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Is Ford SYNC3 one of the best infotainment systems on the market? Paul reviews Ford's Sync3 infotainment system in the 2020 Ford Fiesta ST. The screen software has recently been updated and it comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Does it work well? Watch and find out!

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Transcript
00:00 We all know how important infotainment systems are,
00:02 and Ford's SYNC 3 infotainment system
00:05 is one of the best on the market.
00:07 Today I'm gonna walk you through a detailed review
00:09 of the infotainment system,
00:10 so if you are looking to buy a Ford,
00:12 you'll know exactly what to expect.
00:14 I don't know about you guys, but I'm a massive tech nerd.
00:17 I love high-tech stuff, and if I'm buying a car,
00:20 it needs to have a good infotainment system.
00:22 That's part of the reason I bought the Supra,
00:24 because it uses BMW's infotainment system and not Toyota's,
00:27 and why I bought the Tesla, because they are tech leaders.
00:30 I reckon Ford is very close to the top there.
00:33 They use a system called SYNC,
00:35 and we're currently at SYNC 3, which is the latest,
00:37 and it's just received a big software upgrade.
00:39 So I'm gonna walk you through the infotainment system,
00:42 how it works, and some of the benefits of it,
00:44 and this comes standard on the Fiesta ST
00:46 and a number of new Ford products as well.
00:48 This is the eight-inch screen.
00:49 It is super high resolution,
00:51 and the home screen looks like this.
00:52 You've got shortcut buttons down the bottom,
00:54 and then you have boxes to select things as you go.
00:57 The other cool thing is down here,
00:58 you also have shortcut buttons,
01:00 but they're to critical functions
01:02 that you'll often be fumbling for
01:03 and don't wanna spend time focusing on.
01:05 So for example, this button here opens up your sound settings
01:08 so if you need more bass out of that B&O sound system,
01:11 you can configure everything as you go,
01:13 and this is my other favorite button.
01:14 One push of that puts it into calm mode.
01:17 Calm mode is just a clock
01:19 and the date plus your mobile reception.
01:21 Another push of that will kill the screen altogether,
01:24 and that means it's handy if you're at the drive-in movies
01:26 or something like that.
01:27 A lot of manufacturers don't have screens
01:29 that work for drive-in movies.
01:30 They just keep coming back on, which is really frustrating.
01:33 And let me know in the comments below
01:35 whether a good infotainment system
01:37 is actually something that you desperately desire
01:39 in your next new car.
01:41 Let's go through the menus here.
01:42 So audio menu is where you're gonna find AM, FM,
01:46 and DAB plus digital radio.
01:48 You can save all your stations down here.
01:50 Then you can access the rest of the stations
01:52 on the DAB bands through the stations button,
01:54 but there's something I really don't like here.
01:56 They're broken up into ensembles.
01:58 Now that is basically layman's terms,
02:01 effectively for the different bands of DAB radio.
02:04 To get to other stations,
02:06 you need to flick through the ensembles to find them.
02:08 So that can be really distracting while you're driving,
02:11 and it's something that I think they really need to fix.
02:13 Just have them all on the one screen
02:15 or divide them up a little smarter.
02:16 I don't know, but aside from that,
02:18 everything else is very straightforward.
02:20 You set your favorites down at the bottom.
02:21 You can set a whole stack of them down there as well.
02:23 There's no real limit
02:24 to how much configuration you can do there.
02:26 If we jump over to phone,
02:27 this is also what I like with this system.
02:29 You can instantly access features like do not disturb.
02:31 So if I don't wanna be disturbed while I'm driving
02:34 or there's something sort of I need to concentrate on,
02:36 one push of that means no phone calls
02:38 or messages come through this screen.
02:40 I can also have text messages displayed on the screen,
02:42 and I have instant access to Siri, which is over Bluetooth.
02:45 So you don't even need to have the phone paired
02:47 with a cable through Apple CarPlay
02:49 or the Android Auto system
02:51 to get access to your phone's voice recognition.
02:53 It's also backed up by a voice recognition system
02:56 on the car itself.
02:57 So this is a really clever setup.
03:00 I love the way they've got that configured.
03:02 Navigation.
03:03 This is yet another example
03:04 of how a high-res screen displays maps effectively.
03:07 They're all super easy to read.
03:08 You've got traffic built into there as well.
03:10 Accessing addresses is very straightforward.
03:13 You can also change the way the screen is displayed
03:15 in terms of what's split,
03:16 whether you see the map or your navigation items, et cetera.
03:19 Another really handy feature,
03:21 if you're ever involved in an accident
03:22 or rather if you ever turn up to an accident
03:24 or need to direct emergency services anywhere,
03:27 you can instantly click "Where am I?"
03:28 And using GPS coordinates,
03:30 you can tell emergency services exactly where you are.
03:33 So this is a very handy feature,
03:35 and hopefully you never have to use it,
03:36 but you know that it is there.
03:38 You can search through points of interest,
03:39 favourites, set a home and a work address as well.
03:42 So it's a very clever system and very easy to use.
03:44 If you do need to type an address in manually,
03:46 it's simply a case of using the keyboard on the screen
03:50 or works very quickly as well.
03:51 Let's jump over to the next menu, which is mobile apps.
03:54 You can download apps onto your phone
03:56 that are sync compatible.
03:58 I kind of don't really bother with any of that stuff
04:00 because the system itself is great.
04:02 And then if you do need any extra functionality,
04:04 you simply pair your phone with Apple CarPlay
04:06 or Android Auto,
04:07 and that will simply give you
04:08 that extended functionality of your phone.
04:11 Over on the settings menu is where you're gonna find
04:12 the rest of the settings for the car.
04:14 These are all pretty straightforward.
04:15 The sound menu, which you access through a button as well,
04:17 settings for your digital radio navigation,
04:19 whether it uses toll roads or not,
04:21 and the mobile apps that you can download.
04:23 But there's something really clever here.
04:25 Two clever things, actually.
04:26 Emergency assistance.
04:27 If the car's ever involved in a serious accident,
04:29 it will automatically dial emergency services
04:32 so that they can send assistance if required.
04:34 So that's if the car rolls over, if airbags are deployed,
04:37 it will start dialing that virtually immediately
04:39 so that you will get help as quick as possible.
04:42 So that is a fantastic feature.
04:43 You've also got valet mode.
04:45 So if you ever drop your car off to the hotel,
04:47 and you need to leave it with the valet,
04:48 and you don't want them going through
04:49 your saucy text messages, or perhaps your contacts,
04:52 or your navigation addresses,
04:54 you simply set a valet mode,
04:55 and all they'll be able to do is just see a screen.
04:57 They won't really have any access
04:59 to all your personal details.
05:00 Wi-Fi.
05:01 That's another great function as well.
05:02 All the updates for the car are supplied over Wi-Fi.
05:05 So when you park it in the garage at home,
05:06 you can connect to your Wi-Fi network.
05:08 Whenever it's parked there, it'll look for updates
05:10 and make sure the system is always fully functioning.
05:12 Let me know in the comments below
05:14 whether you have any questions
05:15 about Ford's SYNC 3 infotainment system.
05:17 If you wanna read it in a bit more detail,
05:19 head to carexpert.com.au

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