Yaris Cross - advice appreciated

[RonYarisX]

Hi.  Considering the YarisCross.  I've a couple of questions I can't find the answer to. Any advice greatly appreciated.

1: Infotainment:  Brochure says Excel receives 9"infotainment whilst others receive 8".  9" has wireless Android auto, 8" makes no mention of it being wireless. Is that right? However if you add the city pack to the Excel, the brochure says you're downgraded back to the 8" screen. That size I don't care about, but does that mean you loose out on wireless Android auto?

2: Auto Parking: Auto Parking seems to be part of the city pack. What's the necessary steps for Auto parking?  From my days of driving Fords, I found AutoParking a pain-in-th-butt as you had to go thru screen menus to tell the system what you want to do. I'd never have it on a Ford. However on VW cars, all I do is press a single button on the console and the system will find a space then work out if it's parallel or 90degrees by itself. ( you can override it off course, but it's never failed to detect a parking space yet ). The VW system is so simple to operate. But can't find any info on how Toyota's system works.

3: Future map updates:  Again on VW systems, I can go to the VW portal, download the latest maps on to USB and then update the map in my car. I think it's something like 10years of free map software I have. ( maps are updated twice a year ). I've read the Toyota website but I can't work out if there's an annual fee to access the updated maps or they too are free to download to USB.

Any advice much appreciated. Ta.

[Djcp]

Hi,I only know for certain about the City Pack and smaller screen 8". Unfortunately only the larger 9" screen is wireless Android/Apple

[CoopzSenior1962]

HI, I have a yaris cross with City pack and 8" screen.  Auto park is easy, press one button and you just press the brake and change from forward or reverse, car does the rest. Extra is the 360 camera views etc.  Ref the 8" or 9", as Djcp says the 8" does not have the wireless. Me personally, I do not worry about this as I do high miles so the wireless will drain the Battery so I end up charging it anyway.   End of day you have to think what aspect is best for your needs. Wireless system may get an upgrade to add the parking later.  I had to stick with the 8" and in the end I was glad I did. Plus the 8 inch has good old fashioned buttons for the most used parts of the info. Keeps a bit of nostalgia.

[Roy124]

I presume you mean wireless will drain the phone Battery.  A good point. 

The new smart connect certainly has draw backs.  It takes several presses to activate the map screen and I find the display colours  pastel shades.  The mapping and destination entry are superior. 

 

 

[IT Troll]

It is a real shame Toyota didn’t include a wireless charging pad on the U.K. model along with wireless connectivity. I added a third party charger which makes it super convenient.

Toyota do provide free map updates for a period (perhaps 5 years) after that there is a charge.

[RonYarisX]

Appreciate the replies, thanks. Must admit I use wireless connectivity in my present car and I've never had any issues or concerns with draining the Battery - guess that depends on what phone you use. The only issue in both our current cars is the phone needs to be close to the unit ( i.e. not locatedin the door pocket or back seat / boot for or the connection can be unreliable.

I'm still searching for a dealer who has an Excel on display or preferably on demo. Managed to dig out a couple of videos which highlights other possible concerns.

 

[Roy124]

My Excel does not have wireless charging. 

Mind you, neither does my phone 😁

[RonYarisX]

On 10/4/2022 at 5:11 PM, CoopzSenior1962 said:

HI, I have a yaris cross with City pack and 8" screen.  Auto park is easy, press one button and you just press the brake and change from forward or reverse, car does the rest.

Found an Excel unfortunately without City Pack. I'm going to place an order the only issue I have is that City Pack.

I downloaded an Owners manual from Toyota website and trying to work out how the system works but I'm struggling. ( Manuals always do their best to confuse ! )  Can you help?

If I was going to say parallel park in a space on the left, what would be the procedure? The owners manual seems to suggest you stop alongside the parking space, push a button and then the car will drive itself fwd, driver selects reverse, and the car will reverse itself in to the space. Is that correct?

What if I was wanting to parallel park in to a space on the right side? How would that work?  In my current car, all I'd do is drive slowly past a line of cars on the right with my indicator on. The system waits until I'm past the space b4 telling me it's available so all I do is stop the car, select reverse and hey presto. The Toyota owners manual suggests auto parking would take longer than if you were manually parking the car - is that right?

[Yugguy1970]

Sounds like it.

I had park assist in the Focus, this had a rotary gear dial so you didn't have to change yourself. 

But you still had to tell it to start looking at spaces by pressing a button, drive past slowly so it could evaluate, then when it had chosen the space hold the park button down all the way through.

When looking for a space you used the indicator stalk to tell it which side to scan.

 

Only ever tried it once. Absolutely terrifying 🤣 bottled it halfway through and parked it myself.

[RonYarisX]

May have mentioned it above but I too had assist on a Focus back in 2013. It was used a couple of times then i gave up far too slow. The VW system takes no more time or effort than if I were parking the car myself.

As an added note, the Toyota Owners manual also says that if the cars you're parking between are close to the kerb then there's a risk of also hitting the kerb. Which makes me thing the Toyota system is using the cameras to assist auto parking. VW group models have sensors on the side of the car so even if the other cars were parked right against the kerb, the VW would detect the kerb itself. Never hit a kerb in the 6yrs I've been using VW's systems. The left door mirror also drops when reversing so you can see the kerb.

If both infotainment systems were the same I'd just order the city pack and if it wasn't going to work for me, so what. But I'd hate to downgrade the infortainment to the older / smaller system only to find I never use the park system. See where I'm coming from?

City pack also comes with birds eye view but from what I've seen so far on YouTube, the graphics look a bit naff - 80's computer game? Plus the switch to activate the camera is hidden out of view in a bank of switches on the lower right of the dash, so the chances of hitting the wrong button...  I think I'm talking myself out of the city pack 😀

[IT Troll]

Yeah, the kerb warnings in the manual completely put me of this option. Would be galling for it to kerb your brand new alloys.

Quote

• If an adjacent parked vehicle is narrow or parked extremely close to the curb, the position at which assistance will park the vehicle will also be close to the curb. If it seems likely the vehicle will collide with the curb or drive off of the road, depress the brake pedal to stop the vehicle, and then press the Advanced Park main switch to disable.
• Assistance will guide the vehicle to a position which matches the adjacent parked vehicle even if there is an obstruction, difference in height, or curbstone in the parking space. If it seems likely the vehicle will collide with anything, depress the brake pedal to stop the vehicle, and then press the Advanced Park main switch to disable.

 

[Roy124]

And regardless, do check the kerbs.  There is a small town road, 30 min max so frequently a slot available.  Beware!  The kerb stands about 8-9 inches and there is a marked camber near the kerb.  It is too easy to crunch a rear end of wheel.

[RonYarisX]

Problem solved. Ordered a GR only to find auto parking isn't available as an option. 🤣

Thanks to everyone for their input - Ta