2022 Honda Civic Dashboard
It has been an accepted idiom for generations that the dashboard of modern cars had two distinct head units – one for climate control, and one for entertainment (radio/CD/cassette, etc.). Of course separate radio head units are long gone for most cars, but the idea of having radio and climate controls in their own dedicated section of the dashboard has persisted, at least until recently.
Honda has been making a lot of noise about the simplified dashboard of the just-announced 2022 Honda Civic, which removes the audio head unit (and its associated controls) for a simplified layout (pictured above). At first glance, the minimalist layout does seem simpler, with the controls boiled down to just the essentials – three dials for the climate control, and everything else basically relegated to the central touchscreen. According to Honda, one of the benefits afforded by the removal of the radio head unit is a lower overall cowl. But this simplicity comes with a steep price, one that may be too steep for some Curbivores to bear.
Mazda3 Interior. Hey, where’s the radio?
While Honda may be the first mainstream manufacturer to embrace this philosophy of eliminating audio controls from the dashboard, they are hardly the first. I noticed this on the new-for-2019 fourth-generation Mazda 3, and before that on my own 2017 Audi A3, which I will use for the remainder of this article, since it is the car I am most familiar with.
Audi A3 Interior
So how does a radio without a head unit work? Let’s take a look. For starters, the driver is expected to use the steering wheel controls for most of their tasks, including volume control, track selection, audio source selection, and muting the sound. That’s great for the driver, but what’s the passenger supposed to do?
Audi A3 Passenger Volume Control
In my A3 (and in the Mazda3), a second satellite volume control on the center console is provided so that the passenger can adjust the volume and perform a few other tasks. This knob can be rocked to the left and right to advance the music selection (or radio station) forward and back. Pressing down on the button pauses playback.
Audi glove box-mounted media player.
So what if you want to listen to physical media? On the Audi, the disc player (and SD-card slots) has been banished to the glovebox, freeing up space on the dashboard, but taking up precious space in the glove box. What do you do if you need to flip a disk while driving? Not sure, but how many people still listen to CDs? I have a hunch I’m about to find out.
So what do you think of this latest trend in removing the audio controls and head unit from the dashboard and locating them elsewhere in the car? If it helps the Civic get back to ’80s style “road on your lap” low cowls, then perhaps it is worth it. On the other hand, I get lots of passengers turning the fan knob in the center of the dash of my A3 thinking that it’s the volume control, because that’s where they expect it to be.
My primary concern is that, unless a cottage industry for display repair springs up, the future owner of a vehicle older than 10+ years could be out of luck if the touchscreen goes dead. I’ve never been much of an audio upgrader, but I can see how audiophiles won’t like this.
When you say “flip a disk while driving,” do you mean change a disk? Or am I missing something, since all but a few media disks and cards today are one-sided?
That cottage industry already exists, the same as the cottage industry that fixed and still fixes regular radios, regular odometer/speedometers, and anything else electronic or mechanical, all of that “conventional” stuff has a history of eventual failure too, usually being built to a price point. There is nothing particularly complex about an automotive interface screen besides being built somewhat more robustly than that of a laptop, whereas the in-car screen will never fall off a table or onto a sidewalk. I personally can’t fix a touch screen, but I can’t fix or build a laptop either, I have a guy for that, he on the other hand can’t fathom how to rotate his tires himself or change his oil.
There are also plenty of junkyards and salvage yards where many, many of these devices are harvested, checked/refurbished or not and resold on the used market, stuff as prosaic as the 2008 Mopar Minivans used them and they aren’t hard or expensive to find/replace, just pop off the bezel, undo a few screws and several plugs in the back.
The aftermarket radio industry is thriving here upgrading exJDM cars to products that will work locally rados navigation touch screens all arrive exJDM in Japanese with zero local capability and since few buyers read japanese and would like to hear their usual radio programming or be able to connect their phones they get everything swapped over or reprogrammed.
I agree with BuzzDog on touchscreens. Having the audio controls as dials is nice. It would be nice to have at least dials for volume and tuning. Also I think that the climate controls should be separate from the audio/navigation/back up camera screen. Having actual dials helps keep your eyes on the road. They can be controlled by feel. It makes the cars cheaper to fix and some car dealers do not warranty the “electronics” part of used cars including touch screens. Simple is better. Also keeps you less distracted when driving.
