Stupid Sat Nav

[kirsty_s2k]

I tend to use the maps function in the app to send the sat nav detail to the car. I struggle with the voice system, find it very difficult and slow.

[Rifleman]

I’ve just spent the last 2hrs playing around with the Satnav in the new car while parked up on the drive
My conclusion is it’s complete garbage and not fit for purpose and that’s before I try it out on the road!
If it had been a extra cost option I’d demand my money back!!

The interface is terrible. Once you choose a destination It doesn’t show you the planned route from A to B, just shows you where you are starting from. No option to see an overview of the route it is going to take, you have to manually zoom the map right out until you can see both the start point and destination. Seriously?

Tried searching for a few destinations the locations of which I know well, about 200 miles away from home. Majority of results are best described as “somewhere in the vicinity of” rather than an accurate location.

I had expected better from a premium brand manufacturer. Looks like I’ll be back to sticking a TomTom unit on the windscreen or probably buy it for my iPhone. So no map in the driver display for me...

I tried the Volvo support site, that was a complete waste of time and no use what so ever.
Oh yes, map updates don’t work either. Download center says there are map updates available but when I tried to load them it just says they are too big to download, visit the support site. I give up!

[Shaenei]

You could give Sygic or Waze a go, both support carplay and saves having to stick a TomTom in your windscreen

[Rifleman]

Tried a number of different nav apps over the years, hate Waze as it choses very strange routes at times. Only one I like is TomTom Go on the iPhone. It started out awful but after just a few version updates it’s now really very good. Only problem is mounting the phone, the Brodit mount for the XC40 can only go in one place mounted astride the central heating vent which is not the most convenient place..

The built in Sat Nav in my old Skoda was far better than the Sensus

[hdasmith]

Hi rifleman, if you’ve got CarPlay, Apple Maps uses TomTom information and is pretty clear.

[senwar]

I’ve just spent the last 2hrs playing around with the Satnav in the new car while parked up on the drive
My conclusion is it’s complete garbage and not fit for purpose and that’s before I try it out on the road!
If it had been a extra cost option I’d demand my money back!!

The interface is terrible. Once you choose a destination It doesn’t show you the planned route from A to B, just shows you where you are starting from. No option to see an overview of the route it is going to take, you have to manually zoom the map right out until you can see both the start point and destination. Seriously?

Tried searching for a few destinations the locations of which I know well, about 200 miles away from home. Majority of results are best described as “somewhere in the vicinity of” rather than an accurate location.

I had expected better from a premium brand manufacturer. Looks like I’ll be back to sticking a TomTom unit on the windscreen or probably buy it for my iPhone. So no map in the driver display for me...

I tried the Volvo support site, that was a complete waste of time and no use what so ever.
Oh yes, map updates don’t work either. Download center says there are map updates available but when I tried to load them it just says they are too big to download, visit the support site. I give up!

That’s a bit of a rant!

You can check the route by selecting turn by turn from the list. That will st least list the route for you. Ok it doesn’t show a visual but gives you an idea.

Yes some of the map updates will require downloading via the internet and not the car. It is annoying when you get update messages then have to download manually but obviously the size is big occasionally.

It’s definitely not complete garbage. I’ve used google maps and Apple maps for years and have always preferred google but 9/10 the one in the car is good enough in my opinion (well for me anyway).

[Shaenei]

Only problem is mounting the phone, the Brodit mount for the XC40 can only go in one place mounted astride the central heating vent which is not the most convenient

Since iOS 12 apples allowed sat navs to use carplay assuming the TomTom app has been updated to support then you don't need to mount your phone all you'll need to do is setup carplay

EDIT:
just checked the TomTom forums and they're planning an update to support Carplay early next year

[Bob]

I've only used the SatNav once just to try it out. I found it was OK, the spoken directions were clear and it was easier to use than the one in my Q3 and it appears to have more features.

[Rifleman]

I’ve just spent the last 2hrs playing around with the Satnav in the new car while parked up on the drive
My conclusion is it’s complete garbage and not fit for purpose and that’s before I try it out on the road!
If it had been a extra cost option I’d demand my money back!!

The interface is terrible. Once you choose a destination It doesn’t show you the planned route from A to B, just shows you where you are starting from. No option to see an overview of the route it is going to take, you have to manually zoom the map right out until you can see both the start point and destination. Seriously?

Tried searching for a few destinations the locations of which I know well, about 200 miles away from home. Majority of results are best described as “somewhere in the vicinity of” rather than an accurate location.

I had expected better from a premium brand manufacturer. Looks like I’ll be back to sticking a TomTom unit on the windscreen or probably buy it for my iPhone. So no map in the driver display for me...

I tried the Volvo support site, that was a complete waste of time and no use what so ever.
Oh yes, map updates don’t work either. Download center says there are map updates available but when I tried to load them it just says they are too big to download, visit the support site. I give up!

That’s a bit of a rant!

You can check the route by selecting turn by turn from the list. That will st least list the route for you. Ok it doesn’t show a visual but gives you an idea.

Yes some of the map updates will require downloading via the internet and not the car. It is annoying when you get update messages then have to download manually but obviously the size is big occasionally.

It’s definitely not complete garbage. I’ve used google maps and Apple maps for years and have always preferred google but 9/10 the one in the car is good enough in my opinion (well for me anyway).

Hi Senwar.

Yes, it was quite a rant I'll admit. It was a rant born out of almost 40 years of experience as a Software Engineer!

It was made clear to me very early on that the Human/Machine interface can make or break a product. It's a lesson I've passed down to many young engineers through the years. If you get the interface right the user will enjoy the experience of using it. If you get it wrong then all the little niggles and inconveniences of being forced into finding workarounds to get at the information you really want build up over time, it then becomes a chore to use rather than a pleasure leading to a dissatisfied customer and a dissatisfied customer tends not to come back for more.

Granted "over time" in my case was only a few days and perhaps a little harsh, I didn't expect perfection, but the problems I found were so basic that it really got to me. I'll put Volvo's customer service to the test and see If I can get any response from them...

[Rifleman]

So I’ve been using the sat nav for every journey over the last week to give it a fair trial.

I have to humbly retract my “not fit for purpose” comment in my original rant
Once you get past the annoying quirks of the setting of the destination the route choice and guidance instructions are perfectly adequate I think. Just a couple of late voice instructions to exit a multi lane roundabout but it had already said what exit to take when joining the roundabout so no problem really.

I will be taking a trip down to Cornwall next week so will get the chance to try it out over a longer distance and over unfamiliar roads. A better test than my regular commute...