It wasn’t more than 2 or 3 years ago that Chrysler and Cadillac were touting a 20-Gigabyte hard drive in your dashboard. It's been 6 years since DVD-based navigation systems were considered state of the art and about 7 to 8 years since satellite radio started becoming mainstream.

So if you haven’t looked at or bought a new car lately, be prepared. A look at the showroom floor at the Detroit auto show, finds that island and console stack between the driver and the passenger seats now houses buttons and controls for the following:

• Phone
• Navigation
• Conventional over-the-air radio
• Satellite radio
• iPod/MP3 or other axillary device
• Climate control
• Heated seats
• Suspension mode
• Transmission mode
• Mobile Internet.
• Trip/mileage computer

Pioneer became the latest company to jump on the car-tech bandwagon last week when it unveiled a new car stereo unit - the AVIC-X920BT - that has maps with local searches, a "music sphere" and tunes from the Internet radio site Pandora.

If you spend a lot of time in your vehicle commuting in stop-and-go traffic, you may actually be tempted to load up on all these electronic distractions and have enough time sitting in traffic to be master of your electronic universe.

Otherwise, if you don’t spend a lot of your time in your vehicle, you may find that your vehicle will come to the end of the ownership/lease term, and you haven’t mastered 25% of the features.

There are 2 schools of design emerging in console management. The European-inspired clean and simple look as embraced by consumer product/electronic giants Apple/Bang & Olafsun/Ikea/DWR, and what I’d refer to as the boombox Asian-inspired the more buttons the better ethos as practiced by many Asian electronics giants as Pioneer/Kenwood/Sony.

Not surprisingly, Audi and Mercedes Benz have clean and simple interfaces for electronics management. Kia, Honda, and even Ford have comparably busier console stacks.

While Ford has partnered with Microsoft and about 24 other companies on its voice-driven Sync system, Ford has an 11-page handout at NAIAS to explain the technology. Go figure!

I know that some young Ford buyers are embracing the electronics technology, but the youngish spokesmodel I talked to about Sync new bupkis, but it was "a thousand times better than 1st generation Sync." I hope the dealers get much better training.

David Kwan, an Ann Arbor developer and self-described Car Nut, continues his annual coverage of Detroit's Auto Show for Ann Arbor Business Review.