The Evolution of Buttons

 

But not the sort that keep your cardigan together.

I had a mild panic attack today when a big orange square appeared on my dashboard as I was driving home from work:

It turns out Radio 2 have changed their logo-image thingy on DAB Radio.

I usually listen to Johnny Vaughan on Radio X or Simon Mayo on Greatest Hits when I'm driving home.  But I switch between them when adverts come on and today they had adverts on at the same time so I happened to switch to Radio 2 and up came that big orange square.

Now for some reason, that got me thinking about warning lights and dashboards.

My first car had the Triumph "All Systems Go" warning light cluster - I loved it.

Never managed to light up all 8 segments at the same time though.

The original dashboards had nothing on them - they were the boards at the front of carts that were pulled by horses - they were meant to protect the driver from mud and other unpleasantries thrown up by the horses hooves when travelling off-road.

The name stuck when the first motor cars appeared - logical given that most looked like "horseless carriages."

Eventually, as cars became cars, the dashboards were used to house instruments and controls for new fangled additions such as windscreen wipers - and, as anyone who subscribes to idriveaclassic on YouTube will know, pull switches were very popular for many years right up to the 1960s:

...and beyond for things like the hazard warning lights on my Triumph.

These were eventually replaced by toggle switches:

Then it was the turn of my favourite - the rocker switch!

These prevailed in the 1970s when I was becoming fascinated by cars.  You could could buy them in Halfords and Motorworld to add accessories (usually fog lamps) to your Vauxhall Victor or Ford Escort.

By the '90s - buttons had taken over:

In quite a big way in some cars - My Jaguar X-Type had buttons to operate a phone I didn't have.

I like buttons - not as much as I like rocker switches - but they are tactile and necessary when you need to control lots of things like heated seats and electric windows and climate control.

But, as even more complicated things (like Apps!) are becoming part of motoring, touchscreens are taking over from buttons.  VW famously took them too far and had to reinstate some - it was getting dangerous having to look away from the road to do basic things like put the air on re-circ.

I sometime use the voice commands on my car but I have found myself arguing with it a few times too and voice control is also no use to people with Scottish accents.

My car has a mixture of real buttons and touchscreen which is about as far from the horse and cart dashboard as you can get.

Imagine having to put up with a boring dashboard.

Buzzin' Back

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over in The States says that the ID.Buzz's third-row bench seat is too wide and three people could sit on it.

I wouldn't describe it as a "bench" and I wouldn't want to be the third person if they were sat in the middle:

Car+Driver have the story here.

It has led to a recall with the rear seat being made narrower.  They say they will add unpadded trim to limit the seating surface width of the third-row bench.

Haven't a clue what they mean by that AND IT ISN'T A BENCH!

Seems a bit over the top to me - if someone sits in the middle then gets thrust forward to their death in a collision because they haven't got a seatbelt on - then that is misadventure and not Volkswagen's fault.

Things were much simpler in the olden days!

Inferior Design

Remember when BMW introduced their iDrive knob?

Lots of people hated it.

Then it evolved.

I found it perfectly useable on my 2012 3-Series.

Apple obviously weren't too bothered by its name - it was well before they had even considered making cars themselves so they wouldn't have needed it.

But now it is on it's way out...

...at least as we know it today.

Several motoring sites are reporting that BMW are at CES 2025 in Las Vegas showing the new version that will appear within the Neue Klasse electric models slated for the back end of this year.

Look! No knob!

And unfortunately, no buttons either.

Have they learned nothing from Volkswagen's U-Turn?

Now driving a BMW will be how I imagine driving a Tesla to be - just about everything involving fingering a big central screen - not exactly a driver's car any more.  But at least the BMWs will still have indicator stalks - something Tesla dropped in favour of steering wheel buttons - a horrific idea that you can only get away with if you are Ferrari.

And maybe not even then.

But, also at CES, we have evidence that someone at Tesla has seen a bit of sense.

Pretty safe bet it wouldn't have been Elon.

Drive.com.au have the specs for the all-new 2025 Tesla Model Y here.

Remember the days when a heated rear window or a rear fog lamp were proudly listed as features on the more upmarket versions of a particular model of car?

Well if you look at the features offered on the 2025 Model Y you will see...

...an indicator stalk!

Justin Case

Actually, it's Justin's Court Case.

Penny Mordaunt really annoys me.

She's a rabid Tory but I still fancy her.

Here she is playing an important part at The Coronation:

Although arguably not as important a part as this chap's:

And he has a better frock.

