2023 Toyota connect free trial just ended -

As far as I know, for navigation, Toyota Connect is needed for real time travel updates. GPS should still work without it. Can you no longer use your GPS?

 

Do you have an iPhone or Android Smartphone with a data plan? If so, you could connect your phone through Apple CarPlay or Android Audio to enable GPS on the main screen.

 

Yep I just use Bluetooth to stream my Google Maps to the audio in the car. I got rid of the Toyota App on my phone...used to show psi for the tires but they got rid of it so now not worth keeping it around. (Dumb move on Toyota's part.)

 

When mine expires after 3 years, I will have to budget for that monthly expense.

 

Tire pressure is still in the app. Open the app, tap 'Status', and there it is.

 

I don't think any subscription navigation service can rival the real-time accuracy of Google Maps. I only tried the Toyota navigation once, and I found it barely adequate to the task. I wish there were a setting to select your default navigation apps when you use the voice-assist for getting driving routes. I generally use Waze for every day driving, and Google Maps for accessing saved waypoints.

 

We're at the mercy of Toyota's lackluster efforts to develop a good app. However, it's still miles ahead of the system I got with my Gen 3 Prius. I'm hoping for a serious effort from Toyota to improve their systems, based on feedback from owners.

 

Y'all will get a chuckle at this.....about 2-years after I got my 2014 Tundra, I got a letter from Toyota stating they had an update for my navigation system. It said if I wanted it, send them over $700 and they'd send me a DVD so update the maps.

WHAT???

 

You got rid of something useful for no good reason.

 

It makes a lot more sense to let the dealer do the update,
as intended.

 

Mine doesn't seem to work anymore since it expired, not that I've tested it. It just shows a full screen ad for Toyota Connect now. The GPS satellite icon shows disconnected. I mainly use Car Play and Waze so I don't care.

 

Many years ago, even TomTom and Garmin you had to buy update files or DVDs

 

My Garmins still get a free online update.

 

I'm so old I remember pulling out the paper maps from the glovebox to drive across country. Then, AAA came out with the coolest thing ever, the paper TRIPTIKs.....loved those things!! My first GPS was a Tom Tom....very glitchy, though. Garmin was the best until they started the free stuff on cell phones.
I just checked on AAA and they, still, have TripTiks but it's an app on your phone.

 

Mine just expired too. I weaned myself off using the Nav a while back in anticipation of the sub ending and use Android auto instead. The Toyota Nav sucks anyway.. I would have liked to keep the door lock alerts and remote start, both which are somewhat useful to me. To be honest I would renew it if they would just take the $180 up front and not force the subscription garbage.

 

I never enabled any of it. I haven't missed it....ha

 

I stopped using it after about a week and went back to Android auto (which in my previous car was accomplished with a phone holder on the windshield). If the Toyota app adjusts for traffic, it doesn't do it very well, and I live on Cape Cod where the tourists clog up everything all summer.

 

While Toyota may have done the general engineering design, I think they have used subcontractors to supply the components.
I believe many of these components barely meet basic requirements, probably because some of them are in competition with their own commercial products. These subcontractors would rather sell their own components as upgrades to the stock Toyota units.
I'm sure someone with better knowledge will set me straight if I'm wrong.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that subcontractors provide components to Toyota, everything from screws to electronics.

That said, the permissible tolerances of these components is entirely set by Toyota. I won’t pretend to know what tolerances are sufficient for Toyota, but I also have no doubt in my mind that different automobile manufacturers have different permissible tolerances for something as a simple as a screw.