Any - Car navigation and infotainment | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sun 4 Jan 2015 09:36

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Cluedo

When buying a car I put a lot of value in the navigation and infotainment system. I am not that interested in speaker power or music but do value excellent sat nav with traffic guidance that changes route and being able to read emails etc on the in dash screen. I appreciate that to some this is a waste of money and there is better value in buying the latest app or portable system but having said all that I prefer the in built systems.
So with that in mind does anyone know of any good web sites that review these systems properly.
Please do not tell me that I am wasting my money and should go and buy a new iPhone or Tom Tom / Garmin but your help in adding any knowledge you may have on these systems would be very much appreciated.
For instance I know the Larest BMW and MB systems are very good in Professional and COMAND trim and they monitor mobile phone signals for traffic avoidance etc.
Any help would be appreciated.

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Sun 4 Jan 2015 10:23

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - RT

Shouldn't reading emails be illegal in a car ?

An office might suit your needs better than a car.

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Sun 4 Jan 2015 10:52

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - RobJP

Shouldn't reading emails be illegal in a car ?

An office might suit your needs better than a car.

Before you make a smart-assed remark in future, you might want to think of this :

Much like cars with a TV function, the driver reading their emails on the nav screen is entirely legal if they are parked up at the time. If driving, then of course that is a very different matter. If it is a case of a car system binging to notify you of an email, and then reading it out to you, then that would be no different to an automated text message reader, which a lot of cars come equipped with.

Anyway, back to trying to assist the OP :

I've got the BMW Pro Nav on my 3 series. You do need to avoid systems before 2013, as they have the terrible european partial postcode issues, but anything from (I believe) January 2013 has full 7-point postcode navigation. Traffic systems are also excellent.

The phone system on it is great, I find the idrive controller is very intuitive to use for running through the menus or inputting a number. The text message function is useful, but can get confused on occasion.

As to email, I've no idea. Mainly because I'm still in some ways a luddite, and I've never yet had an email that was so absolutely critical that it couldn't wait a few hours. If someone is really desperate to get hold of me, they'll phone or text.

I'd suggest going into a dealer, and finding out who is their real specialist in the systems. Most dealers have one, and they'll be only too happy to bamboozle you with the apps, etc that are useable, and probably would have a demo car that's all set up.

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Sun 4 Jan 2015 11:33

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Happy Blue!

Whilst I do not need or even want all the facilities required by Cluedo, the benefits of a built in system that has a real time traffic/navigation function are: -

Large screen
No cables trailing around the car
nothing attached to the windscreen for flying around the cabin
everything integrated into the car's systems

However, If I am not mistaken, manufacturers are now offering a 'mirror' system which puts up on a large built in screen, what is on your phone. So the phone stays in your pocket, breifcase etc but all its functions appear on the screen. Thus you have the best of both worlds without huge expense.

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Sun 4 Jan 2015 13:09

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Hamsafar

Once you know the name of the systems, search for them on youtube and filter results by age of car such as videos within 1 year for latest model.

Many makers have 'how to' videos and other people review them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSKpSzLxnjw&spfreload=...0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBga6SE_2qM&spfreload=...0

Edited by Hamsafar on 04/01/2015 at 13:11

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Sun 4 Jan 2015 13:18

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Cluedo

Many thanks for the posts helping me out so far (especially RobJP) - as you say the email functionality is only available when it is safe to access them as it should be.
I will definitely look at the links and take on board what has been said so far.
Once again - Thanks.

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Tue 6 Jan 2015 13:12

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Hamsafar

>However, If I am not mistaken, manufacturers are >now offering a 'mirror' system which puts up on a >large built in screen, what is on your phone.

If you have aux in you can fix a kivic-one for ~£150...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt5bnzz7wgA&spfreload=...0

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Sun 4 Jan 2015 14:28

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Avant

One thing to watch out for and avoid is a system where you need to scroll through menus even to do something simple like changing the temperature. I think Peugeots have this, maybe others as well.

It makes you wonder whether the idiot who devised that ever operated the system when actually driving the car. It could be dangerous if it makes drivers take their eyes of the road.

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Mon 5 Jan 2015 21:33

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - daveyjp

Judging by our local police crime updates I would avoid any VAG vehicle with an integrated satnav (sorry Avant!)

I'm just reading the latest report and two Passats were done over at the weekend in one car park. Car broken in to, Integrated satnav removed. This is currently being reported at least once a week.

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Mon 5 Jan 2015 23:46

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - Avant

Presumably they removed the whole Amundsen or Columbus unit? I should think that they - or whoever buys it from them - would have trouble making it work in any other car.

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Tue 6 Jan 2015 09:30

Any - Car navigation and infotainment - xtrailman

If i was you i would first target the car youre interested in, then ask on the appropriate forum asking owners.

Modern car systems do seem to have compatibility issues with phones.

My Mazda CX-5 has a average satnav with average resolution, its a TomTom with LIVE traffic that requires an annual subscription, it works by monitoring all Vodafone signals, problem is not all areas receive a signal strong enough.

Its only a small screen under 6" i find the 7" was better on my Nissan.

Merks will have better resolution but are more expensive.

with the Mazda i also had phone compatability problems, and not all phones will download and read out text messages, it attempts to also read out emails but usually its not practical.

My HTC 510 basic phone works fully, the Samsung Galaxy Y didn't always connect 9 out of 10 times it did, but due to an old android wouldnt download texts messages.

Which signals do the BMW and Merk cars monitor for traffic?

I would love the mirror system on my next car, hopefully that would give navigation options, and also bring up my home CCTV system, maybe even play videos?

Edited by xtrailman on 06/01/2015 at 09:33

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