A mouse is closer to a touchscreen IMO, than a computer with buttons. In my view, using 'tab' to go from option to option is more akin to the ****, whereas with a mouse you can 'touch' exactly whatever spot on the screen you want. It is even closer to a touchscreen in my Tablet PC when I have a stylus and literally go hand to screen as if hand to paper.

If Lexus changes away from touchscreen I wil be VERY, VERY disappointed. I have been in cars with both and by far the touchscreen is more intuitive to me. I wouldn't mind however if Lexus added a joystick to supplement the touchscreen, and have the best of both worlds.

But considering that the LS 460 launched with a touchscreen, I think it's safe to say that the Lexus lineup for years to come will be touchscreen-based.

Maybe there will be something exclusive for the IS-F. We did see ***** in some Lexus concepts...

 

My thing is if you are DRIVING, you HAVE to look at the screen to make sure you are turning and clicking the right way. Thus your eyes are now away from the road but on the screen. I am sure your body can memorize some but it is very complicated overall, click, press, tap, press, click, tap. You are going to look at the screen (and ascetically, many find the double dash not very good looking). This is what SURPRISED me most when BMW, who ALWAYS had driver's oriented dashes (turned to the driver) with buttons. They ABANDON this and go with flat dashes and I-drive. It still leaves me a little puzzled (I loved the driver's oriented dashes)

With buttons, your body MEMORIZES where they are and some buttons have indentions are tips to differentiate from others. In the GS, in what I thought was a great idea, Lexus moved a lot of rarely used buttons in a drop down box.

I find new BMW owners like I-drive, older and loyal owners hate it. Maybe BMW figured that new buyers were the key for more sales and they had to abandon old ways. Looking at SALES it is working.

Well both companies using voice activation and GPS reading to you, this way you can look straight ahead and say what you want "103.3 please" instead of pressing a button or click, push tap.

So I guess VOICE controls are the best thing?!

p.s-I posted in the business week article about BMW that they promise the next generation of cars to be basically computer environments. Should be interesting!

 

I can see that happening. I watch a lot of the Science channel. The cars of the future and the designs of the interior are very forward thinking.

My 645 BMW is like flying a fighter jet. I really like the headsup display (HUD). I wish Lexus would expand its use.

Also, I would love to have iDrive menus pop up on the HUD so i could select items without taking my eyes off the road. For now, just having all the info on HUD along with NAV direction information is a big plus.

 

lol, you and 5 other people love i-drive...

I had chance to drive 330xd yesterday, and i-drive was just funny. It is not safe at all, since it requires 3-4 more steps than touchscreen navigations. It is not intuitive either.

I very much doubt that Toyota/Lexus will go with ****, as it is one of the biggest complaints about BMW's these days...

 

I could not agree more. Don't compare iDrive. Use it with no preconceived notions and you too shall reap the rewards.

The biggest issue I have seen from folks is they only spent a few seconds with the system, and did not take the time to understand all the quick shortcuts, direct menu paths, etc. They think the main interface and chugging through all the menus is the only way to do something. If you look at a home PC, everything about it is not obvious. If you look at the Lexus nav, you assume you cannot do anything while driving, but then there is the hidden override sequence to unlock features. It is the same for iDrive. Those who are objective and give it a chance like any other computer controlled device, will be rewarded. For gosh sakes, 80 year old men are buying 7 series with it. If they can do it, and the young kids can do it, I am sure the 40-60 year olds can do it too.

 

From the above, it's clear as crystal that you pro-iDrive guys like the iDrive system because of all the aspects other than the iDrive controller. Vast array of customization options, quick button shortcuts, HUD, voice recognition that works, programmability while driving, etc. Guess what, I love them too!!! But those features have nothing to do with the real topic here--the iDrive controller **** itself--which you guys have not anything good to say about other than that it does not smear the screen. Those awesome conveniences (vast array of customization options, quick button shortcuts, HUD, voice recognition, programmability while driving, etc.) have nothing to do with the **** and can just as easily be implemented in a car with a touch screen. THOSE are what Lexus needs to learn from BMW, not the ****. Replace the **** with a touch screen interface and the BMW would be perfect too.

 

I guess I did not emphasize the point of the controller, I thought it was obvious. But you have made up your mind. That is cool.

 

If it's obvious say it please. All I see from your posts above are praises of other aspects of the iDrive system, which I agree with in the first place. But the point of the controller? Enlighten me please.

 

Once familiar with the menus and submenus, you will be able to use the haptic controller without looking at the iDrive screen, or very little. Another nice item is when using Sat Radio or an iPOD. With hundreds or Sat Radio channels and thousands of iPOD songs, you can scroll through them very easily. You see about 5 songs ahead and behind in one view which is very nice.

The main thing is the controller is by the shifter. Without looking to the right and down, taking your eyes off the road, and pressing the touch screen buttons, the drive is much safer. Lexus agrees, which is why they lock out the Lexus functions, and BMW has everything turned on.

 

it is much easier to look at your touch screen than controller... It is much easier to remember touch screen positions than controller positions.

it makes little sense. nobody likes i-drive except diehard fans. I cant imagine my wife, dad or my mother ever being able to use i-drive.

maybe it has something to do with BMW's sale dive in last few months? Or with Lexus's sales up?

I think sales pretty much prove our point.

 

Which BMW do you own?

 

Let me get this straight - you can remember touch screen positions but can not figure out I-Drive? Rainman is that you?

PS - Lexus sales excluding the IS are down by 8,694 this year.

 

Well one is visuospatial, the other one is sequential. Studies show that different people think differently. Males tend to do quite well in visuospatial reasoning, according to gender differences studies. Sequential might favor a more mathematical personality, but visuospatial has a mathematical component (geometrical) as well.

 

I looked at the Mercedes, BMW, G35....but kept coming back to Lexus. The Lexus nav is the best i have found on the market! To change to that iDrive would be a shame.

 

Well if you think about it, you know where the physical buttons are (Audio, Climate, Dest, Map etc) so you don't have to look to press those. For the on-screen buttons, you just glance and I'm sure your hand-eye coordination is good enough such that after a glance, your arm knows where to go.

With a controller, you can't just spin the wheel if you were to memorised. It's more likely, you'd go <click, click, click> and count the number of clicks to the desired option that you wanted to highlight.

Now for me, using a controller is much easier to navigate menus and I'd rather use i-Drive to scroll than press an arrow on the screen. However, for other things such as radio presets, a button works better.

I don't know why but I just couldn't select the damn radio station on the 3 series. I had 15 mins to do it and I couldn't. I found it frustrating because, I'm not old enough that I can't pick up new technology so I should be able to play around with i-Drive more easily than, say, my dad or grandpa.