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Toyota Avalon Navigation System

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Comments

  • bobu1bobu1 Member Posts: 6
    Paying for software upgrade is throwing good money after bad. I'm riding out my poor decision for the next couple of years then getting another Garmin in whatever I buy for my wife.
  • avvyavvy Member Posts: 9
    Thank you.

    Your answer prompted me to read page 260. I don't know why I locked my brain on 92-93 Octane.

    Well, I'll now be able to save a few bucks on gasoline.
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    Using “premium” on “standard” compression ratio engines is a costly misconception, as is the idea of getting more horsepower out of these engines when using premium fuel.

    Octane grades (87,91,93) don’t represent “good, better, best”; they simply measure the fuel’s resistance to pre-ignition, which is a condition present in engines with an 11 or higher compression ratio. The 2GR-FE on the Avalon has a 10.8 compression ratio; nearly there but not quite. If the manual say premium fuel is “required” then I’d use 93; otherwise I wouldn’t. Switch to regular my friend and start saving money.

    About your wipers: the story given to you by the dealer is all B.S. When replacing this part on the Avalon, only the rubber blades (without the metal structures) need to be replaced. Cost per blade? About $7 at the Toyota dealer in my city.

    Amaury (mechanical engineer)
    ’08 Limited
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    "Question: on the map screen, there is black circle (with four small lines at the n,s,e,w positions). As we understand it, you are supposed to be able to move this icon (which we can do) over a POI, and it will tell us information about that POI. We have been unable to figure out this maneuver, as the system doesn't allow us to place the circle directly over the POI, and thus we can't get information (business name, address, etc) about it."

    Assuming you have the POI icon displayed:
    1) Press "Enter" to display a set of menu options. Depending on your current map mode, you may have “Map Scroll” as one of your menu choices. Select this option to start moving the cursor. Please note that map modes (displays) affect which options are available at a given time, since the menu is not static but dynamic. Your target here is to be able to move the cursor (your black circle w/four small lines) anywhere on the current map display
    2) Place cursor over POI.
    3) Press “Enter”. To the right of the map display a set of options will appear, “Guide” is one of them. Choosing “Guide” will display the name of the POI.
    4) Press “Enter” (again) to display all information about that POI (location, telephone no., etc.)

    The GPS manual does not say everything; in fact, it says very little about how to get the most out of the GPS. If you live in NYC, I’ll be more than happy to show you all the INs and OUTs of this system.

    Amaury
    ’08 Limited
  • gabbottgabbott Member Posts: 10
    Replying to jordanfl;

    The next time my wife leaves it in the garage long enough, I'll see if I can locate that spot, by the switch.

    Sounds like we should put some kind of raincoat over that cardboard box, to protect it better?

    Thanks...
  • gabbottgabbott Member Posts: 10
    Replying to Amauhry;

    Thanks for the information.
    Strange. I do the same procedure at a different time, and don't get to see the full information about the POI (different POI).

    We just need to play with it more, and re-read the book a few more times.

    Thanks for offering to give us some help. We are just west of there (you)....we are in Tucson.

    Who ever wrote the NAV Guide Book, doesn't speak our English. It appears that someone translated it from another language. It makes understanding the information difficult at times.

    Thank you...
  • gabbottgabbott Member Posts: 10
    Reply to jordanfl;

    I got another opportunity to look at the NAV unit in the trunk.

    I was unable to locate any type of "spot under the left side of the slide switch". I even used a mirror and flashlight.

    This will have to continue to be a mystery for now. It's not urgent. I'll just wait until I'm at the dealer, and ask them to show me.

    Thanks for the help....
  • tkaztkaz Member Posts: 69
    When you slide the cover to the right, there will be a small push button uncovered. It is easy to feel with your finger. Just push it until the DVD slides out.
    Tony
  • gabbottgabbott Member Posts: 10
    Reply to tkaz;

    Could we be talking about different year Avalon's?
    Ours is a 2008, and I didn't see any button in/around the slide cover.
    Would it be inside the area, just uncovered by the opened slide?
    If so, that could be why I missed it. Is it on the bottom or top of that opened area?
    If it's in there, it must be painted the same color as the surrounding stuff.
    I guess they try to hide it, so that us owners won't see it and play with it!
  • navguy1navguy1 Member Posts: 181
    First, make sure the DVD map disc in the navigation computer is 86271-3303X. The last digit doesnt matter since the higher it is the newer the map disc version.

