GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Popinman on 26 June 2020, 10:16
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Morning all.
Car is now mine, collected, internals cleaned (why can't dealers do this properly?! - steering wheel was a sticky as pole dancers thighs :wink:). Pictures to follow once I've detailed the externals this weekend.
Slowly figuring everything out after 10 years of BMW ownership, but one question to put to the collective - is Car-Net really any good and something you guys use regularly? I work in IT, so setting up my mobile to work as a hotspot is fine, I'll use Tasker to automate it, but what if any apps/connectivity are useful?
Cheers guys.
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Its not very useful.
The number one useful thing is getting traffic data for the car's nav unit.
Assuming of course that you are using that and not Waze/Google maps/Apple maps via AA/CP.
I set up a thing to enable the hotspot on my phone when the phone connects to the car over bluetooth - works fine but I've just given up on it now and don't bother with VW nav.
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Its not very useful.
The number one useful thing is getting traffic data for the car's nav unit.
Assuming of course that you are using that and not Waze/Google maps/Apple maps via AA/CP.
I set up a thing to enable the hotspot on my phone when the phone connects to the car over bluetooth - works fine but I've just given up on it now and don't bother with VW nav.
Thanks Fred, I must admit to thinking I'll not bother as AA all set up and working, and will only ever use the inbuilt Nav on rare occasions.
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Its actually pretty easy to set up in the MK 7.5 and tether to phone but once done that you will be hugely underwhelmed there is nothing there of any real use at all. - Set it up as like you in IT and we do these things, but not once tethered phone since!
Do download the We Connect though as that connects to the eSim and gives you assurance car is locked, and some notifications for example if anyone was trying the door handles or if its being driven out of the area (which if happens is too late! but at least you can get it being looked for quite quickly suppose) and if you a company driver saves you walking to the car to fetch the months mileage as its all there on the App
Lots of colleagues have BMW, still the car of choice but all love mine, look forward to seeing the photos
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Morning all.
Car is now mine, collected, internals cleaned (why can't dealers do this properly?! - steering wheel was a sticky as pole dancers thighs :wink:). Pictures to follow once I've detailed the externals this weekend.
The sticky steering wheel could be down to the dealer using alcohol based sanitiser products that might be unsuitable for use on leather - this section cut from the article at the link below;
‘For this presentation, straight rubbing alcohol does the quickest damage and though it’s hard to see on camera, a softening of the leather and loss of the protective coat occurs within seconds. It starts with the leather getting sticky, and once the coating compromised, the leather is easily damaged. We can see the leather flaking off as the video host runs his fingernail over the compromised section‘.
https://uk.motor1.com/news/428633/coronavirus-hand-sanitizer-damage-leather/
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Morning all.
Car is now mine, collected, internals cleaned (why can't dealers do this properly?! - steering wheel was a sticky as pole dancers thighs :wink:). Pictures to follow once I've detailed the externals this weekend.
The sticky steering wheel could be down to the dealer using alcohol based sanitiser products that might be unsuitable for use on leather - this section cut from the article at the link below;
‘For this presentation, straight rubbing alcohol does the quickest damage and though it’s hard to see on camera, a softening of the leather and loss of the protective coat occurs within seconds. It starts with the leather getting sticky, and once the coating compromised, the leather is easily damaged. We can see the leather flaking off as the video host runs his fingernail over the compromised section‘.
https://uk.motor1.com/news/428633/coronavirus-hand-sanitizer-damage-leather/
I am really careful to let the gel fully dry before touching anything as its pretty obvious something alcohol based could have a effect on trim when wet - once its evaporated off hands and they dry then you can touch but not before - reversely noticed that as keeping hands cleaner than ever did the steering wheel is immaculate and not in need of the occasional clean from previous normal handling IE: carrying something, doing a light task that brings an element of micro grime, and then driving
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pole dancers thighs :wink:). Pictures to follow
I'm getting giddy now, are the pictures ready yet.......?
:laugh:
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Actually I'll stick out as a weirdo here but I find Car-Net genuinely useful and use it everyday.
I find the live traffic info really accurate and it pops up on the infotainment or AID navigation screen straight away, and shows the roads as either Green (free flowing), Orange (a bit of congestion) or Red (fuc*ed up ahead). I know a lot on here hate the VW Nav and much prefer to use either Apple Maps, Google Maps or Waze (through either Apple car play or Android Auto), and as excellent as they are for navigating, on a day to day basis the maps don't show in the AID only on the Infotainment screen.
