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[Olympia5776]

Picked up my new car on Friday after a seven month wait .
Salesman was almost orgasmic showing me the "infotronics " which frankly induced glazed vision and thoughts of what was for tea when I got home . 
Anyway after identifying the lights , wipers and seat adjustment I set off for home .
A couple of peculiar things occurred on route , one of which was AEC Matador type steering and a bright red flashing warning for  " lane assist " which twiched my sphincter more than a little .
So over the weekend I sat down to go through the owners manual .
I opened the case containing it to find an inch and a quarter thick book , all in English !
I turned my attention to the heating and ventilation chapter to be confronted with THREE pages of intro warnings and important notices before it led you into the maze of touch screen tedium ....and have I said that I detest touch screens in cars .
The dash chapter shows me all of the 83 indication/warning icons that tell me what's going on , all of which require me to switch to reading glasses mode before I can identify what is going to break first .
The technology is clearly aimed at the technological elite of todays world yet the intro feature identification page has a big arrow pointing to and identifying ,the headlight .
In the 8 years between our little & loved Yeti and this the equipment content has went batshit crazy .
80% of it will never be used .

[STEMO]

It's not only unnecessary, it's dangerous. Even wifey's humble grandland had wondering why it was 'bonging' at me when I went to fill it up the other day. When I explained where I was and what I was doing she informed me I was probably too close to the car in front for the speed I was doing. What??
I told her I turned the heating on but could only see buttons for front and rear screen defrost, nothing to point the heat into the cabin. She said there wasn't a button for that, I had to go into the touch screen menu. What??
She asked if I remembered to turn off lane assist and stop start before I set off. I told her to fill the fickin thing up herself.

The Daily Mail's motoring correspondent wrote an article a while back saying he had just driven a new model (I forget) and it had buttons! He loved it.

[Doctor Gollum]

Legislated nannying, and it will only get worse.

[LC0112G]

Worst thing I've had so far was a rental car in the USA. There was something not right with the rear view mirror - it was basically out of focus. Turns out it was a camera/screen, not a real mirror.

Problem is I'm long sighted. That means I need glasses to see things close up (less than 2-3 yards) but can see distant things ok. So in a real mirror, where the objects really are 10-100 yards away, no problem. However, for a camera screen you actually have to focus on the screen, which in the cases of a 'mirror' is less than a yard away - so I need glasses to see the image properly. When your normal 'scan' is ahead, dash, mirrors, repeat, then the time taken to re-focus on the rear view mirror is noticable, and after a while quite a strain on the eyes.

Thankfully at the first stop I managed to find a switch to turn the camera off, and it reverted to a true mirror.

[Rangie]

Glad I've got two old vehicles after reading these posts, the Range  Rover is a 2007 & there are umpteen functions on that I've never used & never will, don't think I'll be getting anything newer anytime soon.

[johnnydog]

A few years ago, I drove an Audi E-tron - apart from having to get used to it being an EV, I quickly realised it had no side door mirrors, just two small cameras instead, which relayed an image to a screen in the door panel area. The image wasn't like looking in a door mirror and wasn't what I would describe as a 'real image', and after 50 years of using wing / door mirrors, altering my line of vision to look at the door panel to see what was behind wasn't as easy as it sounds.
Don't know whether they still use it or whether other manufacturers use it as well, but it seemed to me to serve no purpose other than a gimmicky gadget which probably was very costly to replace as the  cameras were just as vunerable as door mirrors to drivers who cannot judge the width of the vehicle they are driving.

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/audi-e-tron-virtual-mirrors-how-does-it-work/

[Sir Tigger KC]

The day might come eventually, but I have no interest in any car with a big screen sellotaped to the dash. 

[Andy B]

....
 and after 50 years of using wing / door mirrors, altering my line of vision to look at the door panel to see what was behind wasn't as easy as it sounds. ....

