Yeah the controls are pretty much instant. It works on a sliding scale from 1-14. It's hugely better than our old Bosch which was probably a similar age to yours. Can still be a bit awkward when it's wet though, but not as bad. What i do like is i can press my finger on any setting between 1 and 14 to activate it. On the old one i had a +/- button and could only move in increments.
It still has 4 "rings" but you can combine the 2 left ones and 2 right ones to make one big section. I need to buy something like a Le Crueset lasagne dish type thing to take advantage of that. The ones which let you put a pan anywhere were another bracket up.
As for pans, we generally just use Ikea ones. Although we got a set of AEG ones with the hob which feel lovely.