I love this car but the climate controls

[MAT1955]

@young at heart ..... chewin' your own food, now that's just showing off. From the sounds of it you and @Farmer Fran need to get together, with a couple of beers and take a course on the frickin' screen. You'll both learn to love it. I have to say my 15 year old grand daughter had the spinning Mustang logo on in under 5 seconds and was messing with my color and tach set-ups in another 5. Bloody annoying kids!

Sponsored

 

[Hasler74]

@Hasler74 ..... at first I didn't like the screen. Then the boss (aka the wife) told me to either stop whining or trade it for a 2023. She voluntold me to sit in it for a while and run through all of its options. I had already downloaded much of the 2024 manual. I sat in the car for about an hour on a Sat/Sun with a couple of beers, some Cheetos and the manual sections..... voila I learned to really like it. Now after 6 months I think its awesome. yeah I do forget some of the stuff but i just haul out the manual - yes directions are faster and it's good. Someone on a Mustang forum said to buy a microfiber cloth to clean the "glass" with and store it in a plastic bag between washings to not get dirt onto the cloth - and - to use filtered water to damp the cloth. Worked 5 star, clean it all the time no scratches.

I am debating about getting the anchor room screen protector.

like I said I don’t hate it, I learned all the functions, there are just some things that should be backed up with buttons/knobs.

I thought the Camaro had an amazing interior. It was the perfect balance of digital screen functionality with manual back ups. Also the HUD.

 

[roket]

For instance...

This morning my windows fogged up. instead of going through screens to turn on defrost, i just hit the max defrost button. It blasts max hot air. Then instead of going throught screens i just hit the max defrost button to turn it of. Well then the system goes into auto blasing the AC through all the vents. How about an on and off on the bottom controls ribbon.

Ford seems to really know how important the "max defrost" button is. even on the 2025 Explorer, where there is no hard max defrost button, even when the infotainment system is still starting, there is a "max defrost" icon at the bottom center of the screen that can be used to turn that on. might be because they're based in the midwest

 

[RaceRedder]

It doesn't have anything to do with the age. I'm wayyyy younger and controlling everything through the screen is not practical at all.

Physical buttons for stuff you use all the time should come back.

Controlling the AC without looking was possible with physical buttons.

 

[Alan Applegate]

As I ponder all of this, I'm hit with a profound thought. Nowadays (yes, that is a very old word, but so am I!) every gear-head must have at least a modicum of computer savvy just to turn on the damn radio! Further, we have to realize the guys and gals programming the Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) aren't typically gear-heads! Ford and other makers should address this sticky issue soon!

 

[sarahestelle]

That's what you're doing wrong. Hands should be at 9 and 3 now --- if the airbag goes off, hands at 10 and 2 could lead to punching yourself very hard in the face and breaking your nose or worse.

And I agree with others on the touchscreen controls. In my wife's Lincoln I don't have to look over there, I can reach down and feel the buttons and know which button I need to turn the heated seat on, or the heated steering wheel, or to adjust the fan speed or the temperature.

why is everybody changing the rules about literally everything, not just driving, and not telling me? thank you for letting me know.
I’m just going to take my manual and sit in the car for a week or two and try to figure it out.

 

[Farmer Fran]

Some of you are totally missing my point. I have zero issues with learning the screens or how they control things, the issue is 3 different screens to adjust the climate controls. Along with other stupidity that this system has. There should be a simple on and off button. Digital or physical. I do use the voice for certain things. But calling up a computer to change a fan speed is stupid, at best. If it was across the room, maybe. 1 foot away, not so much

 

[roket]

i'm only 24, but would still prefer a row of physical climate control buttons. dont get me wrong, i like how the animations and stuff look in the screen, and it de-clutters the center stack with the ever increasing amount of controls in the modern day. i think something like they do in the 2024 Ranger might be a nice middle ground.

heated seats are in the screen, but you have the temperature and fan on/off left knob, radio volume and on/off middle, fan speed right, with max defrost, max A/C, recirculate, and A/C on/off button between them for single zone.

driver's temp with fan on/off on the left knob, radio volume and on/off middle, passenger's temp and A/C on/off right, with max defrost, max A/C, recirculate, and fan speed for dual zone.

 

[young at heart]

It doesn't have anything to do with the age. I'm wayyyy younger and controlling everything through the screen is not practical at all.

Physical buttons for stuff you use all the time should come back.

Controlling the AC without looking was possible with physical buttons.

