[agloe_dreams]

> More car manufacturers seem to be adopting the wheel to control CarPlay which is a lot nicer than reaching over to use the touch screen.

Who? Virtually all makes are moving to all-touch infotainment systems, even VW here. The VW change is that they were using weird touch-sensitive 'buttons' for volume and steering wheel control and you literally couldn't rest your fingers on the steering wheel. The only reason touch suckls on Mazda is that the display is placed too far away to be reached on purpose.

[lacker]

Well, I can see it being a personal preference. I rent a bunch of different SUVs when I travel so I have some experience with most of the different companies' alternatives. Some of them have rotary knobs / scroll wheels, some don't.

I prefer using the knob to touching the screen. It's much faster, primarily. You have some touch feedback so you don't really need to be looking at the screen for very long. You don't need to move your torso, so you can manipulate the wheel while you're driving normally with your left hand.

I can see it depending on what you're doing with the system. Personally I'm either using Spotify or Google Maps, both of which work quite nicely with the scroll wheel.

[xethos]

> the display is placed too far away to be reached on purpose.

... because there's a dial, obviating the need for touch. Beyond that, without needing to use touch, the screen can be placed further up and forward - meaning there's less "travel" for your eyes between looking at the road and glancing at the centre display.

[JohnFen]

> The only reason touch suckls on Mazda is that the display is placed too far away to be reached on purpose.

Well, that certainly makes it worse on Mazdas, but those touch screens are terrible on everything.