We have a 2004 Toyota Tacoma that blows the minds of "kids" (anyone under 30) that get in it. Everything is manual (Except the transmission) as it was a base model. They are amused by rolling the windows up and down, manually locking and unlocking, and the simplicity of the radio.
Years ago when we got it (and a Toyota Matrix that we since sold) we had a friend that was a calibration engineer for various automotive companies, and told him we just wanted something that works and moves us around safely. He told us, "Toyota; they are basically automotive appliances". He was 100% correct.
I do love some of the new features of our newer cars, like the backup camera with radar alerts, the ability to see the the current speed limit on the speedometer, the HUD that displays some basic info, and bluetooth. But most of it I hate, like all the beeping and alerting and the stupid, dreadful tablet interfaces. I was pleased to see my sister's new car had a touchscreen, but in the center console you could completely control it using a spinner and set of buttons. So I'm hopeful car companies are swinging the other way on UX.
Years ago when we got it (and a Toyota Matrix that we since sold) we had a friend that was a calibration engineer for various automotive companies, and told him we just wanted something that works and moves us around safely. He told us, "Toyota; they are basically automotive appliances". He was 100% correct.
I do love some of the new features of our newer cars, like the backup camera with radar alerts, the ability to see the the current speed limit on the speedometer, the HUD that displays some basic info, and bluetooth. But most of it I hate, like all the beeping and alerting and the stupid, dreadful tablet interfaces. I was pleased to see my sister's new car had a touchscreen, but in the center console you could completely control it using a spinner and set of buttons. So I'm hopeful car companies are swinging the other way on UX.