Cars We Drive!

[Thrift Vader]

Spotted in the wild.

 

[Dino944]

Spotted in the wild.

View attachment 1245906

When I was in college in the early 90's, a friend's boyfriend had a red Subaru SVX with AWD. It was an interesting car, but maybe a bit too futuristic and weird looking when it was new. It's been years since I've seen one on the road.

 

[jbarwick]

For Navigation in car, do people use their phone or the built-in nav? I remember buying my Outback and the nav was a selling point but I never use it...maybe too clunky and slow. Is Apple CarPlay any better?

The reason I ask is because I went on another 3hr road trip this weekend and followed my phones directions and it just seemed silly.

 

[clee1982]

I used BMW built in because the HUD, otherwise I think a lot people prefer Waze or Google Map via carplay

 

[Dino944]

For Navigation in car, do people use their phone or the built-in nav? I remember buying my Outback and the nav was a selling point but I never use it...maybe too clunky and slow. Is Apple CarPlay any better?

The reason I ask is because I went on another 3hr road trip this weekend and followed my phones directions and it just seemed silly.

I like & use Waze on my phone (as it also alerts you of speed traps, objects in the road, and real time traffic delays - and offers to re-route you). Apple CarPlay will pick up Waze on the screen, but at least one of the rental vehicles I was in the screen was sort of small so it it was tough to see what would be coming up next (sometimes a left or right is more of a curve in the road than actually making a left or right turn), but it gives you voice turn by turn directions.

 

[otc]

For Navigation in car, do people use their phone or the built-in nav? I remember buying my Outback and the nav was a selling point but I never use it...maybe too clunky and slow. Is Apple CarPlay any better?

The reason I ask is because I went on another 3hr road trip this weekend and followed my phones directions and it just seemed silly.

Android Auto (their version of CarPlay) for everything. Music, nav, podcasts, etc.

I don't go full waze...just google maps, although they have started incorporating some of the waze info like speed trap alerts (which are a mixed bag, but are right often enough that I listen to them).

Works in the majority of rental cars I get these days too. If not, android auto can run on your phone so you get the driving-friendly display/interface and I usually carry a little vent-clip mount in my travel electronics bag (not sure if carplay can do this).

 

[Thrift Vader]

I just like to use a mix of a paper map, road signs, and a sense of direction.

 

[Kappelan]

Is Apple CarPlay any better?

I love Apple CarPlay for Navigation, Music, Audiobooks...

Tesla has a great "built-in" navigation from Google Maps, but I wish I can have that Apple CarPlay for my music.

 

[clee1982]

I love Apple CarPlay for Navigation, Music, Audiobooks...

Tesla has a great "built-in" navigation from Google Maps, but I wish I can have that Apple CarPlay for my music.

for music I would assume you can just bluetooth that no?

 

[Thrift Vader]

Radio? CD's?

 

[Kappelan]

for music I would assume you can just bluetooth that no?

Yes, I do. But it's not that nice as with Apple CarPlay.

 

[Kappelan]

Radio?

SiriusXM is nice. Too bad it is not available on Tesla

 

[otc]

Yes, I do. But it's not that nice as with Apple CarPlay.

Yeah, my car will kind of seamlessly switch audio between bluetooth and Auto/CarPlay...but the bluetooth-only audio experience is lacking. It is fine if you've already got a playlist queued or know what you want and can easily tell the phone through voice commands (Google Assistant is pretty good at this, can't speak to Siri). So it is fine if you are running errands and hopping in and out of the car--no need to take the phone out of your pocket and plug it in, you can just resume your podcast or whatever.

I have a Google Play Music subscription (which also gives you ad-free premium youtube) and unlimited data, so I can basically listen to whatever I want. It even seems to do a pretty good job pre-loading upcoming songs for when you have spotty service (can also play downloaded songs only if you don't have service). Only complaint is that the Android Auto interface doesn't have access to the "Radio Stations" features, which are auto-generated genre/mood/activity playlists. I can still get them from the phone itself (and I think from the "recent activity" menu in the car app if I just played one), but there is no way to browse/search them from the car's screen.

 

[clee1982]

I just spotify and more less rand...

 

[clee1982]

still use SiriusXM now but once it expires think I'll just stick with spotify, probably