I can see why that care was a failure. Even in chrome-crazy 60's years, that is way overboard.
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New Car Radios....a sorry state.
- Thread starter BruceB
- Start date
The Edsel was produced only in the years 1957-59 (model years 1958-60). The pushbutton transmission was gone in 1959.
Even worse than the cars themselves were the names, some of which were reused by other manufacturers for their own bad cars: Edsel had a Citation and a Pacer in 1958. Apparently Chevrolet and AMC, respectively, didn't get the hint. Fortunately, Ford had never come up with the name Gremlin in the late '50s.
I’m a bit late to the party here…
Being a Honda guy for years (besides the half decade or so I drove Panther body Fords), I can say without a doubt that Honda/Acura’s radios are poor quality and generally have been since the 80’s. Poor sensitivity, poor selectivity, and poor overall sound.
What I did find out is Honda radios are manufactured by Alpine. When head units were still a thing, and I eagerly awaited the Crutchfield magazine, I avoided Alpines like the plague. Didn’t like the radios at all in them.
To ensure I wasn’t suffering from the Mandela Effect, I hopped in my 2012 Acura TL (gussied up USDM Accord basically with AWD). Pre-touchscreen and post-satellite radio integration. But very nice speakers with an integrated subwoofer.
There is a noticeable difference between the FM dial (which sounds “muddy”, relatively speaking) and XM which is clear on most high-bandwidth channels and several dB louder. AM? Hahaha. Assuming you can even pick up a station, it sounds awful. Perhaps it’s a ploy from SXM to make you buy a subscription, or perhaps Alpine was slipping in the lowest grade of tuners in Honda products.
Moral of the story: I never bought a Honda for in-car entertainment. But even now I’d kill to install a Pioneer SuperTuner IIID single DIN with a whip antenna if it wouldn’t cost north of a grand to properly install.
Being a Honda guy for years (besides the half decade or so I drove Panther body Fords), I can say without a doubt that Honda/Acura’s radios are poor quality and generally have been since the 80’s. Poor sensitivity, poor selectivity, and poor overall sound.
What I did find out is Honda radios are manufactured by Alpine. When head units were still a thing, and I eagerly awaited the Crutchfield magazine, I avoided Alpines like the plague. Didn’t like the radios at all in them.
To ensure I wasn’t suffering from the Mandela Effect, I hopped in my 2012 Acura TL (gussied up USDM Accord basically with AWD). Pre-touchscreen and post-satellite radio integration. But very nice speakers with an integrated subwoofer.
There is a noticeable difference between the FM dial (which sounds “muddy”, relatively speaking) and XM which is clear on most high-bandwidth channels and several dB louder. AM? Hahaha. Assuming you can even pick up a station, it sounds awful. Perhaps it’s a ploy from SXM to make you buy a subscription, or perhaps Alpine was slipping in the lowest grade of tuners in Honda products.
Moral of the story: I never bought a Honda for in-car entertainment. But even now I’d kill to install a Pioneer SuperTuner IIID single DIN with a whip antenna if it wouldn’t cost north of a grand to properly install.
I don't believe that's correct. Denso is the electronics manufacturer for Honda. That includes in-vehicle entertainment systems.
I always have and always will prefer muscle memory backed up by simple feel to adjust anything in a car while driving, especially in southern California traffic. That being said, apparently, no sooner did everyone you're referring to finish beating back those attempts at restoring real buttons to cars than society's automotive trendsetter doyens decreed buttons really should return after all. Check out what dropped today:
I lost brain cells watching that.
[Old man yells at TV: "Teach that young woman how to pronounce "button" and then we can discuss her working at NBC."]
Apart from the inclusion of a rep from MINI, there was no actual sense of what manufacturers are doing.
Volkswagen isn't bringing physical buttons back from the touchscreen, they're responding to customer outrage because they dumped physical buttons for touch-sensitive surfaces made to look like buttons in 2021---and they don't work.
Not All Tech Is Smart: The 2022 Volkswagen Golf GTI
Interface is everything.
www.mikehagertycars.com
The MINI guy deserves to have his BS in B.S. upgraded to a PhD, along with a healthy raise from his bosses, who actually reduced the number of toggle switches in the previous generation of MINI from five to three in the just-released 2025 models.
They are now gear selector (which used to be a standard lever in the center console, the car's main "start/stop" switch, and "experiences", which is selectable drive modes.
The "P" button on the left? Parking brake, moved from the console. On the right is a volume control, which on the previous MINI, was at the center bottom of the touchscreen.
The toggles used to be parking distance alarm, auto on/off for idling, the car's main stop/start switch, traction control and sport/"green" mode:
For 2025, no instrument cluster in front of the driver. It's been replaced by a head-up display. And the speedometer, all other driving information and those big, clear knobs for climate control---have ALL been relocated to an even larger touchscreen.