Also, on many occasions I've pre-planned a route or destination on either my PC, Mac or even tablet and just sent it to the car. As soon as the car then connects to my wifi network (more on that below), it immediately informs me that a new destination(s) are available for download and enables you to navigate to them straight away.
I've also on more than one occasion used the local filling station search (with prices) to look up the best filling station to me in an unfamiliar area. Also, things like local and destination weather can be had as well as news feeds (I have about 5 news feeds set up).
So yes, whilst not essential, I do tend to use one or more feature daily.
Now for me (as primarily an Android user as my main phone), I use an app called "Macrodroid" which enables me to create a simple macro so whenever my phone connects to the cars Bluetooth network it sees that, automatically then turns on the phones WiFi hotspot (encrypted), and connects to the car enabling a data link for all the Car-net stuff. Then when exiting the car, as soon as my phone disconnects from Bluetooth, it automatically shuts down the WiFi hotspot. All this automatically with the phone still in my pocket. Been using the app for 2 years now and no issues at all. Even works with a separate macro which is set up for the wife's Polo Blue GT.
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Oh, best colour by the way ;D ;D
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Now for me (as primarily an Android user as my main phone), I use an app called "Macrodroid" which enables me to create a simple macro
Yes that's what I have setup.
I'll repeat just for old times sake though that VW's nav data is nothing like as real time or comprehensive as Waze and doesn't contain things like reminders about speed cameras or police. (i of course just like to be able to note those as an interesting piece of scenery to break up the boredom of the journey and have no undue concern about my speed...).... plus the real bone of contention is the pathing algorythm VW use being inferior to Waze. All sat nav pathing is not equal, even when they have the same data to work from.
Would it be nice to have AA on the AID? Yes it would, maybe in about 2040 someone will introduce that to a car.
Although I am guessing its more likely to be HUD than AID by then and you will get AR based navigation cues.
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Fred, I do use Waze a portion of the time, but (and I can only speak as I find), I've never had an issue with the built in Navigation and traffic overlays.
In fact some months ago, even though the motorway signs never displayed any warnings, it told me to come off at the next exit due to an obstruction ahead. as far as I could see the traffic was still flowing and I umm and arrg about following the advice, but did, and when I came off, the road followed the motorway parallel and after only 1/4 mile everything came to a standstill. Then on the radio 5 minutes later, it said to avoid that part of the motorway due to an overturned lorry, causing many miles of tailbacks and at least an hours wait.
would Waze or Apple maps etc. done the same, of course they would, but the point is the VW system gave me more than enough warning to avoid the situation. This has happened several times. Like I say, I'm not knocking Waze or Apple maps etc because they are pretty much state of the art, but the issue is, I wasn't using navigation at the time, and the car still warned me.
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Fred, I do use Waze a portion of the time, but (and I can only speak as I find), I've never had an issue with the built in Navigation and traffic overlays.
In fact some months ago, even though the motorway signs never displayed any warnings, it told me to come off at the next exit due to an obstruction ahead. as far as I could see the traffic was still flowing and I umm and arrg about following the advice, but did, and when I came off, the road followed the motorway parallel and after only 1/4 mile everything came to a standstill. Then on the radio 5 minutes later, it said to avoid that part of the motorway due to an overturned lorry, causing many miles of tailbacks and at least an hours wait.
would Waze or Apple maps etc. done the same, of course they would, but the point is the VW system gave me more than enough warning to avoid the situation. This has happened several times. Like I say, I'm not knocking Waze or Apple maps etc because they are pretty much state of the art, but the issue is, I wasn't using navigation at the time, and the car still warned me.
Have the standard MK 7.5 Nav and greatly improved over the MK 7, with the map in the drivers view and large and clear turn instructions on the media unit.
In terms of being up to date and intuitive, the MK 7 led me down garden path too many times to mention, especially in offering redirection, to point just ignored route changes, and though not overly utilised the new guidance due to lower Covid miles and journeys, the times that have were without error and the redirects that can remember were useful and valid.
Have used Google Maps on AppConnect but as good as is, was not offering me any better advice and of course having directions in drivers display is something you want to keep as a view,
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Its actually pretty easy to set up in the MK 7.5 and tether to phone but once done that you will be hugely underwhelmed there is nothing there of any real use at all. - Set it up as like you in IT and we do these things, but not once tethered phone since!
