[Cresterk]

I drove an aging volvo s60 for a few days and I was very impressed with how well it's aging infotainment held up even after 8 years. The screen was small and not a touchscreen but the interface was so smooth and responsive, even on maps. The best part was that you could control every single aspect from the steering buttons itself, meaning you never had to lift a hand off it. This included switching between bluetooth devices and controlling the navigation.

In comparison, the only things to the infotainment I can do from the steering of my Hycross ZXO is skip music and change volume. And even that doesn't work if the 360 degree camera screen is active. The screen itself is decent but even something as simple as zooming out a little bit on maps when you are approaching a block requires you to take your hands off the wheel and grope around until the little + and - signs come on in apple carplay and then press it repeatedly to zoom out and then press the resume/finished button to go back. All of this also requires you to keep looking at the screen because you need to see which small icon you are touching. It's hilariously bad.

[Sumer]

What matters most to me is music quality. I have cheaped out on the ICE in my Brezza VDI, keeping it stock with a black and white display but splurging on components, damping, amps and a sub. I use it wired through AUX with my phone. On my XUV 700 on the other hand, I use wireless Android Auto and appreciate the benefits it offers, mainly navigation.

[kaushalswarup]

The ICE has gone from being just one of the components of the centre console to being the primary focus in a car’s interior. With the rise of touchscreens and processing power, most vehicular functions are accessible through the ICE screens in newer cars.

I’ve got a Polo 1.0 TSI and a Crysta. The polo comes with wired CarPlay, that works flawlessly. The touch is responsive, and there are enough physical buttons within easy reach to safely control the ICE.
The crysta on the other hand has a poorer screen that’s slower to respond, most functional ‘buttons’ are capacitive touch buttons, and doesn’t come with AA/CP.

I voted for navigation & entertainment as I believe these are the primary functions that’ll enhance the driving experience.
Aesthetics matter only if the placement of the screen eats into the driver’s vision or causes the driver to excessively look away from the road to glance at the screen.

Safety features such as 360° cameras, blindspot camera views, voice control, and parking sensor visualisations are all useful features to have if available. The cameras while useful, shouldn’t become the primary means of trying to navigate the car, i.e reversing or changing lanes/merging. I’ve seen drivers become so dependent on cameras that they completely forget how to reverse and gauge distance/objects if there’s no camera available.

[GeeTee TSI]

The instrument binnacle is the most important aspect for me, the 'clocks' being directly in view. Personally, I would prefer more information shoe horned into the in-view panel (now, also a display) than the ICE screen in the center.

The navigation looks nice on the center screen but turn-by-turn notifications are welcome on the driver's screen. Controls' inputs on the ICE are an inevitable reality in current days, but I fancy focussed driving with the center ICE turned off (just having a clock display for example), especially in highway drives

I imagine using the Saab lights dimmer switch of the 90s had such a functionality been available in current times!

[darthvader001]

A query related to the Car's Infotainment System
I drive a 2019 Ford Ecosport which came with the Ford Sync navigation system for which updates are not available anymore.
Recently, when I came to Kolkata and was fondly listening to the FM Radio, I set my navigation on phone as usual, connected it to the ICE system and drove on. I was surprised to find no alerts being called out by the entertainment system though it was connected through Bluetooth and everything else was functioning properly including handsfree phone calls, songs from Spotify etc.
After some mind scratching, it occured to me to check the source for the music system and then I found out that when the source is selected to Bluetooth, Google Map navigation alerts were being heard, but the moment the source was changed to Radio, the alerts could not be heard.

Yes. This is the expected behavior from any Infotainment System (not just Ford). At a time, only one Source can play/stream (either FM/AM/BT/USB/SXM/DAB/IPOD etc.). You're streaming the Navigation prompts over BT Audio (source) so when you switch the source from BT to FM then you will not be able to listen to BT Audio (thru which the Nav prompts are coming).

If you want Music and Nav Prompts then you need to be playing music from your phone so that source can be selected as BT in the Infotainment. This will give you both music and nav prompts.

OR use the Infotainment Navigation App (in built) then you will get prompts from the native Nav App and FM/BT can be streamed.

