New NX300H Sport - Useless infotainment system

[NemesisUK]

I believe one can use Google Maps with the Lexus Premium Nav system, via connected services?

[rayaans]

4 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

I believe one can use Google Maps with the Lexus Premium Nav system, via connected services?

Not sure as I haven't used connected services yet. Mostly been in town on familiar roads

The business nav doesn't have connected services though 

[Ian J. Parsley]

I am glad you like the car. I have currently agreed terms on an NX F-Sport (but am having to wait to cover some aspects financially).

I have a little more sympathy for your conundrum than one or two others. Firstly, I don't like the basic nav (in my wife's CT for example), although I do not quite find it the disaster you do; secondly, the sales staff do try to push the Sport model (you'd have to ask someone in the trade why).

That said, even the most basic research would have sorted this. Actually, I went at it the other way around, and said there was a particular colour combination I wanted with the premium sat-nav. Whether or not that is theoretically available on the online configurator became their problem, not mine! 

As has been noted above, you can improve the experience. Change the settings and, in particular, opt for "Quick". Also, you may not have found the "Option" button at the top which gives you the last five towns - you may find that useful.

Enjoy!

[Andybro]

Runaway pimp... I agree with a lot of your assessment of the standard system.  Bought a 2 month old managers special f-sport (may 2016) but no premium navigation.  It's a Lexus so how bad could it be..... jeeeeez.  I rate my six year old saab system higher.  Add to your list (though may also be on premium)  no mute feature on radio and no radio volume reduction when navigation voice command activates.  And the Dab radio select is surely in beta and someone forgot so let it through. . All I want is a single list of stations I can receive and I will pick the ones I want and save to favourites.  Obviously that simple requirement is only for the premo version. 

Don't get me started on the wireless charger that is moulded to a size that doesn't fit a 5.5" phone (appreciate not part of the infotainment) .

On the other hand it is IMHO a beautiful car with sharp design and a quality of finish that just makes you stare.  I love the flush finish between front and back door. I won't mention the seats as they are surely the best in the world ever.  

If you are like me you will love and hate the car.  You'll love it when you walk up to it,  sit in it and switch it on.  You'll hate it when you are seeking a new dab station or need to answer the kids questions but have to turn everything off to hear. You will love that you can Bluetooth connect your phone for just music or also calls  ...so I can stream my music and the wife can connect her phone. The heated seats are quick and will make you feel like a piece of toast if you want.  You won't regret the car I don't believe,  but I  for  one will be much more cautious of Lexus when it comes to changing this... If they can release that infotainment system on the general populous they need watching. 

P. S.  On my 2016 a double press of the menu button brings up the NAV directly.  I will try forward forward menu back at a later date and see if I can get it to dragon punch 😀

[rayaans]

12 minutes ago, Andybro said:

Runaway pimp... I agree with a lot of your assessment of the standard system.  Bought a 2 month old managers special f-sport (may 2016) but no premium navigation.  It's a Lexus so how bad could it be..... jeeeeez.  I rate my six year old saab system higher.  Add to your list (though may also be on premium)  no mute feature on radio and no radio volume reduction when navigation voice command activates.  And the Dab radio select is surely in beta and someone forgot so let it through. . All I want is a single list of stations I can receive and I will pick the ones I want and save to favourites.  Obviously that simple requirement is only for the premo version. 

Don't get me started on the wireless charger that is moulded to a size that doesn't fit a 5.5" phone (appreciate not part of the infotainment) .

On the other hand it is IMHO a beautiful car with sharp design and a quality of finish that just makes you stare.  I love the flush finish between front and back door. I won't mention the seats as they are surely the best in the world ever.  

If you are like me you will love and hate the car.  You'll love it when you walk up to it,  sit in it and switch it on.  You'll hate it when you are seeking a new dab station or need to answer the kids questions but have to turn everything off to hear. You will love that you can bluetooth connect your phone for just music or also calls  ...so I can stream my music and the wife can connect her phone. The heated seats are quick and will make you feel like a piece of toast if you want.  You won't regret the car I don't believe,  but I  for  one will be much more cautious of Lexus when it comes to changing this... If they can release that infotainment system on the general populous they need watching. 

P. S.  On my 2016 a double press of the menu button brings up the NAV directly.  I will try forward forward menu back at a later date and see if I can get it to dragon punch 😀

To mute the radio, hold the MODE button down on the steering wheel. 

Same thing to get it out of mute

It does say this in the manual - definitely worth reading from front to back and actually retaining information rather than it going through the eyes and out the back of the head. Only takes about 2 hours. 

[Andybro]

Careful with the attitude Raayans,  a simple answer would suffice. No insults. 

