[BiturboS4] Nav systems
R Sherowsky
sherowsky at adelphia.net
Sat Sep 28 12:16:48 EDT 2002
I am afraid I must disagreee on the usefulness of the Audi system. It is
only good if you live in a populated area that is mapped and if your travel
does not involve crossing CD zones. I got the system in my allroad and
unfortunately, I live within 30 miles of A CD zone split. Also I live in a
rural area and now of the local small town roads are on the system. If I
try to leave from home, I get a prompt that my location cannot be
determined. I have to leave my home town, go to the nearest highway and
pull off the road to program the system before it will let me procede. Also
much of my travel crosses the CD zones which is a real pain. I was so
disgusted with the system in the allroad that when I bought the S4, I
indicated that I specifically wanted a car without the Navigation system and
would not pay for the system if the only car they could find had it.
Ron
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ti Kan" <ti at amb.org>
To: "Philip Pace" <pjpace at yahoo.com>
Cc: "Biturbo" <biturbos4 at audifans.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2002 4:45 AM
Subject: Re: [BiturboS4] Nav systems
> To chime in on Philip's post...
>
> Those of you who haven't used the nav system might not appreciate what
> it could do for you. Aside from what Philip had already described (ETA
> display, traffic jam detour function), let me describe a few more.
>
> In the event you miss a turn or go the wrong way, the nav system will
> instantly recompute a new route to get you to your destination. In
> other words, you cannot get lost. No need to stop and re-check a map,
> or go around in circles trying to find your way again, and certainly
> better than any confused "backseat-driver".
>
> Several times now I had used the nav system to go to unfamiliar places,
> only to be unable to make a turn due to road construction, traffic
> detours, or other situations. No sweat, just keep going and the nav
> system will get you there anyway.
>
> The nav system voice will pre-announce and then announce that you're
> about to get to where you want to go. For example, she might say
> "You will arrive at your destination after one thousand feet", and then
> when you're there "You have reached your destination". This makes it
> unnecessary to take your attention off the road while you repeatedly
> look for street numbers on signs or buildings too see how far you might
> be before you get there.
>
> Similarly, turns are also pre-announced, and announced, so you have
> time to change lanes, etc. "Prepare to turn right", a little later
> "Turn right after seven hundred feet", then finally "Please turn next
> right onto US 101". This, along with the bargraph leaves no doubt as
> to where you're going to turn, even in short city street blocks.
>
> The nav system also has a built-in database of convenient destinations,
> such as gas stations, theaters/stadiums, hotels, restaurants, car
> rental, airports, car parks, shopping centers, hospitals and police
> stations. You can look them up in the local area or another town, and
> scroll through them sorted by distance or alphabetically. Click and
> it'll just take you there.
>
> Still think that a printed map could match that? I don't think so...
>
> In fact, I think the US Audi nav system with its simple "arrow and
> bargraph" display in the instrument cluster, augmented by the voice, is
> simple and very effective. It minimizes the need to take your attention
> off the road, while it does what it's supposed to do, which is to help
> you get to where you want to be. It doesn't look as glamorous as a big
> LCD screen on the center console, but the system works just fine without
> one. On the Euro Nav Plus system (which does have the color LCD
> screen), the screen takes up real estate in the center console, which
> means that controls for the stereo and other functions have to be
> integrated into the screen. That is a disadvantage in my book, because
> you'd now have to take your attention off the road to operate it,
> sometimes going through several screenfuls of menus just to do something
> that a simple turn of a dial or push of a button would have
> accomplished. One of the worst such designs is the i-Drive system on
> the new BMW 7 series. It makes simple tasks complex, which is not a
> good ergonomic design.
>
> The only thing that left me wanting in my nav system is the fact that
> it's CD-ROM based. A CD can only hold so much map data, so the US is
> split into many geographic zones, each with its own CD, and the owner is
> given only the CD that pertains to his/her home location. To get the
> other CDs require paying $$. The next generation Audi nav systems
> are DVD-based, which solves this problem, but not for us with the older
> systems.
>
> In my mind the nav system is without a doubt one of the most useful
> optional features.
>
> -Ti
> 2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
> 2001 S4 2.7T
> 1984 5000S turbo
> 1980 4000 2.0
> --
> /// Ti Kan Vorsprung durch Technik
> /// AMB Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
> /// ti at amb.org
> ////// http://www.amb.org/ti/
> ///
>
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