WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

This month – thoughts on pointless complication

Tom Harrison: Complication for complication’s sake is rarely a good idea. Take the Panamera’s central air vent, which is operated not by a little toggle that lets you direct the airflow wherever you want it, but by electricity. Yup, to change the direction it’s blowing, you have to delve into the infotainment system and drag your fingers up/down left/right across the screen. This is annoying for many reasons: it’s quite distracting when you want to do it on the move, it’s more difficult to get the air blowing exactly where you want it and it will at some point, however well-made the Panamera is, break. And there’s no way mending such a contraption is in any way straightforward. Interestingly, the Panamera is the only Porsche with such a setup. For cars released since, Porsche has stuck with typical toggles and sliders. Thank God for that.