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i am seriously considering leaving the scheme in may 26 when this lease is up. i am mightily fed up with the bings and bongs and the difficulty using touchscreens and wading through menus to get what i want. the lane assist fortunately has a seperate off button but everthing else is buried in menus so its dangerous to do on the move and has to be done everytime you start the car again.
what do you reckon 10 year old or older?
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Nowhere near that old @mitch
The superb 2021 BMW X1 that we handed back in August had BMWs class leading iDrive rotary controller, which meant that you never needed to touch the screen. Ten times safer than a touchscreen as it’s far easier to use on the move. Lane Assist wasn’t fitted as standard. There wasn’t a single bing or bong and there was nothing that needed to be switched off every time that you drove the car (unlike the four bong speed warning that drives me insane in our latest car and I have to switch off every time).
I have some sympathy with you. Whilst I applaud all the latest safety aids and gadgets, they do take the fun out of driving and it’s more like piloting a computer!
Audi did away with their rotary dial in 2020, BMW kept it alive for a couple of years but ultimately succumbed to the (presumably cheaper) touchscreen.
@glos guy, the mini countryman had similar, that was going to be my first look on auto trader as i know the car fits me lol. for the older stuff i was going to start with a yeti as a basic square box with easy load space. there must be some good ones out there.
Audi did away with their rotary dial in 2020, BMW kept it alive for a couple of years but ultimately succumbed to the (presumably cheaper) touchscreen.
Yes it’s definitely cost cutting. The previous setup had both rotary controller and touchscreen, but you never needed to use the touchscreen as the rotary controller was infinitely easier and safer . As far as I know, they’ve ditched it on everything below the 3 Series, but I suspect that it will ‘creep’ up the range.
I live in hope that they might reverse the decision, as in every review of a new generation lower grade BMW that I have watched or read, the reviewer has pretty much said, word for word, the same thing – that they just don’t understand why BMW have ditched what was universally regarded as the best infotainment setup in the business.
Having driven several of the new generation BMWs, I can attest to the fact that it’s a hugely retrograde step. The latest iDrive systems are extremely complicated and not as intuitive as they once were, and trying to find where things are on the move, let alone making changes, is beyond distracting.
@mitch Your post got me thinking. I’ve recently been reading some books, and watching some YouTube videos on cars of the 1970s and 1980s. It got me thinking about some of the cars that I had in those days. My favourite was a Ford Granada Scorpio 2.9 litre. I absolutely loved that car. It was a sheer joy to drive. The seats were like sofas and you wafted along in real comfort. It had all the creature comforts of the day but, ABS aside, obviously none of the safety features of todays cars, yet I never felt unsafe in it and mercifully never had a prang in it.
By contrast, our current car (top of the range Tucson) has every conceivable safety system, driver aid and luxury feature, yet I see it as a functional car and I never get the sense of enjoyment that I used to get with older, less well equipped cars. Is that progress? I don’t know, but if I could buy a brand new 1980s Scorpio today I’d jump at it 😂
lol, i had a purple one got wiped out by a cement truck that decided he wanted to be in my lane on a dual carriageway after pulling away from a set of lights he just pulled over no indication or anything first thing i knew my wing mirror exploded. couldnt go any where as there was a set of railings on my left. so i got squished into the railings and both sides of the car wrecked. very lucky not to be injured. one of only 2 accidents in 40 odd years.
All this tech @Mitch to keep you safe but you don’t want it?! Are you mad??
Best of luck with your search for peace and quiet!
Skoda Enyaq Race Blue
All this tech @Mitch to keep you safe but you don’t want it?! Are you mad?? Best of luck with your search for peace and quiet!
They may help protect your physical health, but all the bings and bongs don’t do a lot for my mental health 😂
On a serious note, whilst there is no doubt that many of these driver aids are good for preventing accidents, I do feel that some of them are very distracting and, in the case of complex touchscreen controls for everything, actually quite dangerous.
My current own car is a 63 plated 1.6 petrol Qashqai. Simple no frills well proven engine technology
The only bing bongs it has is
Reversing warning beeper( when close to something)
Bluetooth cd/ radio unit
Basic , very basic cruise control.
Had it now 4 years, no problems, no mot fails to date, 43mpg, paid £6k.
Four years mobility PIP would have been around £16k.
