What's wrong with the center console with physical buttons? It's the same thing, except they never rearrange, and you get physical tactility.

>(current UI update aside)

One thing at least I'll never have to deal with is finding a brand new re-arranged center console in my Geo Metro the next morning!

>but I find I can glance at the speed/car status section of the screen more quickly than I can glance down at a set of dials in the traditional position, and weirdly the sidways/down glance seems to retain more peripheral vision of the windscreen/road than the downwards glance to the traditional location.

I think you just got used to it. Tesla adding a touch screen has not magically superseded the tens of millions of hours car designers put into interiors.

I wish these kind of cars with touch screen could be optionnally equipped with controllers on which user could assign and customize whatever function they want. Something similar to midi controllers for DAWs full of knobs, buttons and sliders.

Search 'Akai midimix' to get an idea if what I am thinking at.

That would be pretty cool. Sort of like the Stream Deck with customizable illuminated LED buttons?

Good idea.

Even better, the buttons could have e-paper labels to show what function they perform.