This OnStar Critic is Silenced

[nsap]

This OnStar Critic is Silenced
Well, I have to eat my words regarding OnStar.
www.gminsidenews.com
October 12, 2009
By: Nick Saporito



I have long been a critic of OnStar's Turn By Turn Directions system. Part of the reason that I had such a beef with it was the the fact that General Motors was dragging their feet on traditional navigation systems just to keep OnStar revenue flowing. However it wasn't just that, I felt Turn By Turn was less than useful and an overall pain compared to traditional navigation systems. Well, scrap that, because this OnStar critic has been silenced.

Ironically I purchased the Turn By Turn OnStar package for my G8. Yes, I was skeptical of it, but it was prorated to $58 for the remainder of the year, so I figured why not? I had tested it out on a very brief trip during the trial period and was intrigued by it, but not yet convinced it was worth it. Perhaps my curiousity was forshadowing my future of being lost in an unknown city, because I am now really glad I made that $58 purchase.

Last Friday some friends and I went on a road trip in my G8. After an extremely delightful drive to our desitnation (about 120 miles from home), we hit the city limits and had several places to go. Being that this is a city I go to maybe two or three times a year, I know how to get around to the normal places; the mall, some other stores and car dealerships (of course). However a friend that was with us wanted to go to a store that I had no clue how to get to.

In my relentless pursuit to show my own navigational skills I proceeded to attempt at finding the place with my own intuition. That was likely mistake number one in this case. I had a general idea of where it was, but thanks to the urban planners of this city the roads are ridiculously complicated in the particular area it was in.

After about 15 minutes of me trying to get to the place, my inner-Italian was coming out and I was not very happy. Why I let myself get to the point of complete anger is beyond me, but I did. My G8's Small-Block was getting a work out because of my failure to find the location. At that point I decided it was time to give up so I hit the Blue Button.

Within about five seconds an OnStar Adviser was on and I said "I need directions." He said, "Ok, where to?" I told him where I was trying to go and before I could even finish my sentence he said "Yep, I have that located for you...you are about 2.5 miles from there. When we disconnect you'll have directions."

Additionally the speed in which the route was downloaded to the car impressed me. The people that were with me had never experienced OnStar, but one of them does have an in-dash navigation system in their own vehicle. All of them were amazed with the shear ease of using Turn By Turn.

As if I wasn't pleased enough that he was able to get directions that we needed, the adviser also informed us that the area we were in was under a Flood Warning by the National Weather Service and that one of the roads close to us (that we would have taken) was closed due to flooding.

The directions OnStar sent us on got us there with complete ease. I didn't have to have a complete loss of temper and my friends got to go where where they wanted to.

The Screen

For those that don't know, Turn By Turn directions in the G8 are displayed on the driver information center (DIC) screen between the gauges. Personally, that makes the entire system far more livable than the directions being fed to the radio screen like the system debuted with.

There are still some GM products that Turn By Turn is fed to the "Black Tie" radio screen, but it appears that GM is quickly phasing that out in favor of the DIC screen. The latest products: Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Cadillac SRX, Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Camaro all feature Turn By Turn through the DIC. I honestly do not think I would like the system on the radio screen.

If I have any complaints about Turn By Turn it is that when directions are in the car, I can't see my digital speedometer as the directions are in it's place. I've come to love the digital speedometer in the G8 and use it almost exclusively. I guess it doesn't matter, with that car you speed even if you can legitimately see what speed you are going.

Overall I am more impressed with Turn By Turn than I expected. Had I been using an in-dash navigation screen I would have had to of pulled over somewhere, look up the address on my smartphone, then program the address in the navigation system and hope that the road it is on is fully-mapped in the database. To top things off, my smartphone and in-dash navigation system would not know that one of the roads there was flooded and closed. I have to say, it was far easier to just hit one button and let someone else do it for me.

Now GM, don't let this go to your head though. We still want to see in-dash navigation systems available in EVERY product. Perhaps there are more potential synergies between in-dash navigation systems and OnStar Turn By Turn. I can envision over-the-air points of interest updates and if a POI is not in the database the navigation system will route you to OnStar navigation for them to locate the POI and download the route to the navigation system. Thoughts?

[r22wink]

Most underrated system in the world. Hands down. Onstar is moving to the point that it ALONE can/will sell GM vehicles. I work in sales at a GM store and it is hard to get alot of people to buy into Onstar, however its like sat. radio, once they use it their hooked.

[carbarrister]

OnStar is a great service. GM needs to once again unleash it so it can be made available to other OEMs.

[jkr2106]

Originally Posted by r22wink

Most underrated system in the world. Hands down. Onstar is moving to the point that it ALONE can/will sell GM vehicles. I work in sales at a GM store and it is hard to get alot of people to buy into Onstar, however its like sat. radio, once they use it their hooked.

Yeah, I think I totally underrated OnStar before we got the Enclave (our first vehicle that has it). I remember my Granddad was so adamant that any Enclave I picked had to have a Nav screen like my mom's Maxima. We get the thing and he really can't even use it (he's 74). The OnStar button makes it easier to get the directions he needs to the car. Heck I'm 20 and I use that little blue button religiously 'cause, like you said Nick, you have to pull over to use the Nav and it's just simpler than I'd ever imagined to tell someone rather than imput it yourself.

