There's been countless debates on what is considered luxury in the automotive industry. There was a time where features such as a 6-disk CD player, dual climate control, or a navigation system would help define perceived luxury. As you know (and you know where this is going) almost EVERY automobile has an infotainment screen that delivers functionalities that once were considered a luxury item, and somewhat exclusive to luxury brands. This is great to some degree but after a while it all starts to feel a bit cheap. Let me explain.

Software is relatively cheap after the initial R&D, and screens are a commodity. Yet, we pay for additional features that are so easily added through infotainment screens that I imagine that the mark up must be enormous. Additionally, imagine the man hours and material costs saved by not have to design a proper control stack in the center console. I guess my biggest gripe is that screens seem a bit... lazy, from an interior design perspective. This is especially true for infotainment screens that look like an afterthought. You know, the ones sticking out of a perfectly flowing dash. Or a giant rectangle in the middle of the console that breaks up the design of the dash.

Some car interiors find that right mix of screen, knobs and buttons. I like to see that. If you haven't guessed I'm a "knobs and buttons" kind of guy. The tactile feeling of turning a knob or pressing a button feels much more luxurious than haptic feedback (or no feedback at all) from a touchscreen. Adding buttons and knobs also provides interior designers with mediums for premium materials to add to the controls you interact with the most, giving you that luxury look and feel.

I know this trend isn't going anywhere. In fact screens are the future of automotive interior design. However, luxury will continue to be debatable if it's mostly software driven.

 

My wife HATES touchscreen in cars. So, we had idrive in her x3 which I’d argue is one of the best. And now we have an idrive-like system in her Alfa. I really like my unconnect set up. Wish I had CarPlay wish was/in both my wife’s cars.

 

I, too, prefer knobs/buttons. One of my main gripes about the Flex; apart from the volume & fan speed, everything in the center stack is touch buttons/screen. Go to adjust the temp & hit a bump, who knows what you'll get.
Luckily, the Sync2 & 3 systems are pretty responsive & work well from my 2-car experience (Sync2 in the Flex, Sync3 in the F150).

Not sure how I'd feel about AndroidAuto without a touchscreen, would need to see/experience it to know, but it seems made for use with a touchscreen.

 

Tesla is the largest offender for this, simply trying to turn on heated seats is a massacre just like the newer TLX and MDX. Leaving simple buttons/switches makes life a lot easier for those of us who don't want to take our eyes off the road. Acura had done a really good deal with the RL by pushing the center clock display further up the dash into the windshield so you'd be always looking out.

Thankfully honda got it's shit together and put a physical volume knob back in cars....

BMW has been really good with buttons/feedback and the ability to customize buttons through the idrive system, for example doing a heated back and cooled bottom on my 760 is possible and feels great.