Do download the We Connect though as that connects to the eSim and gives you assurance car is locked, and some notifications for example if anyone was trying the door handles or if its being driven out of the area (which if happens is too late! but at least you can get it being looked for quite quickly suppose) and if you a company driver saves you walking to the car to fetch the months mileage as its all there on the App
Lots of colleagues have BMW, still the car of choice but all love mine, look forward to seeing the photos
How do you set we connect up via the esim? When I setup we connect I had to tether my iphone
Edit - Think I’ve figured it out, such a cool feature on we connect with the map, essentially a tracking device
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Its actually pretty easy to set up in the MK 7.5 and tether to phone but once done that you will be hugely underwhelmed there is nothing there of any real use at all. - Set it up as like you in IT and we do these things, but not once tethered phone since!
Do download the We Connect though as that connects to the eSim and gives you assurance car is locked, and some notifications for example if anyone was trying the door handles or if its being driven out of the area (which if happens is too late! but at least you can get it being looked for quite quickly suppose) and if you a company driver saves you walking to the car to fetch the months mileage as its all there on the App
Lots of colleagues have BMW, still the car of choice but all love mine, look forward to seeing the photos
How do you set we connect up via the esim? When I setup we connect I had to tether my iphone
The We Connect App from Apple Store connects to your phone via the cars eSim once you paired them
Car Net is different, its an information service that you connect to from the car via tether to your phone
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Wow some great responses on here, thanks for the feedback guys. I need to look into the We Connect app, as that sounds really useful, much like the BMW Connected app I've been used to.
It probably wont work yet as I need to take the V5 and id to a VW dealer to register the car to me as it was purchased from an independent.
The sticky steering wheel was easily sorted (sorry no photos :grin:), I'm big into detailing, so a mixture of a good scrub with Gtechniq Tri Clean and Dr.Leather wipes, and it's all smooth again......
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I'm not knocking Waze or Apple maps etc because they are pretty much state of the art, but the issue is, I wasn't using navigation at the time, and the car still warned me.
Thats quite interesting, I've never seen my Golf do that....
On my previous Insignia (with just RDS traffic warnings) it used to ping me and warn me about nearby congestion - you didn't even need to be say on the M1, but driving towards it it would tell you that you might not want to get on the M1 - a really useful feature that the much more advanced VW system never told me - sure you can see it on the map but...
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Wow some great responses on here, thanks for the feedback guys. I need to look into the We Connect app, as that sounds really useful, much like the BMW Connected app I've been used to.
It probably wont work yet as I need to take the V5 and id to a VW dealer to register the car to me as it was purchased from an independent.
The sticky steering wheel was easily sorted (sorry no photos :grin:), I'm big into detailing, so a mixture of a good scrub with Gtechniq Tri Clean and Dr.Leather wipes, and it's all smooth again......
I use the We-Connect, it’s actually really useful if you are ‘did I lock my car’ paranoid like me.
Excellent colour choice
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Its actually pretty easy to set up in the MK 7.5 and tether to phone but once done that you will be hugely underwhelmed there is nothing there of any real use at all. - Set it up as like you in IT and we do these things, but not once tethered phone since!
Do download the We Connect though as that connects to the eSim and gives you assurance car is locked, and some notifications for example if anyone was trying the door handles or if its being driven out of the area (which if happens is too late! but at least you can get it being looked for quite quickly suppose) and if you a company driver saves you walking to the car to fetch the months mileage as its all there on the App
Lots of colleagues have BMW, still the car of choice but all love mine, look forward to seeing the photos
How do you set we connect up via the esim? When I setup we connect I had to tether my iphone
Edit - Think I’ve figured it out, such a cool feature on we connect with the map, essentially a tracking device
You would think so, but think there is some data privacy blocker as you cannot use it as a tracker, though sure the eSim is first thing that would be removed. - It will tell you where left car, if doors are locked, if someone is tampering with handles, your mileage and track you consumption figures and you can lock/unlock + Sound Horns/Flash Indicators from the phone (once gone through VW ID steps with passport photo and skype session)
You can also transfer your route planning
It also tells you if the car has left the preset area you have set?! but thats a bit like the gate being open and horse already running around field analogy.
most useful thing really is the handle tampering and the ability to sound alarm if that message comes up
Did have one scare, where App obviously lost its senses, to wake up to see every door open and in red! look out window and car exactly as left it - restart App and obviously all closed and green ticks,
One feature of the MK 7.5 that really like over the MK 7 is ability to disable KESSY (keyless) its become an innate activity for me now, not onerous in anyway.