Every modern car needs a high-quality infotainment system. You can think of this as a sort of giant smartphone built into your dashboard. It is designed to provide not only entertainment in the form of music and podcasts but also information on where you’re going, what you’re doing, and how you can do it better. The qualities of an infotainment system play an important role in the overall driving experience. If you find that you cannot afford a car with a superior system, then you might consider finance from a reputable specialist lender like Go Car Credit.
But exactly what qualities should we look when considering a car purchase?
Limiting Distraction
A good infotainment system should be intuitive and informative, without being distracting. According to the Department of Transport, distraction is the cause of about one in seven accidents on British roads. Unnecessarily flashy and fatigued infotainment systems tend to be the most distracting.
Ideally, you should look for an infotainment system that’s simple, unobtrusive, and easy to navigate. And the easiest way to do this is by taking a look at it for yourself. According to some surveys, most Brits don’t entirely understand their in-car infotainment system. Despite this, the strength of those systems plays a disproportionate role in influencing purchasing decisions. Ask yourself what you are really getting from the system, and whether all of those flashy options are really worth it.
Smartphone Pairing
Most of us are already carrying around a kind of infotainment system in our pockets. And life can be made a great deal easier if that system can easily interface with the one in your car. This will allow you to take and place calls without taking your eyes off the road, and to navigate your streaming service of choice. Check for Bluetooth connectivity, and make sure that it works as it should, otherwise you will need to resort to a separate kit.
Satnav
Satellite navigation is a modern convenience that is of particular use to drivers who often find themselves on unfamiliar roads. Satnav tends to go hand-in-hand with a large and colorful display, but given that you’ll ideally want to keep your eyes on the road, you’ll want a form of voice guidance that’s reliable, coherent, and easy to understand.
Design
There is no point in having dozens of features if you have to dive through a morass of sub-menus and superfluous options in order to access those features. How many steps and buttons do you need to press before finding the option that you are looking for? If it’s too many, then your experience is unlikely to be pleasant.
Performance
An infotainment system is like any other computer: ideally, you won’t have to think about things like performance. If yours is slow and unresponsive, then it will be a source of frustration, and this will impact the driving experience just as much as the rest of your dashboard. Be sure to spend some time with the infotainment system, therefore, during any test drive.
