[mnx5er]

Porsche just added buttons back to the refreshed Cayenne. There is hope!

A few years ago Jeep and Dodge did it to the Grand Cherokee and Durango after consumer complaining.

Of course there is Tesla who removed the gear shifter in the new 3.

[crabman]

Originally Posted by biterror

As long as the voice system doesn't speak and understand one's native language it's just a gimmick. You can learn some commands in English, yes, but try to tell the navigator some Scandinavian addresses or call a person with a Scandinavian name.. not working.

It's becoming harder and harder to see why I would buy another BMW. I would lose laser lights, night vision, soft close doors, comfort access in back doors, physical buttons etc. Maybe I couldn't get all of these in a Chinese car either, but I would only be paying a fraction of the price.

Voice isn't a gimmick, it can be far and away the fastest/easiest method for accomplishing some actions in a car. The problem you're talking about isn't voice itself, it's that the implementation lacks proper localization.

Don't know what to say about the localization, other than it sounds like it sucks. I'm actually surprised to hear it isn't more robust; I had always assumed that in other countries they had voice that worked (roughly) the same as it does here.