Lost? GM making Turn-by-Turn navigation standard on most 2007 models
GM announced today that it will be making its OnStar Turn-by-Turn navigation system standard on a number of 2007 models and that the first year of service will be free. Owners of vehicles already equipped with OnStar can also have the service activated through an optional $100 OnStar package upgrade within their first year of use. Turn-by-Turn is considered an "off-board" GPS navigation system because the heavy lifting is done by OnStar advisors and a centrally-managed remote database. Users just push the blue OnStar button, tell a real person where they want to go and voice-guided directions will be pumped through the vehicle's stereo system. It features automatic route corrections and the ability to pick up where it left off after an unscheduled Mountain Dew-induced bathroom break. The system's centrally managed database also continually updates itself with points of interest, so when the main vain needs to be drained again you can call up an OnStar advisor and ask how many miles until the next McDonalds bathroom. Hold on to your wallets, though. After the first initial year of free service, Turn-by-turn navigation will cost OnStar users an additional $299 per year. Yowsers. A couple years of that would easily pay for a nice third third-party navigation system. But then who would you talk to?[Source: OnStar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tom 1:38PM (8/30/2006)
I would rather see GM put the money that they are investing in Onstar into better more reliable vehicles. Toyota doesnt offer OnStar and you don't see their sales sagging..........
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Vinny 1:52PM (8/30/2006)
Now ALL GM customers can do an On-Star diagnosis on their car when they break down. I wore my OnStar button down to just a blue dot for all of the tow trucks and diagnosis calls I did.
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samuel 1:56PM (8/30/2006)
Tom, last time I checked JD Power's 3 year reliability, Buick and Cadillac were kicking Toyota's ass. Check your facts before you spout your America hating sewage.
John, it's VEIN, not vain. If you're going to be crude, at least use the correct spelling.
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Matt 2:07PM (8/30/2006)
A blog entry such as this one shows that there is hope for my car blog!
http://www.theautowriter.com
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Rob 2:27PM (8/30/2006)
samuel,
what about pontiac, GMC, chevrolet, saturn, hummer, and saab?
the last three are pretty much at the bottom of the reliability ratings and ALL except the two you conveniently mentioned are below the industry average.
and if i remember correctly (which i do) lexus is a part of toyota and was kicking both buick and cadillac's ass (and has for a couple of years now).
i love it when people cite convenient stats.
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TennesseeRed 3:21PM (8/30/2006)
Three weeks ago on vacation I locked my keys in my car at 10:00PM, I was in the Middle of nowhere New Mexico. After five minutes of panic and trying to call someone for help a service station owner ask me what kind of car I owned. When I told him a 2006 Impala he ask me if I had OnStar and I did, he said why don't you call them they can unlock it remotely. I did, and they did, and I will forever have OnStar, you see I am a woman and I was alone. Don't tell me about OnStar I know what it can do.
And I will forever own a GM auto.
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Jeff 3:02PM (8/30/2006)
"and if i remember correctly (which i do) lexus is a part of toyota and was kicking both buick and cadillac's ass (and has for a couple of years now).
i love it when people cite convenient stats."
I love it when people argue over stats that mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, like J.D. Power and Consumer Reports.
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Jeff 3:10PM (8/30/2006)
"John, it's VEIN, not vain. If you're going to be crude, at least use the correct spelling."
John, he is correct, but don't feel too bad. My wife is an RN and the other day, another nurse was having trouble. When my wife asked her if she could help, the other nurse responded that she was having trouble getting arterial blood gases. My wife then informed this nurse, who has around seven years of experience, that she was trying to get ARTERIAL blood gases from a vein!
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Geno 3:14PM (8/30/2006)
Who cares if it's in a GM, Audi, or even a fork lift. OnStar sucks!
I had it in my Saab. First they couldn't figure out where I was. I had to finally give them cross streets. Then the street I was going to, they said there wasn't on. And this street has been around for 50 years! Not like it was some new street that hadn't hit their database. Luckly this was just me testing it out. I wanted to see how they would tell me to get home. By the time they figured out where I was, and where I was heading. I was already home.
The whole process took 30 mins.
That's why I laughed at them when they wanted me to pay to renew.
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Lithous 3:16PM (8/30/2006)
"Toyota doesnt offer OnStar and you don't see their sales sagging.........."
Lexus is Toyota and Lexus Link sure smells like Onstar (http://www.lexus.com/lexuslink - hmmm, Safety,Directions & Concierge, is that Onstar?).
"what about pontiac, GMC, chevrolet, saturn, hummer, and saab?"
Saab: European (lack of) reliability.
Saturn: Screwed by European (lack of) reliability because their L-Series and VUE had Opel engines made in England and their CVT transmission was made in Belgium (or some other place in Europe). Let's hope the Astra doesn't bring Saturn down in reliability.
Hummer: The H1 was really just not made for driving on streets that is why they are stopping that. Also, people associate bad MPG as a "flaw" and that brings Hummer down as well. Too bad the low test scoring Americans haven't realized that the 4Runner has similar MPG as a Tahoe yet and when the Tahoe two mode hybrid comes out it will do even better. There is a possibility that the H2 based on the Tahoe's platform could get a hybrid.
Chevy/Pontiac: Perception. When you take a noise into the Honda and Toyota dealerships they tell you "Our cars are bullet proof, nothing is wrong" and Chevy and Pontiac doesn't do that. Also, Honda doesn't make as many vehicles and Toyota does a bunch of Service Packs, I mean Service Bulletins (did they thank Bill Gates for that one) and so the customer is confused at the fact that their cars actually have problems and so don't mark them as such. A GM vehicles gets a recall the same as a Service Bulletin and people know there is a problem and mark the ballot accordingly.
