Originally published at: Electric Mini Cooper has a large round OLED display | Boing Boing
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I’ll give it points for at least not looking like an iPad glued to the dashboard (like 90% of new cars) and instead looking like a diner plate glued to the dashboard.
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i bet it displays a very good looking pizza. like every car should
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Money-making idea, sell puffy fingers stickers you can place on each side…
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“Okay Jensen, the last order of business is to replace the instrument cluster with a giant touchscreen.”
“But Harold, that would use three times the power as the gauges. Wouldn’t that wear down the main batteries faster?”
“Now you’re getting it, Jensen!”
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Why did this jump to mind right away?
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shoulda gone triangular
(leaves space for death-beams at the corners)
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TIHI (Thanks, I Hate It).
That video gave me the odd impression that the exterior of the car is too large to qualify as ‘mini’ and yet the interior looks too crowded.
Separately, I could barely understand the man’s accent. Did he say the car model is named, “Koopa”? Turning on closed captions was also unhelpful.
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Taking promo photos of the thing would be such a pain, though. (Woo, TIE deep cut 
)
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I’m not sure how I would like having the speedometer that far to the right of the steering wheel. It feels kind of risky to me, like it would take my attention too far away from whatever danger is looming in front of me. That may just be the “muscle memory” from 50+ years of just having to glance downward a bit to see it, though.
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Yea, that’s how it is with the Model 3 Tesla. Friend of mine has one of those and I drove it. It’s a little weird. But what I hate most about it was that things like climate control being in the screen rather than dials/buttons.
My car has a combo situation with the screen. I can touch it, but I have a dial on the center console. Also, climate control is still traditional.
That being said, I think this car looks pretty cool overall. I’ve always liked the Cooper and appreciate the styling here.
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When Mini first launched the Cooper in the US, that was the position of the speedometer then as well, center! So this is actually a return to form, so to speak. In the intervening years since then and now, they sensibly moved it to the dash, as the center positioning was an often-cited reason for people not getting the car. I personally got one when they made the change. I guess years of giant tablets on the center console made them feel OK going this route!
I didn’t check to see if they have HUDs as standard or not, my Mini had one a decade ago even - so I assume it is either a base feature or easy to get option. A decent HUD really fixes the problem. Having important info directly on the windshield is great.
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Naw, it’ll drain the supplementary battery.
Nothing says fun times like having to keep a 12 volt jump pack in order to jump-start an EV with a dead supplemental battery…
The Saturn ION had that; it was a little strange getting used to having the dash cluster in the middle, but it was angled toward the driver, so that was a little helpful.
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I like the more traditional control setup in my little Renault Zoe. The touch screen is really only needed for programming the map system. Everything else is available through physical switches. The speedo and other key driving info are in the dash right in front of the driver, so you only need flick your eyes down to check things.
I’d like a car with a HUD and more of them are around, but I will not be doing with touch screen controls for everything. It’s a deal breaker for me.
My daughter completed a masters in user interface design last year. One of the topics covered was physical versus virtual control systems. The modern thinking is that physical is best for cars, because drivers soon develop the muscle memory to do stuff. That doesn’t work on a touch screen, especially when it’s out of your line of sight.
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A very long ad that barely mentions the display at all, and never shows it being used. Disappointing, considering the title of the ad.
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… everywhere.
And it was (and the touch screen is) a hark back to the original 1960s Mini which had a central dial like that.
I was driving one just like this in 1974.
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It better have the most anti-glare coating available as well! I can’t imagine how bad reflected sunlight into my face would be from that thing.
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