I actually got rid of a chevy truck for this precise reason. GMs design choices in their god-awful infotainment system was so annoying I couldn't stand using it. I got rid of that thing within a year and traded it for a F150, which had a significantly better UI and support for apple carplay (even though it required it to be plugged in).
Its like nobody ever used their vehicles before they shipped it.
Some of my favorite anti-patterns (circa 2015):
- No way to remote start the vehicle with the remote (required a subscription and a phone app to remote start the car)
- No way to enter navigation destinations in head unit (required subscription and phone app to do any GPS)
- If you didn't have a phone, you had to use a phone based service
- Bluetooth connections would randomly stop working
- Bluetooth controls would only work from head unit requiring you to remove your hand from the wheel
- Some faults would require you to turn off the vehicle, open the door and wait 30 seconds for the head unit to reboot
Overall, 0 / 10... would never own another vehicle from them again.
I recently drove a brand new Chevy Bolt. It seemed to have a navigation system, but whenever I tried to activate it, I think it tried to make a phone call to a human(?). Anyway, it doesn't have a keyboard, and doesn't seem to even have onboard voice recognition. Hard pass.
Car play support was decent about 80% of the time. The other 20%, I had to delete the phone pairing and repair to get it to reconnect.
I wasn't particularly impressed, especially given that this car has been in production since 2017, so I'd expect the radio software, etc. to be stable.
I have 2019 Bolt. I don’t use any of the native infotainment UI. The navigation probably required OnStar subscription and why you were getting connected to a person to take credit card.
I use the screen with wireless CarPlay adapter. Very few problems, more with the adapter, and never had to pair the phone more than once.
The car is fine, though I would replace it. I drive so little I can not justify the cost of new car, even with trade-in.
A daily infuriation for me is that my wife’s 2016 Chevy Equinox does not have a way for you to adjust the default volume of the radio in the firmware for some inexplicable reason. When you power on the vehicle, it’s set to “10” on some arbitrary radio station. There is no way to start the car with the volume muted - you are forced to always have the radio on or turn off the entire unit.
My 2018 F-150 does something similar and it’s very annoying. I’ve figured out a workaround to mostly prevent it though. There are 3 “groups” of presets for SiriusXM (not a subscriber) and I just set them all to the ID station where there is no sound. It will randomly change to the next group inexplicably but 99% of the time it keeps it from switching to the radio—which I never want.
Its like nobody ever used their vehicles before they shipped it.
Some of my favorite anti-patterns (circa 2015):
- No way to remote start the vehicle with the remote (required a subscription and a phone app to remote start the car) - No way to enter navigation destinations in head unit (required subscription and phone app to do any GPS) - If you didn't have a phone, you had to use a phone based service - Bluetooth connections would randomly stop working - Bluetooth controls would only work from head unit requiring you to remove your hand from the wheel - Some faults would require you to turn off the vehicle, open the door and wait 30 seconds for the head unit to reboot
Overall, 0 / 10... would never own another vehicle from them again.