    Second, it the correct DVD is loaded the navigation computer is starting to fail. Toyota does offer an out of warranty exchange unit but it will be pricey. The part number is 86841-53030-OW.
  • mikes.mikes. Member Posts: 337
    Is there a way to save off all the entries you have made in the NAV system? I just bought a new 08 and would love to transfer the 50 odd entries I have on my 05.
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    I don’t think there is. Marked Points along with other personalized information is stored on the Navigation ECU (a piece of hardware), which is attached to the car. This way, you can always update the navigation DVD while your personalize information remains intact. And I don’t think there’s a way of retrieving that information from the Nav ECU.

    Worth considering, if you deem it justifiable, is swapping the ECUs (old and new). It’s quite simple doing it.

    Amaury
    ’08 Limited
  • bobu1bobu1 Member Posts: 6
    My route preferenceces change without me changing them. Expressways, toll roads, etc. Anybody else experiencing this?
  • mikes.mikes. Member Posts: 337
    Swapping the NAV ECU, isn't there a generational change between the 05 and the 08? I think I'd rather have the new unit.
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    GPS hardware functionality has not changed between the ’05 and ‘08. I did “hear” someone saying that the late models Avalon do have some additional software options (since I don’t have an ’05 I can’t confirm). This addition, if true, can be retrofitted into an old model with a DVD map upgrade, I think.

    However, by replacing the new Nav ECU with an older unit you will be loosing the benefit of having a new laser pickup unit along with all its tracking drives, motors, gears, laser lens, etc. etc. etc. And these items do deteriorate over time.

    As I said previously, it is up to the owner to weight the options.

    Amaury
    ’08 Limited
  • soccerphsoccerph Member Posts: 3
    I somehow changed my distances on my Nav to metric. How do I change it back to miles? I've looked through the manual without finding anything on it.

    I have a 2006 Limited.

    Thanks,
    Jim
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    To get it back to the almost-obsolete English Units:
    1) Hit the "Menu" button
    2) Choose "Setup"
    3) Within "Setup" locate the "Distance" option and highlight the "Miles" unit.

    Done!

    Amaury
    '08 Limited
  • soccerphsoccerph Member Posts: 3
    Thanks, Amaury!

    Even with the directions, I still had trouble locating the "distance" option....didn't know there was a scroll function on that screen! And mine was scrolled down past that option!

    Well, it's done now........
  • sohrabsohrab Member Posts: 1
    I fondly imagined when I paid the extra $2000 or so, I would be getting a very good navigation system. I do not take many long trips, so it has taken me over a year to find out just how really lousy the Avalon voice command system is. I have lectured large classes, for over 40 years, and taken lead parts in many theatrical productions, sometimes in outdoor theaters, and over my long life I have often been flattered by compliments on my diction. I say this, not to boast about myself, but merely to emphasise the absurdity of the Toyota system. If I press the voice button and say, with all the clarity I can muster "Home" or "Go Home", after a short wait I get a response "Zooming in" or "Marking the Restaurants". How can Toyota charge so much for such a lousy bit of programming? I use the voice recognition program "NaturallySpeaking" and it works fantastically well. So accurate voice recognition is certainly possible. Toyota should REALLY be ashamed of its corporate self. And to make matters even worse, nowhere is there, among the many commands they offer, one like "scratch that" which, in NaturallySpeaking, kills the effect of the last (possible misinterpreted) command. I would love to meet the twit who did this programming, face to face, so I could express my feelings to the "source" of my frustration. I have written off this whole voice recognition system as a horrible waste of time and money, and lowered my opinion of Toyota many many notches.
  • fmflfmfl Member Posts: 16
    Do I ever agree that this Toyota Avalon navigation system is the world's worst piece of crap. I went from a wonderful Honda navigation system to this junk. Toyota should be the most ashamed company on this planet. And I am stuck with this nightmare!
  • generosegenerose Member Posts: 35
    .......I have written off this whole voice recognition system as a horrible waste of time and money, and lowered my opinion of Toyota many many notches.

