Bit baffled with my first Lexus

[Dickie]

Hi, I took delivery of my new NX300H about two months ago and whilst I would give the vehicle 10 out of 10 for driveability and comfort I am really disappointed and frankly baffled about the poor user interface. I delayed writing in to this forum because any new car needs some getting used to and I thought it "must be me" but I find I'm getting more and more frustrated and I wanted to know if other people find it frustrating.

Previously for the past 20 years or so I have had Mercedes E and C and Audi 6 vehicles and the user interface to the music / Radio / phone / Satnav was superb. And now I'm driving one of the best cars I have ever owned for driveability and comfort but with the worst interface possible. Just to set up a destination in the satnav requires umpteen clicks and twists; adjusting the voice volume is somewhere else; The TP radio traffic messages have no way of being cancelled if you get one from out of area and the list could go on. You need a degree in logic to work out the menu structure and its just taken me hours to find that the system time is not updated for the return of GMT and its hidden away in the back of beyond to change it!

I think what really baffles me is that none of these things are insolvable within a software system and once a re-program of the software were released it would cost nothing to improve. When such a wonderful vehicle is left with such a clumsy interface is amazing and surely the Lexus designers must have test driven Merc's and Audi's and seen how they get the interface with the driver spot on or nearly anyway.

Am I the only Lexus driver who is frustrated in this area and a real "Grump old sod" or do others feel this pain too?

Richard

 

[Trophy92]

Hi,

 

I am also baffled by the interface as well,  I asked Lexus for a handbook but still find it strange and difficult to find anything, impossible if driving.  I hadn't realised that the that the system time isn't updated.  Need to check that tonight when I go out.  As you I am used to the time being picked up by the gps system and correcting the time.  What I did notice though was the clock was one hour out and that has to be done manually by pressing a button and hoping you stop the hands in the right place.  I have wrist watch that sets the correct time by just pressing a button and it goes back or forward by 1 hour, why one where you have to hold a button and hope to stop it at the correct time.

 

I ask my wife to change things like the voice etc or setting a destination if I am driving but she finds it difficult to navigate all the screens as well and often I end up having to stop to sort it out as she cannot find the correct page.  Hopefully it will get easier but even having sat in the car and spent ages going through the different options I am still confused as to where everything is.  What is the page which says Lights?  Which Lights are you controlling?  Must look it up.  

 

As you say it is a lovely car to drive, quiet on the motorway and I love a lot of the features on the car.  However I find the drivers seat a little hard as if something is sticking up in my right buttock.  It must be me and my back/leg but my wife also says her seat is similar.  Only had mine 3 months so finding what all the buttons etc do is also a challenge.  Love the panoramic camera view. What I would like is the driver info to be more configurable.  Only being able to see 4 out of about 9 options in two screens is poo.  A third would be nice.

 

John

[Finzky]

When I got my CT (first Lexus) I was expecting from multimedia system and generally from the entertainment more than I actually got, but that frustration was gone very quickly because a) you get use to it b) driving comfort takes first place. I know it`s good to have systems, but how often do you need to use entertainment systems when you are actually driving? All simple things can be easy accessed, so for me it`s not a problem, but I do know how you feel.  I upgraded my CT to IS300h, to be honest with you they are progressing in that way, maybe you should swap the car later on for the same only with better multimedia, generally speaking you won`t be disappointed with your new car! P.S - I do agree on some kind of "new" models entertainment system is out of date. 

 

 

 

[Dickie]

3 hours ago, Trophy92 said:

Hi,

 

I am also baffled by the interface as well,  I asked Lexus for a handbook but still find it strange and difficult to find anything, impossible if driving.  I hadn't realised that the that the system time isn't updated.  Need to check that tonight when I go out.  As you I am used to the time being picked up by the gps system and correcting the time.  What I did notice though was the clock was one hour out and that has to be done manually by pressing a button and hoping you stop the hands in the right place.  I have wrist watch that sets the correct time by just pressing a button and it goes back or forward by 1 hour, why one where you have to hold a button and hope to stop it at the correct time.

 

I ask my wife to change things like the voice etc or setting a destination if I am driving but she finds it difficult to navigate all the screens as well and often I end up having to stop to sort it out as she cannot find the correct page.  Hopefully it will get easier but even having sat in the car and spent ages going through the different options I am still confused as to where everything is.  What is the page which says Lights?  Which Lights are you controlling?  Must look it up.  

 

As you say it is a lovely car to drive, quiet on the motorway and I love a lot of the features on the car.  However I find the drivers seat a little hard as if something is sticking up in my right buttock.  It must be me and my back/leg but my wife also says her seat is similar.  Only had mine 3 months so finding what all the buttons etc do is also a challenge.  Love the panoramic camera view. What I would like is the driver info to be more configurable.  Only being able to see 4 out of about 9 options in two screens is poo.  A third would be nice.

