German Car Zone

Why is it that the Germans have shunned the touch screen when it is inherently superior in so many respects? Instead they continue with the dial knob solution which while improved is still comparatively clumsy. I have NEVER managed to get my head around this point. Being logical Germans however, there must be some reason to it?

My Experiences.

Lexus: Current GS300, IS250
Touch screen - Brilliant
Layout/interface - Shocking. There is no logic to the way some of the menus are arranged and what's in them. Furthermore there is a real mash up of of 'true' buttons and touch screen buttons that just don’t make sense. Why can I not select 'CD' from the touch screen? Why can I only scroll radio frequencies through a 'true' button? Why does there appear to be no integration between the central unit and the display in the speedometer? Functions are awkwardly split between the two. Ergonomics though there is nothing to complain about, its just a hand reach away.

BMW: Current X5
Layout/Interface - Mostly excellent layout with some quirks. It's slow with navigation and certain other functions. Why must I wait over a minute for a street name to load? Why must I wrestle with the control knob just to wind down to another selection while it loads so slowly? The soft keys are an excellent concept but a bit flawed in execution. They are limited in what you can select as a soft function. For example the reversing camera is absolutely useless at night, in which case I prefer to use the parking sensors. But to switch between the two you must delve into sub menus to change from one to the other. Why can't the soft keys be programmed to switch to useful functions like the reversing camera or journey computer?

I drive controller - I Despise this thing. It is so awkwardly positioned. If the passenger is using the arm rest you have to shove them out of the way to comfortably hold the knob. And even if you've got it all to yourself your arm still needs to bend awkwardly. Because of this it often takes various nudges just to get it to do something so simple as access the entertainment menu. After years of experience with the old Mercedes command system I was really looking forward to using I drive. And quite frankly it sucks. Mercedes old command was better.

MMI - Too brief to comment

Command II - Too brief to comment

For me anyway, touch screen and buttons are pretty much the same, but I do find it less distracting to use the buttons while driving.

As for the I-drive vs Command, I prefer the Command, and Command II, the menu layout isn't as confusing to navigate as I-drive.

Auto Motor und Sport actually reviewed all these three navigation systems. I have the scanned articles somewhere but I have not translated them yet.

Thing about the Lexus system is that sure, it has touchscreen, but it won't allow you to "use the system" while the car is in motion. This means that if you're in France heading towards Paris and all of a sudden you want to go to Amsterdam, you need to pull over, stop the car and then you can access the navigation system.

Is this true?

Yes it it absolutely true and utterly absurd! But not for all functions though. The system is only locked on certain functions like navigation. I've found myself jabbing desperately at a stop light to try to enter a destination. But once it goes green and your not done, you've got no hope. It literally drives me INSANE.

Would love to read those reviews when you get a chance Christian.

Give me time! I am very busy these days!

lol...yup. No worries. Got to work hard to get into that Benz! (But you're much luckier in that respect over in Germany).

I've read the AMS review, between 7er, S-Class, A8 and LS460.
They gave the cars to German, American, Chinese and Japanese chauffeurs.

All of them despised the iDrive. The jap and Chinese prefered the touchscreen, the Americans and especially the germans the knob. The MMI and Comand were said quite similar and easy to use.

In terms of test, the times needed to do something were similar in the three (the Beemer much longer).

At the first attempt, users were quicker with the Lexus. At the second and after, all were noticeably quicker with the knobs (bar iDrive), with less failures and errors. Easier to get used to the logical menu structures, whereas the myriad of buttons in the Lexus lead to errors.

The Chinese and Japanese were happy the Lexus forbids use in motion, they founded to be very distracted by the screens while driving. The germans and americans said no to be really distracted and so preferred to have access to the system while driving.

So, the result of the test was that no system is superior to the other, but that it mostly depends of the culture, Asians preferred touchscreen and ams/europeans the knob. Especially the Germans said they did not like the touchscreen at all, and the fact that sometimes yiu use buttons on the touchscreen and sometimes real buttons.

What if... Apple made a touch screen navigation. Ridiculously intuitive, totally cool.

I agree. touch screen can be distracting while driving.

If I had a car with a navigation system that worked like this, I would be extremely pissed. It often happens when we're traveling as a family in our Mercedes E320 that we need to change destinations and that the route we're currently taking has no suitable places to stop (try doing this in those small towns in Northern Italy, I am not kidding!). On that car it is no problem, you can change your destination "en route".

Not everyone has the time to find a place to stop and then reprogram the destination. Sucks that even the co-pilot cannot do this in the Lexus.