I don't have a separate heat or AC settings (I did in my '98 car). Any car modern enough to have Touchscreen HVAC controls (and many before that) will just have a temperature setting and will turn the heating or the AC (or heat with the AC) automatically to reach the setting.

I think many people have a car like the one on the right and assume that you need to tweak the HVAC controls on the touchscreen every 20 minutes because you choose a power setting or something. Cars have had thermostats for ages. You set a temperature, leave the power on auto and it does its thing. My new car even has automatic seat warmers, they just turn on depending on how cold is it in the cabin.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Exactly. I have "manual" HVAC controls in my vehicles right now, but I did have a car with an automatic one. I had that set for 21C 365 days a year, and it handled everything, including switching to defrost in cold weather. I did not touch the HVAC controls in the 3 or 4 years I owned that car. The manual controls need to get adjusted several times per trip.

[–] Poop@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I would agree that modern cars temperature controls work well. My issue is just the screen for controlling it in some of them. I don't mind messing around with the controls in my old car, but it's very convenient to just set a temperature and go.