bv2000

Before you buy a lexus, take a test run. Enter a destination and turn the radio up. You will not be able to hear the nav commands because in the 2010 model Lexus deleted the Adaptive Volume Control. Also, the cup holder on left side of dash is useless because it was designed too close to the door. I wish i still had my 2007.

Cruiter

I found a good use for the cup holder. My cell comes off my belt as I get in and drops nicely in the cup holder. It's ready for me when I get out and not pinching me underneath the seat belt. Works pretty well and has become routine.

data2009

I actually prefer the left cup holder for water bottles/drinks, as it lowers risk of spilling on the console. Spills, I think, are the main reason why the shifter is located in somewhat an elevated position, and MB chose to completely eliminate it from the dash in ML.

My iPhone seats great in the cup holder to the right.

I agree about the Navi volume and in general the Navi is not that great, when compared to Acura's.

PatsSoxfan

I don't understand why you are complaining about the position of this cup holder. I think it is very functional for the driver. You do have a legitimate complaint about the audio volume not being reduced when the nav "destination lady" gives destination instructions.

Cruiter

Fess up folks, Am I the only one that yells "Shut up B***h" ??? That's only when she gets on my nerves.

I've been told I should see someone about talking to 'female' voice in a radio. Well yelling at 'her'

AlexusAnja

ha ha.

I have a portable Garmin and you can choose male or female in either American English, British English, or Australian (accent, but still English) and although I started with the male voices because I could not stand having a woman give me driving instructions... I went back to a female voice because the pitch is higher in a female voice and it's actually "louder" in the car when you have background noise (i.e. radio). The male voice tends to be too "monotone" and even key to work well under load.

data2009

I've used even stronger curses, especially for failed attempts at speach recognition at something like call home.

It was in my previous car, MDX. But here is another reason Acura's Navi is superior: I switched voice to male!

The G Man

At least its not like a German car with the dominating German female voice

bv2000

Why can't Lexus come out with a software update to mute the radio when the nav commands come on. It mutes when you are making a telephone call. Lexus, what is the problem. What happened to the relentless pursuit of perfection?

kitlz

It's only the pursuit now, no more relentless

Is there still a ding ding before she speaks? Reminded me of being on an airplane.

Cruiter

Anita
Even tho I had a little rant (having conversations with my NAV lady), it's really not that bad. Today I planned on turning off the 2nd 'do this' and forgot re-setting other things. It's amazing how many settings there are in the setup screen. The more I use it and get used to it, the more I like it really. The only thing I ever tried several times and couldn't adapt to was scotch. That's just plain foul 'stuff'. But I've learned to adapt to the new logic and after a while, it actually makes sense. Just take a heavy dose of patience and work through it. Then, No Problem .

PatsSoxfan

I'm sure it's just a matter of time when Lexus will indeed come up with a software solution to this minor but annoying problem.

afpj

At least bitc**n' Betty isn't telling you to "pull up"or low altitude" with a bunch of other tones in the background.
We don't have Nav on our 10Rx, but I am pretty sure that the 05Rx Nav would lower the radio volume for both phone AND Nav. another cutback...

tazdevl

After 600 miles I have a few complaints as well... primarily around voice recognition/nav. The whole system is too hierarchical and it's very apparent lexus did not modify the base system/architecture, they patched it here and there and put a new interface on it. Supposedly they analyzed 750,000 words for their recognition software... shame they didn't put much common sense into the interface and how it interacts with users. I know they did research, but if their research is flawed or they led customers during the research... it isn't going to point them in the right direction.

I do think remote touch is an excellent idea and well executed but the software lacks polish one would expect from Lexus.

What they should have done is started out with a goal of minimizing interaction with the system to accomplish a task. BMW recently announce they are working with Nuance Communications for this very reason. Nuance makes the Dragon Naturally Speaking Dictation Software. I've seen that in use in doctors offices (there are a fair number of uncommon words thrown around... similar situation to street names)... very impressive.

Lexus... if you're reading this. I'd recommend getting a completely new team together, quit using the same folks, tearing everything apart, get some engineers from apple (iPod/iPhone interface is great) both software and human factor... and get the best technology. Only way to do it right.

- The whole system is too hierarchical (which they did to enhance accuracy by letting the higher level menus create context) and it should speak back to you in the language/with the words you're using. When you say "Call XXXXXXXX"... system confirmation comes back with "Dial xxxxxx". Not a big deal but it's annoying.
- It's amazing that you cannot say "redial" from the main voice screen... you have to say "phone" then "redial". I'm from the west coast and don't have an accent.
- The other thing that kills me is that you cannot say "satellite channel 54" or "channel 54". You have to say "audio", then "select channel number", then "54".
- Another annoying thing is that some confirmation prompts with the nav are "enter" others are "yes". They should all be the same. No reason why they should be different.
- The voice prompts don't match the options presented on the screen... for example... on the screen it says "Delete Destination" or you can say "Delete Destination" but the system confirmation says "Delete Next Destination"
- The nav shows useless information occasionally... best example is it displays the mac address/device address when you're pairing a bluetooth phone or reconnecting it with the system. What customer needs to see any information other than the name of the device that's connecting?
- Be interesting if they incorporated some kind of frequently used options menu.... kind of like Office... it only presents commands that you frequently use.

iPod...
- Every manufacturer thinks that because they have an iPod interface their system rules the planet. Farthest thing from the truth unless you have a scroll wheel or you do something different than everyone else. Lexus is pretty late to the game on this one. All they did was achieve parity with other manuf. Most people have huge libraries of music... which means huge lists of artists, album names and song names. Hitting page down, going through 5 items per page and starting at "A" when you need to get to "T" with 6,000 songs isn't acceptable... that's >1000 page down clicks for me. It's going to take forever. There either needs to be an index displayed at the top like letters A-Z or something like what you see on cell phones when you don't have a full text keyboard... A-C, D-F... each click brings up a different letter (1=A, 2=B, etc...). That way it minimizes the time you need to interact with the system... or the system needs Microsoft Synch-like capabilities (shame Lexus didn't consider this).
- Bug in the system where when you page down a song list it stops playing the current song (even though you don't select one displayed) and picks the one at the top of the list.
- Even though this is a hard drive based system... recognition seems a bit slow. My 2007 MDX was quicker and it was DV. Infiniti EX35 was hard drive and very fast but you could not control any car functions with voice recognition. 2006 IS350 was slower than molasses and completely inaccurate, but that system was crap and shouldn't have even been marketed as a feature.
- Overall my iPhone 3GS has better recognition capabilities than the system... especially when you dial by name.

Non Nav/Voice Related Problems
-They need to bring back the full size spare and the storage for the cargo cover. Wife has a 08 RX and those are both great features.
- Need cross bars that produce less wind noise and can be put on and taken off easily.
- Cutout for OE trailer hitch is too big and produces turbulence and additional wind noise after the hitch is installed.

Since the nav/voice is now an easily upgraded software system, I think there is a great opportunity to create a new business model and offer software upgrades in addition to new map data. So enhanced voice, better menus etc... but it has to be markedly improved.

Highly recommend people call Lexus customer service with their complaints/suggestions. They are a customer oriented company and do consider these things.

bv2000

The usual Lexus response for any problem is ' we are making calls and looking into it.' Don't expect more than that. Any problem you may have isn't view that way from Lexus. They feel that it still meets manufacturer's specifications.