[Perian]

Turn by turn is a great system. My wife loves the feature in our new Acadia.

Did you know you can go to Mapquest.com and select your route(s), click an icon and have the information uploaded and stored to your vehicle?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/te...t-onstar_N.htm

[Phoenix]

I just used it this past weekend in my Uncle's 2008 Avalanche. If you have ever tried to drive through Duluth, MN you can appreciate how helpful it was. The OnStar operators are very helpful and quick.

[johnnyl321]

Originally Posted by r22wink

Most underrated system in the world. Hands down. Onstar is moving to the point that it ALONE can/will sell GM vehicles. I work in sales at a GM store and it is hard to get alot of people to buy into Onstar, however its like sat. radio, once they use it their hooked.

I use the Onstar website to show customers how it works. It's not a bad site at all. That and of course doing the Onstar during a test drive.

[hrcslam]

Originally Posted by r22wink

Most underrated system in the world. Hands down. Onstar is moving to the point that it ALONE can/will sell GM vehicles. I work in sales at a GM store and it is hard to get alot of people to buy into Onstar, however its like sat. radio, once they use it their hooked.

It already does. My wife refuses to buy a vehicle without OnStar. She wanted a Charger until she found out Dodge wasn't GM and didn't have OnStar.

[01cavalier]

A friend of mine is a 911 operator, he loves it, it helps make their job a lot easier.

[BerettaZ]

I have yet to try it in my G8 - I'll give it a whirl now, for curiosity's sake...
Glad I'm not the only one whos gotten accustomed to using the digital speedo in the G8, which I initially thought was silly..

[rsbaker]

They need to promote that road hazard feature. Knowing a road is closed because flood or other enclimate weather would be very useful even if you never need to ask it directions. In places where it snows a lot they need to show how Onstar can report that you are stranded or have run off the road. I agree with the author that says that the map screen navigation needs to be available in all gm models, from Aveo to Escalade. Oh that reminds me...they need to redo the center stack on Camaro's Dash to accommodate the screen. My wife has On Star service in her 2008 HHR and we have used it but we would really like to have the Nav-screen too.

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by r22wink

Most underrated system in the world. Hands down. Onstar is moving to the point that it ALONE can/will sell GM vehicles. I work in sales at a GM store and it is hard to get alot of people to buy into Onstar, however its like sat. radio, once they use it their hooked.

The reality is that most OnStar customers do not renew the service after the first free year (something like 80% say no thanks)... I have had this on both new Oldsmobiles and new Cadillacs and after the first year I turned it off... used it once on the Oldsmobile with "iffy" results... never used it once on the Caddy.

The service is poorly marketed and poorly priced. It competes against cellphones and other systems that offer much of the same features for fractions of the cost.

GM needs to take OnStar to the next level... It will be interesting to see if they ever do.

What is the next level you ask?
1) Make it free as a E911 service... depending on where you live E911 on your cell is free... it should be free on Onstar too. How they avoided this legal requirement is a complete mystery to everyone it the telecom industry.
2) Make the system optionally integrated with your blue tooth cell phone... if you have a cell phone that you are paying for already... have the system use that service. No one wants to pay for two cell phones.
3) Use the system to download free upgrades to your in dash nav system
4) With free wifi Use the system to "chat" with other cars... use this to direct drivers around congestion or uber cool... someday as an accident avoidance system (like jets use)
5) Make the system so that you can purchase features a'la cart... or pay as you go... or pay per use. the current pricing model is whacked.
6) Get the lawyers out of the mix.. Turning features on and then having lawyers turn them off is just in your face bad
7) Get the call center out of the mix... No one wants to talk to a call center anyway.

Oh and I was talking with a senior executive at the cell provider that mostly supports OnStar... They are presently converting all of their systems (and phones) to HSPA...Should be done by late 2010 maybe early 2011. The OnStar CDMA network will be phased out starting in 2014.

I wonder if GM will offer an upgrade kit for all of their customers this time?

[shorod]

As big a critic of GM as I've lately become, I agree with the above statements, On Star is one of my favorite GM tools. I've used it in both my G8 and the former Grand Prix I had. One time to report a very serious accident I came upon on the interstate. I've read they could do even more with it, like a Blackberry smartphone, to even connect to the internet as a web-brouser. And by the way, Garmin's can get you lost. My niece has one and it constantly leads her onto the wrong road.

[wilwrk4tls]

My grandfather bought a new vehicle with OnStar before he was going to make his snowbird trip to Florida. He ended up never making the trip, but he loved the vehicle.

He was sold on it after he and my uncle were driving up north for a car show and pulling a double axle trailer. One of the tires blew out, and my uncle pushed the OnStar button and asked them to locate a tire store with the size tire they needed on their route. OnStar called ahead and made sure they had a tire in stock and the store was asked to have it out and ready for install. Sure enough, they detoured a total of about ten minutes and were back on the road, new tire installed. I know that is the concierge service and not just the turn-by-turn, but if you learn how to use OnStar to its fullest it is simply amazing.

Beyond all of that to me the best is simply the emergency plan so that if you are in an accident it gets reported for you if you need it to be. Simply awesome.

[Uzzy]

I've never used the turn-by-turn. I don't even have OnStar on my truck, but a few of my dad's vehicles have had it. I wish my truck did have it.

Anyone seen this new OnStar commercial, though?

You Tube