Infotainment Review: Ford SYNC 2

The SYNC 2 system has great emphasis on the hands-free spoken commands with well integrated on-screen prompts.

Ford is promoting the extensiveness of the voice command system, if you like shouting at your car, telling it what to do, then the combination of the responsive voice system with the accompanying screen prompts will provide plenty of scope for hands-free control

From a visual and feature stand point, SYNC 2 also packs a feature laden punch.

The high resolution 8.0-inch touch-screen has a clever layout divided into four colour coded sections. This colour coding is complimented by the crispness of the display itself, graphically the layout is clever and pleasing to use.

Touching the Phone section presents a keypad and provides phone book, call history, and if the connected phone supports the feature, messaging services such as text to speech.

The ergonomics of the display for the phone system is well thought out; the contacts list is structured into groups with an easy to access “call history” list of incoming, outgoing and missed calls.

The Navigation screen carries over the pleasant palette of colours and design themes of the entire SYNC 2 system.

A split screen highlights intersections and lane guidance and the named streets read out during travel are always welcomed.

The map can be pinch zoomed, though this is quite slow and awkward at times.

The navigation system is feature packed – SUNA traffic alerts are generally only found in more expensive systems, but here they are in our test Mondeo, and they work well giving the driver early warning to upcoming congestion.

The system will offer to alter a rout around address location, junctions, accidents, traffic jams, closed roads, road works and even smog alerts.

The system also provides a handy quick-destination system to get you to the closest hospital or police station as soon as possible.

In-car climate controls are offered on the third screen, allowing passenger and driver to select a temperature or heated seat level as they desire. This system is complimented with hard buttons for all functions below the central screen.

The Entertainment screen allows the selection of AM, FM and DAB digital radio or CD, USB, SD card and Bluetooth connected audio options. Plenty to keep the Ford’s occupants aurally entertained.

Whilst the test Mondeo’s dash looks cluttered initially, the SYNC 2 system is carrying over the visual colour themes to quickly link the features on offer.

The hybrid physical and digital dash conveys all essential data to the driver in a  bright display that despite the initial busy look, is easy to learn and operate.

Again, presenting a feature normally found on more pricy brands the Ford SYNC 2 system can be setup to provide an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot to access internet services from devices in the car. This needs to be set up before-hand, but once done the whole family will be chewing through a data plan in no time.