Doug DeMuro put an end to the critics of the VW ID's "No Backlit HVAC & Vol. Controls."

mtc416 said:

The biggest beef is those damn window controls. They're terrible.

Click to expand...

Yes. When we test drove the ID.4 last year, I was frustrated, disappointed, and in one case, angry about the user interface. It seemed to me that VW's designers were trying a little bit too hard to put their stamp on a "neo" operating paradigm, throwing away long-familiar interfaces. They may as well have put the accelerator pedal on the left and the brake pedal in the glovebox, what do you need that for, you have OPD.

What earned my rancor was in fact the radio, where volume control or on/off was not obvious and some jerk had left it blasting. The salesperson with us had no clue, either. The test drive was colored (obviously!) by the aural assault.

I've received pushback on my particular take, "You have to learn the car and it will be fine." Nuh uh. "Learning" basic controls is a non-starter with me. I expect to sit in the seat of any automobile and be able to start it or turn it on, adjust the mirrors, put it "in gear", and drive away in the expectation that I will be able to pilot it safely. I also expect that, in the instance somebody else may have to drive the car, that they will be met with clear, straightforward and familiar controls. That Tesla has done the whole touchscreen shtick isn't an excuse, either, it has the same problem.

YMM obviously V.

MikeQBF said:

Yes. When we test drove the ID.4 last year, I was frustrated, disappointed, and in one case, angry about the user interface. It seemed to me that VW's designers were trying a little bit too hard to put their stamp on a "neo" operating paradigm, throwing away long-familiar interfaces. They may as well have put the accelerator pedal on the left and the brake pedal in the glovebox, what do you need that for, you have OPD.

What earned my rancor was in fact the radio, where volume control or on/off was not obvious and some jerk had left it blasting. The salesperson with us had no clue, either. The test drive was colored (obviously!) by the aural assault.

I've received pushback on my particular take, "You have to learn the car and it will be fine." Nuh uh. "Learning" basic controls is a non-starter with me. I expect to sit in the seat of any automobile and be able to start it or turn it on, adjust the mirrors, put it "in gear", and drive away in the expectation that I will be able to pilot it safely. I also expect that, in the instance somebody else may have to drive the car, that they will be met with clear, straightforward and familiar controls. That Tesla has done the whole touchscreen shtick isn't an excuse, either, it has the same problem.

YMM obviously V.

Click to expand...

Agree and disagree here. Cars today are far too complicated to have everything be immediately obvious how to operate it. That will create some interesting challenges with things like valet parking, lending vehicles, rentals, etc... but I don't think that will be getting particularly better anytime soon. There simply is, and probably always will be, a bit more learning curve to cars with this much tech in them. Nobody wants all cars to function exactly the same way, which would be the only way around that. Variety is good, but brings some challenges.

Radio volume controls are fine, IMO. I like the slider once you adjust to it, but mostly use volume on the wheel anyway. Mute is the power button on the screen - not immediately obvious, but also nice to not have an overabundance of buttons and controls - that looks tacky. I do like the concept of having multiple uses for many controls. Its harder when you first place your butt in the seat, but becomes an asset as you get used to the car. Leaving the volume blasting is also an easy fix. I often blast my own music, but there is a setting to have it start the car at a max volume of your choosing. Easy enough to change that. I never get blasted even if I forget to turn it down when I park the car. I appreciate that, but its not immediately obvious when test driving, like many other features.

I have had friends drive my ID.4, and only had to show them a couple things, which they could have found pretty quickly on their own if they wanted to. Mainly, the different gear selector - but even that isn't novel to ID.4... other german cars have used it in the past. Now if they want to learn how to set travel assist or things like that, might be slightly less intuitive right away, but that is to be expected in my opinion with all cars today. The degree to which you can find things by poking around varies a bit from car to car, and personality to personality. For example, so many people say Apple/iPhone are easier to use. The way they think and organize things makes no sense to me. I don't find it intuitive at all. Others do. Some like the "Apple way or the highway" mentality, I much prefer to be able to customize to my interests and needs and user interface flow. I'll stick with Android every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Tesla is pretty much the Apple of EVs, except 10x crappier build quality.

I drove pretty much every EV on the market in the last year. They ALL took a little adjustment or poking around to find things. That's just the reality today.

But those window switches... its not that I don't know how to use them - that was easy to figure out - its that I can't stand using them. Biggest mistake by far in this car as far as user interface.

Turn on the passenger's overhead light (or both) that can be used to light up the HVAC & Vol. controls in the dark. That's what those O/H lights are for.

With the caveat that my driving when it's dark is quite limited as I only got the car in April, I don't necessarily think it's a huge flaw.

But it's still a flaw, it's stupid, and arguing that the OH lights are the intended solution is a level of stupid unfathomable.

If that is the solution, why doesn't the manual or any other material from VW instruct to use them to illuminate the infotainment, why do the light up when you open the door - do you really need to see the buttons when you are stepping in, why are there similar lights in the back and why did my 2003 ICE VW have the same light with the exact same functions even when I had backlit controls. And it still is two additional gestures with hand off the steering, in addition to lighting up the cockpit which is not good in the dark. Never was.

Pfft.

It's a flaw, and one they are fixing in the new infortainment seen in ID.7 and which is coming to other ID cars as well.

Oh and that infortainment does away with the gestures to wipe on front to switch displays. According to a few early reviews, it's because you couldn't have both.

So VW did the dumbest choise of the two, if it infact was one or the other.

Oh and someone claimed it was to save energy. Sheez. The car uses kilowatts to move. The tiny LEDs needed are dirt cheap and use a fraction of a watt per hour. Let's forget that the place to charge your phone is illuminated even when it's closed and the cocpit lights that use way more power. The power saved driving a battery from full to empty would equal a few yards on a good day.

Backlit buttons missing is silly. Defending that choise with OH lights and saving power is desperate.