For the first time in 28 years of JD Power’s car owner survey, there is a consecutive year-over-year decline in satisfaction, with most of the ire directed toward in-car infotainment.
Shocking. They’ve been trying to make the car a second living room, and in doing so sacrifice the driving experience by foregoing buttons, levers, and switches for capacitive surfaces and touchscreens.
The turn signal on the Tesla Yoke is shocking to me. It screams of tech boys adding “cool things” before thinking about whether or not it’s useful.
Then there’s all the anti-consumer practises. Buy a car, but don’t own it. Yes we shipped it with heated seats, which you obviously paid for, but to use them you’ll have to pay a monthly fee. And no, you’ll still pay for all the energy used, that’s not on us. But hey we’re actually giving you a better deal on it!
It’s all BS.
Then there’s all the anti-consumer practises. Buy a car, but don’t own it. Yes we shipped it with heated seats, which you obviously paid for, but to use them you’ll have to pay a monthly fee.
“Existence as a subscription service” should’ve been nipped in the bud long before automakers worked up the nerve to pull this nonsense but I’m afraid it’s now too late. We’re all just sentient ATMs being bled dry every month by corporations that feel entitled to our money and have no interest in doing anything to actually earn it.
I just learned that higher-end Kia vehicles don’t have wireless CarPlay but the cheaper, smaller models do. It has something to do with the built-in navigation those models come with… which I would happily ditch to not have to be tethered to the car with crappy Apple iPhone wires. Love the vehicle but the head unit software is terrible. They can’t get the most basic things right because they’re too busy giving us pointless stuff we didn’t ask for.
So my 2023 Limited trim Hyundai Elantra is the same way. (And correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure KIA and Hyundai are more or else ‘the same’ at this point? Made by the same people or something?)
I ended up getting one of these: AAWireless 2023 - Wireless Android Auto Dongle - https://a.co/d/hXeBrWT
It’s not ideal but at least it elimates some of the wire mess and my phone itself isn’t physically tethered any where.
Works pretty solid for me so far.
My solution is for Android but surely there’s something similar for iPhone out there too?
Shouldn’t have to jump through hoops for this, especially for higher end models but here we are…
As someone who drives a higher-end Kia SUV, and sells them, this is untrue. Off the top of my head without looking, I’m fairly positive the ONLY model to not get wireless is the Rio. Even then I think it may still get it.
So much wrong in your post. My ‘22 Stinger GT2 doesn’t have wireless AA or CarPlay. It absolutely does have to do with the built in GPS as the newer, less expensive vehicles/trims WITHOUT built in GPS allow wireless AA and CarPlay. Redline Reviews has mentioned this in his YouTube videos of KIA/Hyundai products, too. It is some kind of dispute between the maker of the maps for the factory GPS, KIA/Hyundai and Google/Apple. I have read numerous times that the hardware is present but it is blocked software side.
Aside from that, if you truly are selling these vehicles you need to brush up on the tech side.
My gf’s Subaru makes me literally yell. No touch screen, but my god, all the controls are identical pushbuttons, pale grey symbols or tiny letters on silver. You have to squint at a pale LED readout to figure out what the HVAC is doing. Nothing is intuitive.
Meanwhile, in my 2002 Spyder and 2004 F-150, twist knobs, receive joy.
I love my subaru, but I do have everything on a stupid touch screen. I would have gone in that 2022 Forester that still had a bunch of real buttons, but it didn’t come with a turbo option so I went with the Outback where everything was integrated. Even then the Android auto experience could definitely be better.
Touch screens in cars are stupid: you need to take your eyes off the road to use them. Buttons and knobs, once you have learned them, can be operated by touch and maybe a quick flick of your eyes.
Mazda has the best system for infotainment systems. I own 2 Mazdas and a Toyota. Every time I get in the Toyota I hate that I have to touch the screen for everything.
