Nearly 30 per cent of new car buyers put Bluetooth first

Bad bluetooth is becoming a major turn-off in showrooms and Nissan has the numbers to prove it.

CarsGuide has been tracking connectivity complaints and complications with readers for months, even spurring Hyundai Australia to tackle the lacklustre Bluetooth in its latest Elantra.

But now Nissan has hard data to show nearly one-third of new-car buyers put connectivity ahead of other features, even fuel economy.

The numbers are slightly skewed, because they come from Britain and focus only on the multimedia in the Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail SUVs.

Even so, they show 28 per cent of new-car buyers put Bluetooth ahead of other features, 13 per cent would not buy a car that could not connect to the internet, and 20 per cent would switch to another brand for better connectivity.

Forty-one per cent of people who spend more than 20 hours a week in their car — typically sales reps — would switch for better connectivity.

Today’s new cars have a life cycle of five or six years ... but a mobile phone will only be on the market for less than two years before it’s replaced.

Nissan has created a global team of engineers developing connected-vehicle architecture with safety and security as the top priority.

Among them is British engineer Patrick Keenan, known at Nissan as "the man with 40 phones."

"My job is to make sure anyone who walks into a Nissan showroom anywhere in Europe doesn’t walk out again because a car they want to buy won’t pair with their phone," he says.

Keenan also highlights the problems shared with showroom shoppers in Australia.

"Today’s new cars have a life cycle of five or six years ... but a mobile phone will only be on the market for less than two years before it’s replaced. Keeping cars and phones talking to each other is the crux of my job."

Is good connectivity the most important thing for you when buying a car? Let us know in the comments below.