor was quite powerful. I was barely able to pull over with the room I had to move. If I wasn't as thin as I am, I might have been pinned down and crashed.
I’ve got an off button in the center of my controls. The only oddity is that I have to press it to lower the airflow from 5 to 0 (off) but otherwise pretty easy to find and use. It says “OFF.”
I misunderstood what you were looking for. AC seems easier for me as there’s a button labeled “A/C” that is lit up when AC is turned on and not lit up when it is off.
Really? What model do you have? I have a 330e and it does not have an A/C button, only a "MAX A/C" button. I can turn the A/C on with this button, but I can't turn it back off.
2018 330. That’s weird you don’t have an AC button. What I find curious is that “Max AC” is on the left side on a big round button but “AC” is on the right side on a square button with another square above it.
I don’t understand the layout sense but at least I’m lucky enough to have buttons.
Dad has a Mazda. Can vouch for this 100%. It's very clear to me when I drive it that their car interfaces are very deliberate and properly designed. That rolling knob thing which controls the screen is amazing and I wish it were standard
I can totally imagine underdeveloped countries where you’ll find a lot of:
- Used Chinese EVs which costed around 10-15k USD new.
- Used and older upmarket EVs.
- Low speed and low range EVs that cost around 1-2k USD new.
There are many factors. Where I live, for example. Most apps are developed for mobile only. When you don’t have a desktop version of many essential applications, it justifies a more expensive phone. When I divide the price by the amount of time I spend on the device, it seems the results are somewhat equal between the laptop and the iPhone.
This only works if you live somewhere with a mild climate. Most places of the world it seems won't fall into this category. Summer and winter are hard. With cars where you get to set a temperature before going out, it's not just convenient, it can well be vital for seniors. Not to mention when there's rain, snow or wind. I'm all for cars. They just need to be more efficient. And it's achievable.
I think that speaks more to environmental hostility due to social/governmental choices. The woman lost her mobility because the mayor didn’t clear the side walks. Not because of winter.
If if we designed public transportation so it was convenient and usable by everyone older people would have more options in all weather.
If we had consistent (24/7), frequent, high coverage public transportation that was subsidized at the same rate as car infrastructure, everyone would use it. If it was faster than driving in traffic rich people would use it and support it as well.
We choose to build a society that only works for a tiny segment and makes all of our own lives more difficult (and eventually impossible).
This brings up scaling up good governance and city planning (essentially politics) VS scaling up an industrial product. Democratic governments are generally much responsive to needs of minorities and disadvantaged people, yet it’s not doing particularly well in changing how cities are built. Non-democracies aren’t gonna do any better if not worse. Wouldn’t it be much easier to improve mobility by autonomous driving and improved car design?
Which is the most pressing issue with winter weather for seniors. Injuries sustained from a fall are one of the leading reasons people are moved from an independent living situation. Losing your mobility from a fall is also a quick path towards death.
It's survivable, sure. As someone who biked to work in Wisconsin winter, skis, and makes sure to get outside every day for exercise, -12 to -17 is as low as I'll go.
I'm sure they would love one, but it's probably not that easy/cheap to find one that can handle that much torque with such heavy loads. The biggest/heaviest trucks just end up using electric/traction motors running from diesel generators, so they don't need a transmission at all.
