superswiss

With Google Maps and/or the MMI Connect app you can send your destinations to the car before you even get in it and then you just pull it up once you get into the car. If you are still entering addresses using the ****, you are doing something wrong.

JimVonBaden

And if you are already on the road? Plus I have to pay for more services for something that is free on my cheap aftermarket Garmin. You call that OK? Voice is hit and miss at best. Face it, the unit is years behind the current ones even on low priced cars.

superswiss

Same thing. I assume you have your phone with you. Or you can do a Google Search. Yes, I'm ok with paying $10/month for this. That doesn't even register next to the monthly operating cost. As I said, it's not cutting edge anymore, but it works, has never gotten me lost and I've never been late.

JimVonBaden

That is my point. With even the cheapest aftermarket GPS I do not have to use my phone to look up the address for a gas station, restaurant or Home Depot. Why should I need not only a bluetooth smart phone, but a service that I have to pay the equivalent of the cost of an aftermarket GPS every year to get the same thing?

superswiss

I can only tell you what makes it worth it to me. I don't want an unsightly Garmin or my phone along with charging cable dangling from my dash or windshield, a display too small to comfortably read from my driving position and a touchscreen I need to lean forward and take my eyes of the road to operate. I do use alternatives when I'm not driving my car, and the integrated nature of the MMI, ergonomical controls reachable from my normal driving position, voice control (it works for me, including doing Google local voice searches) and the fact that it is always there so I see the map and traffic at all times and I don't have to lock it away every time to avoid theft, makes more than up for the slightly outdated hardware and software.

Q5 Bob

This sums it up for me too.

Automotive systems will always lag behind phones etc. due to the lead times necessary. I send destinations to both cars from the PC or apps on our phones. The voice recognition on both cars work well too. I had back to back Lexus' and the VR on both was terrible to the point I just didn't use it. I can see improvements in speed and features from our 2013 Q5 to the 2014 BMW, and I'm sure other new models have improved on both of them.

JimVonBaden

I completely agree. I do not like the stick on GPS either. But I would like a car GPS that is at least as good as my 2 year old $100 Garmin. That is why I bought the tech hugely expensive tech package. I would just like my premium vehicle GPS to be at least as good as a Toyota Prius system.

Love the car, just wish they had bothered to upgrade the GPS system to technology introduced 5+ years ago! BMW and Volvo are miles ahead of Audi in this area.

superswiss

They each have their advantages and disadvantages. I've driven recent BMWs and I've unfortunately been a passenger in a Prius on more than one occasion, but I don't feel the MMI is behind these other systems. On the contrary. I don't think the Prius has Google Earth and Street view for example. Not sure about BMW anymore, but I find the UX of iDrive pretty terrible having to **** my way through the menus to get anything done whereas the most common operations can be quickly executed with the corner function buttons on the MMI. I honestly don't see the MMI Nav as behind anything in the market from the same generation. Each system is different and one does one thing better than another, but that's just the nature of the beast. I make the best of what I have and at least make use of all the features the system offers instead of complaining.

BTW what year is your car? The MMI hardware was updated in 2013 and there have been several firmware upgrades addressing performance issues and bugs since then.

JimVonBaden

Maybe I just do not understand how to fully utilize the MMI, and am not particularly impressed with Google Earth. I just want a Nav that is simple and easy to use, like my $100 Garmin Nuvi.

As for complaining, when you spend $50K on a top of the line car, you kind of expect at least a decent Nav system. I am by far not the only one who is not happy with this $4500 system. I thought my $800 Nav on my BMW motorcycle was expensive, but it is finely integrated into the bike, and very easy to use, and 3 times faster than the Audi system. Funny you say I am a complainer, I thought we were discussing the pros and cons of the new Audis?

BTW Mine is a 2016 3.0T Premium Plus S-Line, just like it says in my sig line.

Q5 Bob

Just for clarification, our iDrive has Radio, Nav, Menu, Options, Media etc. buttons around the main controller. The top of the controller has a touch pad where you can spell out addresses, POI's etc. I don't use it, but it's there.