Avensis 2012

March 4, 2012

has any1 got the new avensis 2012 yet jus want to no how good they are,i hav jus ordered avensis 2012 2.2 auto Tspirit will get the delivery end of march,its got the touch and go plus in it. can any1 tell me what what it capable of and can u upload any 3rd party software to it to make it even more betta

March 11, 2012

I've got the 2.0 T-Spirit with Touch and Go Plus. Its only day 3 since I got it so still trying to find everything out.

I haven't found a way of uploading apps apart from the very few on offer (most chargeable) on the Toyota T&G website. The T&G seems to be not bad but not complete. The main thing I have found is that the buttons are alot smaller than the old Avensis and hence you have to be quite accurate in your jab at the screen whilst driving! Also note the screen is smaller than the old Avensis.

It has Sat Nav of course, has a USB socket for a USB Flash Drive or I-Pod or other MP3 player. According to the manual (which is out of date) it appears that the functionality with a USB Flash drive is the same as with an i-pod so doesn't need to extra expense. It can read upto 9999 tracks from a USB (with max of 200 per folder). It displays image from the MP3 file plus the main three ID3 tags. It does not work with a USB hub - only sees the last one added. There is no facility to upload anything to the car's hard disk. The USB socket is powered (and hence can charge devices).

The bluetooth telephone connection requires a supported smartphone to get the best out of it. I use a Blackberry Torch and this links emails and texts but not calendar. The emails take about 10 minutes to load onto screen and then when you turn the engine off you have to start all over again! Texts are a little quicker (not much - perhaps because I have fewer on the phone) but same problem of not storing. This is a poor implementation of the feature in my view - should load them one by one or just the last few or something, or even if it did it in the background when the phone is connected that would be better. It is able to read emails aloud but once done this you have to go back to the list and select the next one - a simple next button would be very helpful. The email function does not work from anything except the touch-screen itself.

The speech commands work much better than the old Avensis and it can generally work out who I want to call. This is lucky as the big buttons of 32 speed-dials are gone in favour of a list of favourites in alphabetical order. The phone book is loaded from the telephone (and can be reloaded) and stored on disk, therefore if you add new ones to the phone they dont appear in the car until you reload. It does take the images against the contact and displays them in a thumbnail image centre of the screen (rather too small considering not much else on the screen).

If you have the right phone then there is a Google map search to find local POIs. It says it requires a "tethered" connection so this may be an extra cost with many UK mobile providers (have yet to find that one out!).

The Sat Nav is a serious upgrade on the 2009-11 Avensis and now has POIs and Speed Camers etc. Also shows the speed limit on the screen and she can be set to warn you when you go over the limit. However you still need to press the OK on the warning message on the map whenever you start the engine. You can use Google Maps "send to car" facility to load destinations (assuming the right tethered phone again) but you have to collect them from the car (i.e. its not automatic). I haven't found a way of loading my own POIs which would be helpful although I thought I had read somewhere that you could (but cannot find it anywhere now so must be mistaken).

I also have the DAB upgrade which records the last few minutes of the station (40 I think?). You go back in time by turning the tuning knob when in Timeshift mode - however if you accidentally turn the knob in Tuning mode you have changed station and hence lost that recording.

I think I like the car. The 2.0 diesel is responsive and quiet (but they always are when new). The same annoying design issues are there as before - why doesn't the car auto-lock as you walk away from it? - why doesn't the handbrake auto-engage when you turn the engine off? - why are there only two power sockets and none in the back or boot?