In the economy space, my vote is for the most recent stuff from Hyundai/Kia. Not the world's greatest system but the latest stuff is very responsive (i.e. no UI

In the economy space, my vote is for the most recent stuff from Hyundai/Kia. Not the world's greatest system but the latest stuff is very responsive (i.e. no UI lag) and their implementation of CarPlay/Android Auto is fairly bulletproof. (Good quality touchscreen, well positioned for finger input, doesn't do anything too stupid to make CP/AA frustrating.) In the premium space, BMW has always maintained a medium-high bar with recent iterations of iDrive. (There have been many revisions and trim variations of their system, but approximate rule of thumb for acceptable tech is 8+ inch screen, 2013 onwards.) It's not going to wow a UI nerd, but if you plan to own the car for multiple years, it's slick and effortless once you're familiar with it—especially as almost any menu item anywhere in the system can be programmed to one of the 8 or so preset buttons on the dashboard. I therefore have dedicated buttons in my car for "Call my wife", "Trip computer details", "Open destination address book", "Spoken directions on/off", and "Begin navigating to home." And if you think that will get too complicated too quickly, BMW thought of that: each preset button has a capacitive sensor in them so if you place your finger on the button without pressing, the screen will remind you what that button is programmed to do. It's nice.