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Best car infotainment systems: From UConnect to MBUX, these are our favorites

Declaring one infotainment system the best over any other is an inherently subjective matter. You can look at quantitative testing for things like input response time and various screen load times, but ask a room full of people that have tried all car infotainment systems what their favorite is, and you’re likely to get a lot of different responses. For the most part, the various infotainment systems available all share a similar purpose. They aim to help the driver get where they're going with navigation, play their favorite tunes via all sorts of media playback options and allow folks to stay connected with others via phone connectivity. Of course, most go way beyond the basics these days and offer features like streaming services, in-car performance data and much more. Unique features are aplenty when you start diving through menus, but how they go about their most important tasks vary widely. Some of our editors prefer systems that are exclusively touch-based and chock full of boundary-pushing features. Others may prefer a back-to-basics non-touch system that is navigable via a scroll wheel. You can compare it to the phone operating system wars. Just like some prefer Android phones over iPhones, we all have our own opinions for what makes up the best infotainment interface. All that said, our combined experience tells us that a number of infotainment systems are at least better than the rest. WeÂ’ve narrowed it down to five total systems in their own subcategories that stand out to us. Read on below to see our picks, and feel free to make your own arguments in the comments. Best infotainment overall: UConnect 5, various Stellantis products Ram 1500 Uconnect Infotainment System Review If thereÂ’s one infotainment system that all of us agree is excellent, itÂ’s UConnect. It has numerous qualities that make it great, but above all else, UConnect is simple and straightforward to use. Ease of operation is one of the most (if not the single most) vital parts of any infotainment system interface. If youÂ’re expected to be able to tap away on a touchscreen while driving and still pay attention to the road, a complex infotainment system is going to remove your attention from the number one task at hand: driving. UConnect uses a simple interface that puts all of your key functions in a clearly-represented row on the bottom of the screen. Tap any of them, and it instantly pulls up that menu.

Fiat Chrysler prepares to produce plug-in hybrid Jeep Renegade

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler (FCA) said on Monday it's preparing to begin production of a plug-in hybrid version of the Jeep Renegade as the carmaker pushes ahead with its electrification drive to meet tougher emissions rules. The world's seventh-largest carmaker said in June it would invest 9 billion euros ($10.3 billion) in electric and hybrid cars over the next five years to become fully compliant with emissions regulations across regions. It also pledged to phase out diesel engines in European passenger cars by 2021. The Jeep Renegade plug-in hybrid, expected in the market in early 2020, will be produced at FCA's Melfi plant in southern Italy, which is already churning out the combustion engine version of the model and the Fiat 500X crossover, FCA said. More than 200 million euros will be spent on the new engine, the company said, adding workers would be retrained for the new technology and the plant modernized. By 2022, FCA plans to offer a total of 12 electric propulsion systems, including battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and full hybrids, it said, adding 30 different models would be equipped with one or more of these systems. Former FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne had long refused to embrace electrification, saying he would only do so if selling battery-powered cars could be done at a profit. He even urged customers not to buy FCA's Fiat 500e, its only battery-powered model, because he was losing money on each sold. But Tesla's success and the need to comply with tougher emissions rules forced Marchionne to commit to what he used to refer to as "most painful" spending. Marchionne died unexpectedly in July after succumbing to complications from surgery, but his successor, Mike Manley, vowed to continue the strategy laid out in June. ($1 = 0.8719 euros) Reporting by Agnieszka Flak

Jeep Renegade sales being held due to powertrain issue [UPDATE]

UPDATE: An unnamed FCA US source has clarified to Automotive News that while there is a software issue, it does not concern the transmission. The Jeep Renegade appears to be facing early software problems that are similar to the ones at the introduction of the Cherokee a few years ago. The issue is keeping the brand's latest compact crossover away from dealers until the situation can be resolved. The fault reportedly deals with the software controlling the Renegade's nine-speed automatic transmission. FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne briefly talked about what was happening in an interview with Automotive News. "I'm having a very bad engineering day," he said. "It's a combination of attributes of that vehicle that is making my life horrible." The company boss predicted at the longest it could take until mid-June to fix things. Through April, Jeep has sold 5,157 Renegades, including 4,214 of them in that month alone. Autoblog reached out to an FCA US spokesperson to learn more about the software problem, but the company had no comment. Getting the software right to control the nine-speed automatic plagued development of the Cherokee. The issues delayed the model's launch in 2013, and the company was still releasing improvements for some vehicles this year.