This is my great-aunt Mary’s 2005 Cadillac DeVille. Her husband, my great-uncle Joe drives a similar, slightly updated version of this car, a 2006 Cadillac DTS. At 78 and 88 years old, respectively, neither of them do much serious driving anymore. Beyond an occasional 45-minute drive up to Boston, their driving is mainly limited to local errands such as going to the gym, church, and out to dinner. But with these cars getting on in age, for the past several years now, both of them have expressed desire to replace them with a new car.
Before these two Caddys, uncle Joe and aunt Mary used to purchase a new car every 3-5 years, so at 10 years, these cars have served them longer than any others in their lifetime. By no means do either of them urgently need to replace these cars, as both are in good mechanical order with exceptionally low mileage. That being said, they certainly have the financial means – so why shouldn’t they treat themselves to a new car?
The problem is, they’re afraid to. In the last five years, in-vehicle technology has advanced at an exponential pace no one could’ve imagined just ten years ago. While much of this technology has been implemented in the name of making driving safer (various blind-spot, collision alert, self braking, and voice-activated technologies), the thought of getting used to a new car with new technology can be daunting to anyone unfamiliar with them.
Additionally, the widespread replacement of intuitive physical buttons with touchscreens and flat buttons is an immensely difficult challenge for many people to adapt to. Cadillac’s CUE infotainment system found on new models such as the XTS, the car Joe and Mary would probably buy, has received especially strong criticism for its difficulty of use. As Mary said about her current DeVille, “If I want it warmer, I turn the dial one way, if I want it cooler, I turn it the other way”. Especially for those requiring reading glasses, trying to see the outlines of menu buttons on a touch screen is frustrating, not to mention unsafe while driving.
The way my uncle Joe put it, “We’ve been driving these cars for so long, and I know where everything is. I don’t need to look down at any of the controls, I just feel.” Now I should add that Joe and Mary are as sharp as they’ve always been, and do their best when it comes to learning new technology. The both use cellphones and he even owns an iPad which he mainly uses to read the Wall Street Journal and check the stock market daily. But trying to read a touchscreen and feel for non-raised buttons while driving is a different story.
The sad truth is that many collisions are caused by distractions or some erroneous action such as shifting into reverse instead of drive, or mistaking the gas pedal for the brake. New teenage drivers may be more likely to cause an accident, but the percentage also increased towards the other end of the age spectrum.
People of any age don’t need the unnecessary distractions while driving, especially when distractions are caused by the car itself. This isn’t to say that there aren’t many who both prefer the latest in-car technologies, and derive great benefit from them. However, there will always by plenty who simply aren’t comfortable with an overabundance of technology dominating their center console, particularly if they don’t plan on using many of these features.
In their final years of production, cars like the Buick Lucerne, previous-generation Toyota Avalon, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Cadillac DTS often received a lot of hate for being “geriatric”, “outdated”, and “behind-the-times”. I recall one automotive magazine even singling out the Lucerne for “still offering a bench seat and column shifter”.
But when you look at it from the other side, from people who bought these cars for their user-friendliness and familiarity, it’s easy to see that there is still a need for cars with a back-to-basics approach.
Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find cars of that type. The honest truth for those uncomfortable with high-technology is either try and adjust to a new car with confusing controls, or just keep driving what they currently have, which might be just what my great aunt and uncle will have to do.
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Frankly I’m happy with a screen if it actually does something. My Calais has this fairly sizeable screen, designed for nav which I don’t have (or can’t access without disk), but it does little else. It’s just a biggish screen telling me the radio station or the time. What happens when it breaks? Pointless.
I hate touchscreens I have an aftermarket sat nav in my car to use as a speedo its impossible to see,
Isuzu bless their little oriental hearts removed perfectly functional CD/steroes from their trucks recently and put in integrated touchscreen stereo sat nav backup camera setups low on the centre of the instrument panel exactly where you arent looking while backing up, yet the still fit mirrors in which you can see more, go figure
The latest Car & Driver had a letter from someone who is 88 who told them to stop fussing about the Cue system. He thinks it works just fine.
Always figured the old fart would be smarter than the Car and Driver crowd.
Exactly. See my comment below. I’m 63. After years of reading Car & Driver, Automobile, Motor Trend, etc., I’ve come to realize their reviews and rankings are like album reviews. Entertaining and essentially worthless. CUE is like Rush, unhip and fun to dump on, but a winner to those who get it.
By the way, assuming that elderly folks are not tech-savvy is a canard. As I waited to be seated for lunch at a restaurant last week, I watched a couple who were at least in their late seventies texting away on their smart phones. Let’s not forget that older folks these days are not exactly Civil War relics.
What a crock. I’ve owned two Caddy SRX’s, both with CUE, and I love it. Take the time to set the controls where you want them and then you’re set. The redundant controls on the steering wheel allow you to make changes without taking your eyes off the road. The car mags are like sheep. One dumps on CUE and then they all do. None of them have driven over 100,000 miles with it without incident. I’ve been given a 2013 SRX without CUE for a loaner and found the raft of buttons and switches even more confusing and confounding than CUE
That being said, the digital controls on my 2014 BMW 328ix ARE confusing and inconsistent and the touchscreen looks like someone glued a iPad on the dash.
