Some engineering solutions in Europe just make more sense: Semi trucks almost all have a cab-over design to save space on roads and in parking lots. Instead of shelves, many cupboards have open-bottom racks so your dishes dry after you put them away. And budget-friendly European cars skip the big touchscreens for a well-designed phone mount. Bravo!

I drove a rental Citroën around France on a recent trip. My C3 had a full on touchscreen, but at that car’s price point I found the controls and user interface a bit…whelming. I ended up propping my phone atop the touchscreen for much of my roadtrip to Le Mans. So imagine my surprise–long after the Citroën had gone home to the Charles de Gaulle Avis–when Bradley Brownell of Jalopnik revealed that entry-level Citroëns, Fiats, and Volkswagens in European markets are skipping the touchscreen. What do they replace it with? A very well-engineered phone mount.

I love this idea for a few reasons. First and foremost, manufacturer user interfaces all lag behind CarPlay and Android Auto. Worse yet, they seem outdated just a few years after they’re made. Why bother with a huge touchscreen running subpar software when you’ll be propping your phone on top of it in mere months?

Secondly, cars are getting too darn expensive. For 2025, the average price of a new car has risen to $48,401. Yikes! Much of this cash goes to add-ins such as leather seats and painted brake calipers that we probably didn’t need anyway. And one of the biggest offenders is the glut of 10+ inch infotainment screens. Sure, they should be an option. But let’s see more cars on dealership lots with fewer bells and whistles.

Finally, huge distracting touchscreens are dangerous. That’s right. I said it, I meant it, I’m here to represent it. A European motoring magazine tested how long basic in-vehicle tasks take–such as adjusting the temperature or skipping a song. Moving controls from physical buttons to touchscreens quadruples the time drivers’ eyes are off the road. Europe’s New Car Assessment Program has announced no new vehicles will get a five star safety rating without physical controls for certain critical tasks.

That’s great, but having a huge touchscreen in your face tempts you to reach for it and scan through menus or fidget with various controls. All we really need is a small screen showing the next navigation turn. We can save changing playlists for the next red light. A phone is the perfect size to give us what we need, but not what will distract us. So good on European manufacturers for moving in the right direction–away from huge touchscreens.