Ford owners prefer factory infotainment over Android Auto

[Old Bear]

AA nearly always, as I'm a Waze fanboy. Just hold down the microphone button on the steering wheel and state where I want to go. Waze either gets it right off the bat or gives me a list to pick from. Additionally, I'm not paying SiriusXM theft rate. As I already have an Amazon Prime account, Amazon Music is nearly all I listen to. If I do want the cute lane listings for turns and such in town, I open up Google Maps in Waze.

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[JJSnell]

AA all the way. I prefer to listen to the music I want to listen to and not have to worry about crap quality and commercials.

I remember my phone was jacked up one morning driving home from work and out of my 25 minute drive, I only heard two songs play the entire trip listening to a local radio station. I almost wanted to put the truck into a ditch lol.

Load up a thumbdrive and put that sucker on shuffle... zero commercials and FLAC files will blow away any music you have including Apple lossless

 

[Hivolt]

I am a big Waze fan. It is easy to use and can show where cops and hazards are. I think they want us to pay for the ford nav after the trial period.

 

[HammaMan]

my biggest gripe, and the reason I dont use apple carplay is that when using google maps, you cant pinch and zoom , you must use the stupid +/- arrows or the right/left arrows etc. the Ford nav is much simple to zoom in or "look around" than google.

That's interesting, my google maps works just like it does on a tablet. Drag to move, pinch zoom and rotate, turn on sat view to have a good look around, etc...

The voice activation button on the steering wheel is handy in that a press can talk to the vehicle while a press and hold talks to the phone. I hope to soon have a personal Ai behind it to alert me about items I deem important (personal in the sense that it's hosted on my equipment and answers to me alone).

The only instance I'll use the built-in nav is for the mach-e and that's to precondition the batt on the way to a DC fast charger. That's rare though, I take the F150 for just about every trip I can't make in a full charge from home / office. Though if I need to get groceries or something I'll take MME for a return charging session due to the amount of free charging I have. Sitting for 30 minutes for ~160 miles of range is poo compare to the truck that will do over 600 miles for not even 10 minutes of gas.

 

[UGADawg96]

AA for Maps and Podcast/Pandora, but listen to SXM mostly via Sync.

 

[Wolf Man]

I thought I read somewhere, a while back (probably a forum thread), that we have to start paying for SYNC 4 NAV after 3 years. Is this correct? I mostly use AA but use the built-nav occasionally

 

[fordtruckman2003]

I thought I read somewhere, a while back (probably a forum thread), that we have to start paying for SYNC 4 NAV after 3 years. Is this correct? I mostly use AA but use the built-nav occasionally

Check your Ford pass app.

Built in navigation has 3 years free on vehicle purchase then pay for traffic data etc but still fully functions as any traditional GPS with no map updates.

Connected navigation is just a moving map without subscription. It can't navigate at all. I think this is only a 6 month subscription on vehicle purchase.

 

[Northguy]

I use AA as I like Spotify. Flip between Waze and google maps for routing. Will also use TuneIn if I want to listen to essentially add free ratio stations. Like how AA gives me all the options along with updated maps and real time traffic.

I hate my wife's BMW nav unit as within a year of updating it, it is already outdated. I get the ford connected nav updates regularly but believe that is free for only 3 years. Could be wrong here.

However this is really about user preference and what each individual values. To each their own!

 

[Kodiak]

I have been pleasantly surprised at how good the built in nav for the Ford is. Once I found out how to turn off predictive destination it has been great. After the 3 year trial I will probably subscribe.

 

[JExpedition07]

Check your Ford pass app.

Built in navigation has 3 years free on vehicle purchase then pay for traffic data etc but still fully functions as any traditional GPS with no map updates.

Connected navigation is just a moving map without subscription. It can't navigate at all. I think this is only a 6 month subscription on vehicle purchase.

It’s a 3 month subscription from purchase. I found Fords nav to be useless and let it expire. Unless they beg me to come back and discount it sharply like Sirius XM did no thanks. Sirius gave me like 70% off what the initial fee was after I told them to fly a kite, it was worth it for that cost but not the $60 per month or whatever the standard fee was. Pro tip for anyone who wants dirt cheap XM: let it expire and let them call/email you every week. The rate magically falls every time.

 

[Tomatoboy]

Ford deleted my nav and Sirius XM due to production constraints, so I have to use my phone to drive that big screen and get music. However, I use CarPlay. I’d be curious what the stats are for CarPlay, and If there’s any difference, only because CarPlay in my experience is a little quicker to be updated and until Cool Walk was a little more intuitive.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I've had upteen Sync systems over the years and what I had in the 2021 was the best, it still wasn't as good as Uconnect. GM has ditched their nav systems for Google. Good and bad. The good, is that the maps are up to date. The bad, it's not free. All of the companies will be going to paid systems soon. I'm thinking they will bake in the cost in the option prices rather than free for a month or 3 which gets everyone all wonky when it ends. My truck has 3 years that covers Google, Super Cruise and all.

 

[Kodiak]

It’s a 3 month subscription from purchase. I found Fords nav to be useless and let it expire. Unless they beg me to come back and discount it sharply like Sirius XM did no thanks. Sirius gave me like 70% off what the initial fee was after I told them to fly a kite, it was worth it for that cost but not the $60 per month or whatever the standard fee was. Pro tip for anyone who wants dirt cheap XM: let it expire and let them call/email you every week. The rate magically falls every time.

Just an FYI - Unless it has changed from the 2022's if you have a 502a or higher with built in nav you got a 3 year trial. If you had lower than that 502a then you had the built in nav removed and you got the regular nav with 3 month trial.

 

[RickBullotta]

No CarPlay = No Buy, for me. Mostly because of Waze and Google Maps. The "idiot mode" for the Ford Nav preventing searching while driving is intrusive, and the POI searches are pretty awful.

 

[TJE]

I use AA 100% of the time, I use spotify and Google maps. Awesome able to switch between playlists or have Google play a song without having to mess with my phone. Don't get me wrong, it has it's share of bugs, but they've been rolling out updates like crazy since coolwalk to fix them.

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