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I ultimately decided against an MEB based model because the (steering wheel) UX felt almost unusable during my test drive. I partcularily struggeled with the cr
by arlcode 3y ago
I ultimately decided against an MEB based model because the (steering wheel) UX felt almost unusable during my test drive. I partcularily struggeled with the cruise control swipe-click and hilariously the window switch.
The car i ultimately settled on has worse overall infotainment software but physical controls which can be operated blindely and reliably.
No wonder VW is already in the process of correcting this disastrous, budget driven, decision.
- hef19898 3y agoVW went so far into left field with their controls on the ID-series, it is embarassing. Good to hear that they correct.
- arlcode 3y agoJust my own thought but I believe they were under immense pressure to achieve similar (or even some) margins with their very first broad market BEV, as they are getting with comparable ICE models. As a car the MEB siblings are not bad at all and by now the software is fine I hear, but they cut just to many ergonomic corners instead of accepting the costs of getting started in a slightly different market segment.
- hef19898 3y agoFunny thing is, Skoda is doing better (no real news so), despite using the same platform. What definitely didn't help, was putting a self-declared Tesla fanboy in the CEO seat. Only Tesla is Tesla, no other brand can get away with Tesla stuff. Should have been clear for VW, as they lived of marketing to sell overpriced cars for decades.
- foobarian 3y agoI think you're right, this is not a financial decision but cargo culting at its best. Just look at what happened to phones after iPhone 1 came out.
- Maakuth 3y agoAnd how much cheaper can this stuff really be than real buttons?
- hef19898 3y agoEnough. Also, these design changes were advocated for by the CEO at the time.
- heavyset_go 3y agoCan the buttons show you ads and upsell you on features?
- Maakuth 3y agoThat's just it - these are no more customizable than real buttons! They come with preprinted symbols for their function, so no cost advantage of customization.
- Bluestrike2 3y agoWe're talking a few dollars per unit for the various capacitive buttons, if that. Steering wheel controls already connect over CAN bus so it's not like you're saving a great length of wire, for example. They still connect to controllers, etc. Even tiny savings add up, but the cost of non-capacitive buttons is something they could recoup with almost zero effort. Instead, it's almost certainly a design choice: they're easier to design around and 'feel' futuristic. Or that's what the designers and marketers think, anyhow. The bigger cost-savings are in the touchscreen infotainment systems, where they get to eliminate the physical cost of a ton of buttons while simplifying manufacturing and parts inventory (no having to deal with a bunch of different trim parts to accommodate buttons for various options, etc.). That's probably the biggest reason why consumer pushback against touchscreens has taken so damn long to barely start having an effect.
- moogly 3y agoDoesn't Skoda have pretty sensible steering wheels still?
- arlcode 3y agoYes I should have limited my comment to VW, Cupra and Seat(?)
- arethuza 3y agoThey do but I would say the design of the two scroll/click wheels has got worse in the last couple of years.
- ack 3y agoThe Skoda I just rented in Portugal has real controls but they were really horrible. Even once I got used to their locations, I regularly made something happened than I wanted. Rear windows open instead of front, etc. There's even a control for the digital dashpanel enticing one to play with the display while driving.
- a_gnostic 3y agoHad an old Chevy with similar problems. Ended up taking a Dremel to the rear window controls, a bit of roughness is all it took.
- moogly 3y agoI really wonder how much money you can save by removing the individual rear window buttons and instead adding a modal touch "rear" button, like VAG has started doing.