dashboards

Only if you buy a VW or Audi

Yes - and highly dangerous to operate (air-con, radio, etc.) on the move, as well as being difficult to see.

And Renault. And I expect nearly every other mainstream make as well. Their specs usually refer to the dashboard as a so-many inches display. This is normally a non-touchscreen colour display.

The biggest variation is probably in the centre console, in as much as some have pretty much every control on a big touchscreen in the middle, and some have a few controls remaining on dedicated knobs and switches.

Our Renaults have separate heater controls and a few mode controls separate on switches but everything else is touchscreen.

Lights, wipers, parking brake, and direction control remain as dedicated controls of course!

nib

When you are ready to buy a car, by then they will likely have come to their senses and tuned down that crap. A few more manual controls will come back (heater), the acres of glass will be reduced to a few square yards.

Since we're mildly on the topic of cars, a funny thing happened here the other day. A government minister said "we're coming for your cars!". He said it out loud. Nobody expected a guy would open his yap, and actually say that :-) Pretty funny. I don't know if the guy wants a Medal Of Honour or what...

The guy isn't an eco-nazi. He is just a math genius, who put 2+2 together and discovered a hard fact.

The part of the country that guy is in, they know there isn't enough electricity for electric cars. The guy says "half of you will have to ditch your cars and take the bus". And that's far in the future, when they are selling only electric cars.

Which half of your 'stang will you be tossing away ??? :-) Some day, somebody is going to be honest in public where you are, and tell you about the "electric deficit". And that your new bicycle will have 27" wheels.

One part of the country here, is offering a cash incentive to buy eBikes (NOT pedal bikes). The apocalypse begins.

Paul

Will they be restricted to 20mph in all residential areas as will be happening in Wales for cars from September?

More importantly will they keep the bloody things off the pavement.

Peter

There is a classification system for eBikes.

And will you look at that. Country-specific rules, in a table!

Now, that line is news to me.

Speed is more than expected.

And there used to be a weight limit, and there used to be a requirement for an "open frame". If you fill the triangular region with batteries, that is an eMotorcycle. The "open frame" concept was intended to make judgment about weight limits easier (if the triangle is filled, it's too heavy).

It looks like "Mad Max" and "Wild West" material. Great.

Paul

UK legal e-bikes must not provide electrical assistance over 25 km/h. So yes, unless they are illegal electric motorbikes or have energetic riders.

nib

No voice control?

Porsche are just a collection of screens some reflecting on the inside of the windscreen as in aircraft. Incidentally who decided that dashboard would be used as the control centre of some software and web sites? It used to be called settings. I get so confused these days when I hear, Hamburger menu announced. What on earth is that I think. Having explored these they seem to be a lazy way to glue on extra bits and choices they forgot to put in settings, sorry dashboard. Bah humbug. I'm waiting for the button that sends a couple of thousand volts through the programmers ghoolies. What could we call that? Brian

Knobs, switches and dials cost money. Touch screens are cheap s*it.

Too dangerous with a mother in law, surely?

Mine needs to be trained to recognise voice(s) of anybody using it, so it should be OK if you don't include her.

Capital punishment? :)

I have learned something today. Previously, I would only have associated hamburger menu with somebody like MacDonalds. I never knew that was the name for the three horizontal bars. I don't think it is one I will bother to use in future though.

On 20 Aug 2023, Colin Bignell wrote

Me neither, but it's used frequently enough that I was happy to find out aa while back what it means.

Been around for a few years - started with mobile apps. I think the idea is it suggests it can "unzip" top and bottom to reveal the contents of the "hamburger".

App drawers, notification tiles, widgets, pull down menus - it is bewildering. If it was just the lack of consistency, I could take it. But usually it's the lack of functionality.

I've known the symbol for years. I just never knew it had a name. It does, perhaps, reflect the eating habits of programmers. :-)

I think the idea

You say "of course" but who knows what terrific idea might be incorporated in next year's model?

My pet hate are the features which you want permanently enabled (or disabled), but which revert to the opposite state each and every time you power down.