This is the dash of a current model Peugeot 308. Looks very clean, almost simple. But that’s because almost everything has to be controlled through the touchscreen.
Ground control to Major Tom.
Love my Dart. Quick buttons for volume, station, climate zones, front and rear defrost, and one touch voice command for all functions… Change the display to navigation and take me home…
Funny thing is no one has mentioned in the comments about the Buick Reatta and how the touchscreen at the time was called a fad!
Not only does that whole Cadillac look much older than it is (but at least it escaped early Science and Whatever), but what were they thinking with the interior? Particularly in grey, those buttons and knobs look like ones in my 1990 Trans Sport. Which are just fine. For a 25 year old mini van.
They used to know how to look premium, and I guess, while all interiors have improved from the dark days, they’ve gotten a lot better.
I work on computers a lot. Like, a lot. I rip apart and put back together my own computer on a daily basis. I could put together something to run an entire house using an old Motorola Razor and a couple of arduino boards. Technology is something I understand. However, I understand the limits. I do not own a smart phone. I don’t even have a cellphone. If someone wants to call me, use my house phone. I know there are certain benefits to having a cellphone, but there’s nobody who would want to call me while I’m out and about anyway. I don’t like the fact that I had to buy a smart TV after my old TV died. It comes with programs and features I don’t use, and it doesn’t even have any buttons on the side for when I can’t find the remote.
This leads me into my next point. There is no need for all the controls in modern cars having to do with the touch screen in the center. I’ve been in a Ford Escape and used their system. I’ve been in a Lexus ES350 and used their system. I’ve been in a Chrysler 300 and used their system. As a man who’s only twenty years old and should love all of this, I hate it. The time wasted wading through menus, sub-menus, options, and tabs is dangerous when the average person around here is speeding along at 70 miles an hour on the interstate. I hate it because it’s dangerous, even for someone like me.
The easiest way to fix this is to get rid of the “infotainment” systems as they’re called. Backups cameras are going to be mandatory next year. I get that. Place the screen in on the driver’s dashboard. Have it to where the speedometer, tachometer, gear, and other information are displayed digitally under normal circumstances. Only when backing up should the backup camera show up instead of the speedometer and the tachometer. Less distractions, no more bright blue light flashing in the center stack of your car.
Secondly, USB and auxiliary input should be placed inside the small glove compartment in the center between the driver and passenger seats. This keeps the iPod/Phone/Moribund out of the way, and keeps the driver or passenger from reaching over to grab it every six seconds. Place a small screen with an LCD display at the top of the center stack in the dash. Either have it display the time when the radio’s off, or the radio station and the volume setting when the radio’s on. When turning one of the knobs for climate control or audio settings, have it display like “HEAT: 50/100 FAN: 25%” or “106.3FM 25% VOL/SIRIUSXM 107 25% VOL.” Have controls for the seats ON THE SEATS, and keep the standard controls for mirrors, doorlocks, windows and window locks on the door.
Doing all of that should prevent some three-toed moron from trying to find a Miley Cyrus song and ending up slamming into the Honda Odyssey in front of them.
My CTS with adaptive cruise control would not speed into the car in front. The seat also warns that you are drifting out of your lane. Still, I generally try to avoid getting involved with the screens if I am surrounded by morons talking/texting on their cell phones.
I think the complex control issue is most out of control on expensive cars. We recently bought an average price car, a 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe, and I really don’t have any problems with the dash. It has the base radio which has a small touch screen that doubles as the back up screen. The climate controls are conventional. Buttons on the wheel are useful and Bluetooth is easy to use. My 2011 Mustang is similarly straight forward on the dash. I haven’t had a chance to drive the new 2015 model.
I’m 54, am looking for a new car and absolutely hate this excessive gadget-mania. As far as I’m concerned, a car should have A/C, heated seats, PAS, radio (capable of input from any storage device, because we don’t have tape cassettes anymore, heh) a reversing camera (necessary since all modern cars have adopted the armored car looks now) and manual g/box (I consider the new robotic boxes in the realm of a gadget). None of the above should require more than simple control options. The rest is unnecessary and is really utterly useless when operating it safely requires stopping the car, fathoming where it is and how to operate it.
Oh, and the more of that rubbish you have in the car, the higher the chances it will go wrong (possibly causing other systems to shut down, stranding you somewhere in the process).
Oh, and in case anyone asks: at work I sit in front of a computer all day long, so I’m no stone age primitive. But what works on a computer does not necessarily translates well to driving conditions.
Brendan:
If your Aunt and Uncle would like to try out the Cue system without buying the car, there is an app for the iPad that has tutorials for how to use the system. I checked and this seems to still be available. My 2013 ATS came with an iPad with this preloaded, but Cadillac dropped this for 2014. Your Aunt and Uncle could get the app and play with the tutorials until they become very familiar with how Cue (and the current Cadillac dash) works.
