demark1

I just had my 2005 ls430 in for service at dealer for first time in over 2 years and had an NX as a loaner. Generally I liked it, although the engine is "growlier"/gruffer than I prefer. But I could not stand the NAV/radio interface... and not only the touchpad. I could not say "suspend guidance", "heading up", etc. plus most attempts to say a command (temperature, zoom in , etc... even some command it DID know, such as "gas station icons" ) were interpreted as attempted address inputs even when I attempted to clear the voice input by pressing the phone hangup button several times first. Various overlapping screens on the right half (radio/climate, etc.) and generally very unintuitive.

Pretty much the nav voice input seems only for inputting destinations. I could not figure out a way to see upcoming turns list, etc. In general, my antique 2005 ls430 nav system was much friendlier except for not having direct voice address inputs... My other car is a 2016 Cadillac XTS and I do not love the capacitative buttons, but CUE for all the complaints is much simpler to use. I am amazed how bad the Lexus interface is, not even focusing on the touchpad itself. I do not use Apple Play or Android Auto, which may ameliorate this problem, and reading the manual might help, but I played with it for quite some time and was very frustrated.

The stereo also sounded horrible (was not Marc Levinson), with mid-Bass boom and no real bass. My old 2001 Buick Lesabre sounded better. This might have been due to XM (which sounds even worse on the Cadillac, strings sound like cats scratching), but seemed more like bad stereo itself. My ls430 Marc Levinson is still simply amazing... I wonder if NX offers that and if it is better than the base system, but I would expect the base system to sound better.

Overall it was a comfortable vehicle but frankly not anything that made me grin. Cars have improved a lot in 15 years and I recently drove a Camry that I enjoyed more overall (although I missed the memory seats and didn't really have a chance to try out NAV). NX is nice, but worth the premium? I realize LS is a different price point, but my parents have a 2012 es350 that had better sound and a simpler screen interface. I drove a G80 recently and loved it, although the gas mileage was very poor. I love my ls430, my parents love their es350, but I am not going to buy another Lexus with a horrible screen interface and mediocre sound... And I want to as my LS has been so reliable and comfortable, but I hate the radio/nav/phone integration... and a great stereo is part of the appeal of a luxury car to be worth spending more... just venting/sharing. Assuming most of you are owners, is it just me?? Do you just get used to it? Is a Levinson upgrade available and better (I hope?). Thanks for reading. replies welcome...

ross7777

Any idea what trim/packages were on your loaner?

It takes some getting used to but the touchpad works fine for me now. The voice commands aren’t perfect but do get better if you do the voice training prompts.

All of this is deemed irrelevant if you have CarPlay as the Nav and voice commands work much better. I generally only use voice commands for music and navigation.

I’m enjoying my 2019 FSport with adaptive variable suspension. I had a fairly bare bones NXh for a loaner recently and it was much louder as far as road and engine noise.

no1SomeGuy

You know, all of the complaints about infotainment in vehicles these days puzzle me. I keep thinking I'm supposed to care, but given the only thing I use is bluetooth audio and need volume/skip track to work and that's it, the NX is fine for me. Can people really not survive without being plugged into their phones 24/7? Can people really not find their way around most of the time without using navigation? I think I've actually used the Nav once in the nearly 3 years I've had my NX.

demark1

My ls430 was my first car to have nav/bluetooth (phone only). But I do start to rely on it when driving in unfamiliar turf. Maybe it is psychological but a bad system is almost worse than none to me. I never got too familiar with google maps except when on vacation in a rental car that lacked Nav, So for me it is very annoying. At least the A/C and radio on the NX has small rocker switches for most common functions, which does help, I admit . I could learn to live with it but consider it a negative. I find the cognitive load on these newer systems to be too much... Glad you both like your vehicles, though. But I wonder if some others have reconsidered purchasing a Lexus as a result.

demark1

BTW Ross7777, I am not certain of trim level of my loaner. It had memory seats and most modern safety features (Lane keep assist etc.) but not sure of the engine or packages... Thanks for your reply.

Rpickoff

I agree. Touchpad was awkward at first but once you adjust the force to your liking and use it a bit, it is perfectly fine. CarPlay is great. I don’t miss Nav yet. Between Waze and GOOGLE maps you are covered, except for the inability to zoom.