A woman who received a Mini Cooper as a temporary vehicle from her dealership became extremely frustrated with the car’s lack of buttons.
The content creator posted a video on her TikTok profile to talk about the issue. “I just want to say that I don’t know what’s going on with cars,” she said at the start of the clip.
“Where’s the gear shift? Where are the air conditioning controls? Why… where are the buttons? Why does everything have to be [inside] a screen? Who did this? Why? Why did you do this?” she asked next.
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Modern cars are increasingly abandoning physical buttons to place some functions inside the infotainment screen. But although the change is mostly focused on reducing costs for manufacturers, this trend receives plenty of criticism.
According to experts, removing physical buttons and replacing them with touchscreen commands can be extremely dangerous. If instead of pressing a physical button (which could previously be activated through “muscle memory”), the driver has to divert attention to look at a screen, this greatly increases the risk of accidents.
In response, the European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) announced that starting in January 2026, vehicles seeking a five-star safety rating must have physical controls for critical functions such as turn indicators, windshield wipers, and the horn.
As a result, many automakers, including Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz, have begun reversing this decision and reintroducing physical buttons based on customer feedback. However, Mini in particular has been criticized for taking minimalism to the extreme.
The brand eliminated manual transmissions across its entire lineup, replacing them with dual-clutch transmissions with steering wheel buttons. However, these buttons have been criticized for being “light, imprecise, and plastic-like.”
In addition, many have reported that the transmission software can be inconsistent, with noticeable delays in certain scenarios that disconnect drivers from the experience they expect from a brand built around driver engagement.
For this reason, most internet users agreed with the content creator’s stance in the comments of her TikTok video. “[It’s like] driving a damn cell phone,” lamented one commenter.
Photo and video: TikTok @cherubg1rl. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
