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

I know I've said this before, but there are some of us that are burnt out on the push for smartphones and smart everything.

If it doesn't improve my life or my family's life but only makes it worse, is it really progress?

 

“progress” can go in many directions, depending on who’s measuring it. Recently, Dodge ditched their improved 6 cylinder engines to bring back Hemi V8s, which have less power and get worse fuel economy than what they’re replacing. But people wanted the change, so it happened.

I don’t think anyone could argue that having a tablet in a car isn’t at least somewhat distracting. Heck, I was distracted by the energy monitor on my 2nd Gen Prius. But again, people want it so it happens.

 

Well, at least you're Moving Right Along.

Sorry, I just had to make that pun.

But very true. There are a lot of things I appreciate about V8's. But personally, I don't see why I would benefit from owning one. Their history, how the cross-plane crank solved common engine problems at the time, while packaging a powerful engine in such a small package, was quite an improvement back in the day. But nowadays those improvements have been antiquated by newer technologies.

With tablets it seems kind of the other way. This is the new thing, yet the old seems better, at least in my opinion. I'm just trying to wrap my head around why people think it's better. Maybe there's something I'm missing out on or just haven't experienced it to have a meaningful opinion.

 

Very interesting! I think anyone who's owned Toyota's for a while will say the infotainment systems have been the biggest disappointment. Even today, my 2014 Tundra screen will just randomly reboot itself for no reason and the Toyota built-in navigation on that thing is horrible so I have to just mount my smart phone and use that for navigation. (No Apple Car play in the truck.)

But no stupid subscription fees for anything in the Tundra...unlike modern cars who nickle-and-dime you for everything!

 

For tablets in cars and infotainment systems in general, I think it comes down to familiarity. There is a generation of people who have grown up with touchscreen devices as a significant part of life and society. Even though I can remember a time before that, I’m typing this post on a touchscreen device. And touchscreens are so established as part of life that they have become expected by many.

In expectation, there is comfort. So car companies have provided that expectation of a touchscreen because it feels more comfortable for many, and that drives their buying decisions. Many people buy vehicles emotionally instead of logically, and a vehicle people feel comfortable in, whether it is actually better, worse, or the same as another vehicle, is one they are more likely to buy.

 

My infotainment in my Avalon also has issues. Things also do not work correctly, and I have taken it to Toyota to be fixed, it worked a while, now it's messing up again. Bluetooth, USB, the nav map, and many other things just do not work or glitch to the point of not being useable. The HVAC controls also sometimes randomly change themselves.

So yes, a more reliable infotainment system would be an improvement for sure.

I guess. Or perhaps the lack of familiarity with other systems that have been deemed as antiquated by modern society. Give a kid a real paper book and he'll probably wish it were an eBook or audiobook.

I feel I am very familiar with modern technology. I'm the guy everyone in the family goes to for technical assistance, both on the software as well as hardware sides of things.

But I also lived life before internet. I do read a lot on a screen, but I also prefer books made out of paper. I know how you can have lots of options on a GUI (graphical user interface) as touchscreen buttons can lead to more buttons and therefore more options. But I also prefer the feel of just me and my car and having a connection to my car via simple mechanical controls.

And I guess that's why they don't make cars for whiners like me. My current car works, there is no real reason to buy another car at the moment. If they made the kind of spartan econo car people like me dream of we'd only buy one after our current car bites the dust, which may be several years from now, and we'd drive it until the wheels fell off, whereas the touchscreen lovers are going to likely want next year's model that's going to have a bigger touchscreen and more software defined features. And if people do start keeping their cars for longer the manufacturers are going to want to still make money on them by offering things like subscription fees and software upgrades.

 

The manufacturers are already trying to do the subscription thing. Toyota happily charges $25 a month to provide their navigation system, access to other music subscription services, and using the car as a wifi hotspot, or $15 a month for some of that. And those are all things anyone with a modern cell phone can get for no additional cost with Apple Carplay or Android Auto.

I appreciate some of the modernization of my new Camry over my old Prius, but that’s not enough to get me to buy a new car every few years. I hope to get at least a decade and a half of use out of what I’ve got now.