Infotainment comparison – Toyota Hilux vs. Ford Ranger vs. Nissan Navara

 

By Chad Lückhoff

We compare the standard infotainment systems found in the higher-end offerings of the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Nissan Navara.

Double cab entertainment

It's all good and well buying a double cab for its practicality, dependability and go-anywhere attitude, but what about when you're not going anywhere fast and you're stuck in traffic? Then you need to rely on the infotainment system in your double cab to keep you sane and help you out, be it to entertain you with music, make a call to let them know you're running late or to find the nearest escape route.

Let's look at the infotainment systems in the Toyota Hilux and compare it to the Ford Ranger and Nissan Navara.

Toyota Hilux 2.8 GD-6 4x4 Raider 6AT - R621 900

3/5

The Toyota Hilux is fitted with a large, touchscreen infotainment system with SD card-based navigation. This unit, called the Toyota Display Audio plumbs the sound through six speakers inside the cabin and accepts USB, CD/DVD and has Bluetooth connectivity.

Then the unit is devoid of any tactile buttons, opting to use touch-sensitive buttons for the basic controls. These flank the sides of the unit and access functions such as audio source, track skip/tune, play/pause, phone, power, volume up/down, menu and a home button. While this gives it a clean, uncluttered look, not being able to feel a button requires you to take your eyes off the road to locate the touch area – not ideal in our opinion.

You can access basic functions from the steering mounted controls, allowing you to adjust the volume, skip tracks and the likes.

The menu system is relatively easy to use and will only require a few minutes to get accustomed to. Submenus are kept to a minimum and the home screen offers up several displays, showing a combination of radio, phone contacts and navigation/map on one screen for quick access.

Ford Ranger 3.2 TDCi Double Cab XLT 6AT 4x4 HR – R625 500

3.5/5

Ford has been using the SYNC systems for a while now and each iteration improves on the former in leaps and bounds. Their latest version, SYNC3 is no different.

This system uses a rather bright 8-inch touchscreen interface with a grid-like look and feel to the menus. The lower section of the screen offers regularly used shortcuts and the home screen displays several functions simultaneously, including navigation, radio and connected device/telephony. A bank of tactile buttons rests a short distance away from the screen, offering rotary dials for volume/power and radio tuning. And eject and track skip buttons sit between the dials.

The SYNC3 menu system is much easier to use than in earlier versions with fewer sub-menus and a more logical approach. Our one criticism is the theme colour for daytime use; The light grey and blue theme is just too bright for our liking and setting it to night mode presents much better, tying into the blacks and dark greys of the interior better.

SYNC3 accepts CD, USB, AUX and has Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calling. Ford's voice command is also rather good, recognising natural speaking commands for common functions such as call dialling, navigation (when equipped). Steering wheel controls are standard and easy to use with clear icons.

Nissan Navara 2.3D double cab 4x4 LE auto - R647 500

3/5

The Nissan Navara is fitted with a system that will be all-too-familiar to Nissan owners. Using a smaller screen than the competitors, the Navara employs several tactile buttons on either side of the screen for menu shortcuts, such as radio band, navigation, mute, scan, DVD, menu, track skip and eject. Two rotary dials operate volume/power and tuning. Users also have the option of interacting with the touch screen and steering wheel controls.

The Navara takes a few points back though as it comes standard with navigation with live traffic updates. It will accept USB, AUX and Bluetooth input.

The menus system can be a touch confusing at times with anagrams being used for seemingly random functions that are presented in home screen menus.

Sound quality is another area where the Navara shines and this makes one quickly forget about the somewhat troublesome menu or smaller screen size. It plays the audio through a standard system of six speakers.