[xyzelement]

As someone who doesn't want to navigate the touchscreens, I love that my 2021 Highlander has physical climate controls.

But I also realized that you no longer need them. My wife set her climate control to 70 degrees and never touched it since. In the winter it warms her up, in the summer it cools her down. Her car is a perfect 70 degrees all year round.

So for her, it doesn't matter how inaccessible the controls are, she never uses them. I suspect at least in part, the less accessible design reflects the lower usage.

[sbradford26]

Yeah I think if manufacturers do a good job you don't really have to adjust the temperature often. But also it is also a learning curve for some people. My dad has a brand new F150 that he is always adjusting the temperature up and down and turning off the auto fan. It very much is the setting the thermostat higher in an attempt to heat the house faster.

[robertlagrant]

> It very much is the setting the thermostat higher in an attempt to heat the house faster.

This bugs me :) Having said that, I don't know if some cars apply an s-curve to their heat output that you could hack by doing this, so I keep my opinion to myself when I see people doing it.

[sbradford26]

It is his car so I let him do what he wants. I just make sure my mom sets the temperature and leaves it in her hybrid since setting it to max temperature and such causes it to get significantly worse fuel economy.

[neogodless]

When the sun is hitting me, I need it to be about 5 degrees cooler. Does the climate control account for that?

[cudgy]

Several cars with automatic climate control I owned have a sensor on the dash that detects sunlight and adjusts the system accordingly.

[xyzelement]

I dunno. I suppose in that case someone would just turn the one dial down, not fuck around with fan speeds etc.

[neogodless]

Then it still matters that the one dial is accessible. And ideally a physical dial...

[xyzelement]

Sure and I like those. But can we agree it's less relevant than decades ago?