2020 Mazda Connect infotainment detailed review: 8.8-inch screen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto 4K

CarExpert

Paul reviews Mazda's all-new 8.8-inch infotainment system. It replaces the older MZD-Connect system and it's called Mazda Connect. It's found in the all-new Mazda 3 and Mazda CX-30, but it will soon be rolled out in other updated Mazda vehicles. Does the infotainment system fit the bill for this type of car? Watch and find out!  Read the full review with pictures: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/mazda-cx-3-mazda-3-infotainment-review/  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you! #review #mazda #infotainment  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  @MazdaOfficial @mazdaaustralia

Transcript

00:00 Mazda has installed an all-new 8.8-inch infotainment system across the range of its new cars.

00:05 Today I'm going to have a really close look at it to see whether it is indeed better than

00:08 MZD Connect. So this is where Mazda has taken a massive step forward. So MZD Connect, it wasn't

00:15 the best system and it was getting really dated. So this is now becoming commonplace in a lot of

00:20 Mazda's cars, which is excellent news. There are some similarities with MZD Connect. So it shares

00:24 this rotary dial with shortcut buttons, but the biggest difference up here is that it's no longer

00:29 a touchscreen. So you have to use the dial for everything, which is kind of okay because you're

00:32 getting a voice recognition system that allows you to do most functions outside of it. In terms of

00:37 smartphone connectivity, you can hook up Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. I'm going to take you

00:41 through each of the menus here. So let's start off with information and the fuel efficiency

00:45 monitor. So iSTOP is Mazda's version of a stop-start system. And the clever thing here is

00:50 that it tells you for how many seconds iSTOP has been running in your last drive. That's useful

00:54 because then it also tells you how much extra range you've achieved by iSTOP running. So that

00:59 is a fantastic feature and it does go to show exactly how much accumulation you get in fuel

01:04 savings when that stop-start system is working. And then there's a back button there to take you

01:09 to the previous screen. The vehicle status monitor has all of your notifications about servicing,

01:13 any warning messages as well. That's all going to be contained in there. There's also a shortcut to

01:18 the notifications by pushing that dial to the left. It brings up any notifications you have.

01:22 So the door's open at the moment because we're filming. Let's jump over to entertainment. FM,

01:28 AM, DAB. So you're getting the full suite of connectivity there. And then in addition to that,

01:33 you can stream Bluetooth and you also have two USB ports that it can stream through as well.

01:37 If you then hook up your iPhone or your Android device, you can stream Spotify. So you really do

01:42 have full access to a fantastic selection of audio sources here. The other thing that I like as well,

01:49 there is a favourite button just underneath the volume control. Hit that and it will take you to

01:54 the screen with all of your favourites stored in an easy to find place. Or you can just go

01:58 through the list. That is straightforward. Let's jump into communication. This is your

02:01 phone menu effectively. All the standard functions here. You've got call history,

02:05 contacts. You can manually dial numbers. It even lets you check text messages. So

02:09 if you do the permissions through your phone, your text messages will appear on here as well.

02:13 Very handy so you don't need to take your eyes off the road and onto your phone, which in some

02:18 states in Australia now is like a thousand dollar fine. So do not touch your phone while you're

02:22 driving. Navigation is massively improved. Again, the old MZD Connect system was so slow and so

02:28 painful to use. This is a massive leap forward. So in addition to being able to use your voice

02:33 controls, you can enter things in manually. And again, it is all simply using this rotary dial

02:38 here. Adding a destination allows you to search home, work, or simply entering points of interest

02:43 or addresses manually. Jumping over to the settings menu. This is where you can configure

02:48 everything inside this car. And the Japanese are kind of interesting because unlike most other

02:52 manufacturers that allow you to configure things here and there, the Japanese go to town with

02:57 everything that you can change. So for go-to-wind vehicle displays, this is your heads-up display

03:01 and what appears in there. The center display, you can change virtually everything about the

03:06 positioning of things and what appears there. And then finally, the instrument cluster display

03:11 ahead of the driver. So this is an 8.8-inch screen. This is a 7-inch screen. You can change

03:16 the appearance there and everything that's presented to the driver while you're driving.

03:20 Then we jump down to sound settings. So the sound system in this car is amazing. I'll run you

03:24 through that a little bit later on and some of the unique things they've done in this car. Plus,

03:28 the song that the engineer chooses to tune these systems. It'll be interesting. See if you can

03:34 guess it below before we get to it. Safety settings. This is again where you change all

03:38 of the safety settings unique to this car. Collision avoidance. It even has a pretty

03:42 clever system that prevents you running into things when you're reversing. So instead of just

03:46 a 360 camera, front and rear parking sensors, it has rear AEB. So if you're about to hit something

03:51 and you don't notice, it will stop the car for you, along with a pedal misuse alert. A little

03:55 bit frustrating for me though. I left foot brake, so it's always telling me I'm pressing both pedals

03:59 at the same time. Often happens when you're at low speed. So you can switch that off, which is

04:03 very helpful. And then the rest of your settings, such as connectivity and also system settings.

04:08 This is everything from voice recognition right through to using the GraceNote database to get

04:13 thumbnails for your audio on the screen. So let us know what you think of it in the comments below.

04:17 Have you used it? Do you reckon it's better than the old MZD Connect system? I'm keen to get your

04:21 thoughts.

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Transcript

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