TECHNOLOGY OVERLOAD?

Do today's car interfaces ask too much of the driver? And how can they be improved? We get an Airbus pilot's expert opinion

- COLIN GOODWIN

CAR MAKERS ARE BECOMING MORE AND more out of touch with the enthusiast. Cars are becoming too heavy, too big and overpowered. And worse, they are becoming overcomplicated and weighed down with equipment that is not relevant to a pure driving machine and which we never asked for.

Manufacturers are also losing touch with the ordinary consumer, putting complex infotainment and 'aid' systems into cars that at best are extremely difficult to understand and use and at their worst are very distracting or don't even function properly. I've got close on several occasions over the last few years to saying to a manufacturer at a new car launch, 'You've given us a day to drive this car. I have a choice: I can either spend that time sitting in the hotel car park learning all the systems or I can go out and drive it and assess its dynamics, powertrain and the other stuff that we traditionally do. But there isn't time to do both.'

Recently while writing a review I described a car's control systems as being as complicated as those on an Airbus airliner's flight deck. Reflecting on this, I had a thought: why not put an airline pilot into a car that's loaded with tech and features and ask them to compare it to flying their aircraft?