Seriously? Never mind the obtuse steering-wheel interface (or hand-held remote that isn't much better) for the navigation system, but this photo clearly shows a FAIL in terms of scaling the real-time traffic info to the map size. To my eye, the red arrows would seem to point to areas where the real-time traffic display is worthless: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, oh, and over there.
Chief Road Test Editor, Chris Walton @ 11,580 miles
wobbly_ears says:
08:18 AM, 02/11/10
Needs a big FAIL stamp on this.
Does Volvo do any QA/QC on any of their vehicles?? Why not just get Garmin to design you a big-screened GPS unit rather than this monstrosity? And they have the audacity to charge 2k premium for this??
No wonder Volvo is where it is.
jstandefer says:
08:28 AM, 02/11/10
Shall I continue on my anti-Volvo rant, or is everyone tired of it already? I'll just say this... this XC60 navigation is a BIG improvement over the navigation system that was in the '06 S60 R that we had for a bit. Sad, but true.
e90_m3 says:
08:36 AM, 02/11/10
And I thought my 08 i-Drive was bad.
(Actually it's not that bad. Once you get used to the user interface it's OK. Traffic warning is REALLY annoying if you live in a major urban area, though. The nav will warn you and recommend alternate routes even if there's the slightest bit of traffic on the road. For urban areas perhaps the nav programming should have higher threshold for "congestion"?)
carguy622 says:
08:40 AM, 02/11/10
Looks like I'm playing a video game on my Apple ][ GS.
bkochuk says:
08:47 AM, 02/11/10
I can't think of a better visual to sum up traffic in LA...
santiagofdz says:
08:51 AM, 02/11/10
The eventual ubiquity of smartphones with gps built in should change this, I wouldn't mind betting car's nav systems will eventually just become a big screen/speakers for them. Why not just program a route in your phone or upload it from your computer, then have the phone download the info in your car, you select it via the phone's screen or the car, and voilá! Your ready to go.
Google maps is open source, so if a company wants to do it, just make the hardware happen, tinker the code and go.
subytrojan says:
08:51 AM, 02/11/10
Ha! Great one, Chris!
California knows how to party! California...
wobbly_ears says:
08:58 AM, 02/11/10
@santiagofdz,
Google Maps is NOT open source. The maps are proprietory but Google has developer APIs for non-Google developers to use (Bing Maps as well). But Google puts restrictions on how the map data can be used (Bing does that as well).
But I don't discount that in the next 1-2 years, you'd see Google Maps powered OEM GPS units running Android. Infact, I rather welcome it!
lowmilelude says:
09:41 AM, 02/11/10
Volvo sez: Just stay home. It's safer that way.
fuhteng says:
09:45 AM, 02/11/10
Even if that is a bit of computer hyperbole, that is the reason I would never, ever, live close to a mammoth city like LA or NY, or even Chicago or Houston.
bodyblue says:
10:39 AM, 02/11/10
Gee the traffic is bad in so Cal..........Nav systems are really not needed anyway.....the best real time info is the REAL TIME traffic reports on good old free AM radio. Turn off the I-pods...the CDs and the MP3s and come back to the original nav system.
canddmeyer says:
01:24 PM, 02/11/10
Now that's hilarious!
djd352 says:
01:28 PM, 02/11/10
+1santiagofdz, at first I really wanted an in car navigation in my current car, but just could not justify the cost. In order to get Nav, I would have had to upgrade to a higher trim level and then pay $2000, so it comes out to $6000 extra for things I did not really want! Anyway, I thought I would just get a garmin etc, but instead decided to get the TomTom app for iphone, and couldn't be happier. Not only is it just as good as any other portable Nav I have used, but I always have it with me. There have been numerous times that I have been with friends and we needed directions, and the TomTom app came to the rescue. Now, the only thing that could make this better was just what you said: the automakers need to start putting in big screens in their cars with AV in cables. We already do it with audio, why not with video? Our iphones and ipod touches already have the ability to output video, they already have music, video, nav, and a data connection, so why not just design a cradle for them in cars?
braco says:
03:07 PM, 02/11/10
@wobbly_ears
I think I saw that the new A8 will have Google Earth based navigation.
makakio says:
03:26 PM, 02/11/10
Hahaha - LA sucks.
cr_driver says:
08:37 AM, 02/12/10
+100
wmfamily says:
09:06 AM, 02/14/10
Please. What is this post supposed to show? Do you really navigate with ANY navigation system set with a scale that is the equivalent of low earth orbit?