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Microsoft Sync In The Ford Focus SE, The Roundup

I spent the better part of a week, tooling around in a 2008 Ford Focus SE, with one task at hand: to determine whether this newfangled Microsoft Sync system is all it's cracked up to be. I laughed, I cried, I made some calls, and in the end found Sync to be basically sweet. Not that me and Sync didn't have a few spats. At first, I approached the system the same way any average Joe would—I jumped in the car and started playing without picking up the manual or having any prior knowledge of how Sync actually works. That didn't go as smoothly as I was hoping, so I hashed through the manual and got Sync set up to my liking, in as much as I could. And for the final test, I took 'er out for a live road test. [Unboxing, Set Up, Road Test]

4:00 PM on Fri Feb 1 2008
By Travis Hudson
1,715 views
16 comments

Comments

NICKNICK at 04:04 PM on 02/01/08
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holy christ! i thought "aluminum" was bad as a trim piece. i didn't know they made the whole fucking dash out of the stuff
crazygutgut at 04:06 PM on 02/01/08
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I just waiting for the first Sync picture of this
[www.myextralife.com]
UDMan at 04:18 PM on 02/01/08
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Connectedness Index: 116
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@crazygutgut: Ahhh, the Microsoft Blue Screen of Death. I know it well!
UDMan at 04:19 PM on 02/01/08
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Connectedness Index: 116
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@NICKNICK: It's not Aluminum, it's Aluminum Colored Plastic.
crazygutgut at 04:20 PM on 02/01/08
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or Plast-uminum
DoctorNine at 04:25 PM on 02/01/08
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So basically, you get a sub-par vehicle to make friends with a sub-par MP3 player. That way, they won't each be lonely. But to do it, you have to buy a Focus and a Zune.

I see the problem right there.
Triborough at 04:35 PM on 02/01/08
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You expect anything from Microsoft to actually work quickly and/or properly?
nilkilla at 04:38 PM on 02/01/08
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@DoctorNine: except it doesn't require the zune or the focus to get sync to work.
suttree at 04:52 PM on 02/01/08
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So the takeaway is that Ford is the Zune of automobiles.
BartMack at 05:11 PM on 02/01/08
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status quo is job 1.
FuzzyPlushroom at 05:56 PM on 02/01/08
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I still say that rear end is from a current-gen Impala.

Not coincidentally, FWD Impalas are some of the most boring cars of all time.

What I want to know is: is this the kind of fake-metal that rubs off (as in our New Beetle), or the kind that peels off (see: '01-'05 Civic inside door handles)?
piththeelder at 06:00 PM on 02/01/08
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@FUZZYPLUSHROOM,

Yes.
Spence at 06:39 PM on 02/01/08
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I know it's been said before, but damn that's an ugly car.
FuzzyPlushroom at 08:13 PM on 02/01/08
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@piththeelder: Ahh, right, it's a Ford product. Silly me.
ranwhenparked at 11:33 PM on 02/01/08
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@FuzzyPlushroom:

My vote is for the kind that stays in place but gets really, really scratched up after 2-3 weeks of regular use.
halfshafter at 12:36 PM on 02/02/08
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I think that 'light sand metallic' paint job suits the shape well, and the restyle is growing on me. However the front end still looks like The Goonies' Mama Fratelli.