Bottom Line/Personal: For 2015, carmakers want to sell you not only a car, but a bunch of expensive, high-tech features to go along with it. Which new car features are actually worth your money?

I’m Steven Kaye, Editorial Director at Bottom Line Publications, and today my guest is auto analyst Karl Brauer, Kelley Blue Book Senior Director. Karl’s going to help us sort through all of the features out there, some of which are worth your money and some of which may not be. Thank you for coming.

Karl Brauer: It’s good to be here. Let’s talk tech.

Bottom Line: I’ll tell you what my favorite feature is right now, and I mean that not seriously, and that is the artificial engine sounds pumped into the cabin of some very classy cars. They’re actually using fake engine sounds. Should we name names here?

Karl Brauer: Let’s name names. I thought it was kind of a travesty, because I think of a brand like BMW as this driver-focused, genuine brand with “the ultimate driving machine” as a tagline, and I find out that one of their ultimate driving machines has falsified engine noises being pumped into the cabin because it’s a small engine and in this hybrid vehicle, this very expensive i8 performance car that they’ve just released.

But the engine is incapable of making truly impressive engine noises because it’s so small, and so they enhance it with the car’s audio system. That to me crosses a line you shouldn’t cross as BMW.

Bottom Line: So it’s “the ultimate recording of a driving machine.”

Karl Brauer: That’s right, it’s the ultimate fake driving machine.

Bottom Line: In terms of features that really do something for you, what would you like to talk about?

Karl Brauer: I think there’s a lot of great things coming down the pike, and I’m excited to see what we’re going to have in the next 5 years. I think probably the most interesting one that we’re just on the cusp of getting right now is a new interface from Apple called CarPlay, that’s going to be in multiple models, but it’s probably going to launch first in the Hyundai Sonata.

What it basically does is recreate your Apple iPhone interface for the interior touch screen in the car. I played with this at the New York Auto Show recently, and when I did, what I learned was there’s no learning curve. If you know how to use your Apple phone and all of a sudden you’re interacting with your screen in your car, you know everything you need to do, whether it’s scrolling up and down to get a contact name, pulling up a map and coming up with directions – it was really amazing.

I realized that when this is available, when this hits, it will redefine in-car interfaces. People who aren’t able to get their phone interface in their car are going to get very impatient very quickly when they see their friends’ vehicles that do do this. And there’s an Android version coming too; Android will have the same thing.

So eventually, you won’t have to figure out or worry about figuring out how to use your in-car interface. You’ll just get in, plug your phone in, and everything you were just doing on your phone, you’ll keep doing in your car.

Bottom Line: So you will need to have an Apple phone in order to use this. What kind of functions are embedded within this? I’m thinking about heat and air conditioning and things like that, but it sounds like it’s really not that. It’s more an extension of your telephone.

Karl Brauer: Yeah, and the heat and the air conditioning, if they were designed right, those should be things you can figure out pretty easily in any car anyways. You can’t in some cars, admittedly, but you shouldn’t have to depend on your phone to help you with those.

Where your phone comes in is in directions to your next location – nav systems can be very tricky in a lot of cars to figure out – contact lists, making phone calls, and listening to your music. All the things you do on your phone. It’s nice to be able to get into your car and all your playlists are the same because you just were using them on your phone or your personal device, and all your contacts are the same, all your destinations are the same.

And then, of course, something like Siri, you can literally call out and say “Siri, call home” or “Siri, direct me to this location.” It’s much safer, and again, it becomes this universal thing. One day we’ll live in a world where, if you know how to use your phone, you know how to use any car’s interface because they’ll be the same thing.

Bottom Line: If you have one of these cars with this feature and you don’t have an iPhone, what happens? Do you have blank place on your dashboard and no use for it?

Karl Brauer: I think there’s still all the default systems that the cars are already equipped with. Almost every car either has or can be ordered with a nav system. So if you’ve ordered a nav system and you don’t have an iPhone, then you’ll just use the standard navigation controls that the car has already built in, and most cars have had for years. It just won’t be as seamless.

Bottom Line: Or standard Bluetooth, the various generations of Bluetooth?

Karl Brauer: Yeah, that’s becoming almost standardized, too. Standardized Bluetooth. And this is something that’s been a long time coming. As a tech guy, I’ve been saying this for years. How come I have to get in my car and use a whole different interface than on my phone and start over in terms of music and contacts and locations and all?

So everyone knew this was coming; anyone with any foresight knew that we were going to get there eventually. I just am excited to see it coming, and when I saw it in practice and saw how easy it was and how well it worked, I got excited because I think it’s going to be a paradigm shift.