    * PLEASE SEE MY POSTS 212& 215 REGARDING SOME FORM OF RESOULTION I GOT FROM TOYOTA. IT DIDN'T SOLVE THE POOR PERFORMANCE BUT I GOT A MONETARY RESOLUTION AFTER FIGURING OUT WHO TO CALL AND WHAT TO SAY.

    THEY ARE NOT VERY HELPFUL NOR ARE THEY WILLING TO ADMIT THAT THEIR PRODUCT IS FAIRLY CRAPPY TO SAY THE LEAST.
  • metro3379metro3379 Member Posts: 1
    I agree with the other post. I have been a loyal Toyota customer, at least I was. Many of you write that Toyota should be ashamed, however, the truth is that they don't care. I have bought my last Toyota. I see the writing on the wall, so to speak, and I accept the fact that I've been ripped off, but it won't happen again.
    Toyota is going by the way of other car dealers. After awhile, people will stop buying the cars, and as a result, sooner or later, Toyota will suffer the financial consequences.
  • ghammondghammond Member Posts: 1
    I have a 2003 Avalon XLS with JBL AM,FM/CD/Tape. I’d like to install a nav/CD/AM,FM/Bluetooth in the stock position. Anybody have any suggestions?
  • bwiabwia Member Posts: 2,913
    I have a 2003 Avalon XLS with JBL AM,FM/CD/Tape. I’d like to install a nav/CD/AM,FM/Bluetooth in the stock position. Anybody have any suggestions?

    Check crutcfield.com, they have an in-dash unit with GPS and XM radio capability.
  • flagman1flagman1 Member Posts: 3
    I think I'm reasonably intelligent but I can't figure out how to save or store a destination for future use. I've gone through the manual many times and can't find the answer. Can anyone help?
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    flagman,

    Unless you have reached or cancel your destination (route), the navigation system will keep that route active. Turning off/on the car a thousand times won’t do the trick; the system will still remember that there is a “pending” route (the one you haven’t reached for whatever reason; or the one(s) you entered without realizing it).

    Since this is how the system works in this respect, I realized that if I want to go to point “A” a week from now I can enter my destination right at this moment and have the system trace the route immediately. Go ahead; modify the route if you don’t like the one the system offered you. However, once the car is in motion you’ll soon realize there is a little problem: Until the day of your trip “A”, every time you ride your avy, the navigation system will be constantly re-routing you to the route leading to point “A”. But there is an easy fix for this, which is the direct answer to your question: once you enter your destination beforehand and the system draws the route, “SUSPEND” the guidance (either issue the voice command or hit the Menu button and choose “Suspend Guidance” option).

    When the day of the trip comes, issue a “RESUME GUIDANCE” command or use the Menu button. The route to point “A” will be there waiting for you.

    In the meantime, if you need to issue other destinations (routes) while route “A” is pending you can do that too. I think you can save up to 6 or 7 routes for future or immediate use (even reorder them as you please). I have done it up to 4.

    Search backward this tread. I have made some comments on the capability of the system. The Navigation excels in some areas, but it lags in others as well. And I also tell you this: The nav system is not as bad as many Avalon owners think.

    Amaury
    '08 Limited
  • generosegenerose Member Posts: 35
    to : Amaury
    '08 Limited

    Why you are so accepting of a grossly unsatisfactory system baffles me. Do you work for Toyota or are they paying you to campaign for them? To have paid the absurd price for a system that doesn't compare favorably with over the counter systems selling in the $300 range and still be enamored with the inferior overpriced system tells me that your reasoning has some other factor affecting it.
  • amauhryamauhry Member Posts: 55
    Hi there,

    I make a living dealing and solving difficult things on paper and out in the field. With this, I tell you that the Avalon's GPS is a bit cumbersome whereas most portable units dominating the market are not. Therefore this is a MINUS for Toyota.

