Almost nice

Cheeky.

Indeed. Except that the MB clown is at least attempting an awkward smile.

This is something that I have started to notice more and more in cars and it can be rather unsettling. I’m glad there is more than one of us out there that sees these creep-tastic subtleties. 

well it falls within the margin of error.

Don’t agree in the slightest. 

Like the S class clown face

My first two cars had the old Buick touch-style controls for the HVAC like these:

Brand identity

Not-knob-knobs is actually what Ford is doing with their factory head units now 😆

I looked at that steering wheel and went straight to scary clown.

Agreed. Temp control, fan speed, fan direction, and I would also throw in a physical radio volume knob. Everything else can be touchscreen or whatever, but not those.

Not to mention cycling through those options while driving, because of course we will. 

Somehow Hyundai/Kia, for all their progress, can’t seem to not make the car feel cheap in some way.

My guess for the design of the steering wheel is that the flat bottom pieces are where people are going to rest their hands... you know, where your hands aren’t supposed to be on the steering wheel while driving.

Huhh, so close

I’ve always had good experiences with auto climate systems, in a modern 2017 Mazda and a 2004 BMW. In the winter, the systems wait until the coolant is warm enough before blasting the heat, then ramp down to normalize temp. In summer, you get full blast AC on recirculate when starting up a car that’s been baking in…

And putting controls I might want to mess with frequently in sub menus on that screen. Why the hell is bass and treble buried in a menu? When those were on a knob on the dash I could feel around and find them with one hand while I kept my eyes on the road.

How old are the cars you own? Pretty much all current generation auto climate control systems do this, and do it fairly well. If it’s cold, it will go to max heat as soon as heat is available then step it back as you reach your desired temperature. Same for when it’s hot in the cabin.