Not every car has really moved them. The Tesla and others have it all or mostly incorporated into the center screen, accessible to the passenger as well. Love it or hate it, screens (in most all cars) have become the multifunction control center and the screens are higher then the buried radios of yore because it’s safer – the Mk2 Golf/Jetta was probably the high point for road safety vs conventional radios. In almost every case you can also control both the input and tuning via voice command. And contrary to common predictions, they (screen based interfaces) don’t seem to fail/break very often. Funnily enough it is the very basic for the current era AM/FM/CD in our 2015 Jeep that has failed some time back, refusing to play FM stations without being completely garbled, this is apparently a common failure in the base 130 radio. We just connect the phone through it instead.
A lot of the problem/solution is due to modern options. As you noted, your A3 has card and CD slots in the glovebox which seems a terrible option (Our Touareg was the same way and hence not used once, this was back in 2012 when CDs were still popular.). How is that supposed to be even remotely (pun alert!) usable when in motion?
The Tesla though (whose volume is controllable either one the screen or by one of the two multifunction buttons on the steering wheel), offers up FM radio, Spotify, streaming music with dozens (hundreds?) of pre-curated stations/channels that allow you to skip tracks or mark favorites on the fly, podcasts, or bluetooth-connect your phone or other audio storage device for use that auto-connects and picks up where you left off mid-song last time even if others have been in the car since with their own setup (you set up a hierachy for when multiple devices are in the car at the same time). No, not the system for the luddite lugging the case of 8-tracks, but it works well for the other 99.9% that are able to change the channel on their TV without getting up off the couch and turning the dial manually.
One last point though – Thinking back to when a real radio was a thing and the main option – A lot of my time driving was spent flipping between presets and tuning to other stations due to commercials. Or swapping sides of tapes (pre-auto-reverse) or simply swapping out tapes and CDs (physical media). That has for the most part gone away with Satellite radio (no ads), stuff like Spotify (plays your own playlist or suggests other stuff that is easy to skip a song with), your own ipod or ipod like playlists for whatever mood has struck with the result that I can drive hundreds or more miles without ever making a change to the system. Hence the volume adjustment has become the most important feature and the knob where yours has it seems to work well not just for the passenger, but as a driver I sometimes use that one as well. It must drive you nuts to have a passenger that is unfamiliar with your car inadvertently turn your auto-HVAC to manual mode by turning the dial!
I like it better than the Audio/Climate stack in my 2009 Civic. Granted, it’s getting up there in years. I probably wouldn’t get another Civic and even if I did, it wouldn’t be brand new.
My (new) used car is the newest we’ve had, and there isn’t a touchscreen, nor a color screen/backup cam/nav, but there is more info on it than anything I’ve used. By which I mean it feeds the artist/song title/call letters thing, and also there is information there which I can’t get from the not-there old-school sliding or rotating knob HVAC controls
However, I have quickly become very used to the up/down radio preset and up/down volume at my thumb’s reach on the steering wheel. Whereas my cranky old self can glimpse for a microsecond to the regular controls (then I return my eyes to the road), or put my hand on one and know where the others are, the not-even-looking steering wheel control is neat.
If everything else continues to go towards touchscreens and menus I guess I want to keep this car forever. I mean, I’m quite good at operating a computer (I started touch-typing on a typewriter), but that’s not something I want to do when I’m driving.
Note: I don’t have a smartphone, which means there are things I haven’t habituated myself to which most of you have.
Yay – another Dumfone user! You are not alone.
Overall I’m not a fan of so many controls combined on touchscreens, but it’s a trend that will continue. Some level of duplicate, more-intuitive controls makes sense, but I’m not sure the steering wheel is the place. On our cars, there are so many buttons and toggles on the wheel that eyes are diverted pretty significantly from the road ahead, while the dash is still an easy reach and keeps the road in better view.
I understand that some very new cars, perhaps Teslas, will even put the transmission controls on the touch screen. In the event of a screen failure, I suppose one is stranded. Seems silly.
