Hard disagree. Physical buttons with a digital temperature and split controls for left and right (and maybe rear as well). Automatic climate control that also does the fans. I had all of this on a car in 2010, and it was perfect - I could just leave the temperature set at what I wanted all the time, and the fans would blow hard if it needed to heat or cool significantly to get there.

Some manufacturer's, eg Volvo, don't automatically adjust the fans, which is wank. But nothing is as wank as touch screen controls - I fucking hate it when you're trying to aim at a button, then as you go in to press the car bumps and you completely miss.

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.

However you probably don't miss the manual choke valve, double clutching, hand winded starter crank, or even window cranks.

There was really no golden period of car controls. It went fluidly from one kind of shit to another kind of shit.

It’s true. I hate my touch screen to control airflow in my car. Every time I go to adjust it, it fucks up and I’m distracted while driving.

My car is still mainly like this.

It has a touchscreen thing but it's only for the entertainment and it has steering wheel controls as well so there's an alternative to using the screen while driving.

Honestly. I prefer my current EVs AC. I have set it to 21 degrees when I first got it and I haven't touched it since.

I don't like "more cold" or "more hot" dials. I know what I like, 21 degrees and if the car can keep exactly that? I'm happy.

It's really interesting that I agree with you, but so many people insist that they're new and fancy tools are somehow making their lives significantly better. And obviously it's an opinion question, it's not like they're lying, but I just don't see the value that many of them do.

That has 5 moving parts, while a touchscreen has none. It's much easier and cheaper for the manufacturer to install the touchscreen. But instead of passing the savings to you, they probably keep it or pass it on to investors.

I have this and I will not change.

I long for the days it was two horizontal sliders. Cold to left, slide to the right the warmer you wanted. Low to the left, slight to the right for high fan. Now it's all this digital horse shit and it takes years of me being bored at red lights to be motivated to explore all the menu drudgery on the console. Now it all has fucking wifi and tracker nonsense too.

Let me play devils advocate…..

One of my cars has the hvac controls on the screen and it’s usually fine, because it is actually smart. I only need to set the temperature and it remembers that.

For example now that it’s getting cold, I almost never need to touch those controls

• I can preheat through an app (no subscription needed)
• when I start my car, the thermostat is set to 69 (heh heh) where I last left it
• the car goes through a progression: heating steering wheel and seat first, then automatically off when the cabin temperature comes up
• the glaring problem is defroster. Aside from initial heat up I don’t know a good way to switch to that while driving. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be automatic and fails or if there is a shortcut somewhere

One of my knobs broke and to this day, I can't work out how to replace it. Where do you even buy them from??? 🙃

My 2018 vehicle has intuitive tactile knobs & buttons. Easy to operate without eyes ever leaving the road. I am grateful.

I'm not wealthy enough to own a car that has anything newer than this lmao

I bitch about this every time I'm drive anything but my old truck that still has these!

my '93 MR2 has buttons and a slider. Perfection.