@DumfriesDik, in 40 odd years driving i have had 2 accidents one the cement truck and no bing or bong or radar would have stopped it and the other i was waiting to turn left accross traffic in germany and a guy was so busy messing about swapping a cassette he drove up the back of me. again none of these new toys would have been able to prevent either accident.
also i have done so many driving courses over the years i doubt many have the knowledge i have learned over the years. i may be getting on now but i reckon i could still hold my own on a skid pan or cross country course. let alone on the roads having done defensive and “offensive” driving courses in the army for escourt work etc.
all i want is a sat nav and the ability to play decent music in a comfy seat. i dont want to have to scroll through menus to turn the bloody heating up.
my rationale here is that in september i am 66 so get the oap that will mean roughly £600 a month after tax as i still work part time and get 2 pensions that are taxed as well. that will give me £4500 as a deposit against any purchase come may 26 and the wpms i currently forfeit will pay an loan or finance i need to make up the difference with some to spare depending on what i buy. £7500 will be plenty i reckon overall.
there are nissans quashqai and juke for much less than that also several countrymans on autotrader. all three i have had before so i know they will fit me.
My favourite car reviewer by far is Harry Metcalfe (Harry’s Garage). The first thing that he does with every car that he tests is turn all the driver aids off. In fact, one of the first things that he looks at is how easy it is to be able to do that 😂
We’re driving along and the car’s singing a song,
With a bing and a bong and a bing!
Bong, bing, boo, bing, bong, bing,
Bing, bong, bingerly, bongerly boo!
Bong, bing, boo, bing, bong, bing,
Bing, bong, bingerly, bongerly boo!
Bong, bing, boo, bing, bong, bing,
Bing, bong, bingerly, bongerly boo!
Indeed, it can all be very distracting!
Hi I am new to the scheme just got my 1st car on Friday, I did have a Suzuki Vitara and nothing car related was done via the screen, all via button of which many, when you turned them off they stayed off.
Someone crashed into it while it was parked up and had a Kona as a replacement for over a month. Which was the opposite both were 22 plates.
I got an EX30 now on the scheme and the speed limit alert is on the drivers shortcut page. The steering assist is on the steering wheel and really, I have no issues with it at all. Plus I can use voice to control the heating and the heated seats. Change the audio or radio channel, from the steering wheel. So actually its safer.
The Renault scenic has a good feature, where you can set your driver profile up and then when you get in you push one button and the cars safety features are set how you like them. Unfortunately the car is to long for my very small off-road parking space. Hence the EX30.
EX30 SMER Ultra
I have the scenic e-tech and yes the perso (personalisation) button will turn them all off at a touch and Google voice control will do most other commands and the car will basically drive itself and the seats are are really comfy. And I absolutely love the car and love driving it.
I’ve just collected a new BEV on the scheme. My previous I kept for 5 years. Jumping into a new OS is like swapping phone manufacturers in the old times, learning new menu trees messed with my melon man.
Thank god for physical buttons on the heating controls.
Cruise control at 20mph? Feckin yeah!
Radar/cruise control on the motorway? I did miss the radar on the previous car. No more CC into the back of slow cars. Especially useful driving in ‘economy mode’ to save battery.
There are lots of new controls that wind me up (old git syndrome) but i’ll learn (the car’s app gives me instant access to the manual, something I never read when it was parked in my glove box).
Bing bong? Bring it on.
blah, blah, blah
Hi I am new to the scheme just got my 1st car on Friday, I did have a Suzuki Vitara and nothing car related was done via the screen, all via button of which many, when you turned them off they stayed off. Someone crashed into it while it was parked up and had a Kona as a replacement for over a month. Which was the opposite both were 22 plates. I got an EX30 now on the scheme and the speed limit alert is on the drivers shortcut page. The steering assist is on the steering wheel and really, I have no issues with it at all. Plus I can use voice to control the heating and the heated seats. Change the audio or radio channel, from the steering wheel. So actually its safer. The Renault scenic has a good feature, where you can set your driver profile up and then when you get in you push one button and the cars safety features are set how you like them. Unfortunately the car is to long for my very small off-road parking space. Hence the EX30.
With all this Bing and Bonging reminded me of old UK cartoon Bleep and Booster Probably nobody is old enough on here to remember.
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