Infotainment Compared: City vs Verna vs Vento vs Rapid vs Yaris

We know these humble sedans all too well, but what about their infotainment systems?

Sedans such as the City, Verna, Vento, and Rapid have been on sale here for ages now, and while the Yaris is relatively new, we have become quite familiar with these cars. You buy the City for comfort, Rapid for drive, Vento for elegance, Verna for features, and Yaris for reliability. However, what you may not take into consideration is that in the latest iterations of these cars, the infotainment systems contribute a great deal to the overall ownership experience. 

Here, we will compare the infotainment system on five parameters:

• Display quality

• Ease of use

• Features

• Sound system 

• Instrument cluster 

Finally, we will tally all the results to find out which sedan delivers the best infotainment experience. 

1. Which sedan has the best display?

Best: Skoda Rapid

Needs Improvement: Honda City

Insight: Display quality creates the first impression of the system in the buyer's mind. 

• The Skoda Rapid’s display is the best here and that is because it is an aftermarket Android tablet. It has a good brightness range, nice colours and contrast -- basically everything you expect from an Android tablet. The only issue here is the screen is a fingerprint magnet so you will have to keep a cleaning cloth handy. 

• The Verna gets the second best display. It has a matte finish so you don’t have to worry about fingerprints. Even the display quality is good with good contrast and distinct icons. 

• The Volkswagen Vento and Toyota Yaris share third place. Both are equipped with good displays, however, the Vento gets better viewing angles but lacks in brightness. The Yaris’s display is vibrant and colourful, but it gets difficult to read due to sunlight.

• The Honda City’s display is the most pixelated here and could do with a higher resolution.

• It lacks the vibrance and contrast of the other cars here which also leads to glare in sunlight. 

2. Which is the easiest to use?

Best: Hyundai Verna

Needs Improvement:  Skoda Rapid

Insight: Ergonomics and predictability are the two key factors that determine usability. 

• The Hyundai Verna gets a very useful combination of home screen menus and physical buttons. These together make using it on the go quite easy and predictable. Further helping its cause are distinctive icons and well clubbed together menus which make reaching a particular setting feel logical. 

• In second place is the Honda City. While the display itself may not be impressive, its customisable home screen and easy menu navigation along with physical buttons make it rather intuitive to use. Also, the strong ledge below the screen makes for a useful base to rest your hand on while using the screen. 

• In third place is the Vento. While the small 6.5-inch screen size and icon size do play spoilsport, the overall layout and the physical menu buttons make reaching any desired setting a breeze. 

• Very close to the Vento but in fourth spot is the Yaris. Menu navigation can get a bit confusing here as the only way to get out of some options is by long-pressing the back soft-touch key. 

• Lastly comes the Rapid. As you would imagine -- large screens with lots of smaller icons are hard to use while on the move. The multiple menus and submenus make it awkward to use as a car’s infotainment system. 

3. Which one gets the most useful features?

Best: Hyundai Verna

Needs Update: Toyota Yaris

Insights: More features in the infotainment system means added convenience for the occupants.

• The top spot here is once again taken by the Hyundai Verna. With a full set of connected car tech, in-build navigation, voice commands, and fluently working Android Auto and AppleCarPlay, the Verna’s infotainment offers the most useful features of all cars. However, it's important to note that you need a good network connection to use Blue-link. 

• A long way behind the Verna but in second spot is the Honda City. It gets a handful of connected features and Android Auto and Apple Carplay work but with a certain amount of lag. The reverse camera is pixelated and really hard to use accurately at night. Same is the case with the Lane Watch camera quality which shows a display feed from the right ORVM camera on the infotainment screen. 

• Vento comes in at third place with its fluent Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Also, it gets a voice command button on the steering which can activate the voice assistant of the connected smartphone. 

