MyLincoln Touch boasted an interface as original as it is unusual, controlling the stereo and connected music players, heating, ventilation, navigation, the cell phone system… well, you get the idea. Voice command and touch-screen activation replace conventional controls.
On the whole, it works, but often with a delay of a second or two, which quickly becomes frustrating. And there we have our first letdown. After all, when you’ve forked over $50,000 (options, taxes, delivery fees included) for a luxury vehicle, you want to knock your passengers’ socks off. But when the controls take their own sweet time in activating a feature that the humble buttons of a Ford Fiesta would already have kicked into high gear, the splendid Lincoln loses some of its charm.
Learning to talk
Still, Ford did some great work with this system. Designers programmed in an impressive lexicon of 10,000 words, a mix of English, French and Spanish identifying the actions the driver wishes the system to take.
Problem is, the driver has to use the right words – and pronounce them correctly and in the proper beat. Oh, and you have to interrupt any conversations you might be having too. In fact, when making your desires known absolute silence has to be observed by your crew, or else a synthetic voice quickly admonishes you. The same voice that, when you correctly enunciate your wishes, repeats them systematically back to you like, parrot like. That’s another letdown.
As for the touch commands, they’re hardly better. Style takes precedence over ergonomics here. Some of these “buttons,” which you have to either touch or brush, are small, like the ones that control heating for instance. Others are located directly on the 8-inch centre screen. Of course, you have to find them before you can touch them.
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| Ventilation and volume are controlled by these two temperamental touch cursors. (Photo: Luc Gagné/Auto123.com) |
On the whole, it works, but often with a delay of a second or two, which quickly becomes frustrating. And there we have our first letdown. After all, when you’ve forked over $50,000 (options, taxes, delivery fees included) for a luxury vehicle, you want to knock your passengers’ socks off. But when the controls take their own sweet time in activating a feature that the humble buttons of a Ford Fiesta would already have kicked into high gear, the splendid Lincoln loses some of its charm.
Learning to talk
Still, Ford did some great work with this system. Designers programmed in an impressive lexicon of 10,000 words, a mix of English, French and Spanish identifying the actions the driver wishes the system to take.
Problem is, the driver has to use the right words – and pronounce them correctly and in the proper beat. Oh, and you have to interrupt any conversations you might be having too. In fact, when making your desires known absolute silence has to be observed by your crew, or else a synthetic voice quickly admonishes you. The same voice that, when you correctly enunciate your wishes, repeats them systematically back to you like, parrot like. That’s another letdown.
As for the touch commands, they’re hardly better. Style takes precedence over ergonomics here. Some of these “buttons,” which you have to either touch or brush, are small, like the ones that control heating for instance. Others are located directly on the 8-inch centre screen. Of course, you have to find them before you can touch them.
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| As for the touch commands, some of these “buttons,” which you have to either touch or brush, are small, like the ones that control heating for instance. (Photo: Luc Gagné/Auto123.com) |