2016 MMCS

[Barnfather]

Ok, I am on the verge of pulling the trigger on a lease (company car) order. I am about to order a GX4h, however my only pause is due to the additional £82 PUC that I have to contribute each month over a GX3h. No problem is paying this at all - the GX4h doesn't need selling to me anymore - but as with all these company deals, if I leave voluntarily during the 3.5yr term, then I have to pay the remaining PUC back. If I left at the beginning of the contract this would be getting on for £3.5k! I'm not *looking* to leave, but I am a bit worried that I could feel a little trapped if I did decide to in a year or so.

Anyway, reason for the question - a GX3h is pretty much a benchmarked car for me (no PUC). Getting the GX3h+ will put about £30 PUC there, which is less of a risk. Sooooo, I would hate not having the reversing camera - especially a 360 one - but my real issue is multimedia, and the lack of an MMCS in the GX3h models.

I've heard horrific things about the MMCS in the pre-facelift cars. Ridiculously slow units, poor satnav etc. Have any of these things improved on the 2016 model?

And I test drove a GX3h so experienced the bluetooth cutting in/out until wifi was disabled. Is this an issue on the GX4h with MMCS also?

Finally, is there an easy way of replacing the GX3h head unit with something a bit more funky?

I still want to pull the trigger on the GX4h, but I have a little voice in my ear.....

 

[DazzyB]

I've had the GX3h+ for a week now. Bluetooth connected faultlessly and has not failed yet. I use it constantly for streaming music and/or SatNav instructions from my HTC M8 android. Phone calls have also worked perfectly using the voice dialling.

Sound quality is excellent, helped of course by the very quiet nature of the car.

I love google maps on the phone and would probably use it for satnav even if I had the MMCS.

I haven't had any problem parking the car so can't really see a need for the camera, although it would be a nice 'toy'.

I have used the pre-heating and can see it becoming really useful for de-frosting in mid-winter so a real benefit over the 3h.

That's my two-penneth!

p.s. having said all that, I didn't have an option of a 4h because our company car bands are based on list price and the 3h+ just came under my limit. If I could have chosen the 4h I probably would have ;-)

 

[lg1726]

Personally I have never understood the criticism of the MMCS, but then my previous car had no such gizmos, so I think its a fab new toy with nothing to compare it to! I have a September 2015 GX4h and an iPhone 5, but just about to upgrade the phone. So far the phone has worked well, both in terms of calls and for playing music and I have used the satnav a couple of times and again no issues, but other than previous hire cars, no comparison. I do prefer the in-car satnav to using the phone, but that may be just me!

The rear parking camera is a pure toy and not sure it is entirely necessary, I would rather have had parking sensors to be honest! The one real positive addition for us if the pre-heat and I can see that being even more appreciated as the weather changes approaching winter! We have it on for 10mins before we leave and just now it enough to just take the chill off and no fogged up windows, but what a boon that will be on the real wintery mornings with the temp up!

 

[simonrh]

I like having the MMCS for the satnav and feedback on EV performance but the implementation of some of its features are just to noddy to be considered any good particularly if you see what can be done by other brands.

The bluetooth is a basic "handsfree" only as far as I am concerned the integration with your phone is barely there and it seems to use only one speaker in the car. I had a mondeo where it could access the caller lists and phonebooks dynamically for "missed", "last dialled" etc, etc, no messing about uploading phone numbers to the car or any of that.

The ipod integration is, again, very basic, it needs to be searchable rather than scrollable. My ipod has a fairly decent amount of stuff on it but i cant find a useful way of getting to it.

The TMC rarely seems to work properly, is awkward to use when it does work and seems to require user input half the time to latch on the correct station. I just want it to dynamically find the TMC service and tell me what is on my route as it occurs.

The dedicated zoom hard button zoom rocker is wasted space, zoom could be done in software on the screen and can dynamically zoom in and out.

Enter a postcode and get going, why do i have to pick the only street in a given postcode each time?

The actual satnav function really isn't bad, routes are fine and it gets you to where you need to be.

I dont find the unit slow so much as poorly implemented.

 

[westdevon]

It is a bit slow, the screen needs a firmer press than usual on a touch screen which makes it seem slower still. The satnav is quite good, but lacks a few options you might be used to, and could have a better menu structure. As mentioned, input a postcode and you still have to select a street which is a bit daft. The menus have been improved in the 2016 apparently.

Overall its better than some, worse than others, but OK once you get used to it.

 

[Barnfather]

I was really referring to anyone who had any experience of the MY16 MMCS, rather than the previous version as I know there have been various 'improvements' to it (the aforementioned dedicated keys for zoom, for example, are no longer there).