For all the talk of the automobile being boiled down to the essentials and function and safety being paramount over the irresponsible and wasteful practices of aesthetics of the past, I’m failing to see where our modern enlightened philosophy is paying off in the interior department. This is faux minimalism, if they have to hide functional components inside the glove box so they’re out of sight it’s for aesthetics, not function. Custom car builders have been doing that for years hiding modern aftermarket head units for custom stereos in the glove box or center console so a modern stereo wouldn’t clash with the classic aesthetics.
Low cowl my butt. Everything necessary in a low cowl 80s Honda was there intuitively in the center of the dash where it belonged, is Honda actually suggesting that a channel knob, a volume knob, a text display a CD slot and a slot or two is the reason they raised the cowl since? Or is this a fake lowering of the cowl where the dash *appears” lower but the actual structural cowl is the same height as it has been?
Putting buttons on the steering wheel is fine, I’ve used them in cars with them, but I don’t find them any more intuitive than the controls on the center stack especially if they’re rotary knobs, if I’m unfamiliar with the car I still need to glance down to confidently press volume or channel/track, and being buttons they’re simply less intuitive when you do get familiar with the car than rotary knobs. Plus I know it’s not what they taught me in drivers ed but I’m not a 9 and 3 steerer, I’m often not even a two handed steerer, so I even have to move my hands to get to the wheel controls on the spokes anyway.
For me, the biggest irritant is the functionality of the station “up/down” button on the steering wheel (which usually also skips tracks). I listen to a lot of satellite radio, and I enjoy a few dozen of the channels. On most cars, the up/down button cycles through your presets, which is great. But my wife’s Mustang can hold a piddly 15 present stations–which is crazy, since it’s all screen-based and there are no hard buttons to limit the number of choices. We also have a Nissan and a Cadillac, and they each hold 40 (maybe more) stations, so those cars have space for all of our satellite stations.
But that does remind me of another thing to kvetch about: The Cadillac takes forever to load a new satellite station. Well, not forever, but maybe 5 seconds. It might not seem like a lot, but it feels like ages when you’re flipping through channels. The other cars take too long as well, but it’s not as egregious as the Cadillac.
The Cadillac has that stupid touch-slider for the volume control; some Hondas had the same thing. Both have gone back to sensible knobs… good riddance.
Agree fully, David. I would also gladly trade the wheel button that cycles through various media choices for one which did a search/scan radio function. We do a lot of long distance driving, so our presets are pretty worthless at times, and searching via dash controls means reaching over for extended time periods… even worse with touchscreens as a finger can easily drift off a “button.”
(Confession: I’m too cheap for an XM subscription, though I’d take three if the teaser 6 month rates were held permanently.)
A bit off topic but since you brought it up… I just had my SiriusXM subscription come to a close, and after being sent repeated letters and emails to renew, I tried to renew at the offered rate (3 yrs @ 99.00) but got nothing but a runaround after repeated tries. So now I’m back to regular radio “we never play more than 2 minutes of commercials!” on FM, or interesting garbled spacey / mechanical noises on AM as most of my driving is along roads with adjacent power lines.
I agree with you on this crap, my ’15 ATS has this touch slide crap. It takes about 15 jabs at the dash if you are adjusting the temp from its coldest setting to its hottest setting. A car with a knob can be done in a split second and I wouldn’t even have to look away to do it.
So many of these screens look like they were an after thought when they were installed. Looks like a tombstone stuck in the ground.
The Caddy also has buttons on the steering wheel but you need the damn owners manual to figure out how must the crap works, no intuitive design. Love the car, hate some of the execution.
1 issue I see is that a excellent car with a 5 or more year old, totally out of date, touchscreen makes for a totally outdated car.
Take the 2004-08 Acura TSX. An excellent car, a modern sophisticated suspension, fantastic K24 engine, excellent 6 speed manual trans, a large following with huge aftermarket support but…
If you have the OEM touchscreen, the car is totally lame. The old touchscreen takes forever to boot up, the touchscreen is slow, poor resolution, no Android auto, no more navigation updates, no wifi, quirky, etc. It’s like a 15 year old PC or cell phone… Its useless and who wants a 15 year old PC or cell phone.
So most folks are converting the TSX touchscreen to the non-touchscreen dash, or an aftermarket Android touchscreen which is not easy.
The older TSX’s without the factory touchscreen are much more desirable these days.