 

John

I think what has disappointed me is that the amount of work to "improve" things is very small and in IT terms very little. So why spoil such a great vehicle for such lack of detail. As an example, I leave the TP traffic news set as on (I'm not sure I could turn it on and off at will without memorising the handbook in any case its so complicated) and recently on a journey to and from my dad who lives in North Devon I would constantly be interrupted with traffic news for South Wales. You know within a few seconds that its not relevant for that journey but the only way to "kill" the transmission is to change the radio channel up then down again. On my Merc one of the steering wheel radio buttons was programmed that if a TP broadcast was in progress one flick of that control would instantly return you back to your radio station. Surely that's not a complicated thing for Lexus to do. And again on the Merc and Audi using the joystick controller to centre the moving cursor over the map and select a destination was o easy and simple often I would use it instead of entering a postcode or a town. Using this function on the Lexus is so complicated and convoluted that I have given up on it. Again, the function is available but the interface to it is awful and I would have thought those clever designers at Lexus would have recognised this by now. I guess I will just get used to using what I need to and ignore everything else, but its such a shame on such a great vehicle in every other way. The saying spoiling the ship for a hapeth of tar comes to mind.

Richard 

[Guest]

Lexus don't make it. Look at aisin.com and at their products pages. But lexus do continue to buy it from them!

Yes it's garbage. But for me it's mostly just for playing music so doesn't bother me. If I used satnav a lot I'd put a garmin or tomtom on the windscreen.

They've had years and years of feedback on this and ignored it all. I'm surprised anyone can get a new lexus without knowing this, it's in every review I've ever seen.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk

[Ala Larj]

15 hours ago, Dickie said:

As an example, I leave the TP traffic news set as on (I'm not sure I could turn it on and off at will without memorising the handbook in any case its so complicated) and recently on a journey to and from my dad who lives in North Devon I would constantly be interrupted with traffic news for South Wales. You know within a few seconds that its not relevant for that journey but the only way to "kill" the transmission is to change the radio channel up then down again. On my Merc one of the steering wheel radio buttons was programmed that if a TP broadcast was in progress one flick of that control would instantly return you back to your radio station.

This is something that annoys me. In my old IS there was a TA button on the dash where I could easily switch the function on or off at will. In my newer GS I have to go into the depths of the ICE to do the same. I guess that's 'progress' for you!

[Trophy92]

5 hours ago, Comedian said:

Lexus don't make it. Look at aisin.com and at their products pages. But lexus do continue to buy it from them!

Yes it's garbage. But for me it's mostly just for playing music so doesn't bother me. If I used satnav a lot I'd put a garmin or tomtom on the windscreen.

They've had years and years of feedback on this and ignored it all. I'm surprised anyone can get a new lexus without knowing this, it's in every review I've ever seen.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk
 

I have given up with the Lexus sat nav for long journeys as the traffic updates are useless. If going on a long journey I use my TomTom which has live traffic updates and warns me of delays and suggests alternate routes. As others have found it takes many clicks to enter a route especially if you check the 3 routes suggested to find that two are often identical and are often so close it is difficult to tell the difference. I don't listen to the radio as I use my iPod for music and I must say that the sound quality is great and it is nice to be in a car where you can hear the music rather than road noise on motorways. 

[Guest]

You can get live traffic (tomtom) via the Lexus if you connect your phone and register the car system on mylexus. Then enter email and password on the car system. They made it approximately 16,756,343 times more difficult than it needed to be. It is easier to do what you're doing.

 

[Trophy92]

5 hours ago, Comedian said:

You can get live traffic (tomtom) via the Lexus if you connect your phone and register the car system on mylexus. Then enter email and password on the car system. They made it approximately 16,756,343 times more difficult than it needed to be. It is easier to do what you're doing.

 

I have registered my phone etc as you say but the live traffic is not very good. It keeps on telling me that there is slow traffic ahead but I never catch it up. One day in the morning and then in the evening on returning it told me there was slow traffic and a queue in the same area but I never saw it. Other times it says queuing traffic ahead when I am stationary in a traffic jam. Not much use. 

[Guest]

Doesn't sound right. Sounds more like the radio system is still doing it. Check you're still connected. I got caught out as I didn't tell it to save password so next time I used car all I got was rds.

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[doog442]

Its common knowledge and quite widely advertised that the infotainment system is pretty dire with Lexus.

It may have been advisable to do some homework beforehand in that respect.

 

My lad in a 13 year old Hyundai with a phone attached to his dash has far more idea of traffic delays and alternative routes.  Indeed when he's with me in the Lex we just go with his phone which makes me look a bit of a clump.  

[Rashi]

There is no second opinion about the user interface of Lexus infotainment system... it is irritatingly obscure and vague. It took hours to tune my DAB radio... There was a time i thought may be the dealer lied to me saying it has a DAB... lolzzz



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[steve2006]

It sounds like this is easier to programme, a Flight Management Computer.