    Although I have found most if not all the capabilities of the Avalon's GPS that does not necesseraly mean that I'm in love with it.

    And, no, I do not work for Toyota. My paycheck comes from a totally different institution.

    Amaury
    '08 Limited
  • fool1717fool1717 Member Posts: 8
    One small complaint -- The clock in the Avalon with nav gets its time from the GPS system. Daylight Savings Time has ended, but the GPS time did not change. I had to change the time on my clock manually.
  • gpsedgpsed Member Posts: 1
    Does anyone know if the 09 map disk is available and if it is an improvement on the 06 version??
  • fmflfmfl Member Posts: 16
    If you gathered all the idiots in the world in one place and told them to design a navigation system what they would come up with is now on the Toyota Avalon.
  • generosegenerose Member Posts: 35
    If you gathered all the idiots in the world in one place and told them to design a navigation system what they would come up with is now on the Toyota Avalon....
    :mad: and the 2005,2006,2007,2008 ...all the same junky system
  • nkalyannkalyan Member Posts: 11
    you are right just got a Avalon 08 did not expected that toyota would do cheap programming on a nav compare to honda got a 05 odyssey is a whole lot better than a toyota 08 Avalon, Engine on Avalon is excellent but the only bad about this Avalon is Nav and Bluetooth also sucks can't do thing on motion not even a passenger can put or change a destination, Also voice command sucks also don't know how many time does Avalon had to heard bad words from the owners...
  • generosegenerose Member Posts: 35
    also don't know how many time does Avalon had to heard bad words from the owners... ....

    MANY TIMES- SEE MY EARLIER POSTS
  • flagman1flagman1 Member Posts: 3
    I finally had it up to here with the nav system. I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 750 and it's fantastic! User friendly, accurate and dependable. I hate to think of the expensive piece of junk that sits unused behind my dash now, but that's too bad.
  • rscofieldrscofield Member Posts: 6
    We have a new '09 Avalon with Navigation. I drove the car in the dark for the first time and expected that the Nav screen would darken. Not so. It remained in Day mode and I had to turn the screen off as it was distracting. The manual tells how to set the screen to Day mode all the time but does NOT tell how to undo this feature unless I have missed it. The car was a demonstrator and I guess someone may have set this or we may have done so inadvertently. How do I retrieve the setting where the screen darkens when driving at nite?
    Thks,
    Russ
  • finfin Member Posts: 594
    Check the "instrument briteness knob" on the dash. If it is set to the max, plus a little click, the Nav screen will never go to nite mode. Turn it back to a more normal dash light setting and the Nav screen will resume the normal day/nite function. This works on the '07, not sure about yours, try it and see. Enjoy your Avy, great cars.. :)
  • rscofieldrscofield Member Posts: 6
    fin,
    Right you are my friend. Put a black sock over the dashboard sensor and voila! Night mode was working because I had backed off the "click" on the brightness knob. Turned it to the click and back to day mode. I really appreciate your help. I have read both the nav & owner's manuals and did not see anything about that feature in them.
    Thanks again!
    Russ
  • mike4217mike4217 Member Posts: 2
    Hi,
    Recently, vandals threw bricks through my side windows and I believe some of the smaller pieces of glass somehow lodged under the toggle knob on the navigation system. Now, when I try to press enter, it almost never works (it ends up scrolling right, left, up, down-switching to French- ARGH).
    I tried taking the unit out and apart, but it seems the toggle is connected to the circuit board.
    Any ideas?
    Thanks
  • jwboothjwbooth Member Posts: 27
    I see tons of posts thru the 08 Avalons, and then there are almost no posts beginning in 09.

    Did Toyota change/upgrade the Nav system including the voice recognition?

    Just test drove an 09 Avalon Limited with nav and loved it, but now considering passing if the Nav system is still a piece of junk.

