No, I agree with you. I think a touchscreen has no place in a vehicle, as working one will always be a distraction while driving. I don't need to look at physical buttons to be able to feel when my hand is on the "next station" button, but I have to look at a touchscreen to perform the same task reliably.
I've been really enjoying my Mazda 3's setup though; it's got the touchscreen thing, but it actually turns the touchscreen off while you're driving, and has a little dial near the console that you can move around like a joystick to manipulate the controls. This sounds weird, but is highly intuitive, and once I knew my way around the controls I could easily work the display blind, with my eyes still firmly on the road in front of me. I'm OK with a compromise like this. The system isn't perfect, but the input method seems like it achieves the best of both worlds.
Having had two touch screens in two different cars, and having my first car plow into a tree because I was trying to use one, I can agree. They are highly distracting.
My 2002 Nissan has physical buttons and also little feeler dots to enable completely blind operation, and the information is displayed high on the dash so you don't have to look far.
But by far the best experience I have had with in car entertainment was a simple bluetooth link to my phone and a physical volume knob on the head unit.
Hop in, start driving and the music is automatically playing what I was listening to wherever I was before. Volume up or down as appropriate, eyes never leaving the road.
I've been really enjoying my Mazda 3's setup though; it's got the touchscreen thing, but it actually turns the touchscreen off while you're driving, and has a little dial near the console that you can move around like a joystick to manipulate the controls. This sounds weird, but is highly intuitive, and once I knew my way around the controls I could easily work the display blind, with my eyes still firmly on the road in front of me. I'm OK with a compromise like this. The system isn't perfect, but the input method seems like it achieves the best of both worlds.