• Skoda Rapid comes in fourth spot. It gets virtually all the features of an Android device, but it’s running Android 7 which feels dated. And while you can download Netflix, YouTube (videos only work while the car is stationary) and even games on the tablet, they are highly unlikely to be used in a private car. It does not get Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, and all internet-based apps work on the phone’s hotspot connection. Also, it takes close to 40 seconds to boot up as the Android device has to switch on all over again every time you start the ignition. Lastly, it gets just one USB port and that too inside the glove box. 

• Coming in last, with just one useful feature, Mirrorlink, is the Yaris. No phone apps or navigation here. Even the voice commands need to be activated from an icon on the infotainment screen. 

Before we move onto the next segment, take a look at their boot up and reverse camera display after ignition timings: 

4. Which one has the best sound system?

Best: Honda City

Needs Update: None

Insights: A good sound system is key for most buyers these days. 

• The Honda City gets eight, Verna gets six, and the rest of the cars get four speakers. 

• The Honda City gets the best sound system here which offers a superior surround sound experience. Neither the music nor the clarity distorts at higher volumes. However, the first 20 levels of volume are too low and it does not increase linearly beyond that. 

• In second place is the Toyota Yaris. It gets nice clarity and bass, however, the sound experience is not as fulfilling as the CIty. Also, you have to crank up the volume high to enjoy it. 

• Third spot is shared by Rapid and Vento. The Rapid and Vento both deliver clear audio with good bass, however, they only come to life at higher volume. The Rapid further gets a very confusing equalizer with the display showing a Ferrari and most functions not even working. 

• The Verna’s experience isn't as punchy as the Vento and Rapid, but remains enjoyable at all volume levels.

5. Which one gets the most detailed instrument cluster?

Best: Volkswagen Honda CIty

Needs Update: Skoda Rapid, Volkswagen Vento. 

Insights: Instrument cluster is the most important display for the driver as it needs to relay all the vital information in a clear layout.

• The Honda City’s instrument Cluster stands out here. Its crystal clear display on the left side of the cluster can confuse most people, regardless of whether it is an analogue display or digital. It gets a plethora of options as well, such as a G-metre, drive information, audio and call information with cover art, and a long list of settings. The white on black colour display makes it easy to toggle between the various functions.

• The Toyota Yaris comes second with its small yet detailed MID. The analogue cluster shows the speed in a conventional fashion. The digital screen displays graphs and efficiency information in an easy-to-consume manner. 

• In third place is the Verna. Though it is an all-digital display, it is still a fixed setup with not too many animations. The MID is a conventional one with all information presented in a cluttered manner. It also comes with three themes but we think they hardly make any difference. 

• The Vento and the Rapid come in last. They come with identical clusters that look quite dated, but Vento’s unit gets two tripmeters while Rapid gets only one. While they do relay information efficiently, the lack of any kind of connection with the car’s infotainment puts them in last position. 

Final Scorecard

• The Hyundai Verna wins this comparison by leading in two segments: ease of use and features. Even overall, it finishes second and third in the other two categories, which makes for a very well-rounded infotainment experience. We just wish the Verna had a better sound system to complete the experience. 

• The Honda City finishes in second spot. Like the Verna, it wins two categories, audio experience and instrument cluster, but not quite by the same margin. Also, because of the disappointing reverse camera quality and the display itself, it feels less attractive than the Verna. 

• The Volkswagen Vento comes in third. Despite its smaller screen and outdated MID, it manages to do everything you expect from a car's infotainment, and it does it well. It finished third in four out of five categories, making it the most neutral system here. 

• Toyota Yaris finishes fourth overall. The display is vibrant, the instrument cluster is useful, and the audio experience is enjoyable as well. But it has no useful features and isn't as intuitive to use as the others. A major miss is the lack of Android Auto/Apple CarPlay which is just unacceptable in today’s day and age.

• Finishing last here is the Skoda Rapid but that’s not surprising considering it doesn’t get an infotainment unit, rather an old Android tablet slapped on the dashboard with a few tweaks for better positioning. It gets too many menus, too many options, and the overall experience of using it is not very pleasant. The aftermarket-ish touchscreen takes away from the experience. Skoda should consider dropping this gimmicky screen in favour of the one on the Vento.

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