Bottom Line: And Android version coming as well?

Karl Brauer: Android will have it soon too, so you won’t be left out; if you have a phone that’s a smartphone, you’ll have a car interface that mirrors it.

Bottom Line: And then there are some interfaces now in cars that are all electronic, and some of them are ridiculously complicated. And as you said, it can even be difficult to figure out how to make the heat higher or lower, turn the air conditioning on and off, or change the radio station. But some of them do stand out as being highly functional and you like very much. So what are your favorites there?

Karl Brauer: You can still have some good interfaces if you get the right cars. My favorite one personally is UConnect Access, which is the Chrysler system. All the modern Chryslers utilize it. I think the layout of the screen, the icons, the power, the speed with which it changes screens, all that is very good, it’s very effective. It makes an inherent sense.

You still, like in most of these systems, will probably have to use the owner’s manual if you’re going to do something really advanced. But the basic functions seem to work in an intuitive manner, and that’s the hardest thing for these guys to get right. But they got it right in this car.

Bottom Line: And that’s in Chrysler and Dodge cars, or just Chrysler?

Karl Brauer: Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram – they all use this UConnect Access.

Bottom Line: And that’s one that works.

Karl Brauer: That one’s a good one.

Bottom Line: Is there another one that works very well?

Karl Brauer: It gets mixed reports, but I think Cadillac’s CUE is fine. I think it works pretty well. I like the interface. You know what’s nice about CUE is it feels upscale. This is a Cadillac User Experience; that’s what CUE stands for. It feels like this premium experience. The high quality screens, the icons, what you do when you’re swiping and moving things around and all – it feels like a premium experience, which it should, because it’s a Cadillac User Experience. So I feel like it’s a good expression of the brand in a still intuitive and inherently easy to use system.

Bottom Line: Any versions of it available on any other General Motors nameplates, or still just restricted to Cadillac?

Karl Brauer: That’s a great question, because again, GM, they end up sharing a certain amount of stuff for obvious reasons. There’s a Chevy version – I think it’s Chevy MyLink. But the Chevy version has a lot of similar functionality, things like you can customize the homepage, you can set certain icons in an easy-to-access part of the screen, customize it. And you can do that on both the Cadillac and the Chevy. So there’s similarities, and the Chevy one works pretty well too.

Bottom Line: It does work well.

Karl Brauer: Yeah.

Bottom Line: And that’s in an affordable price range.

Karl Brauer: That’s more affordable if you don’t want to get the Cadillac.

Bottom Line: All right, now driving assist devices. We have lane departure warning, we have backup cameras, we have self-parking. It’s been around a little while; a lot of those features were a little bit rough a few years ago when they came out. I think the second generation and even third generations are coming along. Which ones really stand out to you as really working well to provide safety and make driving easier?

Karl Brauer: There was the parallel parking system that Ford has now on many of their cars, the Escape being one of them. I think that one works very well. It doesn’t require a lot of extra special setup to make it work right. You can essentially drive along a row of cars parked on the street, and if you see a space, you can have the car measure and decide it will fit in and park itself, all very seamlessly and quickly. So I like that.

Bottom Line: And that’s on Ford?

Karl Brauer: That’s on Ford vehicles more and more all the time. The Escape’s got it, and the Lincoln MKC has it. I know those two have it.

Bottom Line: And undoubtedly spreading.

Karl Brauer: And it’ll get to other models.

Bottom Line: Do you have to help at all? The car steers; does the car accelerate and brake? You just sit back?

Karl Brauer: All you do is shift the gears and hold the brake. You take your hand off the wheel and you literally drive by the open space, and it makes a measurement before and after the space is available. Then once it says “Oh yeah, I can fit in there,” then you put the brake on and you listen to its directions.

Put the car in reverse, and then you let up on the brake, and it applies the amount of throttle and steers the car and will back it in. Actually, I think you have to apply throttle, too. I think you will apply a certain amount of throttle. But it’ll steer the car completely and tell you “Okay, now go for the brake, slow down,” and all that. It walks you through it.

Bottom Line: Yeah. The hardest part of parallel parking is the steering.

Karl Brauer: It’s the steering and the general placement of the car, and it’ll tell you when to start backing up and when to start the turn and when to unwind the wheel.

Bottom Line: And the car is doing all that for you.

Karl Brauer: It’s doing all that for you. Never touch the wheel.

Bottom Line: As long as you can handle the gas and the brake, you’re good to go.

Karl Brauer: Gas, brake, and shifter is all you’ve got to deal with.