Even made a call to the showroom and they said. No mute.  They actually said... Just use the power button! . How about a page number as I am clearly struggling to retain information. 

[NemesisUK]

Pressing the Pause button by the DVD slot also mutes the radio and without the annoying beep.

[Verbout]

On 2/26/2017 at 6:34 PM, Runwaypimp said:

 

The wife. She love the lexus's looks. :)

 

 

 

See if they'll take the wife off your hands in exchange for a sat nav upgrade.

[rayaans]

8 hours ago, Andybro said:

Careful with the attitude Raayans,  a simple answer would suffice. No insults. 

Even made a call to the showroom and they said. No mute.  They actually said... Just use the power button! . How about a page number as I am clearly struggling to retain information. 

Might be worth finding a new dealer then as they clearly aren't up to scratch in terms of knowledge.

http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM78007U/pdf/OM78007U.pdf

Page 342

"3) "MODE" Switch 

• Turns the power on, selects audio source
• Press and hold this switch to mute or pause the current operation. To cancel the mute or pause, press and hold."

P.S - the attitude stays. Also, no insults intended, just saying - read the manual!!

[DanD]

With reference to the MODE button to mute/unmute:

Long press to mute, but short press to unmute. I find that a long press to unmute does unmute... but also switches mode at the same time. Hope that makes sense.

In my previous RX400h, the radio volume used to drop for satnav annoucements, but it does not in my current RX450h, so I guess there must be some obscure - bu I am sure sensible :-) - reason why Lexus has decided to do away with this feature. I certainly have not seen anything in the manual that would suggest that this is something that can be switched on/off... although I have had to read in several goes... I kept falling asle..zzzzz...zzz...zz...z..

[Andybro]

Thanks both Dan and Ray as I will be trying these tips tonight. No news on getting it to dragon punch then or even flying fist..... Poor show.  So many buttons and so little life! 

[Valkirk]

Well I think you were quite lucky not getting the premium nav, if you had spent £2k on it then you would probably be even more annoyed.

I am a major Lexus fan (currently just acquired my 6th) but infotainment is their weakest aspect by far, this didn't used to matter so much as the difference was a lot smaller 5 years ago however what they are pumping out now is pretty shocking even in premium nav. They have some of the best engineers on the planet but equally some of the worst code writers it seems.

The voice control couldn't even be considered Alpha quality, if I ask it to suspend guidance it offers up playing a music album, 70-80% of all requests seem to return gibberish not even close to what you asked for (and that is in a quiet car speaking with no strong accent) - my RX before had more accurate processing.

One bit that really annoyed me is that in the US they at least provided Siri hands free where you could easily use that instead to overcome a number of the shortcomings on the system. It's a small easy feature but they haven't bothered to activate here, you have to work around by using your phones hey siri functionaility (which results in the car thinking you are making a call and won't actually changes sources etc.)

The portal has been out of action for a while now and even though I have just had a software update it still can't connect to get traffic service (the email address they give as contact on the portal page doesn't even work, just bounces)

All in all the infotainment on both basic and premium is crap compared to rivals.

That said the rest of the car is superb and that does include the speakers side - wonderful sound!

[dutchie01]

If i am correct there was a manual especially for the satnav system that was handed to me when i collected my car from the dealer. I only saw it once as i threw it in the bin not believing how heavy, long and boring this was, not sure how many pages but it looked like complete nonsense. If you need a manual the size of a telephone book to explain a satnav there must be something very wrong.

Compared to a tomtom the userfriendlyness of the Lexus systems is shockingly bad, the graphics look incredibly outdated and in my case the navigation is not 100% thrustworthy ( directing me off the highway only to direct me immediately on it again drives me nuts).

Matt i am fully with you, the entire system, costing 10 times more than a separate TomTom, is the absolute weakpoint of the car. Maybe ok for a bottom end Toyota but how oh how did this end up in any Lexus?

The rest of the car is great by the way....

 

 

 

 

 

[paulrnx]

Opinions about the nav and media are more about expectations than genuine quality I think. I've had three Jaguar XF and they are poor in comparison with the standard Lexus nav. I've had standard Nav on three Lexus models and premium nav on an IS250 F-Sport. To be honest I prefer the standard nav because I find the controller easier to use on the move. I've had the ML hifi on two past Lexus and both were good but not a patch on the 1200W Bowers & Wilkins in one of my Jaguars. Built in nav will never be as feature rich or as modern as phones because car manufacturers have much longer lead-times because they don't just pay to update gadgets, they have to pay to update suspensions, interiors, exteriors, engines, gearboxes, etc over the model life of a car and do endless testing. I'm happy but if I expected my OEM nav to be as good as a newly released TomTom or nav on a new smart phone then I'd probably be continually disappointed

[Sparks16]

Hi. I have a NX300 F Sport. But my biggest bug bear and it really irks me is that my Samsung S7 whilst connecting on blue tooth the system will not pick up incoming texts or emails. Just had 30k service and said this stupid thing "could" put me off buying another next year to the dealer. He said the technology on S7 was too sophisticated for Lexus software (Bull if ever I heard it). Other people with Range Rovers. Audi. BMW's Jags with same phone all messaging connects...anybody any ideas as this really annoys me. PS I have premium nav system.

