Very little in life comes for free, which makes us appreciate paying less for something all the more.

A drop in price of $100 certainly makes Ford's SYNC hands-free, in-car connectivity system something to appreciate. The system is now only $295.

Things haven't been easy for Ford with its GM OnStar rival SYNC in recent months. The company has been hit with a patent infringement lawsuit, and occasionally poor user interaction in SYNC was partly responsible for the company tumbling from 5th to 23rd place on J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey.

Nevertheless Ford says that SYNC customers love the service and would recommend it to others, and the $100 price drop means that more people than ever before can benefit from the ease of use and safety aspects of the voice-activated system.

Coinciding with the price drop the system is now available in more trim levels than ever before, optional in SE spec and standard on SEL and above. 3 million vehicles already have SYNC installed and Ford expects 95 percent of Edge and Explorer customers to specify SYNC. Over the next three years, it should be available on all vehicles in the North American Ford range, starting with the 2013 Ford Taurus, Focus, Escape and Flex.

[Ford]