Auto Shopping? Keep Telematics in Mind.

Nearly all major vehicle manufacturers today offer integrated telematics -- combining telecommunications and entertainment electronics -- for their cars and trucks. Those systems tend to be sold as optional equipment on mainstream vehicles, such as mid-size family sedans. But more of them are beginning to appear as standard equipment on luxury and near-luxury vehicles, generally starting at $30,000.

Consumer electronics change quickly. Today's iPod is tomorrow's has-been. For that reason, it is difficult, nearly impossible, for any car company to develop an automobile or truck expressly suited for whatever is coming next on the consumer-electronics horizon.

The current strategy in the automotive industry is to make vehicles as compatible as possible with future electronics gadgets, much in the way that houses and office buildings are being designed with enough electrical outlets, cable connections and wall recesses to accommodate different media and entertainment systems.

Thus, automotive consumers today would be wise to shop for vehicles that are pre-wired for items such as navigational systems and MP3 players or that offer such systems in telematics bundles, such as navigation, information and entertainment consoles.

According to Accenture Ltd., an international marketing research and industry consulting firm, consumers increasingly are opting for the bundled or integrated telematics approach to avoid the potential costs and hassles of adding such devices after vehicle purchase.

So far, based on The Washington Post's annual sampling of cars and trucks, General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. offer the best telematics bundles, with GM's OnStar system, by far, being the best available emergency communications system.

The onboard navigational systems in Honda, Toyota and GM cars all tend to be easy to operate, meaning that they are intuitive, requiring little head-scratching or guesswork to, for example, plug in selected destinations.

The most difficult navigation systems come from the Germans, with BMW's system being the most complicated. However, Mercedes-Benz seems to have simplified things with its much-improved navigational system in its 2007 E-Class cars, but it is still more complicated than those offered by Honda, Toyota and GM.

There are, of course, myriad providers of software and hardware for all of this onboard automotive technology. Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Automotive technology is a leader in this regard. Two other strong players, which recently have combined efforts on several projects, are QNX Software Systems Ltd. of Ottawa and Acunia Embedded Solutions of Leuven, Belgium.

In addition to making telematics purchases in bundles, another bit of good advice for consumers is to buy only what is needed. It makes little sense, for example, to buy a base-line economy subcompact and load it up with optional electronics devices, some of which, if wired incorrectly, could lead to other electrical problems.

Finally, for those of you who are addicted to after-market vehicle equipment purchases, it makes sense to work with a company that specializes in installing and integrating such equipment with existing devices in your car or truck. Washington area residents can turn to the Washington Consumers' Checkbook for usually reliable guidance in finding quality automotive equipment installers.