[NemesisUK]

So, we've got to the point where some one won't buy a car because it won't read emails or texts??

One question, do you have tethering set up? In that the car is connected to the internet via the phone. I've noticed if I tether to my phone the car doesn't read out texts. Turn off tethering and all's well again.

[Sparks16]

3 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

So, we've got to the point where some one won't buy a car because it won't read emails or texts??

One question, do you have tethering set up? In that the car is connected to the internet via the phone. I've noticed if I tether to my phone the car doesn't read out texts. Turn off tethering and all's well again.

I was trying to get the dealer to assist me by saying this. I love the car....thanks for the tethering idea...I thinks it's turned on on my phone so going to switch off. I do lots of miles and the auto reply to texts and emails is something I really want to get working but dealer seems lost !

[NemesisUK]

Apologies, my comment was rather harsh. I see your tactics now. It can be a very useful function for the high mileage driver.

Not sure why the two can't operate simultaneously, I'm thinking the dealer might be correct in so far as the Lexus operating system is inadequate

[Glover]

Works perfectly with my Windows phone.  I can choose between reading out texts and emails or drive mode when my phone sends an auto message if I'm phoned or texted whilst driving.  I find the sat nav good, always gets me to my destination including a recent visit to Milton Keynes the roundabout capital of the UK!  But I'm still struggling with the initial choosing a destination, which is clunky.  I've read the manual so I understand how setting a destination works, just don't understand why:-)

[Valkirk]

8 hours ago, Sparks16 said:

I was trying to get the dealer to assist me by saying this. I love the car....thanks for the tethering idea...I thinks it's turned on on my phone so going to switch off. I do lots of miles and the auto reply to texts and emails is something I really want to get working but dealer seems lost !

If you still can't get it working then you can prob work around by having your phone set for Hey Google / Siri so you can just ask the phone to read it out.

[Sparks16]

6 minutes ago, Valkirk said:

If you still can't get it working then you can prob work around by having your phone set for Hey Google / Siri so you can just ask the phone to read it out.

It's the link to sat nav I found useful  (it worked for my S5) ie I could email my eta to people.

[Sparks16]

2 hours ago, Valkirk said:

If you still can't get it working then you can prob work around by having your phone set for Hey Google / Siri so you can just ask the phone to read it out.

Well tried tethering off on my phone...no joy !

[paulrnx]

I find it quite unbelievable that someone could buy a car and be so disappointed with a feature, without any kind of check before buying, that this feature meets their needs. Especially when this feature is so high on their priority list. I do wonder how many people nowadays only test drive their prospective purchases from the comfort of their computer and Internet connection, believing everything they read in the sales blurb on the websites and making a lot of assumptions along the way.

Won't be long before people start buying a house solely on what the Internet says about the house and then complaining that the rooms feel too small and why didn't someone warn them about it before purchase.

Pathetic IMO. Sorry to be so blunt but this one is just pathetic and almost trolling in nature.

[Valkirk]

3 minutes ago, paulrnx said:

believing everything they read in the sales blurb on the websites and making a lot of assumptions along the way.

Why would you not believe what a company says about a product on their website, a reputable brand from a reputable manufacturer - you generally would expect their sales blurb to tell the truth....

[paulrnx]

12 minutes ago, Valkirk said:

Why would you not believe what a company says about a product on their website, a reputable brand from a reputable manufacturer - you generally would expect their sales blurb to tell the truth....

They do tell the truth. Apart from genuine mistakes and all content will be caveated with the right legal statements to make this clear.

No substitute for a lengthy test drive. Test drive being a test of all the things that are important to a buyer, including infotainment, satnav, space, comfort, driving experience, etc.

I tend not to believe everything I read on the Internet. I especially don't believe car manufacturers sales blurb about things like state of the art infotainment systems, class leading performance, luxury ride, sporty ride, etc. These are all statements based on opinions but the only opinion that matters when I buy a car is mine because it's me that has to be happy and because it's my money I'm spending. Can't believe I would ever buy a car with what I perceived to be a crap infotainment system if that was very high on my list of needs from a car. This would be plain stupid IMO