As the screen get bigger, it is hard to reach the far side with a Horizontal setup. Chevy moved it off center to correct for this.It seems odd to me that Ford went away from the horizontal orientation in the Lighting, when it fits so perfectly in the 2021's. I always thought the Ram vertical screen looked like an afterthought that was just kind of tacked on at the last second. But the 2021 Ford screen is so nicely placed, it looks like the rest of the dash was designed around it. Now the Lighting has that same afterthought look, while the Chevy looks much more elegant. Maybe there were other reasons the orientation was changed, but seems like an odd move to me. Either way, I like the Chevy better in this instance.
My wife's car has buttons for climate control instead of knobs, and it's a hassle. My Sprinter van had buttons too and I always really hated it. It's a lot easier to turn a knob while in motion and easier to adjust while keeping eyes on the road.I find it funny how much everyone worries about physical climate controls. We have both on the ID.4. They rarely are adjusted as the smart climate settings are excellent. When we do adjust them I’ve found the screen easier to adjust then looking for the buttons.
The concern is understandable, but I think most will find it a very minor change.
Given the Mach-e design, I would expect that the cooling equipment is taking up the majority of the space behind the dash. along with some power electronics and the A/C to D/C charger(s).Non-physical buttons in general allow for software updating and updates OTA. Shifter is probably good for safety reasons with kids who are used to iPads .
However, with all the changes under the hood, I wonder what is really behind the dash screen in the Lightning? My guess is that there may not even be a firewall (unless it was structurally necessary) anymore and that the space is now taken by the Frunk. Which if you think about that... Would you rather have less Frunk space or the screen more integrated into the dash? I honestly would probably prefer a little more integration but it would definitely be a design trade-off.