Navigation Voice

It seems to me that the voice activated portion of the nav system is more for the "wow" factor than really useful. The commands as I utter them don't seem to be understood well, if at all. Frankly I don't use it. Now maybe if I could figure out how to be understood perhaps I would feel like this was a useful feature. I think it is very telling that in the 130+ page nav manual there is about one page on voice activation.

The SE/SS took one second to get used to, and will be impossible to ever give up. Needing a key now seems so superfluous, and it was not that long ago I was tied to a "keyless remote".

After about a month of driving and four thousand miles later, I still cannot get over how neat this car is. The technology, operating in stealth, all the incredibly well engineered aspects. For me this is the most remarkable car I've ever owned, and this is the 19th in a series that began when I was 17 years old with a 1933 Rolls Royce.

I hope your car comes in soon, Pete. You will love it!!!

Peace

 

Off all the WOW factors I have to agree the SE/SS is the most useful. I'm not sure I'd be able to be happy in a car without. I regularly drive my wife's Volvo S80 or my company car an Audi A6.

I will invariably put the keys into my pocket. Walk to the car and try to open the door. After thinking its broken I'll remember to take the keys out of my pocket and unlock the door. I then put the keys back into my pocket, get in and wonder why it won't start! I then have to dig the keys out of my pocket to drive. And then remember to take the key with me when I leave.

I'm now waiting for a way to buy a new lockset for my home and office that works with the SE/SS fob.

I don't use the Nav package unless I go on a long drive. The lovely women's voice provides a good reminder well before exiting the turnpike. This is very handy if I'm talking to someone. In my mind's eye the lady the probably spoke the voice commands has to be lovely due to her voice. That being said, when driving through a city with lots of twists and turns I usually turn the voice WAY down to help preserve sanity.

With my choice of vehicles to drive I invariably choose the Prius. Its more fun and interesting to drive than the others.

My only wishes for improvements are:

1. Front seat goes back 1 more inch.
2. 1 more inch of head room in the back (I'm 6'3")
3. A more comfortable front seat with slightly better lumbar support.
4. Some carrier to create a bluetooth PDA phone.

I hope your wait ends soon.

 

well you can host them at my site if you wish...just shoot me an email for details...or let me know where you can make them available and ill add em...

-don

 

I had to try three times Saturday to get "Yes" understood.

I guess it was the stress over being told way too late I was supposed to turn right. Perhaps some programmer didn't realize that if someone managed to detour through a parking lot they'd end up too close to a turn point for the computer to announce the upcoming turn. Too busy driving to be map-reading, I went by it.

And the level of followable routes is still lacking. I knew of a shortcut to get where I wanted to go, but the auto-reroute tried taking me WAY out of the way, and even when I was within 1,000 yards of the OfficeMax I was going to, per the POI on the map, it never offered a new route. Must be it got peeved after the first alternate route was ignored, or else the road I was on wasn't routable for some reason.

I still like the voice directions, but the next trip computer I get *has* to both pick up location data and alert me faster than this one does...

 

Thanks, Rick! Very interesting for those of us who don't have the NAV system.