And the winner is Magnetic Metallic.

 

I'm hoping Ford and other manufacturers start to adjust their Sync systems to be more like an IPad tablet, where you can get major upgrades in software for the few years after you purchase the vehicle.

 

The interesting disruptor is the cell phone. I have a device that gets upgraded every 2-3 years, is required to be connected to the internet, has voice-navigable communication options (phone calls, text messages, even email responses), has some cute pocket AI features (Cortana, Siri), and doesn't care if I'm in a car or walking around on a farm. There are billions of these devices and often as many devices in the vehicle as there are people!

So the most important in-car infotainment feature, will be how well they integrate with phones. My wife's 2013 Volvo, for example, doesn't let you talk to your phone and it drives me crazy. It crashes every time the phone tries to read a text message to the stereo. You can't give the phone voice commands because the vehicle intercepts them. My Audi and the Ford Sync do this just fine (Sync pretends that your phone is calling it, which is cute).

 

Fords new system is available for view on youtube in several videos. I wish ford had adapted the same system that Chrysler uses. It really is nicely done, elegant in style and very full featured. What I've seen of fords new system, it will be easy but could use some improvement in the visuals. I think ford is moving toward simplicity and the cost will be style. Again, I've only seen videos, but it looks like ford has settled for very bright pastel colors, light blue to white, simple square boxes vs icons and fixed backgrounds.

 

I have a 2015 SYNC 2 system along with NAV GPS. The new vehicle came with an A6 NAV card. However, the card is not able to draw water bodies such as a lake. Instead the water body is displayed as a single blue dot along with a name label. My dealer tried several other A6 cards, not only in my new vehicle but also four other Ford models that also use SYNC with NAV. NONE were able to display lake bodies...they all were represented by a single blue dot.
The dealer then told me that probably ALL 2015 A6 SD cards were 'deficient' in presenting lake bodies!!!
However, in several forums, other new 2015 owners with SYNC 2 + NAV had not trouble viewing the GPS NAV screen with lake/water bodies displayed correctly.

Does anyone know of a FORD website that would be able to help me?

I contacted Ford Service and was told that ALL A6 SD chips are unable to display lake bodies. When I replied, that multiple owners of the A6 SD chip had not problems for lake body displays...Ford Service NEVER answered!

 

I got my sync 2 without nav. Nav is an easy fix for 199.99 for a garmin unit or free if i use my iPhone 6+. other than nav the 8" screen is more than adequate.

The only thing i don't like and i haven't figured out is why do i have to start browsing all over again just to pick out a new song. There should be a "track List" button so you can use the screen to jump between songs. My 2014 4runner has that and so does my 2013 911. seems like an obvious feature to miss. unless of course its there and i'm not finding it. If i'm not then its not an obvious feature.

 

For the amount of features I actually use in the MFT system, I'm okay with the current Sync 2. Sync 3 looks sweet though, and working in IT makes me jealous of the 2016 systems, but then again, it is a truck, not a handheld device.

emoticon just because it's cool.