Then they could go into the local dealer to sit in an XTS (or CTS?) and try to see if they can make it do stuff. The alternative would be to buy an Impala which may have an easier control setup.
Give me a voice activated GPS with a heads up screen on the windshield, and I would be happy. All the other stuff is too much, and is really no different from texting.
This thread has proved that over a hundred other folks share my hate for touchscreen dashes, but nobody’s addressed my top two gripes.
The screen in my 2013 Tiguan is aways dusty, and has no shielding from ambient light. In the day, it’s barely visible through sunglasses, and at night it’s distractingly bright. I’ve tried the adjustments, but their range is far too narrow for the vast brightness difference between Denver sunshine and night. Maybe they work better in Wolfsburg or Detroit- they probably do, but not where I drive.
Also troublesome is the fact that my car, moving rapidly on poorly-laid and frost-heaved roads, jiggles around a bit. Sometimes more than a bit, and that can spoil the aim of a touchscreen command. I think the knob-based screen navigation of an Audi might be better in this regard, because there’s a place to steady your hand.
My vehicle choices have been shaped by the touchscreen issue. My personal car, an ’09 GTI, is the latest model I can find with a stereo controlled by big, clear buttons and fixed knobs. I really can’t imagine myself buying anything newer, until the touchscreen phase is past. I’d prefer the screens of some Audis that retracts into the dash when not in use. But most cars, even some Audis, just plant a fixed screen standing atop the dash like a billboard. That would be ok- I could throw a plain towel over it and get about my business, LOOKING OUT THE WINDSHIELD!
I wonder how many accidents have been caused by distracted drivers playing with their infotainment systems? I bet the consumer reports people and any other in the motoring media just don’t want us to know and demand going back to simple. The car manufacturers also don’t want to go back as it is cheap stuff that they can add on prices.
We know that texting causes accidents. I don’t have a cell phone, and therefore can’t relate to texting vs touchscreen distraction, however I do have a Cue system. It is easy to get focused on the screen. On the other hand, you can glance at the screen while still keeping part of your vision on the road ahead. I usually make sure no one is coming up behind me to pass and that the road ahead is clear before jumping into the more involved stuff involving the screen. The Cue system limits what you can do while driving anyway. Probably the most distracting thing is browsing the radio stations available looking for PBS when you leave one stations range. Sometimes they are labeled.
One thing I can say with regard to navigation screens is that they are much easier and less distracting to use than trying to look at a paper road map while driving.
“In their final years of production, cars like the Buick Lucerne, previous-generation Toyota Avalon, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Cadillac DTS often received a lot of hate for being “geriatric”, “outdated”, and “behind-the-times”. I recall one automotive magazine even singling out the Lucerne for “still offering a bench seat and column shifter”‘
Those were pretty much the last generation GM cars I actually liked, especially the type of Deville your great aunt and uncle have. I thought the front seat set up was pretty much perfect (plenty of storage and cup holders without those damn consoles) and they were very comfortable. About the only way I would improve them would be to add a system by which you could attach your own phone to the car to play music and such. I’d also rather have some sort of glitzed up dials vs. the digital dash that the Deville has. Its Texas Instruments-esque green display was cool back in the 80s, by the 2000s it was horribly dated and would have been much better served with the classic gauge.
As to the various infotainment systems, I really think the point is to make you personalized adjustments well before you even start driving and then rely on the basic button controls. At least that is how I use my UConnect on the 300. With things set already, all I basically have to do is make any music or environmental adjustments via the old school wheel or dash mounted buttons.
I’ll be a lone voice in the wilderness here and say that I love loads of buttons and features! This started back in 1984 with the multi-buttoned trip computer in a family friend’s Ford Sierra Ghia. I read the manuals (I’m currently slogging through the Peugeot’s) and learn how to work everything. I’m often surprised by some of the features/functions that I didn’t know existed – eg when exiting the Peugeot, if I flick the column stalk for the lights, they illuminate for 30 seconds before shutting off. Having said that, the easiest-to-use interior I’ve found was in my old Mazda6 – nice rotary controls for the a/c, big, simple well-labelled buttons for the ICE.
As a 22 year old, I despite these features. I can hardly operate a touchscreen phone while driving. I need to sometimes for navigation, but I feel very unsafe while doing so. I don’t need to take my eyes off the road to perform any function in my 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix. Next car will probably be a used one from around 2009, when these systems were optional. In addition to being a distraction, I can only imagine how devastating it would be when the touchscreen gets wonky (THEY ALWAYS DO,) the display stops working, and other issues. More and more essential components are being loaded into these things. It’s not just infotainment systems anymore… besides the steering wheel and pedals, these are becoming the only way the driver can interface with the car. If one thing goes wrong with it, there goes a massive amount of functionality. What a disaster.
I used to be an insurance adjuster. At least one insurance company I dealt with would occasionally fix what should have been a total loss, if the owner was really old. Their rationale was that the owner would have a tough time adjusting to different control placements in a replacement car and would be prone to having another accident.
There is some logic to that, I think.