It has been a busy week for The Archbishop of Canterbury.  First he had to crown King Charles III.  Then he had to hear about getting 3 points on his licence and a £510 fine.

He was caught driving his Volkswagen Golf at 25mph in a 20mph zone - which is probably very racy for an archbishop.

I hope this doesn't overshadow The Coronation.

After all the careful preparations, a perpetrator of misdemeanours would not look good in The Abbey.

The Green Flash

Remember October last year when I told you about green number plates?

Of course you do.

Well, as of today they are a thing. Autocar have the story - not seen it anywhere else.  The Government have plumped for this design:

Basically, just a green flash.

"But, what is the point?" I hear you ask.

Good question.

Well, they signify zero emission (aka electric) vehicles.  And, "Research carried out by Nissan and Yougov claims that 32% of people surveyed would be more likely to buy an electric car because of the new plates, and the prospect of further incentives to be rolled out as a result. This could include specific zero-emission parking zones, exemption from road charges and even zero-emission lanes."

What?

"Research carried out by Nissan and Yougov claims that 32% of people surveyed would be more likely to buy an electric car because of the new plates, and the prospect of further incentives to be rolled out as a result. This could include specific zero-emission parking zones, exemption from road charges and even zero-emission lanes."

I know but I'm still not convinced.

Anyway, being Welsh, I've always fancied one of these perfectly legal plates:

Would that entitle me to half-price road charges and to use half of the zero emission parking bays and lanes?

The biggest flaw in this plan though, is that there is nothing to stop you getting some green sticky paper and turning your diesel Volkswagen into something getting the benefits of a Renault Zoe.

And, after December 31st, the rather dim readers of the painfully sycophantic Daily Express will know exactly where to stick them:

Spot The Difference

Look at these two nearly identical photographs and see if you can spot the main difference between them:

Did you spot it?

 

Yes, of course you did! The second photo has more Volkswagens in it.

 

Car+Driver have the story today.

 

This is a recreation by Volkswagen Sweden of the classic Abbey Road album cover.  It celebrates the 50th anniversary of the album and raises money for a children's charity in Sweden - you can download a version of this picture for a donation. It is also to promote VW's Park Assist - observe that the Beetle in the original picture (sometimes referred to as "the fifth Beetle") is badly parked. 

 

So, yes the second photo does have more Volkswagens in it.

 

But less Beatles.

Itchycoo Car Park

Want to see an ant in a car?

or maybe two?

Unfortunately, this story relates to a whole colony of ants.

 

Also, unfortunately, I have to link to Fox News.  The story does appear to be true though despite this.

 

The infestation happened at Charlotte Douglas International Airport after the car had been left in the parking lot there for three days.

 

Meanwhile, another bug has also been making news on the Fox site.

 

This one's allegedly up for $1 Million:

Now I wouldn't mind having a colony of those to sell.

136

That's 2x68 because I have now seen 2 68 Reg cars.

After a prolonged period of seeing none.

I saw the first one on Sunday and I was composing a post in my head walking home from the shops this evening about how I had seen "a 68 Reg":

...when I spotted another one.

 

Incidentally, A68 REG is a valid number (it would have been issued in 1983 or 1984) - it just doesn't belong to anybody.

 

Not even somebody called Reg.

 

The two 68 cars I did spot were both Renault SUV thingies. Nothing exciting.

 

They were different colours so it wasn't the same car twice.

 

Maybe it means that Renault are the best company for sorting out their emissions levels.

 

After all, it was never going to be Volkswagen.

'96 Hybrid Phaeton For Sale

Hang on a Mo'.

All Volkwagen experts, together with those of us who have access to Wikipedia, know that VW didn't start making Phaetons until 2002:

And, they've never produced a hybrid version.

But, of course, I never said it was a Volkswagen - nor did I say 1996.

No, this car coming up for auction is a 1896 Armstrong Phaeton:

 

Fox have the story here.

I had assumed that Phaeton was just another model name (like Escort and Cedric) and Wiki helpfully informs us that "The name Phaeton derives from Phaëton, the son of Phoebus in Greek mythology."  But it also helpfully informs us that "A phaeton is a style of open automobile or carriage without weather protection. It is an automotive development of the fast, lightweight phaeton carriage."

Which sort of explains why Wayne Carini keeps encountering them in "Chasing Classic Cars".

In fact it looks like in the 1920s and 1930s you could get Ford, Packard and Buick Phaetons to name just three of many.  Go back to 1910 and you get this:

 The VW Group have come full circle - that's an Audi Phaeton!

