As of 2014, the SYNC infotainment system comes as standard on all Ford and Lincoln vehicles sold in North America. While SYNC Gen I was flawed and laden with too many buttons, SYNC Gen II’s navigation system failed us four times in a day during our review of the 2015 Ford Focus facelift 1.5 EcoBoost.
Both generations had their fair share of good points as well, but with the recently launched SYNC 3, the Blue Oval is stepping things up a notch, but just one because it’s more of an evolution than a revolution. So what’s so special about the newest generation of the highly-acclaimed SYNC infotainment system?
For starters, the American automaker is adamant that it was optimized for hands-free use thanks to a new-gen touchscreen display.
On the 2015 Focus, the SYNC 2’s touchscreen sometimes didn’t want to take my commands, not because the system was laggy, but because the touchscreen itself wasn’t too... ahem... capacitive enough.
Users of the SYNC 3 system will be delivered with an experience that’s “similar to a smartphone or tablet” by reducing complexity of the menu and prioritizing the control options used most. As such, the main menu is now offering you only three zones to choose from - Audio, Navigation or Phone.
Updatable via a Wi-Fi connection, SYNC 3 will begin arriving on vehicles later next year. Last but not least, the system’s AppLink feature is able to automatically discover phone apps including Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, NPR One, SiriusXM Radio and iHeartRadio Auto, displaying music and news apps.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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