The Car Design Details Every Gearhead Hates Are Getting Out Of Hand

As a young motoring enthusiast, I was drawn to interior images more than anything else. I remember being completely blown away by the 2001 BMW 7 Series’ interior and iDrive, even though the rest of the car was so ugly it made me want to vomit in the pages of the automotive magazine.

As it turns out, iDrive was mildly annoying at first, but over the years BMW sorted it out. Now it feels like second nature, but that doesn’t mean the beloved German automaker is immune to dumb ideas. My personal pet peeve and one of the dumbest ideas of the last two decades comes straight from BMW. Gesture control was a big miss. Why would I sit there making stupid gestures, when the button to turn up the volume is right there on the steering wheel? If I had to choose a design feature, it would be piano black trim.

The piano black thing seems to be just me, but Jalopnik recently asked its readers what design details annoy them the most, and since you spend the most time in your cars, you’re the experts.

Reading through the comments, we couldn’t help but nod along with furious commenters. Here, in no particular order, are the design details that annoy you the most.

The Lack Of Physical Controls

Give Me A Button FFS

Scream it from the rooftops, people. We hate the fact that you took our buttons away. Designers claim it’s done in the name of “minimalism,” but we know the real reason. High-resolution touchscreen interfaces have become so cheap to manufacture that it’s the new norm. Simply put, it would cost an automaker too much money to develop a series of well-placed buttons with just the right amount of resistance, which is why almost all the functions are now operated via the blasted touchscreen.

Even the front passenger now gets their own screen, but I have a theory about this. It’s cheaper to slap a screen on a surface that would have had to be covered by burr walnut or woven metal.

These are just some of the basic complaints. Let’s not even get into having to take your eyes off the road just because you want the car to be a bit warmer on the inside.

Stop It With The Fancy Shifters

Just Give Us A Normal Gear Lever

Credit: Joel Stocksdale / CarBuzz / Valnet

Using the shifter used to be as straightforward as turning the key in the ignition. You either moved the shifter to “D” to go forward, or you moved it to “R” to go backward.

These days, the shifter has become another design element, probably because every other surface in the car is covered with a screen. I don’t particularly mind a creative shifter, but it seems you guys just want a basic gear lever that moves up and down, and doesn’t snap back into place after you’ve jiggled it.

Expensive Lights Low Down On The Car’s Body

Terrible Placing For Repairs

Credit: Hyundai

If you bump your Porsche 911 into something, you’ll have to pay at least $5,765.14 ($7,838.90 with matrix beam) to get that headlight replaced. That’s sort of to be expected for a car with a sticker price above $100,000, but what about normal, everyday cars?

Hyundai is getting a lot of flak from the public for placing headlights and other expensive trim elements too low on the car. It’s hard to argue looking at the front of the Kona. The Robocop-like LED light looks cool, but that meant having to move the main headlights lower down and to the side, where they are quite exposed.

We looked into it, and an OEM replacement headlight can cost from $850 to $1,500, and labor can cost up to $400 because the bumper has to be removed to install it. That’s a lot of cash for a minor fender bender.

Big Wheels, Thin Rubber

It Really Needs To Stop

Credit: Alfa Romeo

The Alfa Romeo Giulia is a criminally underrated car, and the best example of how bigger wheels can ruin the ride. With the standard 18-inch Dark Turbine wheels, it glides beautifully while still providing a decent amount of feedback. But it has to be said, the car does look cooler with the 19-inch Teledial-like wheels.

Unfortunately, the 18-inch alloys have just a lick of rubber, rather than an actual tire with a decent profile on it. The bigger alloys are not worth it, because the ride will be harsher. Alfa is not the only automaker guilty of this. The standard BMW 330i wheel is also 18 inches, but if you put an M-Sport badge on it, you also get a set of 19-inch wheels.

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This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.