Hi All,
My new vehicle (2026 NX 450h+) came today, and I just picked it up. Thank you for all the help so far. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions as I get up to speed.

Here's the first.
I plan to use Android Auto for navigation. But I'd like to use Sirius XM for music. I'd appreciate advice from others with that combination. In previous cars, I've been able to split to screen such that AA took up the left 2/3 of the screen, and the car's native infotainment took the right 1/3. That allowed me to use Google Maps on the left, with a Sirus XM display on the right. I'm assuming there's no way to do something similar on my new NX.
Assuming that's correct, what's the best way to play and control the car's radio while Android Auto is displayed? I can change the volume easily enough (using the **** or the buttons on the steering wheel). How about channel selection? Is there a way I can designate 20 favorite stations, then cycle through only those using the steering wheel controls? When I've tried that, it seems to ignore my favorites and just move to the next station, favorite or not. I'd love to hear what other people use as their setup.

 

Don't know if it changed for 26 but on my 22 I also find this frustrating. The best I have found is to use the small window in the dashboard to see what you're listening to and leave screen on Android auto. For me the arrows on the steering wheel if I press it quickly we'll go to the next favorite if you press and hold for one second there is a little beep and it goes to the next numerical Channel, if you press and hold it longer it'll jump multiple Channels . It takes a while to get the hang of it but it's better than nothing. If other people have better methods I would also like to know.

 

Yeah the entire Android Auto thing was new to me when we bought our 2024 NX350h since our previous vehicle up until them was a 2012 Acura. So it took me a while to finally figure out how AA worked but what has always frustrated me is that it takes over the entire screen so that the lower right portion would show Pandora (from my phone) while I was actually listening to Sirius XM from the vehicle. It would be nice if there was some way for the screen to coexist with both AA and the native Lexus stuff such as the media.

 

Ah, this is VERY helpful, thanks! I completely missed that. When testing, I must have been sometimes pressing too long and moving to the next numerical channel rather than the next favorite. I couldn't figure out why it sometimes appeared to work and sometimes not, but this explains it. Not perfect, but certainly workable.

 

I agree. It's odd to me that my five-year-old Kia Telluride can split the screen 2/3 for AA and 1/3 for native infotainment ... but my new Lexus can't do that. I've seen the same symptom that you described, where my main screen was split between Google Maps and Spotify (even though I was actually playing Sirius XM). I discovered that tapping the Google Maps icon caused the map to expand over the entire screen, so at least I didn't have to look at the invalid Spotify section. But it would be very nice if I could show the actual Sirius XM details in that spot instead. Having it in the dashboard is a workaround, at least.

 

Not sure if this is what you are referring but you can have the map on right or left of screen. You can by tapping the individual screens making it 1/3 of screen or 2/3 as shown. By tapping Google map icon shown on left you can make screen all map while still listening to Sirius.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, that's related to what I was asking about. I can click the Google Maps icon just as you mentioned, and it toggles the screen between 2/3 and full screen map size. My question is about that other 1/3. In your picture, you have Sirius XM playing. I'm guessing that's by using the Sirius *app* within Android Auto, not the vehicles native radio, correct? I can make any app show up in that 1/3 - sirius, spotify, etc - but what I'm looking to do is use the car's native radio presets and have it display in that window. I can do that on other vehicles.

 

Yes Sirius app. Have subscribed to Sirius XM for 25 years Now with Android Auto I just get the streaming service which allows both vehicles and is $55 a year.

 

OK, great. Thanks for confirming. I may end up going that route but I'll have to explore the app again. I haven't looked at it awhile. Can you cycle through favorite stations (presets) using the steering wheel buttons or do you need to do that by touching the screen?

 

Don't even get me started on my problems with the way the map is shown. First I would like to have a direct overhead view (not perspective) that moves the map in the direction you are going (i.e., like what happens in the perspective view) but direct overhead instead. Then it annoys me how the vehicle icon is right where I want it in the center of the 2/3 view but when going to the full screen view it is offset to the right due to the "search" bubble. I realize these are just minor annoyances.

 

CarPlay?

 

You can change channels through steering wheel but goes through all channels not favorites. When I go to Library all my favorites are there along with podcasts.

 

No--CarPlay is only for Apple phones I believe. Our friends have the same vehicle as ours but they use Apple phone. I notice the screen seems to coexist better with the native Lexus screen and also their map behavior is more like what I would like to see--direct overhead view.