Knobs in a Peugeot!

[sparehead3]

Road names a lot of them ? But then it doesn't work quite so well in the UK - BMW have tried it : M5, M3, etc ...

[Lima]

In an attempt to get back on topic, does anyone think that touch screens are a safe alternative to buttons when on the move?
Lancia, in their usual well-engineered way, provided full functionality without cluttering up the fulvia. The headlight dip stalk flicks between side and dipped (useful for tunnels) but also switched between dipped and main depending on where the main light knob is set to. Also the steering wheel boss encompasses two concentric rings... The outer one for horns, the central badge to flash main beams and both together for 'get outta the way you blithering idiot!!!'  GENIUS ...and clutter-free

[St Volumex]

I think touch screens could be a step in the right direction as a “…safe alternative to buttons when on the move”, even though I’m a zipper man myself.

But after much reflection and even sleeping on it, I realise that the problem is much more widespread than I initially thought because knobs are everywhere. Take my state-of-the-art flat screen TV for instance.  

The remote has 47 buttons which I manage to use quite safely while working my touch screen tablet and my smart phone all at the same time (even while drinking tea), but there are so many knobs on the TV it’s incredible.  There’s ‘Celebrity Big Knob’, ‘I’m a Knob, Get Me Out Of Here!’, ‘8 Out of 10 Knobs’, ‘TOWIK’, and my own personal favourite, ‘Top Knob’, hosted by the three biggest knobs on TV, and really just about knobs in cars.

Who would have thought that there could be so many knobs on a relatively simple machine like a bicycle, but there they are; riding on pavements, through red traffic lights etc, and don’t even get me started on the knobs in the disabled parking bay without a Blue Badge – they really push my buttons!

Then there are the knobs on station escalators and stairs running furiously to catch a train (they probably didn’t press the right buttons to set the alarm early enough), but delay hundreds of other passengers while they board.  These knobs usually occupy 4 to 6 seats by putting their luggage and feet on them, yawn in one’s face, eat with their mouths open, and talk so loudly on their mobile one would swear it was voice activated.  Their conversations are sparkling too; “She said, “Blah blah blah”, then “Dude, I’m like, you know, so totally bleep, bleeping, bleep...””.  Somehow I just don’t think touch screens or voice recognition systems will ever cope with these knobs.

So the problem is not simply one of technology (or even size), but rather about how one uses it - walking or driving while texting is another everyday example that readily springs to mind.

No matter how sophisticated, technology will never cure sheer stupidity. Touch screen or buttons, Peugeot or Lancia (new or ‘real classic’), the problem remains with the knob operating the device.

[DavidLaver]

I'm not a touch screen fan and see it as a bit of cost cutting to push as much as possible into software. 

It can't be safe.  BMW have a big round control next to the gear lever that can be jogged in four directions and rotated - while you need to look at the screen to see where you are in the menus etc at least the button is always in the same place.

I also don't like people touching screens on the basis of keeping them clean.

David

[stanley sweet]

I have a '99 Lybra estate which is a very nice car. It's a nice combination of screen and knobs which is advanced enough for me but no doubt by the time I have to buy another car I'll have to lick the door handle or something using tongue recognition to get in. The designers won't have thought of frosty mornings. So in the Lybra you twiddle the knob bringing up different options then press the knob in to select. Just one silly thing which is an example of the 'progress' I find pointless - when I went to check the tyres for the first time I opened the doors looking for the sticker telling me the tyre pressures. No sticker. Turned out I had to get back in, switch on, find a certain heading on the screen, press the knob, then the pressures came up. Honestly, is that an advancement on a sticker? Anyway, as intuitive as it all is to use (and it's in English) I still can't safely use it on the move. I am, like Lima, a look ahead at all times sort of driver, apart from checking instruments. What I like most of all is the trip screen which tells you everything you need, especially fuel consumption and remaining mileage. It's the only screen I switch on straight away and to be honest I don't ever look at the fuel guage anymore. If it says I have 15 kms left of fuel left, I really have, so I can skip an expensive garage. That's 'good' progress. Just a gauge seems too vague now. Of course, it also has split heating for driver and passenger, which as John Bishop said once, 'What's the point of that unless you're an Ethiopian giving a lift to an Eskimo?". No, I am a knobs, switches and buttons man. I am still coming to terms with non-round headlights.

St Volumex - you forgot the knobs that text while driving.

[St Volumex]

St Volumex - you forgot the knobs that text while driving.

Stanley, one of the buttons I like is the "Modify" one - already fixed - see above. I've decided to stop "banging on" about knobs for now.

[westernlancia]

Sorry Mark I mis-understood, I thought you were referring to the people who drove them..
Am I alone in thinking this?
Paul 

The title was intentionally ambiguous. Happy to chat about the alternative

What about knobs who name Peugeots?

They've got themselves in a Tiz here. Once upon a time there were the 301-305 saloons all trundling along in numerical order without issue, then in 1986 someone said let's make our first medium sized hatchback & call it the 309 to sit alongside the 205 hatchback, 505 & 604 saloons. From this followed the 306, the 307 & the 308 hatches and now we have the latest  hatchback in the line up with this smart uncluttered dash & what have they gone & called it? Not the 309 cos its already happened & not the 310 but the 308 (Mk2) .
Talk about a cock up!

Outside Western Europe the latest model is called the 301... http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_301_(2012)