Yeah but the Tesla implementations of these features still suck. "You get used to it" is a shitty sales pitch. Basically any other car with these features has a better implementation. Tesla does it different but not better. It isn't a matter of familiarity, these designs are just bad.
My 15 year old BMW:
Has seat memory tied to the key. I don't have to fiddle with a menu to save the setting. It just... remembers.
Has steering wheel buttons with labels. Using steering wheel buttons and three fingertip-reachable and physically distinct stalks I can run my (intermittent rain sensing!) wipers, cruise control, blinkers, headlights, radio, and phone (which can stay in my pocket!).
Has an iDrive knob that controls all non-driving-critical features but can still be safely operated when driving. This includes the navigation system but also things like car settings.
Keyless entry where I just grab the handle and pull (this is one operation, not two) and the car unlocks. This works on the front doors and the trunk. It also works to start the car. No phone interaction required. The key fob stays in my pocket. In 8 years of ownership I have changed the fob battery once. There's a physical lock cylinder in the door if my key fob or the car battery die. I can lock the car with a touch as well.
Has physical buttons for almost everything (except car settings and nav). Seats (including heaters), mirrors, windows, blinkers (including hazards), head lights, cruise control, radio (volume, tuner, track, presets), dual zone climate control, hill descent, etc.
They really don't suck. The Tesla UI is the best I've ever used in why car. They're unfamiliar to you.
The seat memory does remember. Not just for the physical key, but for your phone. You do nothing. If my wife gets in the car, it sets up the car for her. If I do, it sets it up for me. Neither of us touch anything, it's automatic depending on where our phones are.
The steering buttons aren't labeled for a reason! Because you can remap them. Which is awesome, because I can set them up exactly how I like them. I can put all the functionality you mentioned on the steering buttons.
It doesn't need an idrive button. It has voice. I don't look at the car to navigate. I tell it what I want. Same with other non critical functions.
It needs zero phone interactions. I walk to the car and open the door. That's it. I don't look at the phone. Don't wait. It just works. For every door and the trunk. You just never think about it.
The Tesla does all the things you listed vastly better. You just haven't learned to set them up and use them.
Every car has voice, it just does not work well in the US because street and establishment names are often not real words in English, people don't know how they are pronounced and, even if they do, the car itself has different ideas about pronunciation. iDrive guarantees that you can get to the "Manet st" and not the "Monet st".
>The Tesla does all the things you listed vastly better.
Don't you need to get into menus to change the A/C air direction/temperature/pressure in a Tesla? How is it better than operating a physical dial/lever for example? Especially for the people on the rear seat? Also, the glove box latch is in the menu too, is not it?
>I never have trouble telling it what street I'm going to.
Well, good for you, perhaps you are the person the voice models had been trained on.
>And no. I never go into the menus for the AC. I do it though voice.
What about the passengers on the rear seat? And how is it "vastly better" to change the AC direction through voice than just to pull the lever until it's blowing in the right direction?
Is this why I have to ask my Uber driver to turn the rear seat heater on? How do I even interact with the voice control as a passenger? Am I supposed to say "Hey Elon, warm my ass"?
Hey! There's plenty to be critical about. It just isn't the BS being brought up in this thread so far from people who just don't know how to use the car.
But you're spot on! The fact that people in the rear have no amenities is one of the big downsides of Tesla. And that rear seat heater? You need to pay extra to unlock it! I hope they choke on their $200
That is mostly just your opinion, not facts. I returned my car because of problems like these (and the awful build quality). Not everyone agrees with what Tesla do, and that is fine.
There are plenty of things to complain about. But the ones you mentioned are literally not problems. You just didn't know how to use the car if you needed phone interactions to open the car, or didn't have seat memory working, or didn't set up your steering buttons. That's not a matter of opinion, those are facts.
Oy, I wouldn't hold up a 2008 BMW as a paragon of usability. That early iDrive system was awful. Three different ways to differently manage climate temperature? Navigation straight out of the Macbook Wheel[1]? I could go on. The auto wipers were definitely better than the Tesla though.
I do largely agree with you re the Tesla, although the steering wheel controls I could argue both sides. They're multi-function, which allows you to customize their operation and do a lot more than you can with dedicated controls.
Edit: though I guess it's 2024 now. IIRC the 2009s had slightly less bad idrive.
I have had nothing but good experiences with iDrive in my car. Certainly better than a touch screen. It is a 2010 LCI E90, maybe the iDrive was improved?
My 15 year old BMW:
Has seat memory tied to the key. I don't have to fiddle with a menu to save the setting. It just... remembers.
Has steering wheel buttons with labels. Using steering wheel buttons and three fingertip-reachable and physically distinct stalks I can run my (intermittent rain sensing!) wipers, cruise control, blinkers, headlights, radio, and phone (which can stay in my pocket!).
Has an iDrive knob that controls all non-driving-critical features but can still be safely operated when driving. This includes the navigation system but also things like car settings.
Keyless entry where I just grab the handle and pull (this is one operation, not two) and the car unlocks. This works on the front doors and the trunk. It also works to start the car. No phone interaction required. The key fob stays in my pocket. In 8 years of ownership I have changed the fob battery once. There's a physical lock cylinder in the door if my key fob or the car battery die. I can lock the car with a touch as well.
Has physical buttons for almost everything (except car settings and nav). Seats (including heaters), mirrors, windows, blinkers (including hazards), head lights, cruise control, radio (volume, tuner, track, presets), dual zone climate control, hill descent, etc.
The Tesla isn't just unfamiliar, it is worse.