SW17LS

Of course they are. Again, startup vs big mainstream company. The startup will always be the innovator, they don't think about market share, IQS scores, appealing to a wide demographic. Rolling out new vastly different infotainment UIs can be disastrous for a company, look at MyFordTouch, Cadillac's CUE, iDrive when it came out. These company's initial quality rankings were HUGELY impacted by this new tech and old time buyer's reactions to it. Tesla doesn't have to worry about any of that, but its very nature their consumer is a tech focused person.

Its like Blackberry vs Apple. Blackberry was saddled with all their business and enterprise contracts, government contracts. Kept them from being able to innovate and grow while Apple didn't have that problem. Blackberry was damned if they did and damned if they didn't.

salvadorik

iTrader: (1)

I am not saying that Lexus needs to radically overhaul its system. Yeah that would be very risky. In fact Lexus does not even need to do that. They already have a decent system. Enform is a fairly easy system to use. It has almost everything you need. What I am saying on top of what they have already developed Lexus needs to improve its UI and maps. It would be great if they can incorporate Google maps and Google search. Make their UI and maps easily upgradable via cloud or USB without a need to take a car to a dealer. Utilize better more powerful hardware (faster processer, better graphic card etc). Also I would love to see Lexus use its head up display on all of its models and make it more readily available to a consumer (currently you need special order to get HUD). And finally Lexus needs to step up development of FI engines. Consumers need more choice. Look at VW golf, several types of turbo engines, TDI, hybrid and plug in hybrid you name it. No wonder Golf Mk7 got all kinds car of the year awards.

salvadorik

iTrader: (1)

The interesting thing about Lexus is that the company recently radically changed its exterior design and to some extent interior as well on all of its models adopting rather polorzing looks with its spindle grill and such but technology for the most part remains unchanged or slightly evolved.

coach1

Speaking of Tesla....I've read the range is around 300 miles which is likely more that other e-cars...does anyone know what the recharge time is? Travel would be limited to less than the range at a time.

MEAHT

iTrader: (1)

110 volt outlet = 5 miles/hour
240 volt outlet = 9.5 hours full charge
240 volt + twin chargers = 4:45 full charge
supercharger 1:15 minutes full charge

Heres a good illustration about tesla

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla_model_s

"accelerating feels like being fired out of a silenced gun"

MEAHT

mikenj

I'm with you on this. I'm disappointed with what they offer on the 2015 GS 350 which isn't much at all. They give you a huge beautiful screen and not much of anything else good/useful. The answer really is a system that supports both Apple Car Play and Google Car. One that when the manufacture fails to do anything for you as far as improving the system doesn't become obsolete overnight. Apple and Google will continue making improvements to their systems unlike the manufacture.

-Mike

justnana

I am having trouble understanding why my iPhone6 does not transfer the photos of the contacts. The RX350 2015 is able to access my contacts when I start the car, but they come up on the screen without names when the calls come in. It also does not store the information??? Just downloads it each time I get in the car? I want to see or hear who is calling me and see the photo like I do on the iPhone. Can anyone help? I use Verizon and the Dealer said go to Verizon .. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

5PM

I prefer "Mother Toyota" personally, but one thing I will absolutely add to my next GS is one of the lockout defeat modules. I can live with everything else but the lockouts are just insulting.

SW17LS

FYI, the "Siri Eyes Free" feature removes any issue with voice controls or phonebook. I now only use Siri and it works great, calling, music control, etc.

ISFPOWER

iTrader: (20)

reliability.


the more crap you put in a car, the more reliability scores will go down when something breaks.

Afrosheen

Like I alluded to 3 pages ago, they need to make the display just a display and work on letting things connect to it. Google and Apple should be the devices running the show, because cell phones are the cutting edge of portable technology and automakers really just can't keep up. If you take the automaker out of the equation by letting the car display what's on the phone, the phone becomes the centerpiece of the tech and everyone is happy. Manufacturers should be begging to work with Apple and Google to get this perfected on every new model post 2015 because it solves a big problem with very little effort.

The only roadblock to this is, of course, demographics. If older, less tech-savvy people are buying your cars, you must keep it simple and keep a percentage of it in the dash unit. Lexus used to be really big on having a button for everything, which led to some design nightmares on the console, but tactile older generations could stare at it long enough to find what they needed to use, and use it. They've turned the corner from this as their demographic has skewed towards younger professionals (IS, NX, etc.) and gone more towards big screens and touchpads, but buttons are still there and I still use some of them.

Crap, rambled on again, pardon me.

az-dave

Edit:IT WORKS!!!! :-) :-) :-) Thank you!!!!

Holy Mother!!!! Im going to try this at Lunch...by and far, this is my #1 complaint with my '13 GS.

2nd complaint is friggin starting a song from the start every time!!!! -WHY!!! every other car mfgr since 2010 plays from where the device was disconnected.

