Late last year, FoMoCo announced that its SYNC infotainment system is standard for all Ford and Lincoln-braded models sold in the United States. Problem is though, with the arrival of SYNC 3, the Blue Oval will have to update its entire portfolio.
First showcased in December 2014, Ford has offered a thorough demonstration of SYNC 3 during the 2015 Chicago Auto Show. As you can see in the clips attached below, SYNC 3 gets the walk-through treatment on a show car that’s based on the 2015 Ford Mustang. If our intuition is correct, this may very well be a first glimpse of the 2016 Ford Mustang.
Word on the street is not much will change for the upcoming model year. Besides the SYNC 3 infotainment system, previous insider intel is pointing towards a 10-speed automatic, with research and development duties handled by Ford and General Motors. Truth be told, the Ford 6R 6-speed automatic tranny has been conceived 10 years ago, based on the ZF 6HP26.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I repeat - don’t hold your breath for a miracle. In regard to what the Ford SYNC 3 system brings new over the outgoing Gen II, well, not much. For starters, the menu was redesigned to be more airy and easier to navigate through, while typing an address became simpler. The voice destination entry feature also became better at understanding what you’re trying to speak.
The big news, however, is that the Ford official that talks us through the SYNC 3 demo videos declared that the infotainment system is to be rolled out “later this year,” which coincides with the launch of the 2016 Mustang. Then again, who the hell wants to “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” a song on Pandora while driving? Call me a fool or whatever, but that’s a feature that ultimately translates to attention deprivation.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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