I've had my ML for over 4 & a half years. It has a reverse camera but I still default to using the mirrors first .... I maybe use it for the final bit of parking etc
My daughter though uses her reverse camera by default 

[YZ250]

A few years ago, I drove an Audi E-tron - apart from having to get used to it being an EV, I quickly realised it had no side door mirrors, just two small cameras instead, which relayed an image to a screen in the door panel area. The image wasn't like looking in a door mirror and wasn't what I would describe as a 'real image', and after 50 years of using wing / door mirrors, altering my line of vision to look at the door panel to see what was behind wasn't as easy as it sounds.
Don't know whether they still use it or whether other manufacturers use it as well, but it seemed to me to serve no purpose other than a gimmicky gadget which probably was very costly to replace as the  cameras were just as vunerable as door mirrors to drivers who cannot judge the width of the vehicle they are driving.

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/audi-e-tron-virtual-mirrors-how-does-it-work/

Unfortunately they do still fit them. Even worse, truck manufacturers are fitting them as well now. My issue with camera door mirrors is, with a standard door mirror you can change the perspective view by moving your head to the left or right, so you can see objects that you otherwise might have missed without moving your head. With a camera mirror, the view remains exactly the same, because moving your head makes no difference whatsoever to the rearward view.   

[Nick W]

There are a couple of reasons for the proliferation of screens(both touch and display) in cars:
 
first is that they're cheaper than discrete, 'real' parts like switches, knobs, handles etc especially when the thing to be controlled is electrically operated. What makes them even better is that the inevitable updates/annual model changes/interchangeability/pointless specification differences are easily accomplished by paying a graphic designer to change the pictures to the latest fad.




second is that we already have a whole generation of users who don't believe anything unless they see it on a screen. Now that displays are already replacing mirrors, how long do we think it will be before the windscreen becomes a real-time-direction-based-true-colour-optical-interface hung off the A-pillars by some over designed, under engineered brackets?


Some of this isn't new though; the list of warnings and outputs is just the modern implementation of all the extra dials(oil pressure/temp, voltmeter, ammeter, rev counter etc) high spec cars got that nobody ever looked at after their first drive.

[Migalot]

OK you guys. You may not believe this and many of you will fall over laughing, but I have a VAUXHALL OMEGA! 

It's fast, comfortable and has enough driver aids, like mirrors, switches and analogue dials, to make driving a breeze. 

[STEMO]

....
 and after 50 years of using wing / door mirrors, altering my line of vision to look at the door panel to see what was behind wasn't as easy as it sounds. ....

I've had my ML for over 4 & a half years. It has a reverse camera but I still default to using the mirrors first .... I maybe use it for the final bit of parking etc
My daughter though uses her reverse camera by default 

Got to admit, in these days of larger vehicles with smaller windows, I am grateful for front and rear parking sensors. I've never driven a car with a reverse view camera, and I don't think I'd find any use for it.
As for the ones that actually park themselves, no way.

[YZ250]

The day might come eventually, but I have no interest in any car with a big screen sellotaped to the dash. 

Me neither.    I recently watched a YouTube clip reviewing the BMW M60 i5 by Harry's Garage. If you come across the clip, just look at how many times he takes his eyes off the road for simple things like heating controls, vent direction etc.  And yes, he disliked it, especially the million and one menus that you can scroll through. He also hated the lane discipline, because he said our UK roads are so shite that we have to swerve to avoid massive potholes and craters in the road, and the lane discipline tries to pull you back in line.  He suspects that lane discipline was invented to overcome drivers staring at their touch screens. 
With a few extra toys on the options list, this i5 was just shy of £116K, for a 5 Series. 

[countrywoman]

Hope my Yeti lasts another 10 years!

[Doctor Gollum]

Relying on mirrors and cameras is poor roadcraft, you still need to turn your head and move in the seat to see what's actually going on around you.

Parking sensors and reversing cameras are useful tools and should be used as such.

Also, whilst it's a valid point re the back that a camera image doesn't change if you move relative to it, different cars have the door mirrors in different positions relative to the base of the screen, so screen positions are no different... You simply adapt to the vehicle you are driving.

As an aside with reversing cameras, they come into their own in tight spaces and when you're hooking up a trailer.