There are "one or the other difficulty," said Axel Heinrich, Head of Electronics Development at Volkswagen.

However, customers and the trade press were less restrained and described the infotainment of the Golf 8 as a disgrace.

At the market launch in autumn 2019, the software had so many errors that there was a voluntary recall to install a major software update.

Nevertheless, the system was still slow and got stuck with voice recognition, we reported here.

Michael Spehr

Editor in the "Technology and Engine" department.

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The new operating system was unanimously criticized.

The setting of radio, navigation system, air conditioning and heated seats is overly complicated.

You need several taps of your finger to activate even the simplest functions, and the focus of criticism is always the touch-sensitive bar for setting the temperature and volume, which is neither intuitive to use nor precise.

Online update is not possible

Now the next update is coming with new software and faster hardware.

The latter uses new processors from Qualcomm and a fast graphics unit and is installed in the Golf 8, which has been in production since the beginning of the year.

Existing customers have to do without the new processors, but they are currently being written to and asked to visit the workshop for the software update.

This takes about five hours, an online update is not possible.

We were now able to try out the faster hardware and improved software in a test car for a few days: Of course, nothing has changed in the operating system.

It doesn't work without diligent finger actions on the display.

But in fact, the system starts up much faster after the ignition is activated and is more likely to accept commands.

There are still small stutters in the display, and overall the gain in speed is not difficult to see.

However, if you want to say the GPS destination immediately after buckled up, you must not be in a radio dead zone, then the system will twitch as usual.

A new problem: sometimes the voice recognition reacts within seconds, sometimes it takes many long seconds before you can speak.

The fact that the language assistant now allows more flexible inputs and you can interrupt him is a plus.

The new music control didn't work in the test car: "Unfortunately, you can't select any music at the moment.

Please try again.” By then, the system had at least recognized our request that we wanted to hear Johann Sebastian Bach and displayed various albums.

Then, surprisingly, it was over.

We also cannot share the statement by Volkswagen that the performance of the system is now "on the level of premium vehicles".

The command “navigation announcements off” is understood.

But instead of running it, it just pops up the appropriate menu on the screen for you to manually operate with your finger, please.

Locking the volume and temperature bar

The iPhone connected via Bluetooth was now recognized as reliably as one would normally expect.

Not just in a premium vehicle.

Previously there had been frequent disconnections.

Apple's Carplay also ran much more stably than in the test car driven a few months ago.

A benefit is the locking of the touch-sensitive bar for volume and temperature when making settings on the display directly above it.

Up to now it could happen that a finger accidentally placed on the slider changed the settings unintentionally.

However, what hasn't been improved: The sensor surfaces of the bar are still not illuminated, so that you wave your finger around at random on the dashboard at night.

All in all, there is still a lot to be done.