From all of the auto reviews I have read, from many sources, this is a minority opinion. Clearly, iDrive is easier to use than it's ever been, but I've never seen any review that ever said anything better than "it's not as bad as everyone says." That's not a ringing endorsement.

I saw the pix of the 2010 RX, with the nav screen set way back in the dash. Honda and Acura have been doing this too--why?

 

its put into the dash so that its not affected by the sunlight. also , im guessing its more in your line of sight

 

any mention of this system ending up in other model line up?

i hate voice recognition with a passion and to change from touchscreen to this and input still lock out while vehicle is in motion, this will most likely sway me from purchasing any lexus in the future..

this is crap..

 

correct, i actually like the move on the screen coz' of the sunlight glare. the newer lexus are better, but say on 2gs, sc430, ls430, the sunlight glare could be pretty bad

and imho it's also this move (inward into the dash) that prohibits the use of touch screen, and thus the idrive, command, and the new lexus system.

idrive has come a long way. i honestly think the first generation was disastrous, and the newest one (i just checked out the new 09 m3) is a lot better. but still i have my issues with idrive. i tried the system on s550 and i actually prefer that a bit over the idrive. and like i said before, i still have my reservation on the lexus system, so we will see

and i also agree we should be talking about teh controller not the features of the system

 

lol come on kevin, get the override module already one another hit of a button and my nav has never been this good. overall price is still cheaper than a bmw or mb, hehhee j/k

i think lexus will migrate to this system for all their future generations. we already see the lf-a will likely have this. my guess is the new lexus hybrid will also use the same system. the current 4ls, 3gs, 2is, i have a feeling they will stay with touch screen until redesign

 

Yes, this will make it's way to future models. The HS250h is gonna be next up on the list.

 

Line of sight is key here. Higher up and further back for easier visibility in different lighting conditions. Also helps with giving the cabin a spacious effect.

 

Here's a tidbit regarding the button selection:

http://my.is/forums/5618457-post14.html

 

^^ yes that is very interesting. if you go to cnet.tv and watch their car videos, brian cooley gives a video on the Rx and he also describes the clicking, or the "haptic" feedback

 

went to the auto show last night and messed with remote touch. the system works just great. id say its pretty much as good as the current system. if youre used to the current system and are also familiar with using a mouse, theres almost no learning curve. its completely intuitive. the controller will give feedback as you go over buttons, but does not move to the center of the button. think of it as rolling a ball across the screen, and as the ball rolls over a button, the button is a ditch. when you leave the button, it rolls back to normal. best analogy i can think of right now. maybe soeone can describe it better. the up and down buttons are used to scroll through lists. something i liked is that the icon can be changed to a lefty pointer, righty pointer, arrow shape pointer, or no pointer at all.

 

it's really great that the "mouse" has feedback as well, very nice idea!

 

Ok, rather than respond to the individual posts....
1. I'm still laughing that you guys are in love with a controller based system.
2. You still have not tried the Lexus system while driving - probably the major challenge with a touch screen. Will the lexus controller system work better? Personally, I'm a bit worried about the constant hand eye coordination required while driving - then again, I'm smart enough to not judge the system without using it (and using it at an autoshow is not the same thing as using it while driving).
3. Let's be honest here, many of you would never like something from BMW or MB - but it would seem to me that they were the pioneers in this new way to control a multitude of car functions....

 

we have a LS430 and a 750Li. The iDrive is a PAIN to use. It is NOT intuitive nor user-friendly. The Nav in the 750 is a joke compared to Lexus'. The touch screen control in the Lexus Nav is a really useful feature. Even the nav in our 98 LS400 was light years ahead of the current BMW nav.. no kidding! BMW should be embarrassed for putting such a lousy nav system in it's cars. I want to get back into our Lexus every time I use the nav in the 750.. Comsumer Reports and all those magazines are correct. The iDrive SUCKS!

 

I drove a BMW i-Drive car for 2 years before my current LS.

There are several functions of the Lexus touch-screen NAV system that you simply can't do with a ****.

For example, touching another point on the map and seeing how far away it is.

Touching a street when zoomed out to see it's name.

Also, touching a waypoint (hotel, restaurant, or your own memorized point) to display information about that point.

So, the gain with a **** is a clean, uncluttered look.

The loss is that of "Form follows function", which, in the case of mouse-like *****, is not true.

Frankly, the touch-screen was one of the two reasons I chose the LS600hl over the S550 4Matic.

HBH

 

Any clue when this will be built into the LS model...?