Taking a good look at Volvo's S90 Sensus Connect infotainment
Cars
[MUSIC]
This is a tech walk around of the Volvo S90, we're gonna be focusing on Sensus Connect, which is the literal heart of the dashboard here, it's right in the middle.
So the touch screen is nine inches long, and I do mean length, it actually is vertically oriented like a tablet screen, which is unusual in this business Only Tesla does it and the Toyota Prius Prime as well.
What I like about that is it means that you can see further down the road when you're looking at the navigation screen.
And also it means that there probably not as far of a reach to get to the right side of this screen.
What we're looking at here is the basic menu screen, and it's organized in four quadrants.
So you have navigation, that's always on top, you've got your audio, you've got your phone integration and then down here is sort of a flexible panel.
That can be whatever your last function is.
Below that, you've also got your HVAC controls, which are always there.
There's no physical controls down there for HVAC.
To me, that's kind of a miss, but it does clean up the dashboard a little bit, and it's still pretty responsive.
I'm gonna take a look at navigation, but first I wanna show you something.
You could actually swipe and you could pinch in zoom like you would on a tablet.
Which gives you a lot of flexibility and they have to do that sort of thing because there's no multi controller down here like you would find in the BMW or an Audi.
You're all on your with this touch screen which Makes it easier to figure out how to use in the first place, but sometimes it's tough to find individual controls.
I'll swipe right and you'll see on this one menu alone you've got things like the start stop button which I use quite frequently because I'm not a fan of the start stop in this car, but also if I need to adjust the head up display that's right here.
Or if I want to fold the back headrest remotely.
There's all these different types of things and they're not really related but they're all clustered right here.
That can make it very difficult to find.
On top of that and I mean that literally, there's a pull-down menu with even more functions.
So, I click on settings you've got my car, sound, navigation, media, communication.
You've got to go through a bunch of different menus just to get the function you want.
Thinks are just buried a little too deep.
Let's take a look at navigation.
So you'll see right now, there is some traffic and information on here, and I can pinch and zoom.
Take a little while to keep up, but it's not so bad.
However there is no Google Maps integration, so you don't get the topography overlays and such, that you often find with expensive cars, and I kinda miss that here.
Let's set a destination.
You're given a bunch of different options from points of interest, recents, favorites, that sort of thing, pretty standard.
Let's put in an address.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
It's pre-selected Michigan, but obviously you can change that.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Let's say Detroit [SOUND]
And we'll just do Woodward.
[SOUND]
And we'll just hit start, and it'll take us to Woodward.
[SOUND] Please proceed to the highlighted route.
And not only am I getting information up here about where my next turn is, but I'm also getting it in the optional head-up display here above the gauge cluster.
But I can also get that same information, including a map, in the cluster as well.
Again, I can maximize the screen.
I can change 2D to 3D Sometimes there's a little lag here.
Do you notice that?
It just took a little while to catch up.
And that's a problem with this system.
There's just a little bit of latency there that can be annoying.
Okay, so let's take a look at the audio inputs.
Right now we're here on the main audio screen and we've got Sirius XM playing right now on Lithium.
But it'll list all the other sources that you've used recently including FM, AM, if you've got a lining source like your Iphone it'll have that app.
Pandora, its got built in apps which is nice.
By the way this has a wi-fi hotspot built in and along with all these other features.
It's got Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration.
I really love the optional 19-speaker Bowers & Wilkins stereo system in this car.
It's quite a bit of money, but I think it's worth it for the full luxury experience.
Not only is the sound quality excellent, but it also allows you to replicate the acoustic environments of different places.
You click over to Sound Experience.
And right now it's in Gothenburg Concert Hall, but you could change it to Studio Individual stage, and you can emphasize who you want the music to go to.
One thing you'll notice as I'm going through, there are a lot of fingerprints showing up on this.
And I really wish that Volvo had stepped up and gotten some low fingerprint glass, because as it is it looks like they sourced it from the FBI.
There's actually a cleaning cloth that this comes with.
That you have to use to keep this thing clear.
That's kind of ridiculous.
This is basically a first generation system.
I expect over time that it will become stream lined, more intuitive, and quicker.
It kind of needs it.
