Billym44
Standard Member
So yesterday I took possession of my HS Excite PHEV. The car is running well, looking nice etc but just a couple of little things are grating on me, and it's my own fault for not checking on these before.
For some years I've been driving Ford Focus's and got very used to the fact that you had voice control for your phone on bluetooth and even music selection. I never realised how much I'd taken this for granted until I find that, although there is a button on the steering wheel for voice control, and the manual even talks about it, this button is completely useless. No voice control appears to exist. I'm sure I'll get used to it but it's not the same as having totally hands free phone calls. Similarly the Focus used to ping up any text message i received on the screen and had a stock of standard replies. No text message facility in this car.....
And then the DAB radio, or rather the lack of it. When the sales guy was describing the radio and said you can have FM or AM I thought I'd gone back to the 80's!! He reckons it's due to lack of chips but if you plug this cable (from the glove compartment) into the USB you can then get DAB. At some point (he said - although goodness knows when) there'll be a call back for all these cars to have chips fitted for DAB. That can't come soon enough.
So whilst the car is driving well and I'm able to get into EV mode ok, these little annoyances with the "entertainment" system have taken the gloss off it a little, and I'm left wondering If I'll regret this for the next four years. Would the extra for a PHEV Ford Kuga have been worth it? A bit annoyed with myself for not checking all this beforehand, and the salesman for not referring to it (but why would he??)
If anyone has any info on the voice control, or the DAB chip situation I'd be glad to hear it. Thanks all.
For some years I've been driving Ford Focus's and got very used to the fact that you had voice control for your phone on bluetooth and even music selection. I never realised how much I'd taken this for granted until I find that, although there is a button on the steering wheel for voice control, and the manual even talks about it, this button is completely useless. No voice control appears to exist. I'm sure I'll get used to it but it's not the same as having totally hands free phone calls. Similarly the Focus used to ping up any text message i received on the screen and had a stock of standard replies. No text message facility in this car.....
And then the DAB radio, or rather the lack of it. When the sales guy was describing the radio and said you can have FM or AM I thought I'd gone back to the 80's!! He reckons it's due to lack of chips but if you plug this cable (from the glove compartment) into the USB you can then get DAB. At some point (he said - although goodness knows when) there'll be a call back for all these cars to have chips fitted for DAB. That can't come soon enough.
So whilst the car is driving well and I'm able to get into EV mode ok, these little annoyances with the "entertainment" system have taken the gloss off it a little, and I'm left wondering If I'll regret this for the next four years. Would the extra for a PHEV Ford Kuga have been worth it? A bit annoyed with myself for not checking all this beforehand, and the salesman for not referring to it (but why would he??)
If anyone has any info on the voice control, or the DAB chip situation I'd be glad to hear it. Thanks all.