    09 owners - are you happy with it?
  • seb5seb5 Member Posts: 1
    I bought an 08 and absolutely love it, except for the nav system. The woman's voice drives me up a wall. Searched the manual but could not find how to change the voice. Does anyone know?
  • bwinter314bwinter314 Member Posts: 1
    I have a 2007 Toyota Avalon. The Navigation manual is the worst thing I have ever seen.
    I succeded in entering some points of interest as "Marked", but I don't know how to activate a particular markd to begin taking me there. Can anyone help?

    Bernie
  • flagman1flagman1 Member Posts: 3
    The factory installed system in my 2008 Avalon is gathering dust as I've been using and enjoying my Garmin Nuvi for the past six months -- so user friendly and satisfactory in every way. What a waste the Toyota system is!
  • rscofieldrscofield Member Posts: 6
    OK, my '09 Avy Nav sucks - no argument there. I have a registered mark for my sons home in Raleigh, NC and it routes me down I-75. I would rather use I-64 and I see that I can modify my route after it's pulled up but then how do I save/register that preferred route? It's one of the 5 preset settings.
    Russ
  • tdemoullytdemoully Member Posts: 5
    Does anyone have a work around for the NAV system on a 2009 Avalon, to program :mad: while driving. Thanks in advance. If I could I would give the car back to Toyota because of this problem. $2000 and a piece of junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • fmflfmfl Member Posts: 16
    The company that makes "workarounds" is http://www.coastaletech.com/. But, they have avoided fixing the Avalon like it has bubonic plague. All the Avalon is good for is getting from point A to B. Between those two points it is pure frustration.
  • elsethelseth Member Posts: 3
    I have a 2006 Avalon with NAV--ver 5.1 and want to upgrade since there have been many street changes. Toyota wants $265 for new disc. Anybody find the disc from a third party for less?
  • allavalonsallavalons Member Posts: 67
    I've read all the comments on the Toyota Navigation System and have not had the problems many people have commented about on my 2005 Avy LTD. True that you can not program while moving, but can of course get to the preset destinations, etc, while driving, but not programming while driving isn't an issue for me because I would never try to do that. My navigator (long suffering wife) would no sooner try to program the navigation system that she would change a tire or oil so there is no chance my passenger is going to program anything.
    The voice commands generally work well, maybe I have less background noise or I speak clearly enough not to confuse the system. I do not like the way that you have to set icons and it would be nice to have a touch screen option but again I have not had any real problem with the joystick. Someone mentioned the voice is annoying and that I have to agree, we call her the NAGAGATOR.

    I recently purchased a 2009 Odyssey Touring which comes standard with Nav, Rear Entertainment System, Bluetooth, etc. All can be programmed with voice to some degree. The only exceptions are the required agreements when access the Nav, etc.

    I find the voice recognition to be as good or better than the Toyota and the voice is much less grating, so much so, that my wife even commented. I like the touch screen programming but their toggle joystick is very small and I can't make it work correctly.

    You can program while moving, and they go to great lengths to tell you that should only be done by the passenger, so I guess I will be programming when stopped, just as I do with the Toyota.

    The programming allows for 200 destinations and that is nice, and it keeps track of the previous 50 destinations so you have a short list to refer to if you should happen to use a lot of pre-programmed destinations. It also has a security feature that you can enter a PIN to protect your Home address in case someone you don't want to know where you live gets hold of your vehicle.

    I'm taking a 700 mile trip at the end of July, with a lot of destinations so I'll be using this system a lot and will complete my comparison after I have more experience.
  • tdemoullytdemoully Member Posts: 5
    Try this web site, this worked on my 2009 Avalon. This really helps the problem.

    http://www.navigationbypass.com/products/toyota_avalon.php
  • tdemoullytdemoully Member Posts: 5
    I just bought a 09 Avalon, and the nav system is terrible. No problems have been fix. If I could, I would return the car. It is so bad, ever time I get in the car it is frustrating. I will not buy another toyota. I have posted a web site that lists how to get to the override, this helps. But for $2000 this is terrible. Just bought a Magellan for $150 that puts the Toyota nav to shame. Good luck. I wonder if Toyota is aware of how much damage this is cause to their image.
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