The 2021 Civic may still be an excellent car in 15 years, with a following and aftermarket support, but that touchscreen may end up being totally useless.
That’s being solved in newer cars with over the air updates on both the Tesla and the Mustang Mach-E and others. A way to completely update both the information displayed, how it’s displayed and the way it’s used with the ability to add more functionality as it becomes available without the need for hardware changes and no “blanks” for capability that wasn’t installed, it just simply isn’t there. I don’t see it being particular complex to in the future have aftermarket companies design ways to have some of this be user-upgradable, in similar ways to how users can reprogram factory ECUs already.
I still play CDs both at home and in the car via built-in or aftermarket CD players. For selection and variety, and for my tastes, this work for me.
My newest car has satellite radio but for me the selection is abysmal. There are dozens of channels of pop, soft rock, hard rock, middle-road rock, acid rock, rap, hip-hop (those last two are apparently distinguished from each other) and other ill-defined genres…hundreds in all. For jazz there are a few. For classical, one.
On the air there is one classical station…actually three receivable ones but they are all simulcast; and three stations that play jazz, but they are at the far fringe of reception.
If I were to download music to my phone, I would probably use low bitrate mp3 to fit more into the SD card, and then have to pair the phone with the car radio using Bluetooth, a cord or an FM modulator, depending on which car.
I can easily select one, or a few, or a dozen CDs from a collection of about a thousand, and have enough in the car for hours.
All that aside, whenever I rent a car that has a unified touchscreen, I am reminded of trying to use the ovoid Integrated Control Panel in the 1996-1999 Ford Taurus; and also of the limited choice available in the media that one can access without “bringing my own.”
Further, to my way of thinking, controls on the steering wheel should be directly related to driving. Manual shifting paddles, OK. Cruise control, OK. Performance/standard engine/transmission modes, OK. Radio? HVAC? Funny mode buttons to select what the touchscreen is supposed to do (or on some cars, to display in what language)? Funny miscellaneous buttons on the BACK of the steering wheel? HUH?????
I do agree that integrating the touchscreen into the dash is a good idea, styling-wise. Some of them look like you stuck a computer tablet onto the top of the dash using a glob of modeling clay. Not only do they obstruct the view but they are damned UGLY.
(NOTE: Duplicate post, on purpose. Something seems to be glitched in the WordPress account and I’m trying again, as a “guest.”
(NOTE: Duplicate post, on purpose. Something seems to be glitched in the WordPress account and I’m trying again, as a “guest.”
May be seeing same issue; occasionally my posts disappear.
I’m the long retired Luddite who despises touch screens, period. I don’t want or need dozens of option menus for some basic climate, or audio access while weaving along at 70 mph avoiding the driving-texting a’holes we’re surrounded by. Perhaps, you folks who spend endless hours off commute time, or have to satisfy the whining of 3 restless kids on a nightmare vacation, NEED 101 options for rolling existence. But, as life gets less complex beyond the salary-man days, I’d pay extra for a “Geezer Option” dash on any NEW car, (which I haven’t bought in nearly 5 decades). All knobs, & a panel that you can actually see when the sun shines on it. And, if a car ain’t got a CD player, you can keep it. “AND, get off my climate control knobs!!”.
In the early ’70s GM was prone to putting their HVAC controls to the left of the driver, which with their relative simplicity wasn’t a big deal. With GM’s sweep of downsizing, they got with the program and started doing very Ford like center stacks with HVAC, audio and center vents.
This has been a standard I’ve appreciated, especially in the years I was raising my family. We dealt with front / rear HVAC systems, and infotainment systems including rear video screens, various USB cables, Bluetooth, DVDs, CDs and even cassettes.
On long trips, that center stack was a Godsend. My wife could serve as the director of entertainment and sort out whether the kids should have control of their HVAC in the back. My wife figured out one trick feature where the kids could watch DVDs and get their audio through headsets while the adults had entertainment on the front car speakers.
Even with kid issues mostly in the rear view mirror, it’s still kind of fun to have my wife hook up her Spotify to various cars and share her finds and curated soundtracks.
In the tradition of Siskel and Ebert, my wife and I vote two thumbs down to driver centric only entertainment controls.
Not as benign as it looks, 2005 Ford Freestyle with Dual Air and rear DVD….
