Got a call from J. D. Power inviting me to a "drive study" to discuss the Acura Nav system on Oct. 27th. I was asked a few preliminary questions about the voice recognition and Bluetooth HFL, so that may be a subject as well.

I figure it's a "focus group" type thing to discuss likes and dislikes, and perhaps to suggest improvements and so on. That's right up my alley, since I'm a huge fan of both the Acura Nav and HFL.

Don't know at this point if it's aimed more at the RL or the MDX, but they're the same system so it doesn't matter to me. I'll report back after the session on what we discussed. Oh - and they're going to pay me $150 to do this!

Anyone else do one of these?

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tell them you have a freind that wants to help too...what would you do for a Klondike bar?

 

What does one need to do to be invited to the study group?

 

You driving one of their cars or yours? I was gonna say, put some RJ wheels on and get a mention or pic published, and you could have some sweet discounts, lol.

 

That's cool. I'm curious what they exactly ask you and how it goes. Give us an update after you do it.

By the way Mike, I am getting rid of my Sienna today and picking up an 08 MDX. I'll be an RL and MDX owner too now. Also, you'll be happy to know that I LEASED the MDX!! I know that will make you proud The residual on the new 08 was 56%. The MF was .028 (6.7%). I checked my bank and the best rate I could get was 6.24 on a finance. The similar interest rate and excellent residual, combined with the fact that I only want this until my kids finish High School in 3 years, made a 3 year 12k lease the winner. Saved me over $1000 in total cost (not to mention the lower monthly expense. See, I told you I'm not against leasing. It's just not a slam dunk in every situation.

 

I'm sure selection is made randomly by a computer generated selection. At least I hope it is. With JDP, I wouldn't be surprised of anything

 

You leased???

Just kidding, of course. I agree with you it's not the perfect solution for every situation, but it looks like it makes sense for you this time.

Be sure to weigh in on the new MDX at mdx.org!

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Yeah, I'm sure it is a random selection thing (although owning 2 Acuras w/Nav may make me more likely to get picked).

I didn't get a lot of details, but it appears it will be a question and answer session, with some discussion of likes and dislikes and features consumers would like to see on future systems.

That's golden for me, since I can campaign for XM Nav Weather and a few more things I'd like to see.

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Tell them you want keyless start in all their cars. That's something that bugs me

 

I got 2.9% money from Acura on my 07 MDX.

 

Yes, that's still available on the 07's for 36 months and 4.9% for 48 months or longer. They have no similar offer on the 08's (at least not yet). Given how well the MDX is selling, I don't suspect they will offer any 08 incentives anytime soon.

 

Well, I did the focus group thingy today and it was interesting. It was focused on the MDX, but since the RL and MDX Nav and HFL systems are the same, it was obvious info was being collected for all the Acura products.

After a brief questionnaire, they took each of us out separately to new MDX's, each outfitted with a video camera behind the passenger seat, aimed at the driver (in my case, me ) and the steering wheel. I had a JDP person in the passenger seat and another one in back operating the camera and also asking questions.

As I drove, they asked me questions about the use of various HFL, Nav and VR functions and controls, and then instructed me to do various things via voice commands ... change the climate control settings, tune the XM radio, store a phone number and voice tag to the phonebook, select specific cuts on CD's in the changer, and even to set destinations to addresses they supplied me. In ways, it almost felt like a test to see if I knew how to do things. LOL.

At the same time, they were asking me if I liked the way things were done, what I might like to see done differently, and/or what I might like to see added to these systems. They took copious notes, both of the things I did (and had trouble doing, in some cases) and the things I commented on, good and bad.

At the end of the drive session (a good half-hour or more), we sat in the car and discussed wish lists, gripes, suggestions, etc. Overall, I think it was a good session.

They wouldn't reveal anything, except to say that Acura wants feedback on things that customers like and things they don't, and that the results will go into the improvement and development of these systems. Needless to say, I made the following suggestions on the Nav:

- Eliminate the need to press the VR button for each followup prompt in series commands
- Add XM real-time weather radar map overlay
- Go to HDD or solid state drive, to allow for faster speed, automatic map updates and personal storage space

On the voice command, I suggested using only one button for both VR and phone.

I suggested a lot of other stuff, like outside temp display on the Nav screen, greater compatibility for BT phones (phonebook transfers), etc.

Overall, a fun and maybe even useful event. Oh, and I got $150 for it, too.

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Very interesting Mike. Thanks for the followup info.

I'm impressed they spent that much time with people and went through such an elaborate setup with camera's. I wonder if other manufacturers do this regularly? This is the first time I've known someone that did this with ANY car.

 

Yeah, a new approach for me, too. I've somehow gotten on the "list" for these kinds of things (I guess because I trade cars so often ), and this was a first.

One thing I didn't note in the above post is that I got the very real message they were looking at how distracting it might be to do various tasks while driving. In fact, they told me before we started out that if I felt uncomfortable trying to do the things they asked, to just say so and we'd do things while stopped. (I didn't need to do that.)

I gave them my opinion that some people probably can't - and don't - use many of these controls while driving, but that I really admired Acura for making so much functionality available for those who can and do.

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I would love to see that wx radar overlay on nav traffic. Great suggestion Mike_TX (no typo).