{"id":7267,"date":"2026-04-14T16:23:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autonocion.com\/us\/?p=7267"},"modified":"2026-04-14T18:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:07:16","slug":"forget-top-speed-horsepower-how-drives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autonocion.com\/us\/forget-top-speed-horsepower-how-drives\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget 0-60 times, top speed, and horsepower. The thing that decides whether you’ll love your next car has nothing to do with how it drives"},"content":{"rendered":"

We live in an era where a large family-focused SUV will toast a Lamborghini Diablo<\/a> in a drag race. Where even the cheapest new cars on the road handle like a dream. Where everyday automatic transmissions outshift pros. In other words, performance is dead, and automakers will have to win customers over elsewhere.<\/p>\n

You could argue that fuel economy is still a major selling point, especially with gas prices blasting off<\/a> faster than NASA\u2019s Artemis missions. But I\u2019d argue that\u2019s all secondary. It\u2019s nice to have, but if someone is prepared to splash out an extra $10,000- $20,000 on a large SUV or truck, then using an extra few gallons of gas a week won\u2019t phase them. If it did, America would be the land of the Mitsubishi Mirage, not the F-150. In reality, the former is discontinued, and the latter is the best-selling vehicle in American history.<\/p>\n

So, with performance becoming irrelevant and gas prices mainly sensationalist headline fodder, where can a manufacturer really make a difference? It\u2019s in the \u201cuser experience\u201d as a whole. It\u2019s a battle we used to see at the ultra-high end (think Rolls-Royce V Bentley), but that\u2019s now trickled down to entry-level vehicles as well.<\/p>\n

Forget about horsepower, handling, fuel economy, and reliability. This is what you really need to look for when shopping for your next daily driver. You\u2019re spending hundreds of hours sitting in this metal box, you may as well make sure it\u2019s comfortable.<\/p>\n

Infotainment is king in modern luxury vehicles<\/h2>\n
\"The
Credit: Dave McQuilling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there\u2019s one area the big boys are duking it out these days, it\u2019s in infotainment. Dash-length displays are pretty common now. The first I can remember was on the Lincoln Nautilus<\/a> a few years back, but they\u2019ve since rolled out to Lincoln\u2019s entire lineup (bar the Aviator<\/a>), along with the likes of Mercedes, BMW, and Cadillac, all of which are developing their own similar displays.<\/p>\n

The dash-length format allows for heavy customization via widgets, better ambiance, and even a passenger section to keep them entertained. Whether they can use this section while you\u2019re driving is a different matter. Some manufacturers make it so drivers can\u2019t see the passenger part of the screen from their seat, some switch the screen off if a sensor detects the driver looking in that direction, and some just have it off by default when the car is in motion.<\/p>\n

Couple infotainment with a decent speaker system, and watching a movie in your car becomes a very pleasant experience. You can even play video games on many of the systems. Ford has some in-built racing games on its infotainment systems that pair well with a Bluetooth game controller. The now canceled Sony Afeela EV even had a built-in PlayStation 5.<\/p>\n

So infotainment is pretty important. Especially in an EV where you can get stuck at a charging station for over half an hour and need something to help you kill a little time.<\/p>\n

Your new car may have premium features you can\u2019t access<\/h2>\n
\"Lucid's
credit” Dave McQuilling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Love it or hate it, AI is everywhere. And it\u2019s probably going to feature quite heavily in your next ride. BMW spent a small fortune on its own AI, which was pretty bad until the recent partnership with Amazon took effect. Now the Alexa-infused version is absolutely brilliant. Mercedes and Lucid both have similar products<\/a> in the pipeline, while other manufacturers are also dabbling with the emerging tech.<\/p>\n

As I was writing this, Nissan just announced it is shifting focus (again), focusing on AI and electrification going forward. It\u2019s Nissan, so this could be yet another confusing twist in that company\u2019s years-long downward spiral. But at least they\u2019re doing something fairly obvious this time, and not inexplicably pushing a $35,000 SUV into the premium segment while jacking up the price to match.<\/p>\n