I’ve been pleased with my Golf Alltrack’s setup. All climate and touch screen radio head controls are in the monolithic center stack and available to both driver and passenger. Traditional volume and tuning knobs are also provided.
Like your A3, it has the SD card and CD in the glove box. At first, I found it annoying, but that is my backup to listening to Sirius XM most of the time. Yes, it’s still the case sometimes that there’s hundreds of channels and “nothing’s on”. That’s when you flip to a Stones CD. Under the right circumstances, I can manage a disc change while underway.
Aesthetically, I prefer the monolithic in-dash screen myself.
We had a previous post from some one with a buddy in auto design. The real reason is touch screens are low cost than conventional buttons and sliders.
+1
That’s the only thing driving design.
How many still use a CD? Well since my daily drivers are a 91 and two 04 cars I have the pleasure of no touch screens but I have a CD slot which I use for my collection. The 91 does have a replacement head unit with a USB slot for an iTune player where I use one with all my records and CDs on it from 1966 to the tune of close to 1000 songs. My wife’s Mazda 3 does have a basic screen only so radio controlled either by buttons on the wheel or the knob in the console. I believe she sticks to one station though. All other cars are AM radio only.
The first aftermarket purchase I made for my then-new ’00 New Beetle TDI was a 6-disc CD changer that mounted in the trunk – the wiring was already there from the factory so it was an easy install. Not long after I made the switch from a flip to a smart phone, I bought a bluetooth adapter that plugged into the same harness and removed the CD changer. Never missed it.
My ’15 RAM 2500 came with the base radio that had a small non-touch LCD screen and only AM/FM/XM capabilities. I replaced that with a CarPlay-capable “mechless” (no CD) head unit and ran a cable up through the dash so I can plug my phone in on longer trips to use Maps on the display.
The ’18 Chevrolet SS uses a setup where the touch display in the dash is connected by a cable to a ‘silver box’ (essentially a head unit) buried on the firewall – no CD player. Some of the HVAC functions are shared with this unit, which unfortunately makes it impossible to replace with any aftermarket unit. The silver box is basically 2012-era GM technology and cannot do CarPlay, etc.
Our ’18 TourX also has an integrated system (no CD player), and probably works the best of the three. You can control both audio and basic HVAC functions via knobs on the dash or all functions using on-screen controls.
My wife and I had the unfortunate task of replacing both our cars in the last year and a half. Her 03 minivan had both a cd and a cassette player, knobs and buttons; it was replaced by a 2016 Honda Pilot with a big touchscreen. No CD player and not a single knob. And don’t ask about the keyless ignition, I’m glad she likes the car, I’m not a big fan. My 01 civic was very basic, a single CD player, knobs and buttons. It was replaced by a 2018 Civic which I really like; while it has a screen for the backup camera, it has buttons and knobs on the radio, though no CD player. And a real ignition key, I guess this is modern minimalism… now what do I do with all those cds?
Slowly it seems the technology from trucks is trickling down to cars driver only and centric controls have been in trucks for quite some time everything like radio phone cruise and engine brake settings info screen display, are on the steering wheel in fact some trucks let you leave your feet flat on the floor and can be driven with you thumbs only.
Radio? What’s that? The only thing I listen to in the car is streaming on my phone or stored music on it. There’s nothing on radio that interests me anymore. I prefer to listen to my own “radio” station.
Amen to that! TV, too.
Yep, I’m old.
NPR is the only station I listen to in the car.
With all the voices in my head I don’t need a radio. And squirrels
I learned at 16 (1966) that the driver controls the radio. Last I’ve noticed said law has not been repealed. So why should the passenger have radio/audio system access?
My family’s first vehicle with a radio came in 1982; AM and cassette player – whoopee!
I wholeheartedly agree on the driver having the choice of what to listen to. The driver’s the one doing the work. With that proviso, I’ve always been happy to let the passenger work the sound machinery. Especially when there’s a revolution going on in the back seat over what the kids want to listen to. Driving was much easier than sorting the kids out!
