I used to have a ford edge with Ford sync Mytouch. Ford took a lot of heat because it was terrible at first, but a host of updates finally made it good and I really liked it. The new Ford Sync is apparently even better. Mazda is the opposite, their infotainment system was one of the best when it came out, but it hasn't been refreshed and is now slow and outdated.
But I rent a lot of cars and I find the infotainment systems are all similar and get bored with them quite fast. Because let's be honest, they are all doing the exact same thing (radio, music, Nav, Apple CarPlay or android auto). The Mazda interface is a bit clunkier because it was designed for the control wheel. But then again, once you know the shortcuts and start using them they are great.
- Need to toggle between mazda and apple CarPlay - hold down on the home button.
- when using apple CarPlay, the music and the nav buttons will send you to the right app depending on which one is currently in use. (for example, if i am using google map and listening to FM radio, the music buttons sends me to the mazda radio tuner, and the nav button sends me to google maps). The opposite is also true.
- listening to your iPhone music but want to switch to an FM station, press the favourite button and choose a favourite station to quickly switch to FM.
My only annoyance is the fact that the touchscreen deactivates at speed, forcing you to use the wheel on apple CarPlay, which isn't the best because apple hasn't designed its application for it.
So I guess I agree with you that it isn't the best, but I find it isn't that bad and is actually quite functional once you get to know it a little bit.