I'm Not a Fan of "The Apprentice"

Either the British version with Sir Lord Prince Alan Sugar:

 

Or the American version with Donald Trump:

I'm not particularly a fan of Mr.Sugar - but at least he likes cars and football.

 

And he isn't obsessed with the insane idea that Barack Obama wasn't born on US soil.

 

And his surname doesn't mean "fart".

 

Although the UK version of the show has produced its own vile creature.  She is either unbelievably ignorant or completely desperate for publicity.  So I'm not going to mention her name.  In either case she should be starved of the oxygen of said publicity.  In fact, I'd be quite happy for her just to be starved of oxygen full stop.

 

Anyway, I don't watch The Apprentice for the same reason I don't watch Big Brother - I discovered quite early on that I don't actually like any of the people taking part.

 

Good job apprentices in Germany have the right idea.

 

This Autoguide story from yesterday covers a couple of very fine concepts created by Volkswagen apprentices for the forthcoming Wörthersee festival where Audi/VW tuners congregate to show off their work.  this GTi based car is called the Dark Shine.  Ok, it probably loses something in translation but it still looks very desirable.

Meanwhile here's a story from last year about what Mini Apprentices got up to - a fun Mini Countryman Pick-Up:

I bet none of them wrote a mission statement first.

 

Now, all we need is a new show that shows genuinely talented apprentices like these at work.

 

While Al and Donny could be fired.

That Sinking Feeling

This bad weather and flooding that is affecting the UK at the moment is causing another problem too.

 

Sinkholes.

 

And they seem to be attacking cars.

 

The first one, reported by the BBC, hit Buckinghamshire at the start of the month.

 

It swallowed a VW Lupo.

Next, also reported bt the BBC, our motorway network was attacked.  The M2 to be precise, although it was the Central Reservation that opened up so no cars got taken. 

Today, however, The Guardian reports a very audacious car-swallowing act over in Kentucky, USA.

 

A total of eight Corvettes spanning 45 years went down a hole in the National Corvette Museum: 

I like the way the reader's comments in the Guardian article diverge onto discussing building foundations.  If it had been a Telegraph or Mail article, there would be heated arguments going on about American Cars or how local councils don't do enough to help flood victims.

 

I also like the comment added by reader Zoomer who, responding to the fact that a Corvette Museum exists in the first place, says, "It used to be profitable but they're in a hole now."

 

Maybe we need to get the Top Gear team on the case.

 

Everyone laughed at them in the last series when they invented the Hovervan to cope with floods in the West Country and now we have floods in the West Country.

 

Now we need cars that will hover or maybe be completely enveloped in airbags as soon they find themselves suddenly dropping.

 

Jeremy?

Look! No Hands!

There were a couple of stories on the BBC News site today that caught my eye.

 

The first involves driving along hard-shoulders.

 

The short video tells us how certain motorways around Birmingham have the option of letting people use the hard-shoulder for driving down during busy times with the option of the shoulder reverting to usual shouldering duties if someone needs it.  I have driven on that very motorway myself under those same circumstances.

 

Very clever.

 

The video then goes on to tell us that The Highways Agency want to shut off 300 miles of hard-shoulder altogether to ease congestion.

 

It doesn't mention what happens in the event of a breakdown on one of these stretches.

 

Very un-clever.

 

Especially when you look back to this BBC video story from the Summer.

 

The second BBC story today involves this twerp:

He was caught by a "safety camera" - I put that in quotes because we all know it's a speed camera - driving his Volkswagen at 62mph with his hands on his head.  He was banned for a year and fined nearly £700.

 

Good.

 

Lord knows how long he'd been going like that, he's certainly doing it for the full length of the video.

 

This guy, also in a Volkswagen has got a mate with him and is doing the same thing: 

I suppose he does have an excuse, though, in that his is a self-driving Volkswagen.

Holiday Photos

I've been on my holidays!

 

Did anyone notice that I hadn't posted anything for over two weeks?

 

Why not?

 

Anyway, I went to Gran Canaria.

 

Whilst there I read two books and the September issue of Top Gear Magazine.

 

The two books were "Me Of Little Faith" by Lewis Black which had nothing to do with cars whatsoever and "Back Story" by David Mitchell (the comedy actor/writer not the author).  This had almost nothing to do with cars apart from the revelation that when he tried to learn to drive at the age of 17, his instructor stopped the car and told the young Mitchell how he had seen an alien spacecraft land.

 

David Mitchell never went on to get a licence.

