VW Sat-Nav - Why Bother?

[XZO]

I usually just plug in my phone and use Android Auto maps but today as the Caravelle is new to me I thought I would simply setup a few of my regular destinations for practice.

How painful is the voice command in VW sat nav. I nearly tore my remaining hair out. It spent most of the time mis-understanding me or trying to send me to the wrong town.

The maps are up to date and it works OK but Google is so much easier.

So - my free tip for the day is - use Android Auto or the Apple version for a much better stress free existance.

 

[Roadrunner]

A phone is what it is a phone not a sat navI use mine fro th eperpose it was intended though I do use it to take photos with. I never had the VW satnav as I had bought a Tomtom plus I thought I had paied enough as it was. Must admit I think its a pain having to update the VW satnav by downloading to an SD card at least with my Tomtom I just plug it in to the laptop

 

[XZO]

A phone is what it is a phone not a sat navI use mine fro th eperpose it was intended though I do use it to take photos with. I never had the VW satnav as I had bought a Tomtom plus I thought I had paied enough as it was. Must admit I think its a pain having to update the VW satnav by downloading to an SD card at least with my Tomtom I just plug it in to the laptop

A phone is much more than a phone nowadays.

I don't use the phone screen for the sat nav, it is connected via the radio head unit and displays the maps on the radio screen. It has full voice control so never any need to touch the phone when driving.

If I want directions all I have to do is say: "Hey Google, directions to ………." and it will find it and set the sat nav on the screen.

As an example you could Just say " Hey Google directions to Harrods" and it works.

My phone is fully connected to my PC, data storage, music NAS, etc so whatever device I am using whether PC, tablet or phone I can access anything, anywhere, anytime. It's awesome.

 

[oldiebut goodie]

My phone is connected to the wall socket and that's it!

 

[rod_vw]

Having used the VW offering in our Highline T6, Waze and Google maps on an Android phone I can safely say that the VW Sat Nav is total rubbish!

The VW Sat Nav doesn't seem to know which way you are travelling on a motorway and will warn you of problems on the opposite carriageway, will tell you a motorway is closed when it obviously isn't, informs you of slow traffic when you have been stationary for five minutes. It's a complete waste of money at such an extortionate price. For the money they charge for it it should be dynamically updated instantly from all available external sources and not need manual updates that are only available six-monthly.

To quote an example of using Waze, yesterday we pulled into a French town that had the main street closed during the morning presumably for the market, as we entered the local municipal staff were clearing up the market items but until they re-opened the road Waze told us that we had to divert. That's the sort of journey information I for almost nil cost.
The VW system has no reliable speed limit warnings, doesn't display a real vehicle speed on screen. There are so many things that it could and should do for the price most of which are available free (except data charges) from many sources.

All of that rant has come from someone who has been a dedicated VW enthusiast for over fifty years!

 

[True Romance]

Yep also use a phone instead on the built in vw satnav which is just painful to use. Just got back from the USA and took an old phone used 'here we go' app with off line maps and worked fantastically.

 

[Lukavell]

Same here, can't argue with Google maps. I've got Waze but never used it yet, should probably try it next trip out. We've got VW maps on our Tiguan but its useless apart from motorway driving!

 

[Neil Nicholls]

Another vote for Waze here. By far the best system I have used and beats all the in-car systems I've used

 

[BognorMotors]

Waze/ Google maps vote via apple car play here too. I’m on a three week holiday around France and have only used the above, so much easier than the VW sat nav.

 

[rod_vw]

Waze/ Google maps vote via apple car play here too. I’m on a three week holiday around France and have only used the above, so much easier than the VW sat nav.

I've just come home from five weeks in France, Belgium, Germany and Holland mostly using Aires, Search for Sites campsite and Aires locator interfaces with both Waze and Google maps which makes navigation even easier.

 

[PlanB]

It's a complete waste of money at such an extortionate price. For the money they charge for it it should be dynamically updated instantly from all available external sources and not need manual updates that are only available six-monthly.

Same with any Garmin or Satmap hand held GPS .
Hundreds of pounds for a device with a touchscreen inferior to that of a £100 phone. Dreadful mapping unless you spend more hundreds on OS maps.

I paid nearly £500 for a Garmin Zumo 660 motorcycle Satnav - Not only did I have to pay an extra £80 for updates, I had to buy an SD card as the internal storage wasn't big enough.
I will say the information on the Zumo screen is excellent and easy to customise, whereas the VW Satnav screen is useless.

 

[Higgidav]

As its a rainy day I thought I would update my maps. I have gone through the automatic process which failed. The log is
here.

 

[Skyliner33]

Did you read the very in depth thread on the forum about how to do it?

 

[Higgidav]

I thought I would try the automatic method which failed twice. I have managed to update it now using the manual method of extracting and copying the files across to the card.

 

[Deaston]

Do people think the T6.1 will have rubbish satnav too?

 

[Lukavell]

I can't imagine it being much better but here's to hoping!

 

[andys]

I really don’t see the point in using factory sat nav now CarPlay/Android auto is here, presumably standard on the 6.1?

 

[Deaston]

I can't find any info on CarPlay/Android - the only info is about something called VW We Connect or something.

 

[Nev-D]

Do people think the T6.1 will have rubbish satnav too?

Hi, Not sure about my van but it is a 2018 T32 and I have used the sat nav for three long journeys now and every time the sat nav has cocked up, getting me into tight streets that only farmers would use and in one case we were about 2 miles from home and i tried the sn to get me to asda where we live beside just to check it out and I could not believe the route the sn was trying to take me on, they must think the fuel is for nothing and it tried to take us on a 7 mile plus route instead of the closest which would have been 2 miles, I am going to do what another member done and that is to use my phone and connect it to the media system and use that but I have got to find out how to do that lol

 

[Nigel W]

Hi, Not sure about my van but it is a 2018 T32 and I have used the sat nav for three long journeys now and every time the sat nav has cocked up, getting me into tight streets that only farmers would use and in one case we were about 2 miles from home and i tried the sn to get me to asda where we live beside just to check it out and I could not believe the route the sn was trying to take me on, they must think the fuel is for nothing and it tried to take us on a 7 mile plus route instead of the closest which would have been 2 miles, I am going to do what another member done and that is to use my phone and connect it to the media system and use that but I have got to find out how to do that lol

Hi, if you go into the setting menu you can change the route calculation between short, fast and economical. Which one you have selected does/can dramatically change the route it will use - I just use the economical setting and generally it calculates a decent route.
You can, if you wish, tell it to use all three and display them all on the screen so you can pick which one you want before you set off - that way you can see the routes before you set off and select the one you want.
If you want to use your phone then you will need to have paid the extra for ‘app connect’ or have it retro installed - you can easily check by going into the menu setting and scrolling to the app connect setting.
Hope this helps