Mazdas also focus on providing the best driving experience for the actual driving part. Their infotainment is actually kind of mediocre compared to others, but I don’t care about that because I just need CarPlay and my phone does the rest.
My opinion is that touch screens should be for passengers only. Display screens are fine, but if physical buttons are so unacceptable, then we need voice control that actually works.
Also, I’m surprised no one has started a company to retrofit buttons and switches into modern cars. Whatever kind of headache that would be to design and install, I’d like to see it work.
A lot of these cars are starting to get massive touch screens too. I’m looking at buying a Prius and several of the trims have a 12 inch touch screen. Why would I ever need that as a driver? Why would I ever possibly want that? Pedestrian and cyclist deaths keep skyrocketing and we continue to out these massive screens in cars that in many cases can’t be turned off. Lawmakers really need to make auto manufacturers responsible for the part they are playing in enabling distracted driving.
And then they double as GPS, but they’re installed so low that you can’t see the GPS out of the corner of your eye, and therefore need to look away from the road. Great design!
Sure, but I don’t always have a passenger in my car and want to listen to the radio
I think the driver should definitely have radio controls, just not through a touch screen. Passenger touch screens should be for their entertainment and their own heating/cooling settings. I think the passenger controls should have nothing to do with the way the car drives and handles, or headlights, wipers, anything like that.
Enhance S3XY Buttons would like to have a word.
And I’d like to have a word with them… About how good their idea is!
That’s a great start. I am dreaming of some kind of a full dashboard and center console replacement. While I’m at it, I may as well dream of having the money to afford a car that would be new enough to need such an upgrade plus be able to afford the upgrade itself.
I don’t know who the hell thought that a touch screen only system was reasonable for a motor vehicle, but they can go get fucked.
It feels like San Francisco’s fault. Apple and tesla-esque design language spreading like a plague because it’s cheap to manufacture and people think it’s trendy.
I bought a 2023 Subaru outback. Great car, only quibbles are the CVT instead of a traditional Auto or manual for longevity reasons, and most of my controls are on a big old touch screen. The issue is that everything is routed through it, and it lagggggggs.
All I want is solid gps and Bluetooth.
I don’t need a fucking dominos app. Or to take my car to the dealer so my AC works again because of a fucking update
I purposely bought the base dash on my Focus ST. Screen is smaller than a phone like 4 inches at most, has no apps. It Bluetooth syncs my phone for music and calls. There’s no touchscreen, all interactions are dedicated knobs and buttons.
For GPS I just use my phone and audio directions, my smart watch has the upcoming direction as well. If I really don’t know where I’m going I have a dash mount for my phone if I need it. But that’s not often.
It’s great honestly and the dash doesn’t blind me driving at night.
I was also looking at a Mazda before I got this car and their dash is absolutely horrendous. It’s like they just took a Alibaba knock off iPad and welded it on top of the dash. It’s literally in your view of the road causing a small blind spot.
My 2015 Tacoma has a great gps, but I cannot find a way to update the map, it is 7 years out of date.
My 2012 Mazda uses a SD card for the maps and last I looked it was over $100 for updates. I wouldn’t buy a car without carplay or android auto these days.
Wait until you see what it takes to do so! I had an OEM nav unit in one of my cars, and the map update is sold on a DVD (!) and costs something like $400. I’m going to go with… no. (And yes, I checked to see if an .iso was available on any pirate sources; it wasn’t.) I’ll just run Google Maps or an OpenStreetMap client on my phone, thanks.
We are using a Garmin in our Mitsubishi ASX rather than the built-in navi, probably a custom TomTom. Bluetooth is largely useless and buggy.
I would have bought a used Lada if it was just for me.
If it’s an EV I’d much prefer an open source platform. No such things, so far.
I’m with the people who miss 3.5mm jacks on phones on this one. Until there’s an open, portable standard between iPhone, android, and physical media that I own, I’m not buying ur dumb infotainment system. I’ll go on eBay and buy a physical Garmin GPS before I learn what “google automotive services” is
