I have never once have had trouble with the climate system in a car (got my first one in 2004, a 98 VW Polo), so 20 years of ownership total. It's definitely not the criteria I would use to chose a vehicle, but you are of course free to use whatever criteria you want to select yours.

Using my phone as a key is gloriously convenient, one less thing to carry and care about.

And if knobs were cheaper, rest assured every manufacturer would use them.

Thanks for your answer, I see we value very different things in cars.