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Ford dashes


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The more I look at the new dashes, the more I don't like them. At least for me.

 

I get the intutitve placement of the buttons. The fact that they make things automatic. They do look very nice and make even a simple vehicle like an Escape look much classier.

 

Maybe I'm old school, but I like to manually control my radio and climate control.

 

I also prefer knobs and dials.

 

Thoughts?

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The more I look at the new dashes, the more I don't like them. At least for me.

 

I get the intutitve placement of the buttons. The fact that they make things automatic. They do look very nice and make even a simple vehicle like an Escape look much classier.

 

Maybe I'm old school, but I like to manually control my radio and climate control.

 

I also prefer knobs and dials.

 

Thoughts?

back to brick most lament?.......

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agree,,,however people are/ have been demanding more foofoo...which in turn requires more buttons etc......most cars are pretty much the same...damn buttons everywhere for everything some deem necessary.....air conditioned seats!!!!!!!!!!!! sheesh....that said if one spends time in the Ford Escapre and new F150 it becomes pretty intuitive after a little time.....but man, with nav and electronic A/C sure makes for a clutter.....

Edited by RichardJensen
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agree,,,however people are/ have been demanding more foofoo...which in turn requires more buttons etc......most cars are pretty much the same...damn buttons everywhere for everything some deem necessary.....air conditioned seats!!!!!!!!!!!! sheesh....that said if one spends time in the Ford Escapre and new F150 it becomes pretty intuitive after a little time.....but man, with nav and electronic A/C sure makes for a clutter.....

 

 

I'm all for AC seats.

 

The day after bean burritos, my seat needs some cooling.

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This was an innovative dash. Want a left hand drive car sir? Simply swap the air vent over with the steering wheel, move the pedals and the counters and job done! Got to love those British Leyland innovators..... actually they did get car of the year in 1977 for it. And I still quite like it weirdly.... (car is a Rover SD1)

post-25299-1224022737_thumb.jpg

Edited by TStag
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This was an innovative dash. Want a left hand drive car sir? Simply swap the air vent over with the steering wheel, move the pedals and the counters and job done! Got to love those British Leyland innovators..... actually they did get car of the year in 1977 for it. And I still quite like it weirdly.... (car is a Rover SD1)

 

 

that's a nice dash for a '77 model

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I have Lincolns while my parents just bought an '09 Fusion and Mariner...both have VERY different dashboards and controls. Without a doubt, the Mariner/Escape dash is WAAAAAAAAAAY better. The controls are far more solid, robust, and intuitive to use. The displays are far clearer and easier to see. Overall I am more than happy to see the crummy, hard to use bricks gone!

 

You have no idea how impossible it is to use SYNC on the brick, it's absurd! The display is garbage! You have this high tech feature with rubbish controls. I'm glad the Fusion has it, but dear God the brick is a miserable piece of ancient tech.

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I really haven't seen Ford take any steps forward to introduce better display graphics on the radios. At least they are using better "Dot matrix" for the newer models such as the Escape. The "little stick" graphics elsewhere, should also be replaced with better graphics. Is it really hard to do LCD display for something like the radio display and be done with it?

 

And dont get me started with the instrumentation which some models look as if they are pulled from vehicles 30 years ago...

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i like the new dashes, for the most part, they add a bit of class and are easy to use. agree on needing knobs for climate, why the flex limited has buttons for temp i cant figure out.

 

my only real beef with these all in one type of dashes that all companies are going to is that it makes it much more difficult to replace the radios. atleast with a "brick" you can you slide the old one out and the new one in

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That was part of the reason why the bricks lived so long.

 

On my SD, the navigation really helps with the clutter. You just go to the place, on the menu, that you need to be. It is pretty well laid out, to not "over button" each screen.

 

I have not found the dual zone climate control to be difficult at all.

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I did enjoy in the 90's, when Ford designed certain dashboards, to be canted towards the driver. Probe, Tbird, Mark8..they were more personal vehicles. Now with Navi systems, the passenger is more involved in the navigation of the vehicles, so the center consoles are centered evenly. with the Civic, I see the radio is sort of canted towards the passenger a bit. New Tundra has the radio throw more to the passengers side, an ergonomic nightmare.

 

I do like the even symetry with button placements on the new Ford dashboards. Although sticking that Trunk button on the passenger side of the next Taurus to balance things out I think could have been better accomplished with a 12V outlet, or even a "Passenger SRS Off" display.

 

And while we are talking about buttons, there are certain things I hope that Ford can rectify in future models...

It's annoying to get in the vehicle to turn it on and

1) click the seat A/C on

2) same for passenger seat

3) click Recirculation, on, on the A/C

4) Click "Ok" on the Navigation screen disclosure

 

It doesnt need to be complicating...

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Personally, I have no problem with all of the buttons. The only thing I have a problem with is that currently they are just row upon row of similarly shaped and sized buttons. Throw us a bone Ford. You can do better than 4 rows of rectangles.

 

At least the Fiesta looks to have finally broken that mold. I can only hope for more in the future. The spy shots of the '10 Taurus don't give me much to look forward to in that regard though.

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