It must suck to be on network television and know so little about the subject you're covering that the PR guy for MINI could snow you into believing that they're the good guys "solving" the touchscreen problem.
The Swedes did a study two years ago that found that buttons are better:
Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, test finds
Physical buttons are increasingly rare in modern cars. Most manufacturers are switching to touchscreens – which perform far worse in a test carried out by Vi Bilägare. The driver in the worst-performing car needs four times longer to perform simple tasks than in the best-performing car.
And partially in response to that, EuroNCAP, the safety agency that crash-tests and rates cars in Europe, similar to the NHTSA and IIHS here, is revising its rules so that to get a perfect five-star rating, beginning in January 2026, turn signals, hazard flashers, horns, windshield wipers, and activation of an SOS function to automatically call emergency services in a crash will have to be controlled by a button or stalk.
I mean, yay---but I drive 104 cars a year and I've yet to be in a car where any of those are in a screen. On the other hand, to turn on, off or adjust the setting for headlights in the Chevy EV Blazer and the Honda Prologue (built on the Blazer platform), you have to use the touchscreen.
So, no---neither the automotive trendsetter doyens or the overcaffeinated dopes at TODAY have decreed any such thing.
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You are in and out of probably more cars than anyone else here. In your judgement who is doing AM/FM radios best in 2024? I know in some cases it is more model by model than manufacturer by manufacturer.
Yeah, and I'll be honest---my listening is so limited these days that I'm not really paying that much attention to the receiver end. I'll assess the quality of the audio system as a whole, but reception, sensitivity, etc.....not so much.
My wife was interested in, and had been comparing the Jaguar F-Pace verses the Mercedes GLE or GLS online. We stopped by the local Mercedes dealership to have a touch and feel. Honestly, I found myself irritated at the frustrating menus and the dash made of one long ass screen running from the passenger side to the drivers side of the vehicle. The radio portion of the entertainment system seemed to work fine and sounded okay, but there was definately an audio quality difference listening to Spotify verses radio, making radio inferior by a mile. Much of that is due to the difference in dynamic range, frequency response and less stereo separation, plus stations insisting on heavy audio processing.
We've been hanging onto our cars longer as time goes on and it seems like automakers are intentionally making newer models more difficult to do so.
The first thing that came to mind was; what happens when a portion of the backlight of this big long dash screen craps out? I'm sure the screen won't be available on the aftermarket, and assuming whatever supplier still makes a replacement touchscreen by then, it will probably cost more to replace the screen than the SUV will be worth.
I get it, Millenials and GenZ are used to staring at screens, so automakers are giving customers what they want. This is just another example where leasing a newer car so you already are forced to get rid of it before all the touchscreens and driver nannies need service, makes sense.
We've been hanging onto our cars longer as time goes on and it seems like automakers are intentionally making newer models more difficult to do so.
The first thing that came to mind was; what happens when a portion of the backlight of this big long dash screen craps out? I'm sure the screen won't be available on the aftermarket, and assuming whatever supplier still makes a replacement touchscreen by then, it will probably cost more to replace the screen than the SUV will be worth.
I get it, Millenials and GenZ are used to staring at screens, so automakers are giving customers what they want. This is just another example where leasing a newer car so you already are forced to get rid of it before all the touchscreens and driver nannies need service, makes sense.
What model did you buy?
Crosstrek Wilderness. I'm having a blast with it! 22,000 miles since January.
I reviewed it almost a year ago, and really liked it too:
A Little Wilder: 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness
What makes a Wilderness a Wilderness?
www.mikehagertycars.com
When the GPS part of the infotainment system on my dad’s Panamera crapped out, it was around $2500 to replace the entire infotainment system/screen from Porsche. He got it fixed and traded it in right away.
How old was it at the time?
1-2 years, but he was the second owner.
Is that an engine start/stop switch made to look and feel like an ignition key? So why not just give the owner an actual ignition key? Apparently that kind of radical outside-the-box thinking hasn't been embraced yet...
I think the idea is to have something that is identifiable as the starter for those who carry their electronic key in their purse or pocket.
My Macan has a twist knob that is like the head of a key. It is simple to use and easy for those who are not familiar with the car to find.
Should have still been under the new car warranty. It's fully transferrable.
It's an "homage" to how MINIs have always been started, at least since the launch of the "new" MINI in 2000.
Except that from 2000-2024, it was literally a toggle. Press up to fire the engine, press down to turn it off. And it was actual metal.
But for the new generation debuting as 2025 models, it's been changed to something that you do turn like a key and the other two toggles and it are plastic.
It's a HUGE step backward, and yeah, they could have used a physical key---though only base mode vehicles of certain non-premium brands still have them. Everyone else has gone to pushbutton start.
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