[Etodd31856]

You might be interested to know that March 2014 issue of PC Mag just named the 2015 Chrysler 200 as one of the best connected cars for its 8.4 inch uconnect system and a 7 inch screen on the dash.....sound familiar........so my question is the system really that bad......PC mag does not think so.............why do those here not think so...what is interesting is that the 200 will also get all the other tech.........lane depature..........etc. Surprising that Maserati did not incorporate that tech into their car................my guess is beacuse is that it is a drivers car...........how many or us really care about that stuff........and when was the last time you actually used regualr cruise.......adaptive cruise takes the driving out of the equation.....you become a monitor of a vehicle not a driver...........and that is one big reason we all bought the Ghibli.....my understanding is that uconnect is intuitive and useable so what more do you want..........just saying of course IMO

 

[rsm]

I don't have a problem so much with Uconnect as I do with touch screens as user interfaces in moving automobiles. Screen-hand-eye coordination involved with a touch screen requires much more of your visual attention than a knob like iDrive. Also the touch screen has to be within comfortable reaching distance, which is at odds with the ideal position closer to the windshield, another advantage of iDrive.

I like this quote from a recent Wired article:

"There may be no greater design crime today than putting a touchscreen in an automobile. It’s audaciously stupid. The simple fact is that screens demand our eyeballs in a way that knobs, dials, and buttons do not. Choosing the former over the latter means opting for superficial sophistication and whiz-bang appeal over, you know, letting drivers pay attention to what’s in front of their 3,000 pound battering ram."

The same article showcases an alternative touch UI that intetestingly doesn't involve visual focus. I could envision a hybrid solution involving these gestures.

 

[Etodd31856]

Understood......hopefuly voice will get sophisticated enough to make the issue of touch screen vs dials moot...............

 

[mikebos]

Comparing the iDrive knob with a touch screen, in both cases you need to take your eyes off the road to look at the screen. For me the touch screen wins because I can go directly to the item I want, meaning I'm distracted for a much shorter amount of time than with iDrive (which I'm living with in my current 550i but really hate) as I scroll around and often overshoot my target.

Just ordered a Ghibli and looking forward to replacing the knob with the touch screen.

 

[anderson_b76]

I actually like the touchscreen in the Maserati a lot. It's extremely intuitive, maybe the most intuitive screen I've used in a car, and the buttons are big enough on the screen is not a distraction. This is subjective, but I quite like it.

 

[JamesMay]

I also like the touchscreen, but perhaps it's because the passenger can use it. I found the UConnect very easy to use, love the big screen and love that you can input a destination while driving.

Our 911 has knobs that you use and I find these much more cumbersome.

 

[cfelbab]

The people that seem upset about UConnect in the Maserati seem to me to mainly be snobs who can't stomach the idea that any part of our 90K car looks like something so far beneath them as Chrysler. Silly IMHO?

There are a few things I would tweak (e.g. when you have it in radio mode with the little map showing, there is not enough space for the UI to give you the name and artist of the song playing on sat radio. It would be easy enough for them to shrink the font slightly to show that. And yes there are higher resolutions screens on the market but really, we are not watching HD movies on it so what we have is good enough!

So except for a few small things like that, the system works very well and I would rather have not had Maserati waste money developing their own software for that - instead keep the focus on the engine and the performance of the car...

 

[Wrecked Em]

I'm probably in the minority, but this is actually the first OEM nav system I've ever actually used. (cue banjo music) I've seriously never owned, or even known anyone who owned a car with an oem system.
My first thought after using it was, "holy f'ing ****, are they all this comically bad?". It basically went down like this (keep in mind, I've never read the manual):

hit voice button
"find starbucks"
........
"navigate to starbucks"
......
"NAVIGATE!!!!"
.....
listen to stupid message, hear something regarding points of interest
"points of interest"

get category prompt. Try to read screen. Swerve back into lane.

f*k it. try: "Coffee"
......

Touch 'spell name' button

-S-T-.....

look for autocomplete bar.
You gotta be f'n kidding....

A-R-N

errrr!!!!!!!!

-bkspc-B-U-
swerve back in lane


Remove 2 year old phone from pocket.
"Find starbucks"

well, you get it.

 

[colleyt]

I'm probably in the minority, but this is actually the first OEM nav system I've ever actually used. (cue banjo music) I've seriously never owned, or even known anyone who owned a car with an oem system.
My first thought after using it was, "holy f'ing ****, are they all this comically bad?". It basically went down like this (keep in mind, I've never read the manual):

hit voice button
"find starbucks"
........
"navigate to starbucks"
......
"NAVIGATE!!!!"
.....
listen to stupid message, hear something regarding points of interest
"points of interest"

get category prompt. Try to read screen. Swerve back into lane.

f*k it. try: "Coffee"
......

Touch 'spell name' button

-S-T-.....

look for autocomplete bar.
You gotta be f'n kidding....

A-R-N

errrr!!!!!!!!

-bkspc-B-U-
swerve back in lane


Remove 2 year old phone from pocket.
"Find starbucks"

well, you get it.

I have a hard time understanding peoples expectations of this car. I get that we are on a forum and being hyper critical but lets be realistic, if you wanted gadgets that worked well, you would have bought a Lexus.

Nothing is ever going to beat google maps on your phone anyways

 

[bjg625]

When did all this stuff become more important than the fun of driving. Obviously no body here sees cars as toasters. In my Mercedes the system had to learn my voice by repeating 25 phrases until it got it {5 times}. But command does have google maps!

 

[colleyt]

When did all this stuff become more important than the fun of driving. Obviously no body here sees cars as toasters. In my Mercedes the system had to learn my voice by repeating 25 phrases until it got it {5 times}. But command does have google maps!

I agree 100% although Im sure most of this comes from us just knit picking cause thats what we do.

My Audi actually had google maps too and it was great (at first). I always ended up using my phone because I didnt want to deal with it pausing my music 9 times to tell me "take the next left"

 

[Wrecked Em]

I have a hard time understanding peoples expectations of this car. I get that we are on a forum and being hyper critical but lets be realistic, if you wanted gadgets that worked well, you would have bought a Lexus.

Nothing is ever going to beat google maps on your phone anyways

I would have gotten one without nav for this very reason, if it would have saved me money. Prior to this, I tried to order a MB without it (saving $2500), and the dealer effectively told me "no way, not gonna happen".

 

[Etodd31856]

No way to mute the voice directions? The extra 10K buys much more than the nav so if it is useless that is the way it goes...........you do not like the turn by turn right on the dash?