3rd complaint: Side view mirrors - rather thajn making the mirrors bigger (which they should be) they made the mirrors inset and smaller and made a black plastic escusheon trim piece where mirror would be helpful

And im not a big fan of the dim interior LEd lights, but I give a pas on that becasue it has the ROCKING mood lights set on the door panels :-)

az-dave

Ive read a few people saying that these complaints are "nit picking" - Im going to have to disagree.

Having owned several Lexus since 2000 (3 generations, and 4 diff models), as well as BMW's, Cadis, etc, Lexus fell way short on some 2013 features that even 2009 Ford Escorts had (starting a song where it left off)...they were very late in the game to USB ports (inexcusable)...and they attempted to compete with BMW's horrific "iDrive" system...at least lexus didnt give up the oil dip stick. Overall I Love the 2013+ GS series, they are fun, agile, POWERFUL and have a lot of very nice features. But when you fail at something, you fail, no if-ands-or buts...Lexus "Pursuit of Perfection" motto is testament to that.

Lexus also needs to Rip their dealerships apart and get people working that dont condescend to customers and make excuses for every last thing...Own up to problems and fix them. I had that problem with my 98 GS300...dealerships were WORTHLESS in fixing 2 critical problems which I fixed myself because they literally failed, I have 3 or 4 huge threads on those issues on this club, and they helped numerous other owners getting the same crappy service tech excuses.

Overall...except for the few remaining complaints, i rate this car far above BMW 5 series (having owned one immediately before getting the GS), and Lexus Hit the Nail on the Head with the Engine power, cornering and braking...

8 or 9 out of 10...but why not hit 9.5 out of 10 when it only takes a few small tweaks to do so...

happy customers = happy Lexus execs :-)

Oh yeah...Why'dya take away my friggin AC button!!!! - Dont Copy BMW!!!!!

Now...about starting songs where they left off....anyone any ideas???

SW17LS

I don't think they're nit-picking at all. The tech is behind, nobody is disputing that.

No such thing as a 2009 Ford Escort. Different companies operate differently, some freeze the song when the car is turned off, some start it over. Some of that has to do with what medium over which you are listening to the song.

Lexus doesn't own dealerships, no carmaker does. Dealers are independent businesses and there are legal limits to how much control they can have over dealer operations. Dealer quality varies greatly, I've been to excellent ones and terrible ones.

az-dave

Sorry..Ford Focus and Ford Fusion, and all but one rental Ive driven over the past 8+ years all resume (the one that didnt was in 08 or 09, and I cant remember what it as)...but you get my point. But It is funny you saw the irony in what I was getting at :-) (Focus is basically an escort...imo haha)

Dealers...correct, no car maker "owns" the dealers, but having many friends, and family members in management (moved up from sales, service etc) working at different dealers, I can attest that the Car Maker Dictates MANY things that the dealers must do, and also critique...My wife absolutely fell in LOVE with the lexus Dealership when she walked in...free snacks, coffee, even bananas...she left FURIOUS after being treated as if it was HER fault the rotors were bad at 20,000 miles of LIGHT use, and then also told all her other issues were "normal"...see...she owned a 2003 RX that had NONE of those issues.

Lexus can tell their dealers to act professional and also NOT sell cars to dealers that are jerks - they can literally decide who can and cannot resel the cars, just like NIKE wont sell shoes to small mom and pap stores, but will sell to major stores - its all in their agreements...which at this point, ALL of them here in the PHX area are Jerks or worse crooks. They couldnt even diagnose, let alone fix a faulty master cylinder on my 98 GS which nearly caused me a fatal accident...3 dealers failed...the cylinder went OUT after Stealer #3 sent me on my way after charging me $180 for new battery cables.

Then thry tried to charge my wife $600 for a $40K mile inspection on this 2013 which is still under warranty!!! Yeah nice try suckers! eat dirt dirtbags.

Never again.

Anyway, overall Lexus has a really well engineered piece of machinery, and in my opinion a nice luxurious interior, and they mated it with a really poor not remotely up to date (its 2013, not 1998 folks) computer interface that looks and performs worse than my 2007 Avy (no longer have)...my '10 escalade is also leaps and bounds above itm and its a GM !! Lexus absolutely could have and should have done better, but it it what it is now. - Now that I got rid of that message line blocking the Rear Camera, I will deal with the remaining issues and enjoy looking over at BMW's and Non Turbo Audis with a big Grin while I pull away from the light. I had a 08 or 09 corvette want to race the other day - he lost. not by much, but he lost.

To be fair...the new system in NEW Cadis is so complex and cumbersome, that I would take the Lexus system over it...now thats SAD!

Ford Escort!!! hahaha sometimes I can be cynical :-) cheers

And Where is my physical AC Button!!!! arg!!! LOL