 

I've been meaning to mention Top Gear Magazine for a while now - they "refreshed" it again a couple of months ago.

 

This is a term used by marketing people and Tesco Store managers for moving stuff around.

 

In Tescos this means you can't find anything so I stop going there. The Top Gear Magazine refresh wasn't too bad and they've introduced a couple of new features like "Ask Uncle TopGear" and "James May's Almanac" that are quite amusing.

 

Now for the photos I took while I was there:

A fine example of an elderly Fiat 500 - the original one.  You can really see just how small it is when parked in a car park amongst ordinary vehicles. 

Talking of small, here is a Renault Twizy.  I saw one here in Britain once but it was covered in the car-dealer's logos and travelling in the opposite direction to me so it was a fleeting glimpse.  I actually got to take a peek inside this one.  When I posted on this car a while back I implied that I didn't like it.  Now, having seen one close up, I still think it's horrible. 

Talking of horrible, that is a word I would never use to describe this Volkswagen Kharmann Ghia. 

I might use it to describe the Dacia Logan (or budget brand Renault - I think it's based on an earlier shape Clio but don't hold me to that).  This car is probably quite common-place if you are in Southern or Eastern Europe but they don't sell them here so I took a photo of it. 

Talking of "they don't sell them here so I took a photo of it" - here's a Mark 2 (I think) Ford Mustang.

 

 

...and the weather was nice and I got a bit of a tan.

X Marks The Ugly Spot

I was following a BMW X6 the other day.

I still think they look stupid.

And when I say "following" - I was behind it in traffic - I don't associate myself with anyone daft enough to own one.

Maybe it's something about cars that have names beginning with "X".

Autoguide today have this story about the Volkswagen XL1 testing in Spain. They use this still from a spy-video:

It is a diesel hybrid with a 2-cylinder engine so it sounds absolutely awful in their video but it looks beautiful in the picture.

So what about my argument about X cars being ugly?

Well, I give you how the car is meant to look:

That is pig-ugly and the only real difference is the covering of the rear wheels - a bit like the McLaren X-1 which features on the cover of this month's Top Gear Magazine.

Note the X name. It was built by McLaren as a one-off for a very rich, and presumably blind, customer.

Which brings us back, rather neatly, to BMW and their X1:

Quite ugly, although the earlier incarnation looks OK in this Top Gear story from 2009...

...although that may have something to do with the bikini.

Now, regular readers of my Blog will know that I, myself, drive an X car - a Jaguar X-Type.

This is clearly the exception that proves the rule.

If I was on television right now, I would turn to a side-camera, shrug, and say, "No, I don't understand that saying either."

As a child of the '70s, I like my cars to be big and square and I love the looks of my car even if some people think the X-Type boring. Mind you, designer Paul Smith (turn to side-camera and shrug in an "I've never heard of him, either" sort of way) was obviously inspired (or commissioned) to come up with this:

Enough said, I think.

A Family Affair

Caught this rather nice article in the online Telegraph this week. It came with this very cheesy photo:

It's about BTCC driver (and reigning champion) Matt Neal teaching his twin sons, Will & Harry, to drive now that they have turned 17.

William and Harry!!

I hadn't though of him being a Royalist. I also hadn't thought of him as being old enough to have kids old enough to drive. He's only about my age!

His sons will have an excellent teacher and it looks like he is trying to keep their feet on the ground including some professional lessons as well. I'm not as sure of the car choices though, a sporty Corsa and an old Beetle with no seatbelts. The former will cost a fortune to insure and the latter has no seatbelts.

I've not mentioned the BTCC much this year - but I haven't missed a race and they have been just as exciting as every recent season. I've not watched any f1 meanwhile and am not missing it in the slightest.

The BTCC last weekend was at Rockingham and much rain caused much sliding off but there were no major disputes - unlike last year when this excellent picture was taken:

I don't usually credit the pictures I find on the 'Net but this is worth a link and a mention of Life Exposed Photography as this picture perfectly captures Matt in full-on anger mode where no other picture of the incident I've found does.

Here, Matt is launching himself at Jason Plato after a serious shunt in qualifying. Good! - we like some passion in our racing drivers. Jason is wisely keeping his helmet on given that Matt practises martial arts and is considerably bigger than him. Meanwhile, their dads are in the picture trying to make sure it doesn't get any worse.

A very un-cheesy photo - but, then again, racing-driver Matt Neal will be nothing like family-man Matt Neal - I hope! And it looks like it is family-man Matt Neal that Wills & Harry have as their driving instuctor.