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This makes me a feel a lot better about choosing a Toyota over a Tesla back in 2019. The one unforgivable thing about the Toyota is the infotainment system. Wh

This makes me a feel a lot better about choosing a Toyota over a Tesla back in 2019. The one unforgivable thing about the Toyota is the infotainment system. What a blight on humanity. But otherwise, such a great car. I’ve never really liked cars until this thing. It’s so comfortable, reliable, cheap to maintain, and makes all of our trips like camping and mountain biking such a joy. The Tesla would have been such a headache in comparison, I think. At the time I was certain it would be the other way around, but charging networks weren’t sufficient in the places we travel yet. I’m glad that’s the way it went now.

ryandrake 3y ago
Toyota has never understood infotainment software. It’s my one and only complaint of the brand after owning many of their cars. They need to just give up.
- croutonwagon 3y ago
  I never understood why a car company would WANT to do better than a software company. Just make something with fully integrated CarPlay or Android auto with a failsafe for rentals or those without phones that don’t want to pair. If you want the fully featured maps, guidance just pair your phone. Done. CarPlay is leagues beyond anything I have seen otherwise in an infotainment system.
  - gonzo41 3y ago
    I actually suspect this is a cultural thing with Japan and feature phones being a pretty dominant thing. Maybe they just don't see the priority in Carplay.
    - nox100 3y ago
      feature phones are not a dominate thing in japan. https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r04/html/nd238110.html https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r04/ht... 86% of the population owns a smartphone. That's higher than the USA
    - fomine3 3y ago
      Car navigation unit for Japan was great (still great for navigation functionality), so perhaps people don't need CarPlay than other countries where car navi unit is poor. Though now most companies sell their car with "display audio" unit with CarPlay support.
    - lobsterthief 3y ago
      I dunno—Subaru figured it out.
fnord77 3y ago
which model Toyota?
- cyberax 3y ago
  4Runner
- steve_adams_86 3y ago
  It’s a 2017 Highlander.
croutonwagon 3y ago
Even Toyota is moving in that direction. They put their remote start under a subscription model and to my knowledge haven’t backed off it despite the initial backlash. [1] And GM is removing CarPlay and android auto entirely from their head units. Under the guise of “safety”.[2] Frankly unless consumers react strongly, I don’t see the car industry righting the ship with their anti consumer crap. I have a 2009 Toyota. Arguably the sweet spot for features. Have a backup camera integrated into the tailgate but minimal otherwise computerized stuff. The A/C controls are the traditional 3 dial setup which is ideal for me, I can adjust it without looking down at all. I had to pull over to turn off the heat when I borrowed my in-laws F-150 for a day. I did swap the head unit for a kenwood with wireless CarPlay and integrated dashcam. Given what I had seen from new models, I’m going to be sticking with my 09 Tacoma for a while longer at least. Even my wife’s 2018 Honda Pilot had surging issues at low RPMs that was caused by dirty transmission fluid. Nothing that would throw an error, luckily my mechanic had just seen the same issues before. Her car has had more issues than mine honestly. [1] https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-remote-start-into-a-subscription-service https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-... [2] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/gm-confirms-its-dropping-apple-carplay-and-android-auto-from-2024-evs/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/gm-confirms-its-droppin...
TacticalCoder 3y ago
> This makes me a feel a lot better about choosing a Toyota over a Tesla back in 2019. To anyone not into cars I'll give a simple advice: unless you really do a lot of high-speed highway driving (that'd be 80mph+ / 130km/h+, european highways speed), simply buy a Toyota. I don't think you can go very wrong buying a Toyota. And this comes as a german cars lover. The only reason wife traded her Toyota CH-R for a BMW is because we do lots of (european) highway driving and we felt the CH-R was too noisy on the highway (at 80 mph: at 55 mph it's totally fine). Buy a Toyota, make sure to do the maintenance needed in official Toyota dealership so you can extended the Toyota warranty for as long as possible. And you're good to go.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  Or the Lexus version of the Toyota with a few hundred kilos of extra sound proofing, for quiet highway driving.
- mathiasgredal 3y ago
  Unless you want functioning airbags: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/12/21/toyota-calls-back-112-million-vehicles-following-airbag-glitch https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/12/21/toyota-calls-ba...
roflyear 3y ago
Right? It's remarkable seeing people here defending Tesla while saying "I've only had a few major issues in four years" I've had a Hyundai for ten years and literally crashed it into a tree and it had no major issues for five years after that (and I gave it away and it ran for another five until it protected someone from a head on collision!). Now I'm on a ten year old Honda and haven't don't anything except regular maintenance. It's wild to see people saying they have only had a few issues with a car a couple of years old. That's a problem!!
- nucleardog 3y ago
  My Subaru is a decade old now. The air conditioner clutch went after 6 years. That’s it. That’s the entire list of what I’ve had to do outside of regular fluid changes and basic consumables (e.g., break pads). Subaru is generally not near the top of the list as far as reliability. And my car should be one of their less reliable models as it’s the turbocharged sports sedan. And it’s had one issue in a decade. A few major issues in four years is lunacy.
  - roflyear 3y ago
    Absolutely, I have a 2012 Honda now and I can't remember any major issues. Maybe there was one "issue" like ignition coils or something, but I actually don't think so?
  - MonaroVXR 3y ago
    I've the feeling a lot of people trash the car itself and modifying it Of course it's going to be unreliable

ryandrake 3y ago

Toyota has never understood infotainment software. It’s my one and only complaint of the brand after owning many of their cars. They need to just give up.