This divide truly is an interesting subject in that it begs the question “when does one stop pursuing modern technologies in favor of what is familiar”. I’m sure we all do it to one level or another, but the fact is things change. The worry about a dead screen is literally today’s version of power windows break and are expensive to repair. Yeah stuff breaks. I googled the interface off a 2005 Acura TL to see what it would cost if it did die. Anywhere from $80-175 Dollars for a refurbished working unit. I’m not loosing sleep over that, and that’s if it does actually fail (ours didn’t in 13 years). I also notice often the vocal opponents will point out “I don’t have a smartphone”. Great, if that’s your prerogative. That is nowhere near the norm or expectations of people who do spend money on a NEW car. My Parents bought a car with this setup LONG before I finally got them in a smartphone, and it took all of 20 minutes to explain the wheel/rotary console dial setup. And even if manufacturers offered the old style setup still, has anyone thought about resale? Nobody in 2025 would touch it.
The ‘dead screen’ problem. That’s like the early ’80s digital dash displays.
I once drove an ’84 Mitsubishi Magna Elite (top model, digital dash) home for a daughter’s friend who lacked a license. The car was in great condition, drove beautifully, but with one problem – the digital dash was kaput. Technically this made it unroadworthy, having no functional speedo. To make things more interesting, the drive was on country roads, at night. It was a weird sensation to be driving along in this beautiful car with absolutely no gauges at all, trying to gauge my speed by how fast the trees were passing. Highly illegal, too. Fortunately it was a road I knew well, and the nearest operational police station was about 30km away.
From what I remember, they were never able to affordably get the dash working, so the car could never be registered. Although the father was mechanically minded and had done restoration work, these electronics seemed to be beyond him, and I guess converting to the mechanical dash was too tricky. The car just became a farm hack. Shame; it had been immaculate.
I am more concerned about climate controls disappearing and don’t get me started on Tesla’s brilliant idea of using a touchscreen slider for gear selection. I firmly believe that physical controls with physical feedback are essential for things like turning on the defroster and setting temperature and fan. These are things that should be doable by feel without taking your eyes off the road.
I’m less concerned about radio controls since they usually have some sort of remote. M one car without a standalone DIN format “radio” is a Mazda CX-5 and like the Mazda3 the radio/CD etc. is operated primarily by the steering wheel controls and the “i-drive” knob. This does provide a knob for radio tuning in one mode and also a dedicated volume/mute control which I use more often than the steering wheel button. Having the screen right up under the windshield is definite benefit since your eyeline is closer to the road. The tradeoff of making the radio hard to replace/repair is that it’s now almost impossible to steal unlike 80s vintage DIN radios that could be gone in seconds.
That said the single DIN radio in my truck is also top of the stack and easy to see and control, plus it has passenger controls in the form of a wireless remote, which is helpful because my wife has short arms and can’t reach the radio. The truck also has a 3 knob climate control with positive clicks easily operated by feel while wearing gloves.
The best answer is likely another question: “who still listens to the radio?”
If yes, buy a well maintained used car, I did. Remember any Mercedes with numeric keypad controls? As recent as the last E-Class? Also vestigial.
I like Ron’s “Geezer Option” idea. 🙂
As somebody who learnt in the sixties and is no longer driving, and in the early stages of dementia, I find modern cars’ control layouts just overwhelming. My last car, a 2005 Mazda 3, was quite complex enough for me to manage. The stereo was pretty much redundant above city speeds anyway, due to the road noise from the tyres, though I appreciated the 6 CD capability, with some basic controls on the steering wheel. Everything was laid out in its own dedicated area of the dash, most things readily operated by feel. I appreciated being able to keep my eyes on the road.
I’m sure the ’15 Mini Cooper my wife used to drive had many dash-type capabilities we never discovered. IIRC there was a CD slot that was never used; we appreciated the versatility of being able to put most of the music we were likely to want onto a USB, though I let her figure out how to navigate around the folders our daughter set up. I’d just listen.
What I do wonder about though is people who have mild cognitive impairment, and older folk who are not used to smartphones or computers. One friend in particular springs to mind. He drives an immaculate first-gen Mazda 6 he has owned from new. He’ll have to replace that some day. I wonder how many ordinary driving functions he’ll be able to access? Or will he have to buy a used car simply to get something he can drive?
