– By Marc Sibbald –
When we review cars at Fleet Auto News we always consider the Bluetooth because it’s now a vital business tool. These days on the road you need your phone to work with your car like a butcher needs a sharp knife.
We consider the sound quality and ease of connectivity. Sometimes we swap between Android and Apple phones to see if it makes a difference. Once we even connected a Microsoft phone.
In the early days some systems would not work with certain phones. But as you’d expect in 2017 there aren’t any bad cars anymore, there are only good and better. They all have their quirks and fleet drivers are known to complain that certain models won’t connect or aren’t clear enough (Fleet Managers call it user error).
For example you know when you ring a Camry because you hear it ring two more time after they answer. The Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander has some issues. I think it’s related to the entertainment system which is different to other models in the range. It also has a limit of 450 contacts.
But recently I drove the all new Holden Astra. The phone connected like any other. Then I rang someone.Wow! I had to pull over. The sound quality was amazing! Like a high end Bang and Olufsen sound system. It was so great that I was lost for words and felt the need to share. So I rang everyone.
The irony was that the first person I called drove a 15 year old BMW 5 Series and didn’t even have Bluetooth. He didn’t understand the fuss.
It felt like I was dreaming. I thought I was over reacting so asked someone else from the office to test it out. They agreed; it was the best sounding Bluetooth system they had ever experienced. Then everyone had to try it.
We became scientists conducting experiments with every car and phone combination we had access to. Nothing came close. The Astra won every battle.
I don’t know what it was that made it sound so different. Music didn’t sound special. On the road the Astra was smooth with little wind or tyre noise. But somehow the quality of the sound when on the phone via Bluetooth was superb.
When I returned the car to Holden I shared my spiritual Bluetooth experience. They hadn’t noticed it was anything to brag about.
Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe it was the last days of summer and I was full of sunshine and salt air. But I know it sounded good and I long for it again.
