There are a lot of features in new car interiors that people don’t like, but really, I think they get too much hate. Screens are a good example—I don’t very much mind having two big screens staring back at me at all times. It’s nice to have the customization and adjustability in the gauge cluster to see the data I want to see. And I’d be lying if I didn’t run Apple CarPlay for music and navigation on every new car I drive—something that requires a screen to operate. Would I rather have a set of nice, analog gauges in my sports car? Yes, definitely. But for a daily driver, a screen-heavy cabin is just fine.
If there’s one thing I absolutely don’t like about new car interiors, it’s the widespread adoption of touch-capacitive buttons. These types of input controls, which don’t actually give any meaningful feedback when you interact with them, are harder to use correctly and don’t provide nearly the same satisfaction as using a real, tactile button, knob, rocker, or scroll wheel.
Mercedes-Benz is guilty of doing this to the extreme on many of its models. For the past few years, many of the controls in its interiors were relegated to touch-capacitive buttons, including many of the buttons on the steering wheel. In my experience using these buttons, it made for lots of missed or incorrect presses and, in the case of the steering wheel buttons, lots of accidental presses. It frustrated me to no end.
Thankfully, that era is starting to come to an end. Mercedes began adding buttons back to the steering wheel of its SUVs back in September. It’s just revealed the refreshed 2026 S-Class, and it’s giving a real, actual, physical control back to one of the interior’s most important features: The volume knob.
How It Was, And How It Is
On the previous S-Class, drivers had two ways to control volume with their hands. They could use the horizontal touch-capacitive scroll bar mounted just beneath the central touchscreen, which worked by gently dragging your finger from left to right (which is both annoying and kind of hard to do while you’re driving).
Alternatively, drivers could adjust the volume by using the vertical slider on the spoke of the steering wheel (shown in the lead image of this article). This is equally frustrating, as it requires a delicate, consistent touch to make any material adjustment to the volume. It was pointlessly clunky for the sake of aesthetics.
The central volume control, sadly, looks to have been retained for the 2026 S-Class, which is a shame for passenger princesses who prefer to control the volume in the cabin. But for the driver, the touch-capactive setup has been thrown out in favor of a physical scroll wheel:
The steering wheel, which was previously all touch-capacitive, also includes a new rocker switch on the left-hand side for adaptive cruise controls. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the previous slider controls, according to Mercedes. People who actually bought the car didn’t like it, either. From the press release:
The new multifunction steering wheel boasts improved ergonomics and intuitive operation. Based on customer feedback, Mercedes-Benz has reintroduced a rocker switch for Digital Extra: Distance Assist DISTRONIC and a roller switch for volume control. The capacitive switch panels are seamlessly integrated and provide tactile aids for better orientation.
Like Ferrari before it, Mercedes is caving on its touch-capacitive heavy design. Unlike Ferrari, though, Mercedes doesn’t go far enough. Many of the buttons on the S-Class’s wheel, including the cruise control buttons and the navigation pad, are still touch-capacitive. I won’t rest on this subject until Mercedes (and every other manufacturer that uses touch-capacitive buttons) stops for good. But seeing as how the volume knob is one of the controls I use the most, I’m glad it was the first to be addressed.
What About The Rest Of The Car?
Mercedes says more than 50% of the 2026 S-Class is “newly developed, updated, and refined.” In addition to the interior updates shown above, the car’s fascia has been updated with a 20-percent larger grille that’s illuminated as standard, alongside the hood ornament, which is also illuminated. There’s also a new daytime running light setup that resembles the brand’s tri-star logo, as first seen on the E-Class. The car’s massive grille reminds me of AMG’s “Red Pig” 300 SEL 6.8 AMG, a sedan-turned-race car that won its class at a 24-hour Spa Francorchamps event in the early 1970s.
The back seat, meanwhile, is described as a “boardroom on wheels” with a “first-class experience,” according to Mercedes, which should tell you all you need to know about the type of consumer this car is targeting. Individual rear seating is an option, obviously, allowing buyers to have two recliners in place of the standard bench. Then there’s the backseat tech, which is absolutely stuffed to the brim:
The two new MBUX remote controls for rear passengers provide effortless operation of vehicle functions such as climate control and window shades, as well as the larger 13.1-inch displays of the MBUX High-End Rear Seat Entertainment System. These rear passenger displays also feature integrated HD cameras, making them ideal for video conferencing with Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Webex.
In the new S‑Class, entertainment becomes effortless. The expanding portfolio of apps includes video streaming platforms such as Disney+ and RIDEVU by Sony Pictures Entertainment – available on both the front passenger display and the dual displays of the MBUX High-End Rear Seat Entertainment System.
As for powertrains, buyers will have three to choose from at launch here in the U.S.: The base S500 4Matic gets a turbocharged inline-six paired to a 48-volt mild hybrid system, making 442 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque (or up to 472 lb-ft for short periods with the help of the integrated starter-generator). The mid-range option, the S580 4Matic, gets the twin-turbo V8, also paired with the mild-hybrid system, which makes 530 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque.
If you want the most power, though, it’s not the V8 you want, it’s the S580e 4Matic. It takes the six-cylinder from the base car and combines it with an electric motor, making for a combined output of 576 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. Though if it’s power you’re after, you’re probably just better off waiting for the AMG version to show up (which, if I know my Mercedes product launch timings, should be sometime later this year).
