Looks like an accident waiting to happen
Even good screens are bad. By Ben Pulman
A group of MPs have taken a break from squabbling about Brexit to declare that tougher restrictions on driving while using a mobile phone are needed. The data shows you’re just as dangerous with a hand-free hook-up as you are with your mobile clamped to your head. So they want harsher penalties, tougher enforcement, and the same social stigma attached to using your phone while behind the wheel (even hands-free) as drink driving.
I couldn’t agree more – and yet they make no mention of the danger of the in-built touchscreen many new cars now have. Is talking aloud and thinking about the conversation you’re having (which you could just as well be doing with a passenger) more or less dangerous than looking down to switch stations? If all you’re doing is talking you have no reason to take your eyes off the road.
I bring this up because I’ve had nearly a year with the S90’s touchscreen and it’s one of the best available. The map graphics are a tad dated but Volvo has kept it simple: four big options on the main screen for sat-nav, radio, phone and message, because that’s all you ever use.
But however good it is, you still have to look at it. Take the air-con function. In an older car, you’d just twist a dial to alter the temperature. You would reach for it, finding it with your fingers, and turn it, each click signifying a change in degree.
In the Volvo, it’s all part of the screen, permanently in a bar at the bottom. So – while driving along, trying to watch the trac – you press the temperature read-out. Then a new bar pops up and you press your chosen temperature on that. Then press it again to get it closer to what you really want. (And then if you’re me, you have to check it’s an even number.)
Even without that bit of mild OCD it’s not safer or quicker than twirling a dial. It’s all trending towards more time with our eyes off the road.
Walking into a lamp post while looking at your phone hurts only one person, but the equivalent blunder in a car has far more serious consequences.
Volvo S90 Month 10
The story so far
A big Volvo saloon slowly proving itself as a practical family car
+ Good touchscreen
The idea of a touchscreen in a car isn’t good
Logbook
Price £44,920 (£49,370 as tested)
Performance 1969cc turbocharged four-cylinder, 247bhp, 6.8sec 0-62mph, 140mph E ciency 42.2mpg (o cial), 30.4mpg (tested), 156g/km CO2 Energy cost 19.6p per mile Miles this month 656
Total miles