Any AI component is likely to be part of the shift to \u201csoftware as a service\u201d that many manufacturers seem to be toying with. Remember those BMW seat subscriptions that caused controversy a few years back? That\u2019s arguably the new normal. Remember those \u201cyou wouldn\u2019t download a car\u201d software piracy memes from the early 2000s? That may also become a warranty-voiding reality.<\/p>\n

Some new cars are nicer than my living room<\/h2>\n
\"Genesis
GV80 interior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Manufacturers like Mercedes are going all out with their interiors. Back at CES, I sat in one of the upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLCs, and it was an experience I could only describe as \u201cnicer than my living room.\u201d Seriously, never mind the daily commute. I\u2019d sit in that thing, slap a movie on the MBUX infotainment system, crank up the massage seats, and have a very confused DoorDash driver hand me something greasy through my driver\u2019s window as I indulge.<\/p>\n

At the lower end of the scale, things can vary quite a lot. You\u2019re better off being authentically entry-level than faking luxury. For example, I love Subaru, but the interiors are hell on earth. I actually pointed this out after poking my head inside one of the upcoming Forester Wilderness Hybrids at the 2026 New York Auto Show. The pleather feels, looks, and smells wrong.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, I understand what manufacturers are going for with the whole fake leather thing. It appeases vegans and gives an idea of luxury. But that idea is naught but a thin veneer. It\u2019s hard to buy into the lie. It\u2019s like sitting down to breakfast with a bald, middle-aged trucker in a Hello Kitty t-shirt and pretending he\u2019s your ex-wife. We can all play along, but if you look at it objectively, it\u2019s all a bit ridiculous.<\/p>\n

There is a cheap option that isn\u2019t disgusting, though. Fabric interiors did a perfectly fine job for decades. What\u2019s more, you have tons of options with fabric when you want to cut costs and tick a few sustainability boxes. BMW actually nailed this with their Neue Klasse concept a few years back. The concept vehicle was a weird mish-mash of futuristic and retro styling, which resulted in yellow corduroy-clad seats up front. It looked like Grandma\u2019s living room circa 2060. But BMW ditched the idea for the production models like a bunch of cowards. I maintain there\u2019s a market for vehicle interiors that look like they should stink of lavender and stale cigarettes.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s an area OEMs should be comfortable stepping into as well.<\/p>\n

Touch is an important sense, and something you should be aware of<\/h2>\n

Then there\u2019s tactile sensation. There\u2019s nothing worse than cheap plastic, but any button is preferable to a touch screen. There\u2019s a reason the likes of Jeep will have a selector knob hand-milled from a chunk of metal in vehicles like the Wagoneer S. We\u2019re tactile creatures, touch is one of our main senses, and how a piece of your car you handle every day feels could be the difference between loving or hating that vehicle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s where the likes of Mazda have done really well with materials like suede. The CX-70\u2019s brown leather interior is one of the best I\u2019ve encountered in recent years, despite it being one of the more affordable SUVs. Mind, Mazda also has the worst infotainment, traditionally (though they\u2019ve remedied that somewhat with the new CX-5).<\/p>\n

Obviously, small touches like this are where OEMs love to cut corners. So getting into a vehicle and getting your grubby little hands on everything you\u2019re likely to interact with is as important as a test drive these days. You\u2019re going to be interacting with this thing several times a day for the next few years, so make sure prodding the piano key gear selector doesn\u2019t erase a bit of your soul, and the feel of the seat adjuster doesn\u2019t make you want to vomit.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is, mechanically \u201cbad\u201d cars are rare these days. It\u2019s not 1984, whatever you buy is going to start first time on a winter\u2019s morning, go quite fast, and handle very well. It\u2019s going to ride pretty comfortably, and reliability probably isn\u2019t too much of an issue. So you really have to start judging vehicles on their comfort and quality-of-life factors.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re spending an hour or two a day somewhere, why not make it somewhere pleasant?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We live in an era where a large family-focused SUV will toast a Lamborghini Diablo in a drag race. Where … <\/p>\n

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