Eventually, the Lexus Remote Touch is going to seriously catch up with them. Saw the results today at the office, the Lexus and Toyota results are horrific.

https://www.consumerreports.org/auto...tainment-syste

Top Picks in Infotainment Systems

Our exclusive survey results will steer you to the best systems—and to smooth car trips

ust as the smartphone in your hand has become more capable—and more complicated—over the past few years, so have in-car infotainment systems. What is infotainment? It’s industry slang for a host of in-car features including music, navigation, phone integration, and voice recognition. And sophisticated digital interfaces are increasingly becoming standard issue in new cars.

“Consumers want cars that bring the communication and entertainment capabilities of their phones into their cars,” says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports. “And automakers are responding.”

Guide to Voice Command SystemsWell-designed systems can execute multiple complex functions using natural speech (“call Mom on her cell phone”). Badly designed systems can turn those same interactions into a dangerous and confusing distraction.

Consumer Reports has been asking owners about their audio and infotainment systems in our Auto Satisfaction surveys in recent years. And these systems routinely rank as the least satisfying feature for most car owners in our survey. We crunched the numbers for the more than 82,000 vehicles in our latest survey, which includes 2013 through 2016 model years along with a few 2017s. Overall, only 44 percent of the infotainment systems were given a score of “very satisfied” by the subscribers who use them.

Systems Owners Love

Owners are enthusiastic about big touch screens, and carmakers are moving to make these displays larger and larger. Tesla owners currently get the biggest screens in the business—the Model S and Model X have massive 17-inch touch screens. In our survey, Tesla’s customers were the happiest with their infotainment system: 83 percent said they were very satisfied. Larger screens usually bring bigger, easier-to-read text and buttons, making it quicker to find the function you’re looking for. The owner of a 2014 Model S said, “The onscreen controls are intuitive, easy-to-use ... all cars’ entertainment systems should work this way!”

Disappointing Duds

Lexus’ Remote Touchpad is an example of an infotainment system that hinders drivers more than it helps: Just 26 percent said they were very satisfied. An owner of a 2015 Lexus NX called it “terrible,” adding, “difficult to operate, confusing, distracting. The infotainment system is a nightmare.”

Some manufacturers seem to have learned their lesson, improving their systems and turning drivers’ opinions around. Only 44 percent of drivers with MyFord/MyLincoln Touch, Ford’s earlier system, were very satisfied, but 70 percent of those using the new and improved Ford/Lincoln Sync 3 were very satisfied. It was a similar story for Audi and its latest MMI All-in-Touch system: 74 percent of owners said they were very satisfied compared with just 49 percent for the older version.

These systems aren’t perfect yet, by a long shot. Complicated, unintuitive layouts and those with touch-sensitive features continue to distract, causing drivers to take their eyes off the road.

 

This one is bad. Same on the RC. The new Remote Touch Interface (pad) on the LC has much better control, feels more natural like a smartphone, though its not perfect. The other route is the Remote Touch (mouse), easier to operate as of late since they (re)added the 'Enter, and back buttons. Touchscreen should still be optional.

 

I Think Lexus should just recognize their strength and go back to touchscreens just like Acura. Single unit with current or revised UI would help tremendously

 

I've driven the IS, NX, ES, and RX out of the recent Lexus models. I can say for sure that I prefer the infotainment in the IS and ES over the X's. The touchpad feels very imprecise. I have to put a lot of effort in getting the cursor to move where I want it to. Then, it took me a few to realize I have to click the whole thing down to make a selection, which I also thought was an odd choice, since my finger might slide in the process of my clicking down, which then moves my selection! It's just a bad, bad, bad design. I much prefer the joystick-style one, since it offers a good amount of resistance and gives me something to hold onto.

If the LC really is that much better, I'd have to try it to believe it.

 

Agreed! It should be mentioned that Toyota Entune is the worst out of almost everyone.

They could do both IMO.

 

I would still take the imperfect remote touch over a touchscreen.

I found the pad in the NX to be really easy to use. I like it better than the joystick in my GS.

The only thing I don't like about my Highlander is the stupid touchscreen.

 

Remote touch is the primary reason Lexus is off my shopping list for the foreseeable future. They need to just copy BMW and trash that silly touchpad.

 

Cause of their copying Lexus kind of is where they are right now. Dont copy BMW now since everything is becoming touchscreen centric. BMW Idrive up until the new 7 series was I drive controller with gen 4 having the handwrite recog. Now its touchschreen with a controller in tow. Audi stayed put with their new gen MMI having no touch input but carplay. So far the reviews have ruled that has a weird way of interfacing. Benz same as Audi. Touchscreens interfaces are coming back. Lexus and Toyo group have a long history with them. Homefield advantage

 

True, and it's not like Toyota completely abandon them.

Prius Prime

 

BMW is not touchscreen centric, touchscreen is simply one of the many ways to control its infotainment. Besides touchscreen you have the ****, steering wheel buttons and HUD, gestures and voice control. BMW iDrive has been thoroughly awesome ever since gen 2, and continues to get better and better with every new generation.

Lexus is just silly to keep producing remote touch when it's being universally criticized. Vehicle infotainment systems are getting more and more important, and Lexus will keep losing customers over their terrible system.

 

Oh of course. However for a company that totally shunned touschreens in favor of controls since it "didnt want its drivers to lean forward to change settings" the addition of a touchscreen is a HUGE DEAL.

 

While I was a bit bummed that my 2015 F-150 doesn't have Sync 3(this was added to the F-150 in 2016), I actually have no real complaints so far with MyFord Touch. Maybe they just got it working right by 2015. It does have some latency on button pushes, but not too bad(I think our super fast smartphones and tablets spoil us), and i haven't had any glitches yet.

The main thing I would change would make it more intuitive to switch input sources. I have 2 options. I can dive into the media menu and scroll down a list to get to bluetooth(should be at the top now IMO), or I can push the Media button on the dash or steering wheel and cycle through about 12 different sources until I get to it(3 FM sets, 2 AM sets, 3 Sirius sets, CD, Line-In, SD Card and Bluetooth). And I usually miss it the first time and have to cycle all the way around again.

 

FCA's UConnect and Ford's latest Sync 3 (which cribbed a lot of the UConnect interface) are two of the best and easiest to interact with, My older parents were able to adjust to it in their Pacifica pretty quickly, even for features such as navigation. Hyundai and Kia systems are probably right behind those two. Yes, these are all touchscreen based, with good balance between hard controls/buttons/*****, and the touchscreen interface.

 

I'm as much a critic as anyone of Lexus' direction of late, but I actually thought the mouse implementation of Remote Touch was great. Because of the physical "mouse", the cursor positioning and movement are intuitive (enough so that I can access some functions without even looking at the screen), and haptic feedback makes it super easy to use.

I only used the cat/touchpad implementation of Remote Touch on loaners, but thought it was awful. Without the mouse, it was much more difficult to tell either the starting point or amount of movement, and even simple, common occurrences like going over bumps in the road would cause unwanted inputs.

 

I really prefer touch screens.

People like to grouse about the Q50 double screen set up but it works well for me.

The touch screen in my NSX is simple and to the point.