Yeah climate control is where he lost me. My wife’s Honda odyssey has that.
I’m okay with the soft-buttons for memory, or to toggle input, since they are always in fixed locations. In fact soft-buttons are slightly better because they are labeled with the station….though my 2013 Passat has the better compromise of a physical button with the station printed above it.
But HVAC is where I draw the line. I guess the trade off would be that a thermostatically controlled digital systems are probably more simplistic, in their operation and maintenance, than the vacuum-and-linkage systems of yore, and this gives way to multi-zone climate systems in mass market cars. But I still hate that I have to utilize the touchscreen to change which blowers are on or to change the temperature in the rear zone, which blocks GPS if you’re using CarPlay/Android Auto/Nav (I’d assume, I don’t have nav).