A friend has a VW and hates the menus to get to anything.

and that's the main reason after many years/decades of VAG car ownership I've moved away from the brand..

The 308 T9 I owned had the frustrating touch screen for virtually everything including the heater, I wont buy a vehicle with this type setup every again.

Ill stick with the Toyota approach, radio / navigation is a touch screen but it also has steering wheel buttons & voice activation.

HVAC controls proper buttons / twisty knobs.

Tall drivers with long legs are adversely affected, unless the screen can be brought within reach.

Good point - my son is 6ft 5" where much of his height is in his legs and proportionally he has a shorter arms.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Buttons, switches, stalks and knobs are the way to go.

I recall Vauxhall were mocked about the buttons on their Mokka when first introduced:

mokka-dash-trim-1-jpg.2696 (480×640)

Perhaps they had the right idea - well perhaps there is a happy medium?

Cars have digital screens because of the huge increase in functionality the digital age has brought. The car would be swamped with switches, buttons and displays if any other solution were adopted.

The only things needing regular access are basic driving controls - steering wheel, brake pedal, indicators. Wipers, fan speed, lighting, are also often adjusted - typically retained as "hard" controls but are often now automated.

There is rarely a need to alter, whilst driving, cabin temperature, check when the next service is due, change the display from miles to kilometres etc etc. The temptation to "fiddle" arises because you can, not because you need to.

Increasingly cars are equipped with voice recognition largely rendering any debate over screen vs "hard" controls somewhat academic.

A return to traditional controls is unlikely - it is cheaper and quicker to change a few lines of code to accommodate new data or functionality. Hardwiring and modifying physical layouts is costly. The days of blanked off switches in base models will be over.