Another problem with screens (and I have had this happen a number of times) is, if your finger is on or near the screen and the vehicle hits a bump or jitters a little, your finger can end up hitting the wrong icon inadvertently and activating something you don't want. That is much less likely to happen with buttons that you have to actually push, although I agree with Steve that some buttons can be very flimsy or poorly-designed.

 

Yep, happens all the time...This is one big reason why I prefer a controller for the screen vs the touchscreen.

 

Depends on how well the controller is designed. Lexus, for example, used a mouse-type controller for years that almost no one liked. If your finger could accidentally hit the wrong icon-symbol on the touch-screen when the vehicle hits a bump, it could also accidentally click the wrong icon on the screen when the vehicle hits a bump with the mouse-controller.

 

If you have to take a hand off the wheel to use a mouse and look at a screen, I say FAIL. Lol

 

I had 3 Lexuses with this controller and it worked fine. Mercedes and BMWs systems are better but I would take the Lexus RTC over a touchscreen.

Bumps and hitting the wrong thing was a non issue.

The screen is up high in the dash and that’s the whole point, you can look at the screen briefly without taking your eyes down off the road for as long as a lower screen while you try and find buttons.

 

BMW's is incredibly easy to use. Very natural when your arm is resting on the center armrest.

 

That system actually has variable stick resistance that "soft locks" into options on screen and allows a toggle effect. It's very accurate and underrated IMO

 

That doesn't sound too bad.

I was trying to imagine a mouse cursor moving all over the screen and trying to click something while driving.

Even still, I have to try it to see if I like it.

 

Its quite good in actual practice, I was surprised when I tried it the first time since I was expecting a train wreck.

In a lot of ways it's better than the MMI system in the Audis because you don't need to menu scroll and can instead directly "point" at what you want. The downside is the MMI allows very defined button sequences (for example: car button, three rotational clicks left or right of the main button, then a click to do into the sportiest settings) that can be done blind and near instantly at any speed

 

GM does it right with the trucks.... redundant back up buttons for virtually everything.

There's nothing I can think of that you have to dig in the screen to use in the Denali, other than setting the vibrating seat for alerts, headlight timer, etc. but all that's on by default anyway.

 

Yeah, sure, whatever. It's not distracting at all dragging your finger along a row of buttons and counting in your head and remembering the order of all these buttons.

 

No it's literally not. Can you not physically index your hand?

 

If I was to upgrade my RX330 to this Porsche today, I would totally be ok with it. Haha

Oh yeah, button me up, it's ok. 🛳️. 💬. 🚁.

 

I would be ok with it too; but that doesn't mean that there's room to streamline all those buttons.

 

Same here. Too many features on a screen really sucks. Buttons are superior!!!