[darthvader001]

I drove an aging volvo s60 for a few days and I was very impressed with how well it's aging infotainment held up even after 8 years. The screen was small and not a touchscreen but the interface was so smooth and responsive, even on maps. The best part was that you could control every single aspect from the steering buttons itself, meaning you never had to lift a hand off it. This included switching between bluetooth devices and controlling the navigation.

Sure, but partly because there is no touch screen so they tried to compensate by providing all options from the Steering wheel controls. However while controlling from the steering wheel, you will still need to see the screen for the scrolling and selecting. So need to take eyes off the road.

In comparison, the only things to the infotainment I can do from the steering of my Hycross ZXO is skip music and change volume. And even that doesn't work if the 360 degree camera screen is active. The screen itself is decent but even something as simple as zooming out a little bit on maps when you are approaching a block requires you to take your hands off the wheel and grope around until the little + and - signs come on in apple carplay and then press it repeatedly to zoom out and then press the resume/finished button to go back. All of this also requires you to keep looking at the screen because you need to see which small icon you are touching. It's hilariously bad.

This is due to the evolution of the vehicles with IVI touch screens, Digital Cluster and ADAS.
Advent of the IVI Touch screen reduced need for controlling things from Steering. Steering needs to provide only the important things like volume and music next/prev for the IVI related.
However the Steering needs to provide options for controlling Digital Cluster and ADAS. So no space for IVI controls here. These controls occupy the space vacated by IVI buttons.
Hence for this, the next gen Vehicles are coming with the context based Steering wheel controls which can control depending on which context you are rather than dedicating to any specific function.

[vjbox]

To me its the entertainment ( good audio setup) foremost, followed by safety. All 3 cars in our garage qualify on the entertainment and safety aspect, boiling down to even the Tiago NRG. It's got a decent Harman ICE setup and the wired Android Auto/ CAR play works well. It's rear camera is decent for the price with steering guidelines and rear parking sensors.

Both the V40 CC and the Kodiaq have fantastic ICE and I simply love my long drives in them. It has always been a criteria for us to have a good OE audio setup. While the Kodiaq has wireless carplay and Android Auto with decent navigation, I also like the no nonsense Infotainmemt of the Volvo which you can control using the steering wheel scroll button without taking your hands-off like someone mentioned with their S60. I configure everything from Driver assistance, trip stats, light settings and what not from the comfort of the steering wheel. Despite 5 years, that system has agreed well.

With the Kodiaq what I don't like is that I need to reach out to the screen to configure major stuff like Drive modes, audio, telephone etc. Thankfully the HVAC, seat ventilaton/heating etc are still retained as physical knobs and buttons. The camera resolution, responsiveness, safety aspects are outright better on the Volvo with the Kodia tailing it closely.

[amitgupta]

In my 2015 Verna, phone connected via Bluetooth with the company fitted music system. So that took care of music streamed over internet as well as phone calls. I used a phone mount for the navigation. It was not that big of a hassle except when co-passenger wanted to change music or destination etc.

Then some years later I saw a phone mount which had proximity sensors to open & close the clasps & had inbuilt wireless charging. That improved things for me quite a lot as now putting the phone on the mount was not that much of a hassle & the phone got charged as well without having to fiddle with wires. Also taking the phone out & giving to co-passenger was very easy so that they can change music or destination on nav if needed.

Does the infotainment screen on modern cars improve the experience? Not so much when compared to my setup with electronic phone mount. I think it's a minor improvement in my case which somehow doesn't justify the increased costs on this.

[Toni]

The infotainment system is very important and useful part of a car. My previous car did not have one. Although my drives are always within the city sometimes important calls on my mobile had to be taken even as much as I hate to take calls on mobile while driving. This used to distract me.

The current car has one now. So it has become very convenient as I can take important calls without taking my hands of steering and eyes off the road via wireless (bluetooth). It has wired Apple Carplay and Android Auto too. Once while attending a function with my family I could not find the venue. I connected my mobile with the wire to Apple Maps in the infotainment system via Apple Carplay and reached the destination without any problems. The buttons provided in the steering can control most of the system without taking hands off.

Apart from being aesthetic in nature it also aids in driving experience if the sytem is well placed not does not distract the driver.

The most important feature for me is the bluetooth audio and navigation followed by others.