You know, America, the country that does worse on tests than other developed nations, they don't understand Service Pack && Service Bulletin == (Problem)bug.
Anyway, Onstar is a worth while product. To be able to have Onstar on a Cobalt and it is also good enough for a luxury car brands like Cadillac and Lexus is a great thing.
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Lithous 3:20PM (8/30/2006)
"Who cares if it's in a GM, Audi, or even a fork lift. OnStar sucks!"
OnStar sucks because one feature (directions and connections) sucks? I hardly think that is all to OnStar.
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Corey W. 3:21PM (8/30/2006)
Uh, it's the post about On Star and availability on 2007 vehicles, not undocumented, personal, biased views about GM's reliability.
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dreesemonkey 3:35PM (8/30/2006)
I like the idea, but $300/year is a lot. I'd rather spend two annual fees and get a garmin, tomtom, etc. that you can move around to any car.
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Geno 3:35PM (8/30/2006)
True, OnStar does have other feature that are great. I like how some car companies have DVD based Nav's in the car and just use OnStar for it's other features.
But my issue with cars that only use OnStar and don't have DVD based navs.
1. What are you going to be using the OnStar for like 90% of the time used. Navigation. Unless you lock you keys in your car on a daily basis. And I found personally the navigation to suck.
2. Having to pay for the 90% of the usage if it doesn’t work well. With DVD based navigation, yes you do have to buy upgraded discs, but you don’t have to for continued use. If your street and such don’t change much, you aren’t going to notice any problems.
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Patricia 4:16PM (8/30/2006)
IdiotRob:Lexus is a premium brand and cannot be compare to Buick or Mercury, the next brands on the list. Who pays for your stupid comments? The Japanese companies? How do you say idiot in Japanese?
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Rob 4:30PM (8/30/2006)
Patricia, you're the idiot..cadillac is considered a premium marque as well, right?
and considering toyota sells way more cars than buick, i think it does pretty well in terms of reliability too.
oh and, idiot in japanese = patricia
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Richard Warren 4:54PM (8/30/2006)
So, OnStar couldn't find a street?
Hell, Yahoo can't find a street at times either, the informantion given out is only as good as the information going in. Come to think about it even old technology paper maps don't show a street sometimes. Then sometimes eve GPS won't work properly. One time I broke down and AAA couldn't find where I was, couldn't find the street.
Gotta tell you best navigation system, paper maps and a Thomas map. Pretty much get you there everytime. When you look at a full map, you also can see other ways to get to the destination that might just lead you to a more enjoyable trip. Found some great food places that way.
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john s 5:09PM (8/30/2006)
Samuel - It's great that the luxury brands of Caddi and Buick are up there BUT EVERY OTHER GM BRAND IS BELOW INDUSTRY AVERAGE!!!
Cadi and Buick together (for 2006 thru July) sold 278,469 out of a total of 2,477,289 vehicles GM sold. That is only 11.2% of all vehicles. That means that 88.8 % OF ALL GM VEHICLES ARE BELOW AVERAGE.
This is nothing to be proud of. GM should be embarrased by this showing. Almost 89% OF ALL GM VEHICLES ARE BELOW AVERAGE, yet the 'smart' GM fanboys keep pointing out how Cadi and Buick were rated 'above average' which really means below Lexus!
Why would anyone buy from a brand where 89% of its vehicles are below industry average?
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Jeff 5:18PM (8/30/2006)
"It's great that the luxury brands of Caddi and Buick are up there BUT EVERY OTHER GM BRAND IS BELOW INDUSTRY AVERAGE!!!"
Here is an explanation of the J.D. Power initial quality rankings from TrueDelta.com.
"Looking at defect rates alone, it's enlightening to check the number of brands near the average. It turns out that 22 of 37 brands fall within one-tenth of a problem per car of the 0.64 PPC average, and 30 of 37 fall within two-tenths. Of the seven beyond this range, only one, Lexus, is on the top, and even it only betters the average by 0.22 problems per car.
The best brand has 0.42 problems per car, while the worst has 1.10, for a best-to-worst difference of 0.68 problems per car. Even much of this narrow range results from a few especially low-scoring brands. The difference between Brand #3 and Brand #35 is 0.41 problems per car. That between Brand #3 and Brand #32 is a scant 0.27 problems per car."
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Jeff 9:09AM (9/03/2006)
If you look at the latest dependability study, the top brand, Lexus, had 136 problems per 100 cars, or 1.36 problems per car (ppc). The worst brand, Land Rover, had 4.38 ppc, or 3 more ppc than Lexus. That's pretty significant, but I have to wonder how many of the dependability issues are related to ride comfort and fuel economy (it happened to Hummer in the last couple of years).
The industry average is 2.27 ppc. Every brand except Land Rover is within 1 problem per car of the average after 3 years. 25 of 38 brands (66 %) are within 0.5 ppc of the average.
In 3 years, a GMC pickup will have about 1 more problem per car, on average, than Lexus.
"89% OF ALL GM VEHICLES ARE BELOW AVERAGE"
Twenty-four of thirty-eight (63 %) brands are below the industry average. Two thirds of GM brands are below the average, but are within one problem per car of the average. Chevrolet, by far the largest GM division, has 2.4 ppc; just a bit more than one problem per car worse than Lexus, and less than 0.2 ppc of the average.
What all this means is that even after three years, most brands are within a single problem per car of the industry average, and within two problems per car of the highest rated brand.
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