SYNC with MyFord Touch is a fantastic infotainment system, and Ford is doing an excellent job making it available to the masses by deploying it across the company's entire product portfolio. The way we see it, Ford integrated these new technologies, and is now telling everyone, "Hey, we have these cool new multimedia, networking, and driver-assist features, and you get them on everything from compact sedans to Lincoln luxury vehicles." That's a nice change from the typical segmentation that normally sees the best features enabled on the most expensive models and slowly extended down to more affordable products.
Frankly, we were bummed when it came time to return the 2012 Ford Focus Titanium. And although it took a couple of days to acclimate to SYNC with MyFord Touch, once we got the hang of the voice commands, the steering wheel's physical buttons, and the interface's overall layout, operating the car was easy.
Ford does a lot of things right with its SYNC system. The interface operates particularly smoothly, including fluid menu transitions and an intuitive menu layout. We are aware that there were complaints about crashes and poor responsiveness when the first software version of SYNC with MyFord Touch launched. These resulted in poor quality results form J.D. Power & Associates. But our test vehicle had v2.0 of the software installed, and we didn't encounter any problems (aside from the typical pitfalls of a resistive LCD touch-screen).
SYNC's capabilities tie together well, from the eight-inch LCD, the 4.2-inch auxiliary display, steering wheel controls, voice control, and the Media Hub. But despite our praises, there were a couple of aspects that left us puzzled, such as SYNC Destinations, which still dials your phone for connectivity, even though it can also connect to your wireless home network or share a 3G USB modem connection. The absence of SYNC AppLink support is also odd, especially since the previous generation of SYNC let you connect an iPhone to stream and control Pandora, iHeartRadio, Stitcher Radio, and a couple of other applications. That's a feature available on $100 aftermarket head units and the base SYNC system, but not on the most advanced SYNC with MyFord Touch.
Nevertheless, Ford’s asking price of $995 for this package is reasonable when you consider the features, capabilities, and level of integration with the car. In fact, that's actually more affordable than most high-end in-dash navigation systems (particularly if you don’t take DVD video playback into account).
As for Active Park Assist, it's also a very cool addition, and we're still amazed by how easy it is to use and how well it works. If you're simply not confident in your own parallel parking skills, paying $700 for guided help is almost assuredly less expensive than even one misjudged attempt (and subsequent fender bender).
Of course, our emphasis here isn't on the car itself. We didn't bother with 0-60 MPH, quarter-mile runs, or skidpad tests, but we did determine the 2012 Ford Focus Titanium to be quiet, nimble, and conducive to spirited driving. The car's electric-assisted steering rack is tuned to have variable levels of weight, depending on your speed, unlike some cars where steering is feather-light at all times. The interior materials are above average, featuring a lot of soft-touch surfaces.
Our test vehicle had Ford’s PowerShift automatic transmission. Despite the name, it has a dual-clutch gearbox, which is essentially an advanced manual with hydraulics strapped on so it can shift itself. We found that the transmission shifts smoothly, but stutters a bit when you're trying to creep forward in traffic, just like a car with a manual transmission. If you prefer to row your own gears, Ford offers the Titanium package: SYNC with MyFord Touch and Active Park Assist, along with a six-speed manual transmission. Or, more enthusiast-oriented drivers can look forward to the upcoming turbocharged Ford Focus ST, without Active Park Assist.
- Tom's Hardware Ventures Into Automotive Technology
- SYNC: Powered By Freescale's i.MX516
- SYNC's Eight- And 4.2-Inch Displays
- SYNC's Entertainment Features
- Talking And Texting Through SYNC With MyFord Touch
- Navigation And SiriusXM Travel Link
- Hands-On With Nuance's Voice Recognition
- Semi-Automatic Parallel Parking With Active Park Assist
- In-Car Wireless Networking And Ford's MyKey Feature
- Benchmark Results: Boot, Bluetooth, And Navigation
- SYNC: A Solid Infotainment System Available To The Masses

What is the world coming to?
This is shockingly bad code quality for an embedded system. I may get a Ford vehicle in the future but it won't have SYNC in it. I'll epoxy a tablet to the dash if I need entertainment that bad.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/22/autos/ford_jd_power_initial_quality/index.htm
P.S. What's up with the broken URL parsing?
What is the world coming to?
However, there are little things here and there that show the system has tremendous potential, but lacks polish you expect when it's in your automobile. I own a reasonably new Ford (2006 Freestyle.) It's been an exceptional, sturdy, and reliable car for several years now with no mechanical issues to date. My dad owns an old Lincoln Navigator with over 370,000 miles on it, still with the original engine running. Fords have been pretty good to me and my family over the years. You put in the key, turn it, and the thing runs. You push the buttons on the door and the windows go up or down. Flip a switch and the heater comes on.
You expect your automobiles to be like this. Ford Sync does not yet feel like this. "Do I push this button this way or that way?" "What word order do I need to use for this command?" "Why do I have to re-command Sync to start playing my phone's music via bluetooth every time I start my car rather than it just start automatically?" "Why does the system hang once in a while for no apparent reason?"
It just doesn't yet feel like it's reliable and responsive. I was intrigued and impressed by Sync, but it needs more polish, fluidity, refinement, and most of all consistency and reliability for it to please the masses day after day, and THIS is why Sync is the single worst factor in Ford's otherwise good reliability ratings being lowered, as mentioned above.
I don't think that anybody would buy a new car just for this technology, at least I hope not. But new cars also come with stability, traction, ABS, EBD and panic brake help which is nice.
My next car will be electric, maybe a 3-wheeled Zaptera. That's a reason to upgrade!
http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/22/autos/ford_jd_power_initial_quality/index.htm
P.S. What's up with the broken URL parsing?
We touch on that in the conclusion. V2.0 of the software fixed a lot of the crashes and issues. We did not experience any crashes during the week we had the car.
I don't think that anybody would buy a new car just for this technology, at least I hope not. But new cars also come with stability, traction, ABS, EBD and panic brake help which is nice.
My next car will be electric, maybe a 3-wheeled Zaptera. That's a reason to upgrade!
That sounds fancy, my daily is a '90 Miata with no power steering, manual windows, no side door guard beams and a first generation airbag. Its a ton of fun though.
HDMI input would be nice. I think Honda is the only one that has HDMI input on the Honda Odyssey, but only on the $45k Elite model.
Don't worry, eventually there will be overclocking benchmarks for a car...
I mean my 3 year old GPS can do it... and it isn't exactly a 'top of the line' model either.
CarMark Record: 1982 DeLorean, OC'd to 1.21 jigawatts on water (1985)
-there are roads in America that have speed limits of 70 and 75mph (you would imagine an American car company would know this...). Lets have a few more speed limiting options. Personally I like to cruise at ~70-75mph on the freeway, but as people do not know how to drive in my area it is not really safe to use cruise control and just zone out in a lane (people WILL merge right into you... annoying). Perhaps limit it to 5mph over the limit?
-Include power seat settings
-Include favorite radio station settings, or built in playlists
-Include temp settings (prefered fan speed, and temp)
Good idea, bad implementation... just like every other integration of PC tech in a car.
We traded it in for our 2011 Prius fully loaded with Toyotas tech package. I can say without a doubt that SYNC beats Toyota's system hand down. SYNC is quicker, easier, and has more capabilities.
He just needs to go to the dealer, Ford or Lincoln, and ask. They should be able to add any features to the car. Thats what the sales guy I got my 2012 Fusion told me. Of course it will cost a bit of money but it might be worth it in the end. I am contemplating adding SYNC as it would be nice to have but then I also want other extras added to my Fusion......