Feature upgrades in car stereos tend to involve different kinds of media playback, from CDs and DVDs to MP3 and WMA, but Kenwood takes an unexpected twist by building a performance analyzer into its KDC-MP832U head unit. The performance analyzer displays cornering g-force, acceleration, and even horsepower. We've used stand-alone performance analyzers before and found them to be pretty accurate. The inclusion of a performance analyzer in a car stereo head unit makes interesting information for sports car drivers accessible at any time. Kenwood incorporates performance analyzers in some of its other head units as well.

The KDC-MP832U plays MP3s, WMAs, and AACs from CD-R/RWs, of course, but goes a step further by offering a USB port. The unit can use USB thumbdrives as a music source, offering full navigation of files by artist, album, song, and genre. Its voice-indexing feature can audibly announce any ID3 tag information, letting drivers keep their eyes on the road when browsing through music.

Article discussion: Kenwood rates your performance