Featured With the Gen 6 RAV4, Toyota modernizes its obsolete multimedia system at last

My 2013 Avalon's infotainment doesn't feel slow. Are newer cars slower? More intuitive would be nice.

What's quick-access?

Except for OTA updates and people who like streaming, I don't see the point. It's just something to make the car go obsolete whenever they decide to scrap 5G in favor of 6G and beyond. This is like my 2013 Leaf that had that phone app I could start the A/C or heater from inside my house. Then, a month after owning the vehicle the feature stopped because AT&T sunset their 2G service. Supposedly a person could have paid for a 3G upgrade, but I couldn't find a Nissan dealer who would do that. To me, any sort of built-in cellular connectivity is dead in the water. I'm not buying the car for it and I'm not using it, period.

Cool! I wonder if a person could customize their gauges.

I don't feel like this was a problem. I guess people just like higher numbers. I don't see any grainy textures on my Avalon.

Good! This is a good step in the right direction, as long as there'll always be a way to get the video files from off of them. But I suspect that you'll have to use their 5G service, which is likely a paid for service, so you have to keep paying to use your dash cams, and it will likely be sunset in 4 to 8 years from now when 5G is taken down. So then you're back to getting a bulky dash cam or buying a new car.

Sounds like a better spot for it.

Interesting. I wonder what is controllable and why.

I'm not using it. I'm not speaking to my car. But I also hate using a touchscreen while driving.

Just another form of planned obsolescence. Let's just hope the last update doesn't handicap the car's features in some way. But I'm not holding my breath.

Cool! I wonder if a person could add their own interface to their own interests. I've always wanted to take the infotainment screen and put on a GUI controller to my amateur radios. Seeing how cars are clutter-bugs these days with ridiculously giant center consols and such. If I could just add the interface to the infotainment so I could pull over and use it, then at least I'd be able to not clutter up the interior even more with radio control heads. bolted to parts of the dash where there's no good place to put them.

I've tried those but am not interested. I like my physical media. Is there a way to connect a CD player?

Okidoki.

 

believe it when i see it. with toyota, everything is hype these days

 

what is the monthly connectivity charge?

 

at least AA and carplay are still free

 

Thanks @Gokhan for the detailed post! I'm sure a lot of those innovative features will appeal to many. We'll see what car prices do in the future with this kind of tech. I know I'm not paying $15 a month for a streaming service, much less $70,000 for a car. But the world keeps changing, and we all have to adapt, whether we old folks like it or not.

Nice to see some buttons. I wouldn't call it a plethora, but, yes, better than Tesla. If it keeps my eyes on the road that's all that really matters. Hopefully they are clicky, not capacitive.

Some buttons seem too much for me IMO. Like in my own car, I don't use the ECO or EV or Sport modes. I just leave it in normal mode. I'm not sure what the actual point of the other buttons are other than to trick one into thinking it's helping do something. If you want sport mode in any mode, just step on the accelerator. If you want ECO mode, then just turn off the A/C and drive slower. Doing these kinds of things actually accomplish what the buttons are supposed to do but don't really do.

 

in eleven years, i never touched the eco/normal/power button, except with a paper towel cleaning it.
why do they put those buttons within easy reach, and seat heaters hidden under the console?

 

To each his own. Not sure my Rco button fpr HVAC has ever been off. Ditto Eco for engine mode.

Doesn't make my right foot any lighter. But lets me feel righteous.

 

The infotainment screen, strangely missing in our '10:



Somehow we muddle through.

Seriously @Gokhan: are you on someone's payroll??

Concur.

 

Well we can pair phones for calls. I know, 20th century stuff. And for nav, clip the phone to centre vent, hehe.

But I really wonder, about your steadfast allegiance to all things toyota...

 

Just retired a tablet today. New one has a charge limit capability older one didn't. Course my favorite mind game doesn't install on the new one's 64 bit OS because the developer didn't think the return would be worth the trouble. Ah the sacrifices we make for progress.