In my car, I use the audio system for AM, FM, sometimes XM (when it’s free), CD’s, and the USB drive. If I’m listening to the game on AM, I may change my mind and put on FM to get some tunes or the traffic. If I don’t like the music they are playing, my go to is my USB drive. I want to be able to make all those changes without being distracted from driving. As long as the USB drive is inserted into the port, I don’t need to get to it. I only ever carry a CD one at a time, if I haven’t ripped the tracks to the USB.
If new cars don’t come with CD players, so be it. I saw a 1955 Cadillac Series 75 Imperial Limousine a few weeks ago that still had its factory record player. Times move along.
Please just keep the audio interfaces simple and accessible enough without me having to take my eyes off the road, for more than a second or two, or at all.
The more electronics (and other options) the higher the profit.
Except when a plant has to shut down for lack of chips that power infotainment centers and other assorted items now deemed necessary.
Basic electronics that power/control a vehicle’s basic operations have been a tremendous advancement in the overall reliability and safety of a vehicle.
Of my friends who own vehicles with all of today’s “latest and greatest” technology, the shine mostly wears off soon enough. In some cases, rather quickly.
I still feel that “onward and upward” is the only path to take for the future. Some of it just isn’t for me.
I don’t mind the CUE system in our 2017 XTS (writeup coming soon), but what I do hate is the abysmal AM/FM reception caused by the in glass antenna and the poor DSP based tuner. The power antenna and aftermarket 10 year old Sony head unit in the 93 Fleetwood kicks its ass in that department.
Looks and aerodynamics be damned…give me back the whip antenna!
The location of the CD player is laugh worthy on the ND1 MX-5.
Late to the party here, Tom/Everyone, but one minor observation regarding the Civic. The soon to be released 2022 model isn’t the first model to do away with the head unit. When I bought my 2016 Civic EX-T Coupe back then, it was already gone from their 10-speaker audio system.
In fact, so many complained (as are doing here in response to this QOTD) about the lack of a volume knob, that Honda “sold out like Metallica” and put one back in. There were already TWO ways to work the volume: the faux slider on the left side of the touch screen, and the more convenient slider/switch on the steering wheel.
So many complain about the distraction of working the stereo this way, but once you are used to it, it’s not that big of a deal. The Honda’s screen is so well integrated into the dash (about where the stereo and HVAC controls should be), that you only need a quick glance, if you have to even glance at all!
If you want, you can have your audio information displayed on the speedometer. I personally prefer the trip information there, but with a click of the control buttons (on the steering wheel), you can do everything without taking your eyes off the road to look at the big-screen, except for maybe a split second to look at the speedometer. You do that ANYWAY when driving a car.
I really don’t understand why this is so difficult for folks to get used to. Sure, when the car is new, there is a learning curve, but for the most part, the manufacturers do their homework to make these things as functional and easy to use as possible.
Personally, I LIKE having that left knob be for the HVAC instead of Volume, as I can turn the temperature up or down, if I want without a glance. My climate control is a set it and forget it kind of affair. That said, if I want to deviate from standard, it’s just a button push (and/or a touch screen function) away. In fact, some of the more important HVAC functions (like blasting the defroster) are quick button pushes and no need to even use the infotainment screen.
Just some background: I am about a month out from turning 61, and if this old dude can figure it out, so can you.
As a quick follow up to this posted comment, and a big thank you to the CC Staff Member kind enough to retrieve it, here’s a quick screenshot of the Speedometer/Tach with audio information in it, In this case, I was playing music off of my iPad, but it works just as well with a thumb drive.
And yes, CD(s) were ripped to MP3 files to facilitate this, as my last car with a CD player is my 2007 Mustang….
…and here’s a quick screen shot of the buttons on the left side of the steering wheel. This little touch sensitive slider for volume control took some getting used to, but then so did the turn signal stalk horn switch that Ford used back in the late seventies and early eighties that everyone likes to hate on here.
The learning curve for each of these was about two weeks, and once learned, it was committed to muscle memory. Easy Peasy.
BTW, this post must hate me, because while I was able to post comments to another post today, this one required a retrieval again. And to whomever is bailing me out here, a BIG THANKS AGAIN!
I don’t use the audio control beyond the steering column, so even in my old Crown Vic Sport, I’m fine with getting rid of the dash components. I connect my phone and don’t even use the audio controls. I haven’t played a CD since 2005.