Here's your choice. Five thousand tunes and a complete database of your favourite playlists, or the comfort of knowing that you aren't running the risk of smashing your car into a tree every time the phone rings? In theory it should be a no-brainer.

At the rate we're going, though, we'll see iPod connectivity fitted as standard to every new car long before the hands-free Bluetooth telephone interface makes its way on to the specification of the average entry-level hatchback.

Even assuming that your car of choice is offered with such a device, and that you're able and willing to pay the premium demanded by the manufacturer for it, there's no guarantee that it will actually work properly. In the absence of any instructions telling me how to work the system fitted to the 2006 Civic long-termer I drove until recently, I ended up asking one of the tech guys from Honda Europe how to get it to mate to my Sony Ericsson cellphone. 'Ah,' he replied. 'There are some issues with this.'

For all the talk of voice recognition systems, advanced Bluetooth connectivity and unilateral compatibility spouted by the Honda salespeople, the interface fitted to that car is scarcely any more advanced than the wires, cradle and speaker combo that made up the early-90s in-car telephone kit. Far from being able to actually access my mobile phonebook and place hands-free calls while driving via voice commands, the system merely uses the cellphone as a wireless GSM transmitter.

You have to manually input the telephone numbers and names yourself - up to a maximum of 10. Next to useless.

According to one industry insider, the solution rests not only in the hands of the car manufacturers but also the mobile network providers. It's the company that sold you the phone, not the one that built it, that determines the level of access granted to other Bluetooth devices. And it seems that they like to err on the side of caution, or paranoia.

Buying an unlocked phone or having yours converted is one way of circumventing the problem. But this won't change the fundamental lack of synergy between two of mankind's most relied-upon commodities: the car and cellphone.