A slight majority of Americans say they’d fork over as much as $1,499 extra when buying a new vehicle in order to get new connected car features.
I’m not going to question the methodology of the survey nor the reporting, but I personally find this surprising. I wonder how humans would behave when actually faced with “would you like this car with AM/FM/CD and an Aux input for $30,000, or this other one for $31,499?”
While I might go for it (being Captain Gadgets) my wife would happily listen to Z-100 for a 32nd year.
I definitely am in the camp of wishing that my phone would just easily connect to the dash. These days I use my handy cassette adapter which is great for long-ish trips, but not worth the hassle when I just run to get donuts. However if I have a longer drive I will load up some podcasts using the On The Go in the native podcast app, my 11-years and counting curated “Radio Free Hicksville” playlist (which plays only MY favorite songs, not yours) or will pop on Alt Sports Talk (my project) using TuneIn. A world in which my car noticed my phone and connected it to the speakers via bluetooth seems dreamy, but I am not going to buy a new car just for that. You’re talking to someone with a 1992 Civic in the driveway (my “spare” car).