croutonwagon 3y ago
I never understood why a car company would WANT to do better than a software company. Just make something with fully integrated CarPlay or Android auto with a failsafe for rentals or those without phones that don’t want to pair. If you want the fully featured maps, guidance just pair your phone. Done. CarPlay is leagues beyond anything I have seen otherwise in an infotainment system.
- gonzo41 3y ago
  I actually suspect this is a cultural thing with Japan and feature phones being a pretty dominant thing. Maybe they just don't see the priority in Carplay.
  - nox100 3y ago
    feature phones are not a dominate thing in japan. https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r04/html/nd238110.html https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r04/ht... 86% of the population owns a smartphone. That's higher than the USA
  - fomine3 3y ago
    Car navigation unit for Japan was great (still great for navigation functionality), so perhaps people don't need CarPlay than other countries where car navi unit is poor. Though now most companies sell their car with "display audio" unit with CarPlay support.
  - lobsterthief 3y ago
    I dunno—Subaru figured it out.

fnord77 3y ago

which model Toyota?

cyberax 3y ago
4Runner
steve_adams_86 3y ago
It’s a 2017 Highlander.

croutonwagon 3y ago

Even Toyota is moving in that direction. They put their remote start under a subscription model and to my knowledge haven’t backed off it despite the initial backlash. [1] And GM is removing CarPlay and android auto entirely from their head units. Under the guise of “safety”.[2] Frankly unless consumers react strongly, I don’t see the car industry righting the ship with their anti consumer crap. I have a 2009 Toyota. Arguably the sweet spot for features. Have a backup camera integrated into the tailgate but minimal otherwise computerized stuff. The A/C controls are the traditional 3 dial setup which is ideal for me, I can adjust it without looking down at all. I had to pull over to turn off the heat when I borrowed my in-laws F-150 for a day. I did swap the head unit for a kenwood with wireless CarPlay and integrated dashcam. Given what I had seen from new models, I’m going to be sticking with my 09 Tacoma for a while longer at least. Even my wife’s 2018 Honda Pilot had surging issues at low RPMs that was caused by dirty transmission fluid. Nothing that would throw an error, luckily my mechanic had just seen the same issues before. Her car has had more issues than mine honestly. [1] https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-remote-start-into-a-subscription-service https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-... [2] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/gm-confirms-its-dropping-apple-carplay-and-android-auto-from-2024-evs/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/gm-confirms-its-droppin...

TacticalCoder 3y ago

> This makes me a feel a lot better about choosing a Toyota over a Tesla back in 2019. To anyone not into cars I'll give a simple advice: unless you really do a lot of high-speed highway driving (that'd be 80mph+ / 130km/h+, european highways speed), simply buy a Toyota. I don't think you can go very wrong buying a Toyota. And this comes as a german cars lover. The only reason wife traded her Toyota CH-R for a BMW is because we do lots of (european) highway driving and we felt the CH-R was too noisy on the highway (at 80 mph: at 55 mph it's totally fine). Buy a Toyota, make sure to do the maintenance needed in official Toyota dealership so you can extended the Toyota warranty for as long as possible. And you're good to go.

MichaelZuo 3y ago
Or the Lexus version of the Toyota with a few hundred kilos of extra sound proofing, for quiet highway driving.
mathiasgredal 3y ago
Unless you want functioning airbags: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/12/21/toyota-calls-back-112-million-vehicles-following-airbag-glitch https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/12/21/toyota-calls-ba...

roflyear 3y ago

Right? It's remarkable seeing people here defending Tesla while saying "I've only had a few major issues in four years" I've had a Hyundai for ten years and literally crashed it into a tree and it had no major issues for five years after that (and I gave it away and it ran for another five until it protected someone from a head on collision!). Now I'm on a ten year old Honda and haven't don't anything except regular maintenance. It's wild to see people saying they have only had a few issues with a car a couple of years old. That's a problem!!

nucleardog 3y ago
My Subaru is a decade old now. The air conditioner clutch went after 6 years. That’s it. That’s the entire list of what I’ve had to do outside of regular fluid changes and basic consumables (e.g., break pads). Subaru is generally not near the top of the list as far as reliability. And my car should be one of their less reliable models as it’s the turbocharged sports sedan. And it’s had one issue in a decade. A few major issues in four years is lunacy.
- roflyear 3y ago
  Absolutely, I have a 2012 Honda now and I can't remember any major issues. Maybe there was one "issue" like ignition coils or something, but I actually don't think so?
- MonaroVXR 3y ago
  I've the feeling a lot of people trash the car itself and modifying it Of course it's going to be unreliable