I had the chance to ride in a friend’s Ford Fusion over the weekend – first time in this car. The Fusion is one of a handful of automobiles that features Ford Sync which was developed through a partnership by Ford and Microsoft. My Fusion experience was simply incredible. I’m in the market to buy a new car and was heavily leaning towards purchasing a Honda Civic Si Sedan — but no more! The Ford Sync technology is making me reconsider my decision (not to mention that Consumer Reports loves the Fusion).

Ford Sync handles the external audio input — usb or headphone jack. It also features a bluetooth receiver to work with your cell phone. First, my friend told his car “play nirvana” and Sync randomly selected a nirvana song on his mp3 player. It appears that Sync has internal memory that catalogs the media on your mp3 player. While we were driving the car speakers started playing a telephone ringing. My friend pushed a button on his steering wheel and answered the phone – it was his wife! I can see where having your car stereo morph into a cell phone would be great for long commutes. The voice recognition of Sync is also amazing. It never once hesitated when we gave it a command. My friend instructed Sync to call someone and we soon had them on the line. It also turns out that Sync 2.0 will read SMS (text) messages and interpret acronyms i.e. LOL.

Cadillac, Benz, BMW and other luxury cars have had bluetooth receivers built in for some while but they can’t compete with Sync technology in a Ford Fusion with MSRP $19,035.