After a decade of swiping and tapping, carmakers from Volkswagen to Porsche are rediscovering what my 1991 944 S2 never forgot — the joy of a proper button.
For years, carmakers have been obsessed with turning dashboards into glowing glass slabs, a sort of Silicon Valley fever dream where every function, from heating to headlights, lives behind a touchscreen. It looked futuristic, yes. It photographed beautifully in brochures. But in practice, it’s been a deeply frustrating experiment that many drivers are now begging to end. Thankfully, some manufacturers are starting to listen. The humble physical button may yet make its comeback…
The problem with all-screen interfaces isn’t just that they’re fiddly; it’s that they fundamentally misunderstand what driving is. When you’re behind the wheel, you don’t have the luxury of hunting through menus to change the temperature or adjust the volume. You need muscle memory, that instinctive reach for a familiar knob or switch without taking your eyes off the road.
I say this with a certain smugness, because my 1991 Porsche 944 S2 with its simple, tactile controls is blissfully free of digital clutter. There isn’t a single screen to be found, and yet everything works exactly as it should. You can feel your way around the cabin, eyes fixed on the road, not the next submenu. Proof, if ever it was needed, that simplicity makes for good design.
Manufacturers justified the touchscreen takeover as “clean design” and “digital minimalism.” But let’s be honest, it was also about cost and marketing. It’s cheaper to make a uniform screen than a dashboard full of bespoke buttons and dials. The idea of the “car as smartphone” sounded clever in the boardroom, but behind the wheel it’s an ergonomic nightmare.
Now the backlash is here. Volkswagen has admitted that customers “hate” its touch-sensitive controls and will restore real buttons in the upcoming ID.2. Hyundai, after similar feedback, is doing the same. Even Porsche – my 944’s modern descendant – is quietly returning to tactile switches.
This isn’t nostalgia; it’s common sense. Driving demands focus and feel, things a glossy touchscreen can’t provide. So yes, let’s celebrate the return of the button. My 944 never lost them, and every time I drive it, I’m reminded that progress isn’t about more screens. It’s about better ones, sometimes made of plastic and click.