Infotainment systems are undeniably playing an increasingly important role, but at the same time they can be very distracting. A British study lists the most distracting systems for us.
It is actually terribly contradictory: whoever looks at the phone once while driving is not yet called a murderer by the social media police, but in the meantime everyone is forced to look at a similar screen, albeit integrated in the car.
However, the extent to which those screens are distracting varies greatly. Car manufacturers are of course aware of this problem and come up with all kinds of solutions, but not every brand is equally successful with this.
The British ‘What Car?‘, which was previously good for an interesting study, therefore subjected a long list of popular cars to a’ distraction test ‘. Each test car was subjected to the same series of assignments and then it was examined how quickly and easily they could be carried out. In a neat overview:
- Increase the indoor temperature by 2 degrees
- Turn up the ventilation
- Zoom out on the navigation screen
- Stop the route guidance
- Put the radio on BBC 4
- Use voice commands to find the nearest gas station
Less modern, more distraction
From the result you could deduce that simpler cars with an often less state-of-the-art infotainment system are the most distracting. The MG ZS EV takes the dubious first place, followed by the Fiat 500X and the Skoda Citigo. It is also striking that the list is a veritable mishmash of brands and models and that not one car manufacturer stands out in a negative sense.
The complete results, neatly listed in English by The Compensation Experts:
| Rank | Fire | Car system |
| 1 | MG | MG ZS EV with 8.0in touchscreen |
| 2 | Fiat | 500X with 7-inch touchscreen and Uconnect Live |
| 3 | Skoda | Citigo-e iV with color screen and phone holder |
| 4 | Peugeot | 508 SW with 10-inch Connected 3D Navigation and voice recognition |
| 5 | Lexus | RX with 12.3-inch multimedia display |
| 6 | Honda | CR-V with 7-inch touchscreen, Honda Connect and Garmin navigation |
| 7 | Nissan | Juke with Nissan Connect |
| 8 | Toyota | Corolla with Touch 2 media system and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto |
| 9 | Volvo | S60 with Sensus |
| 10 | Jaguar | XE with 10-inch Touch Pro Duo system |
| 11 | Skoda (premium) | Kamiq with 9.2-inch touchscreen, voice control and Amundsen sat-nav |
| 12 | Vauxhall | Corsa with 10-inch Multimedia Navi Pro |
| 13 | Hyundai | Ioniq with 10.25-inch touchscreen and Bluelink connectivity |
| 14 | Ford | Fiesta with Sync 3 navigation and FordPass Connect |
| 15 | Volkswagen | Passat GTE with 8-inch Composition Media system |
| 16 | Mazda | Mazda3 with 8.8-inch color display and Mazda Connect |
| 17 | Audi | Q3 Sportback with Virtual Cockpit Plus |
| 18 | Porsche | Panamera E-Hybrid with Connect Plus and Porsche Communication Management |
| 19 | Mercedes-Benz | CLA with 10.25-inch touchscreen |
| 20 | BMW | 3 Series with Live Cockpit Professional |
Doubts
The test is well thought out and there is certainly something to be said for the set-up with clear assignments, but we also have our doubts. For example, a car can fall through the basket mercilessly if one of the components does not work quickly and not all aspects of an infotainment system are tested. That is understandable, but it may also explain why the list is not entirely consistent with our own experiences. Fiats Uconnect system, for example, works quite well in our experience and that certainly also applies to Volvo’s infotainment system, which ends in ninth place in the WhatCar survey. Finally, there is probably little attention for the extent to which the operation of a car is ‘suspended’ from the infotainment system. For example, in a Peugeot almost everything has to be done via the screen, while the system at Honda has a more supporting role. Nevertheless, it is good that attention is being paid to this and much remains to be gained in this area.