RED MX5

[QUOTE=st_rage,May 17 2007, 07:53 PM]Redmx5,

Thanks for making a well considered and thought out post rather than the "u suxxor, start buttons are teh kewl" that seems to be floating around.

I agree that a UI can't satisfy everyone, but the fact that the controls are a mirror image tells me that UI concerns were shelved for aesthetics.

st_rage

No problem, I just don't check back on s2k every day. Good posts deserve positive feedback.

I'm an engineer that works with designers to design consumer and industrial products. Having seen the process from the inside, it's becomes possible to see in many products where marketing/ID/engineering won particular battles. In well designed products it's almost invisible, as it is to me on most features of the s2k.

I certainly respect all of the R&D that the military puts into UI, as pretty much all of the data and research we use came from them. Of course the military doesn't care as much about the aesthetics and marketability of their equipment, so the UI design arguments are between UI designers who have similar goals. My complaints with the S pretty much boil down to knob>button for making both fine and gross adjustments and the channel button needs to allow incrementing both up and down scale. In my mind these are textbook rules, but then I'm the engineer and not the ergonomist.

After driving the S a few more weeks I've basically stopped using the auxillary controls and just reach for the head unit. I had preferred the aethetic of keeping the door shut, but the novelty has worn off.

ttah

[QUOTE=st_rage,Apr 22 2007, 05:37 PM]Agreed.

blackout

If you dont like the start button perhaps try wiring your hazard switch to start the car. There shouldnt be any reason to have your foot on the clutch when the hazard lights are on. I dont know maybe its a bad idea

Sbeall

Bitching about the start button is like complaining that it doesn't come with an automatic. If it sucks so bad than why have lots of car companies copied Honda and added one since the S came out. The novelty of a start button was one of the first things reviewers liked about it. Do you hate having to rev it so high too? The radio? You're lucky it has a CD player and your complaining about buttons?

It's a shame you obviously don't get it. You should sell it to someone who does and go get yourself a solid-rear mustang. I hear you just have to turn the key, stomp on the gas and it goes real fast...straight.

GOS2K007

I think that the point is why have a start button and have to use a key as well. Yes, a lot of other cars have start buttons now, but you don't have to put a key in and turn it as well as press the button.
It is kind of silly to have to use a key and a button with the current technology.

73Zero

Out of all the comments here, I think this one sums it all up...

st_rage

[QUOTE]QUOTE (BulldogS2 @ Apr 22 2007, 07:00 PM)
you went to the wrong dealership. stop complaining and go another car then.

73Zero

[QUOTE=st_rage,May 18 2007, 11:41 AM]
If you bought your car because it has a start button you have my pity.

st_rage

I'm disappointed only because everything else seems so perfect. Granted, I'm not a track/autocross enthusiast, so the start button lore is evidently lost on me, but I am a student of design. I'm just a bit offended that a majority of commentors seem to think that the a dislike of the start button = a dislike for the car. My comment is aimed a bit more broadly than you in particular, but I think you were definately on the same side of the fence that I tossed that grenade.

I understand why the start button has value on the track, but it still doesn't excuse (to me) the radio controls. I've gotten over it by just not using them and going straight to the head unit.

Happy motoring.