Top graphic image: Mercedes-Benz
I’d love to see an analysis of how much money the haptic bullshit/MOAR SCREENS actually saves these manufacturers…because literally no one wants it and it’s never worked. Honda tried this shit in the 20 teens. Everyone hated it and they had to back track. VW brought it back in the early 2020s, everyone hated it, and now they’re frantically trying to backtrack on it and it’s done an inordinate amount of damage to their brand equity.
The German luxury brands all jumped on it recently too and now they’re having to set money on fire to get away from it. An executive at Audi went on the record this week and said over-screening interiors is bad…as their new A5, Q5, etc. continue to roll out with nightmarish 3 screen dashboards and steering wheels covered in dysfunctional haptic shit.
I want to know hard numbers on how much money we’re talking about, because it caused all of these companies to go “well everyone hates this but let’s do it anyway and see if anyone notices”. Surely their bean counting nerds have to have come up with some obscene sum of money, because there’s really no other explanation…and now we’re celebrating cars new cars that have interiors with normal buttons, knobs, and switches.
I can’t even tell you how much Honda Passport content I’ve consumed lately that’s included “it has regular AC controls and a volume knob” as one of the highlights. HOW THE FUCK DID IT COME TO THIS?!
Stop pussy-footing: it is hazardous while driving. The tfh I wear says it is on purpose, so accidents occur more frequently, and the driver (assuming the safety features worked) has to buy a new one.
I’m not buying one until I can get cooled seat belts.
Which car company will be the first to provide AI voice recognition for control of all non-driving functions?
Does Waymo or any other autonomous taxi services have AI voice recognition for passenger requests?
That’s gimmicky. They should focus on cooled/heated headliners. Sometimes I touch them.
As a short person (though slightly taller than Torch) and shrinking, I never concern myself with headliners.
well then they need to make one that is height adjustable. Plenty of innovating left to be done.
My 21 Outback does a surprising number of non-driving functions by voice command. I’ll never have to worry about the screen controls in a S class
“20% larger grill” is an observation pretending to be a benefit. I find it unlikely previous S-Class owners were griping about their uphill towing performance.
It could have said “20% smaller grill” and we’d accept smaller grills are good now.
I don’t hate the grill, but I am firmly against the lighting of said grill. Your point stands, though.
I think the lit emblem is tacky on the lower spec cars as well, but it’s simply unbecoming of an S-class.
I get the hate for non-physical buttons, but I really don’t get it for screens. Screens are darn useful. For Carplay, for setting vehicle options, for lots of things. It’s not distracting, like some people claim. You don’t watch movies on them, after all. If you’re old enough to drive, you shouldn’t be distracted by having a moving map on a screen.
I am with you that screens can be very useful for many things. Unfortunately too many times that has been twisted into screens are good for everything.
Yeah. I think when people say they hate screens, they mean they hate how car makers use them. Small, but significant, difference.
I would strongly agree, The issue is not the screens built into the car that are distracting, it’s the small ones people refuse to leave in their pockets while driving that are far and away the problem. The insane number of people I see in cars that I KNOW have Apple Carplay and Android Auto, but are staring down at their phone in their hand is truly insane.
well until CarPlay lets you play Wordle, what else are they supposed to do? /s
I’m not anti-screen. More space to clearly layout information without having to move between screens is great as the article notes. And screens give a lot of flexibility to settings and options that are hard to capture with analog buttons.
I think what people hate, or what I hate anyway, is moving functions that are best handled by a physical button to the screen. And not just to the screen, but to a specific menu on the screen. Give me a volume knob, a button for the seat heater, and some basic HVAC controls with knobs and I’m happy.
This is it exactly. It’s not that screens are inherently bad, it’s that moving functionality that used to have a dedicated physical control to a screen is bad.
Heck, I’ve paid good money to add a screen to literally every vehicle I’ve ever owned because GPS is one of the modern wonders of the world.
I’m not anti-screen, I’m anti-bad-interior-design.
I’ll die on this hill. I freaking hate car screens. Its not because they are “distracting”. Its because its an annoying lightsource that often doesn’t dim well enough for me to not be annoyed. Its because they look cheap and low effort. Its because I associate them with the worst interior design ideas ever built. Its because I love cars because they are machines, not computers, so give me back my mechanical parts. I would be in to televisions if I cared about the size of your screen. Its because screens removed the standardization of the stereo industry, upending one of the fun bits of car modification completely.
Screens literally provide me with zero new benefits that are of importance to me. I have yet to use a built in car screen and think “gee thats so much better than how it used to be done”.
At least they replaced the iPad thing with a horizontal center screen which fits the dash.
Meanwhile, we get a bunch of junk nobody asked for:
Fender vents (Are they even real?)
Piano Black Grille surround
Illuminated hood ornament
19 inch wheels
“AI” Infotainment
Optional (thankfully) Heated front seatbelts
Heated seatbelts, really? I’ve never heard of that.
Its never been a thing because its never been something someone has ever wanted.
But hey – Complexity for Complexity’s sake.
think of all the R&D to make those reliable and safe enough for first responders to be able to slice through. All so your passenger can freak out thinking their seatbelt is somehow catching on fire.