Newbie who just test drove an 05 ltd, didn't get a lot of seat time with kids in the back seat and salesman wasn't too knowledgeable either. So a couple of questions - on the NAV, does the voice command work for both radio and climate as well so you can change stations or set temp by talking (like Honda/Acura)? We couldn't get it to work or get the 'person' icon to show up. Also very disappointed to see the RDS info on radio stations does not show while in motion , a feature I liked very much to know the artists, title, etc. Any known workarounds?
Otherwise I came away quite pleased with the brief drive and need more seat time. Biggest surprise was the limo like rear seat room, like an S-class. Also had a nice pickup and as expected, a soft ride. Also does the Btw, is it fake wood? How's the HID, does this self leveling? I think the lip spoiler adds a lot of character to the rear look.
For some odd reason, CD-TEXT is enabled while in motion, but not RDS. I have no idea why.
There are a few voice controls for radio, like next disc. No voice controls for climate.
I find the voice recognition a silly waste now that I've had the car nearly 4 weeks. It's extremely unreliable even when you speak carefully. All too often it thinks you are saying "Zoom Out" when you said "Toyota" or some other phrase. I think I'd prefer a trained system like on my Cellphone, more limited, but reliable. If you have anyone else in the car talking, it screws up the voice control. I had a horrible time trying to show it to friends, they kept on talking before/after/over me confusing the voice control.
I'm begining to have second thoughts on the NAV, why pay 2k for something limited or unusable while in motion. Plus taking out RDS bothers me now I'm used to it. It' bad enough they make 'I agree' everytime you start and then to disable functions. Glad I checked.
I love the NAV because I like to travel to places I've never been before and it will guide you by giving you voice and visual directions all the way to your destination. The wife really loves it so that she doesn't have to pull out the map in the glove box. The other aspect I like for us old farts is giving it a command to find the hospital and plotting a course there in a strange town.
As mentioned above the NAV will not accept new destination input unless you stop the car. The voice system could use a lot of improvements like allowing you to input street numbers and letters into an address rather than the gismo that you have to push around. I like the NAV but you can buy a lot of maps at the auto club for that kinda money.
The laser cruise control is something I don't like using, I just pass it up and go straight to regular cruise control. Good luck in your shopping
Does the NAV system at least re-calculate routes if you miss the turns, etc. Sometimes the several alternate routes and if you decide to take different planned routes, then it's nice if it can auto calc the directions, kind like the 'Never Lost' system that Hertz has! Also quick comment on the laser cruise control system - the laser is too low to the ground that can easily be damaged. Could have positioned it behind the grille.
The NAV recalculates another route if you miss a turn or incase you know a new street that is not on the mapping system. It is suppose to have another method of remapping for blocked roads but I have not tried to use that function. The voice guidance is actually nice. I've been trying to think of a name to give her but nothing seems just right as yet.
You might be able to borrow the CD that comes with the Avalon to see the various functions of the car. It is a lot of information to obsorb but it is better than the sales guy guessing how to use everything. If they won't let you keep it overnight maybe they will let you use a PC to run it at the dealer.
The NAV route recalculate is very well done, very fast.
In fact I really like the whole NAV guided mode. It works better than the NAV system in my friends new Infiniti. His system has a 3D mode and other gimicks, but he actually prefers the Toyota NAV.
Biggest flaws in the NAV for me are the no use when moving, even when the car knows there is a passenger (sensor for airbar), and the messed up/outdated business listings. For instance search for Cold Stone Creamery. You will find a large number of variations that should have been combined into a single list. Variations in spacing, a missing letter, and often a suffix like "Cold Stone Creamery of Downey". It does not show the search results sorted by distance, only sorted by name. Only when you pick one from the identically named choices do you get a list sorted by distance. In the end, I never did find the Cold Stone I was looking for, even after spending 10 or 15 minutes looking at each variation of the spelling. So if you ever want to do something like find the closest El Pollo Loco, you may find it nearly impossible.
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