Bottom Line: Okay, good. And what about lane departure? There were also some teething problems with those systems where they were buzzing and beeping all day long, basically. Improved now?

Karl Brauer: They’re better, but it’s just hard to get that one right because there are so many circumstances that a car can’t recognize that you’re intentionally doing and it thinks you’re mistakenly doing. I think that’s going to be the one that will be interesting to watch the car manufacturers and the technology suppliers struggle with, because it’s just not easy to figure out when the car is doing what you want it to do versus it’s doing something you don’t want it to do and you need some help.

Bottom Line: What about night vision? That was a “gee whiz” feature more than a decade ago on some cars. It disappeared, and it seems to be making a comeback now. Is it much improved, or is it just another try?

Karl Brauer: It’s much improved, because now it’s heads up, so you can see it right where you’re normally looking. You used to have to look down at the center screen, which really isn’t the best place for you to be looking when you’re driving.

Bottom Line: Heads up meaning that there’s an image projected right on the windshield.

Karl Brauer: Yeah.

Bottom Line: You just have to lower your eyes a little bit?

Karl Brauer: It’s in line with your normal line of sight, so you can even really look where you should be looking, and peripherally, on the lower part of your vision, you’ll see these images. And if something is happening there that you need to know about, it’ll alert you.

Bottom Line: And it will show you, for example, a deer that’s beyond the range of your headlights?

Karl Brauer: That’s running toward the street or already in the street.

Bottom Line: Before your eyes can see it, the car will pick it up and you can see it there.

Karl Brauer: Will see it and tell you about it, yeah.

Bottom Line: Makers who are putting that?

Karl Brauer: I think Mercedes has probably got the best system right now.

Bottom Line: Mercedes.

Karl Brauer: Yeah, they’ve probably got the best night vision system. And you know it’s interesting when we talk about that, because we’re talking about heads up, and that generally has gotten much better. Heads up as a general feature, night vision or not, has been around for years in various forms from various automakers, but it keeps getting better.

I’m excited by this, because I do feel like if you utilize a good heads up system, it’s like a lot of modern conveniences; once you’ve started to use it and realized how convenient and easy it is to see your speed without looking away from the road at all, you get addicted to it and you don’t want to be in a car that doesn’t have it.

And thankfully, now it’s not just speed. It’ll put up your next turn for your nav system. You’ve got multicolor heads up displays.

Bottom Line: All there on the windshield.

Karl Brauer: Yeah, and you’re looking up and it’ll say “Okay, get off at this exit” and you haven’t looked down at all. It’s right in front of your eyes to where you’re going to get off.

Bottom Line: One of my favorite features is adaptive cruise control. It’s not a new feature, but it still hasn’t crept down to most cars, which is surprising; it’s been around for probably 15 years, maybe more. This is where you can set a speed and the car will automatically keep a distance between you and the car in front of you. It’ll slow down, brake when necessary, speed up to your maximum speed. Why aren’t we seeing that on more cars?

Karl Brauer: It is starting to. You’re right, it’s only been very recently, but I’m just starting to see that. I was in a Hyundai Sonata recently, and it had radar cruise control. And that’s a mainstream sedan. So you’re starting to see it in family sedans; you still haven’t seen it really in economy cars yet – like nav, which took awhile to get down to economy cars, but now it’s there. We’ll see it there eventually.

But it’s a great feature. It’s a really nice feature, because having cruise control – now it seems so weird to have cruise control that just sets a specific speed and you’re closing in fast and about to rear-end somebody and it just drives you right into it. That’s what cruise control was from the ’60s until a couple years ago.

Bottom Line: The adaptive cruise control is a terrific safety feature. As you’re driving, no matter how you try, momentarily, even if you’re looking at the radio, take your attention away, the car will slow you down. Any other wildcard features that you’d like to mention, either great features or maybe not-so-great features?

Karl Brauer: Not a wildcard, but kind of a cool feature is this leg-induced rear hatch opening. It seems so simple and maybe even silly at first, you’re waving your leg under your rear bumper – but when you have your hands full of stuff, everyone knows that all of a sudden it’s like, “Where’s the keys? Which hand are they in? What do I have to set down to get to them?” And now you don’t have to deal with that. You can literally get the back open and set the stuff down inside.

Bottom Line: What vehicles are…

Karl Brauer: I think the Flex has that.

Bottom Line: Ford Flex.

Karl Brauer: And there’s some luxury vehicles now. I just saw – I think it was one of the Mercedes has it too. So it’s starting to expand beyond Ford, but Ford had it first.

Bottom Line: And if a cat walks behind your vehicle, does your hatch pop open?

Karl Brauer: Apparently it’s smart enough to know. And that’s always the thing you’ve got to worry about with luxury features, is that sometimes they’re not executed as well as they should be. For instance, reverse cameras are a great thing, and most cars now have them, and I think they’re a great idea for child safety.

But I can get real frustrated when I’m backing out of my driveway and I realize that the heat and the climate control system comes blasting on or someone calls me on the phone or the radio is too loud – well, think about it, Steve: where are most of your controls for these systems?

Bottom Line: Right where the screen is for the rear camera.

Karl Brauer: In the screen. And when you’re in reverse, the screen overrides for reverse camera. Nothing else can be done. So you’re backing out of your driveway and all of a sudden the heat starts blasting. You’re trying to stop it, and it’s like “Well now what do I do?” I can put the car in drive or in park, and even then it’ll take a few seconds because it’ll keep that reverse image up in the screen even for a few seconds when you’ve put it in drive and you start driving away, up until you get to like 10 miles an hour.

So you have to get yourself out of the reverse backup camera screen before you can control all these other things that you may all of a sudden need to control. Someone’s calling you and you want to pick the phone up, and you can’t because the camera’s up there instead.

Bottom Line: Yeah, that’s a maddening thing, too, is that you’re still looking behind you…then when you’re driving forward, you can’t get to your controls.

Karl Brauer: Exactly, exactly. So the execution of a lot of these technologies still leaves something to be desired. And of course, you’ve got to watch out for things like variable steering, where the car is deciding whether you should or shouldn’t steer as hard as you’ve turned the wheel.

That makes sense in theory – the idea is “well, he’s turning the wheel so hard he might skid, so I’m not going to let the car change direction that quickly” – what if there’s a kid that just ran in front of me? I think I’d rather have the ability to turn the car rapidly and maybe go into a skid that sends me off-road or hits a parked car than impact a pedestrian.

That’s where I get a little worried, because we’re going to get to this point where cars have more and more driver control and can intervene when it thinks you’re making a mistake. But it’s going to get stuff wrong sometimes, and we’re going to have to get through this learning curve, just like we talked about first gen of a lot of things.

The first gen on a lot of these perception systems where the car is trying to make decisions on its own, it’s going to get stuff wrong. We all know it. And hopefully there aren’t accidents or tragedies in the process.

Bottom Line: Rain-sensing wipers have been around for decades; they still don’t work that well.

Karl Brauer: They’re still not right.

Bottom Line: Yeah, and now they’re trying to incorporate much more into that, almost thinking on the part of the car, where it actually takes over control of the vehicle from you and speeds you up, slows you down, turns you.

Karl Brauer: I got a false warning on a front collision in a car because I was driving a vehicle and there was a shadow being cast by a tree into my lane, probably 300, 400 feet ahead of me. I’m driving up, and I’d heard the warning – you know, you come up to a car that’s parked at a stoplight and you’re coming up maybe quicker than the car is comfortable with and it’ll give you a little forward collision warning.

Well, I was driving on a clear road; there was nothing solid in front of me, but there was a shadow from a tree that obviously the car’s forward vision sensor thought looked like a car. It started to go into the warning mode, and it was very funny, because the warning mode was like a standard three-beep alarm, and it went one and a half and stopped. So it figured out its mistake.

But my first thought was, okay, right now all this car does is make noise when it thinks you’re making a mistake. What happens when they start slamming on the brakes and/or steering because they think you’re making a mistake, and they’re wrong?

Bottom Line: And there’s a car behind you, and the brakes are suddenly…

Karl Brauer: Yeah, now I’m into full brake mode, slam mode, for no reason whatsoever because the car got tricked.

Bottom Line: So we’ll keep track of the systems that actually work best, and we’ll stay in touch with you on that. Maybe you can put in a word for me; a feature that I’d like to see again on cars is bumpers that can actually bump without having to be replaced.

Karl Brauer: Yeah, without shattering?

Bottom Line: Without shattering. Do you think we’ll ever see those again?

Karl Brauer: You know, the last time they tried that, they had these big ugly rubber grommets on the cars in the early ’70s.

Bottom Line: And pistons.

Karl Brauer: Yeah, so it seems like you can’t win. Either they’re durable and they’re terrible-looking, or they actually integrate with the body and they shatter upon impact.

Bottom Line: Yeah. All right, thanks very much, Karl. Very interesting.

Karl Brauer: Yeah, great talking to you, Steve.

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