If you're buying an A8 this year, prepare to spend a lot of time getting to know your new MMI system. We have consistently thought that Audi's buttons-and-knob interface is the best, and it looks like they've put an entire NASA team on the job of making it better. A seven-inch TFT screen with 800x400 resolution is now controlled by an 8-position joystick. Moving from one screen to another is done via "elegant crossfades," which sounds a bit PowerPoint-ish, but we'll wait until we see it to judge. And among other improvements, navigational maps can be rendered in "birds-eye perspective" 3D, with topographical map coloration. The only thing missing is the Encyclopedia Britanica. You can check out the exhaustive press release after the jump.

As previously reported, Suzuki has decided to include navigation on its SX4 Sport and Crossover before you make the first mark on the options list. That will make the $15,999 car the lowest priced car in America to come standard with talking maps. And now they're set to arrive in the SX4 Special Editions that arrive in Suzuki showrooms this month.

The UK's Department for Transportation (DfT) is trying to put an end to situations like the one you see above. A woman headed to a christening party, paying attention to her satnav -- and little else, apparently -- drove down a road marked "Unsuitable for motor vehicles," and then drove into a swollen river because that's what her navi told her to do.