Sat Nav

[Scapegoat]

I am in the process of choosing my next company vehilcle and the Toyota Avensis is one option I have. In terms of cost in tax etc it is slightly more expensive than some of the other options but it is the only one that offers sat nav.

I do 40-50,000 miles a year across the UK and I wondered what the electronic traffic avoidance system actually does? I currently have traffic master which is good for pointing out traffic problems, but in the car on your own it is not always that easy to plan an alternative route.

Does the ETA function mean that the sat nav spots traffic problems and automatically navigates you round them? Or do you have to manually enter a new route yourself?

How reilable and effective is it?

I understand that there are two levels of sat nav on the avensis, a colour one and a more basic one. I think the model on our list only offers the basic system. Apart from the display does this lose anything else?

Any comments appreciated.

[stublee]

I am in the process of choosing my next company vehilcle and the Toyota Avensis is one option I have. In terms of cost in tax etc it is slightly more expensive than some of the other options but it is the only one that offers sat nav.

I do 40-50,000 miles a year across the UK and I wondered what the electronic traffic avoidance system actually does? I currently have traffic master which is good for pointing out traffic problems, but in the car on your own it is not always that easy to plan an alternative route.

Does the ETA function mean that the sat nav spots traffic problems and automatically navigates you round them? Or do you have to manually enter a new route yourself?

How reilable and effective is it?

I understand that there are two levels of sat nav on the avensis, a colour one and a more basic one. I think the model on our list only offers the basic system. Apart from the display does this lose anything else?

Any comments appreciated.

I used mine ( 02 Avensis Estate ) for the first time yesterday ..... excellent. Got me out of London , on to M1 + right to door no problem at all. Not used to all features but pleasant girl's voice always informs you in good time before turning , roundabout exit , traffic jams ahead etc.

Screen display shows road you are on , direction , approaching junction + roundabouts and I found it to be perfectly adequate. Even when I took a detour to find a watering hole it reset paremeters to where I was and directions to destination . Hard to see where you can go wrong. I 've no experience of other systems but the Toyota one ( basic ) seems to be all that I will ever need.

[Scapegoat]

Thanks Stublee.

You said it gives you plenty of warning about traffic jams. However if you are heading up the M1 and it tells you there is a 5 miles jam, does the system then alter its route to take you round the jam.

If so is this automatic, or does it give you the option to say yes/no, or does it offer multiple routes for you to choose between?

If not, will it continue to dirsct you into the jam and leave it up to yourself to come up with an alternative?

[stublee]

Scapegoat

Did you get my reply .... think I sent it via e-mail when I meant to post to group . Still getting used to system - bit different than NG's which I usually use !

If not I will repost here

Cheers

[MarcusStone]

I have the new Avensis with the ETA and have clocked up 25,000 in the ten months I have had it. The ETA is on the whole very good. The ETA signal is received automatically and it works in two ways.

1 - If you have an active route set, then the system will automatically locate and display all the traffic problems on your route. It gives you distance to problem, length of problem and type of problem. But thats not all. It will even ask you if you want to be navigated around the problem and again will do this automatically if you select yes.

2 - If you do not have an active route set, you can manually go into the system and find all the problems on any motorway or road. This also is quite useful but obviously you do not get any reroute facility.

The success of the system depends very much on how up to date the signal it is receiving is and in this regrd I have found it lacking. On many occassions I have arrived at a point where there is supposed to be a problem only to find a clear road. Also I have driving along, smug in the knowledge that there are no problems on my route, only to find end up sitting in a massive traffic jam.

One last thing on the sat-nav part. I am on the road visiting potential customers most of my time and the sat-nav is fantastic. It has never let me down and is very powerful. One niggle - you cannot enter a postcode destination into it.

Hope this helps you

[Scapegoat]

Thanks Stublee (yes I got the mail message) and Macus Stone.

Comments very much appreciated. Also any other views welcomed.

Marcus - you mention that its a little unreliable i.e. warnings when none are needed, and misses others. Traffic master that I currently use is also a little like this - do you have any experience of the TM system and if so how it comapres to the ETA?

[tezza]

I have experience of both systems.

The Trafficmaster system does seem to report more accurately but it does get it wrong sometimes. The useful feature was the estimated delay time which went all the way up to "AVOID"

The TNS guidance also has faults ranging from calling Skelmersdale - Skelmerside, to getting me totally lost in Oldham by constantly recalculating.Sometimes I also get a blank screen on startup.

The traffic avoidance seems to be a waste of time. Every time so far it has warned me of an incident, I get there to be told that it has cleared. I dont know how often it updates itself but something needs improving.

[malb]

Read the stuff on ETA with interest - I have full colour sat nav but do not seem to get any warning of traffic jams? Do I have the right version/system? I have a T4 Avensis but paid the 750 to upgrade the sat nav. Grateful for any advice!

[redordead]

I have gone for the full colour upgrade too but for some bizarre reason it does not come with ETA.

[Starensis]

My comments for what they are worth!

I have the standard TNS 200 in my Avensis, without ETA. I find the Nav side useful, however, it does sometimes make me wonder why it took me a certain route.

I have a 2001 CD, which will need upgrading fairly soon. This may be the reason why it gets a little confused from time to time.

I've asked dealers about ETA & fitting it to my car. Their comments were " Don't waste your money, It's not that good"! I tend to agree with them as it does not always give you correct info.

The " Turn by turn" system is handy, but is it worth paying extra for a colour screen? The decision is yours!!

[CodeWizard]

I have also gone for a T4 with full colour sat nav. As for ETA, it is as accurate as the traffic reports you get on the radio!

I suppose with the full colour map, the argument goes you can see alternative routes to get out of heavy traffic and you can't do that with turn-by-turn. But it would be nice if the system at least showed where the jams where so that an alternative route could be taken BEFORE getting in to the heavy traffic.

Personally, I prefer to know where I am at any given time, hence I went for the map option.