Neither Ford nor any other manufacturer is gonna change it back. This is the future and they’re only gonna dig in deeper. To the extent it is an age thing (and I’m not sure that is a 100% infallible rule) that tells all we need to know. We boomers and old timers are dying off so by definition we don’t matter much anymore. Apparently it’s more important for many younger buyers to play with a screen than go fast. OK, I get it and knew it when I bought my ‘24 and while I’ll never love the screen I’ll adapt and get to the point I can use it.

I do have to say one thing though that surprises me a bit: safety. It’s just flat dangerous to be staring at and fiddling with a screen when you’re rolling down the road at highway speeds. Ergo, I pull over to adjust the fan! And just wait until some enterprising young engineer figures out how to beam games from his iPhone to the big screen. You know it’s coming.

Preferences? Look, I hate lamb. Really hate the gamey taste. Have all my life, always will. And I get tired of people telling me to just put this, that or the other on it and you’ll love it. I say why bother, just eat something you like to start with. You could probably tart up dog squeeze to palatability but why bother? Anyway, most of us who don’t love it will adapt like me and we ain’t got that long to worry about it anyway.

 

[samson]

I just use the "auto" setting exclusively. Set to 72 and let the car do the rest. About the only time I touch the climate control is to turn it off when I have the top down.

 

[Wiley Marmot]

@MAT1955 ---good suggestion on keeping screen cleaning "supplies" in the car. The last few years (my former Focus RS and now the GT) I keep a lens cleaning cloth and bottle of lens solution (both made for plastic glasses lenses) in the car. Couple of spritzes and a few wipes and the screen is clean until I touch it the next time!

 

[Dxm]

For me, the lack of buttons sucks. But I love the climate control, where you just set it on "Auto", low air flow, and then set the temperature. You can even use voice commands to change the temperature. I personally don't ever need to do anything else; the windows don't get fogged up, etc. On the old car that didn't have the fancy climate control, I constantly had to fiddle with the temperature/fan speed, redirected the air flow. But on the Mustang, all that is done automatically.

I do have to change the temperature, because some days 70" doesn't quite work and I set it to 66". Yet other days 66" is too cold.

Overall I don't miss the physical buttons now.

 

[smurfslayer]

I do have to say one thing though that surprises me a bit: safety. It’s just flat dangerous to be staring at and fiddling with a screen when you’re rolling down the road at highway speeds. Ergo, I pull over to adjust the fan! And just wait until some enterprising young engineer figures out how to beam games from his iPhone to the big screen. You know it’s coming.

Good on you for driving while driving and fiddling with the unfamiliar screen options while NOT driving. I wish more would pay such sufficient care to driving .

This discussion is a microcosm of what Ford has to deal with when developing new products and features. IMO, the center stack is not quite “consumer proof”, but it is a solid, intuitive interface.
If you had climate buttons, the center stack gets more crowded, new module(s) and components wired. Even coming from 2017-2020 Sync 3, the ‘24+ Mustang is a significant evolution in technology and functionality. I have a 2017 Raptor, 2020 Lincoln & the 2024 Dark Horse and ...
Ford, c’mon. Raptor has the gauge cluster controls on the right side, the other 2 on the left. Both of the older ones have “physical” radio/climate controls. I know they have to continuously improve but I do get tripped up on the gauge cluster controls once in a while.

I have this reticence in ceding relatively simple manual operations over to complicated circuitry and programming. I know they work and are reliable, but it seems we’ve overcomplicated this quite a bit and IMO unnecessarily. I do love the screen for navigation - but do I really need a side block for the trip meters ? Radio station block cool and about right size.

So, my takeaway is this and Ford probably thinks similar. Put 10 Mustang owners in a room and there will be 12 opinions on any given topic ;-)

 

[POHLHAMMER]

If I were to develop a lightweight , high power , well accessorized car. The less hardware the better. That in mind , FORD nailed it imo.

I also don't understand the 3 screens comment ? Temp and fan speed are ALWAYS on the bottom of the right side screen , aren't they ?

It reminds me of my mother-in-law telling me she NEVER uses the Auto-headlights feature.. I asked "why" ?
She responded, "I like to always be in control"
Good grief, lol...

It's Auto-matic ,
It's Systo-matic ,
itttt's
Greased lighting !!

No ? Not anymore ?

 

[Rick W]

Can't say as I'm having any trouble turning stuff on/off or adjusting settings on the fly, but these "all on screen" controls aren't any better than knobs and buttons. They're just "different"; which isn't the same as "better".

PS: glossy screens + innumerable greasy finger prints = suck. Just sayin....................

I bought the Matte finish screen protector from Anchor Room for mine. Probably the best money I've spent yet. Absolutely no fingerprints or smudges. Worth every penny!

Sponsored