The Bluetrek Compact Classic Bluetooth hands-free cellphone car adapter is just a half-inch thick, works reasonably well clipped to your sun visor, and costs $60 street. But the two control buttons are tiny and the unit slides around when you try to use the controls because the clip appears sized for a sun visor thicker than any I’ve encountered. You may find it’s easier to use your cellphone to answer and end the calls.
Locking the barn before not after the horse has left, Ford says it’s adding more data security to its Sync platform that brings Bluetooth and music connections to Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Ford said security hasn’t been a problem but with 2011 vehicles able to browse the Web – via a cellphone or smartphone, while the car is parked – Ford’s Sync guru declared it would be “just prudent” to add more security. Even if hacks haven’t happened yet, people freak out at the idea that somehow a hacker could mess with the car’s security or safety systems and next thing you know, there’d be Fords crashing left and right like they were Toyotas.
The 2010 Buick LaCrosse comes the closest I’ve seen to an American car replicating the Lexus experience. On comfort, ride quality, and roominess, the 2010 Buick LaCrosse delivers an experience roughly on part with the Lexus ES350, Buick’s target. Fit and finish is good if not quite Lexus-freakin’-awesome, either on the car or on the Buick website. Bluetooth comes standard on two of the three trim lines and a USB jack is standard on the top line, part of a $650 package on the other two. And the LaCrosse is easier on the eyes than the other outstanding American sedan, the slab-sided Ford Taurus. You need to check out the Buick LaCrosse if you’re in the market for a midsize sedan.
SAN DIEGO – The completely redesigned 2011 Hyundai Sonata is the best midsize sedan you can buy. Every Sonata comes standard with Bluetooth, USB jack, and satellite radio. There’s a full set of safety features. The styling dazzles. It’s big inside. Handling is improved, it’s quicker, and it gets 35 mpg on the highway. It’s cheaper than the competition. The only drawbacks are the costlier package price of the navigation system for 2011, no parking sonar option, and the lack of a driver assistance system offered by one competitor. Even with that, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata is the car to beat in its segment.
The government agency that could enlighten us about Toyota’s runaway-cars problem can’t help because the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration doesn’t employ the right engineers. This shocker appeared in the Washington Post: “NHTSA … was woefully unprepared to decide whether engine electronics might be at fault, [Congressmen Henry] Waxman and [Bart] Stupak said … NHTSA officials told investigators that the agency doesn’t employ any electrical engineers or software engineers.” Toyota initially blamed slippery floor mats and sticking accelerator pedals for its problem; now there’s concern that electronics controlling Toyotas’ drive-by-wire system may malfunction.
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