Is300H Fsport - 'premium' Sat Nav - Seriously ?!

spacegunk · January 23, 2015

So just taken delivery of my rather lovely Fsport. But what the heck is the deal with the sat nav ? Paid to have the 'premium' version and the maps are like something from early 90's sat navs. Absolutely impossible to follow from the main screen and look just dreadful. I've read the manual and changed different settings etc but it still looks awful. The small screen on the dash shows more of modern sat nag image but am I missing something ?

Any recommendations - have I missed some settings ?

Loving the car but all of the interfaces are just making me really disappointed.

:(

ganzoom · January 24, 2015

Did you not test drive the car before buying? The satnav colour scheme is rather garish, and looks like it's from the 1990's compared to the iDrive system in our BMW.

But is no big deal, the rest of the car more than makes up for it.

Blisteringblue · January 26, 2015

I'm a TomTom man and it was like going back to 2004 with the Lexus interface but once you get used to it it is OK. I like the 3D buildings in city centres. However the online traffic is every bit as good as TomToms live traffic and at the end of the day that is the most important to me.

Routing engine does some bizarre things every once in a while (takes you off at a junction only to take you straight back on)

Ian J. Parsley · January 28, 2015

You do get used to it. Now, admittedly, step into an Audi and you see its is notably superior, but not the end of the world.

The one thing I really miss is lane guidance.

DJP · January 28, 2015

You do get used to it. Now, admittedly, step into an Audi and you see its is notably superior, but not the end of the world.

The one thing I really miss is lane guidance.

Pretty sure mine shows me the lanes approaching and the one to be in. Maybe it's a sub menu option somewhere, can't remember TBH.

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Blisteringblue · January 28, 2015

The line guidance is there, but they are tiny and you can easily miss them.

While I was singing the traffic praise earlier I have noticed in the past week it has started taking me through some seriously built up areas thinking they were quicker than motorway delays, only to crawl along in city centres without traffic info. One of these was Birmingham City Centre and was a 'kin nightmare, although got to see the nice 3D pics.

Did it again today through Chester getting around to North Wales.

Will have to watch out, it's only a recent thing, been pretty spot on until now.

DJP · January 28, 2015

Could it be that as the nose to tail city centre traffic is 'normal' it doesn't trigger any traffic/reroute alerts?

The only time I considered using it the suggested route was ridiculously long winded.

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LeeG · January 28, 2015

BB and DJP,

I noticed that sometimes the Nav re-routes me off motorways through towns as well.

I put this down to the Nav looking for the Economical route (if you selected the eco route initially), which for a hybrid would be along slower roads.

I'm only guessing though. :)

Lee.

Steve44 · January 31, 2015

If you turn off Auto-Zoom in the Nav settings, you will get full screen Lane guidance on the motorways.

If you look carefully, there is lane guidance on some of the junctions, but it is quite small and is shown as a set of arrows with the one it is asking you to be in highlighted in blue. You need to be on the Nav screen to see it, not the home screen with 1/2 or 1/4 of it showing Nav.

Personally I think that the Nav system isn't bad, it has a few issues and problems, especially with routing and re-routing. I'm not convinced by its Quick/Short/Eco routes and I find myself now asking it to manually recalc a new route frequently as I know info about the road and traffic it doesn't seem to want to use. I have wondered if it is using the Traffic Prediction function correctly?

The colours is a matter of personal preference, but initially I thought they were a bit gaudy, but now I'd say they are quite clear and informative. No worse in my opinion that the RTTI BMW ProNav or Audi's Nav systems.

rmccardal · January 31, 2015

Quite happy with the nav really. Bit different to the usual German offerings but it functions well enough.

Roscobbc · February 1, 2015

If you turn off Auto-Zoom in the Nav settings, you will get full screen Lane guidance on the motorways.

Thanks for that - did this and Lane Guidance is very clear - good call!

Ian J. Parsley · February 2, 2015

I turned off the auto-zoom and found that the display in my dashboard is now also available on the main nav screen (as you say, assuming it's on full nav), including the location of the car itself. How bizarre; I never knew that was available!

spacegunk · February 2, 2015

Whoah that's better ! That looks a lot better - good spot - cheers guys !

C Mclean · February 2, 2015

Never use the Sat-Nav, I just go where my wife tells me..

Ian J. Parsley · February 2, 2015

I've noted elsewhere also that I now get full-screen lane guidance on motorways, including an image of the gantry signs.

As far as I can tell this is exclusive to motorways. I was in Dublin on Friday and wish I could have tested it out both on the other side of the border and on the Northern Ireland A1 (which is "expressway" rather than motorway, a bit like the A50 or A14 in GB) to see if it worked there. Will report back next time I'm down! :)

Steve44 · February 3, 2015

Full screen lane guidance is motorway exclusive, doesn't work on dual carriageways.

Watch for the background though, it changes if you are in a city or in the countryside! ;-)

Blisteringblue · February 3, 2015

Ooh that looks good, will have a play on the way home from Birmingham today.

Traffic was pretty spot on for timing this morning, a nice 45 mins wait on the M6/M5 juntion. Couldn't be bothered turning off so sat happily not using any fuel

DJP · February 3, 2015

Ooh that looks good, will have a play on the way home from Birmingham today.

Traffic was pretty spot on for timing this morning, a nice 45 mins wait on the M6/M5 juntion. Couldn't be bothered turning off so sat happily not using any fuel

Sure does make sitting around more tolerable.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC