Alexa was working just fine at first, but now when I say "Alexa" it just displays a phrase it suggests trying and doesn't answer the question I just asked. Maybe I'm doing it wrong or I inadvertently changed a setting. Checked the manual, but it didn't have much info. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

When Alexa shows on the screen a phrase to try, JUST TRY IT. When it did this right after I said "Alexa" and asked a question, instead of immediately answering what I asked, I thought there was some type of malfunction. (My mind: Just answer the question I asked.) There isn't. It is simply trying to train you on how to use it. Apparently it assumes every new MDX owner is a novice with using Alexa. lol

By the way, before I figured out what the issue was (which, again, really wasn't an issue), I did something that caused days of frustration: Because I couldn't figure out what was going on, I tapped the Alexa menu on the screen and signed out, thinking that by signing back in, it would reset and "fix" the issue.

Well, Alexa started giving pop-ups saying (and being stuck on) "Set up not complete..." / "Try Again" -- it was doing this in an infinite loop. Nobody could figure it out (me, the dealership service department, AcuraLink in-car technical support). It was still doing the same thing this morning when I tried again, sitting in my garage. So, I just started exploring settings, etc. One thing I noticed I hadn't done yet was adding my home Wi-Fi to the MDX. I do that with my cars with that option in case I wanted to do an OTA system update while sitting in the garage. BOOM. As soon as I did that, many icons started to look a little brighter (almost as if they were actuated by my home Wi-Fi). Alexa immediately started working again as normal.

 

Is your house "smart" enough to use Alexa in the car or it's really just the novelty and for occasional questions?

 

I have other Echo devices in the house itself, so in-car Alexa would only be for when I’m out and about and I decide to use her instead of Siri for the occasional question.

 

Even after doing everything I mentioned in this thread, I still had to make sure the AcuraLink skill is enabled on the Amazon Alexa Skills Connected Car site — Choose "Alexa Skills" in the Amazon search bar's "search in" drop-down and search for AcuraLink. Click on the AcuraLink icon in the search results and you should get to the skill's page, which will show something similar as below. Sign in (if you haven't already) and click on Enable Skill (or, if you're having an issue, see if disabling and enabling again fixes your issue).

 

So you've raised a question that has been on my mind. I do not have Alexa at home and I assume Siri will answer my questions "just as well" as Alexa so what would be the advantage to me of activating/using Alexa? Furthermore would I need the ATT in car connection in order to use it?

 

Good question, and you're right that Siri can also answer questions like Alexa can. I haven't exploited the full potential of Alexa myself, but it can do a lot more than just tell you the weather, the time, and other such mundane stuff. There are these things called " " that can basically turn Alexa into your virtual personal assistant that can interact with things or applications you use. It's an ecosystem in it's own right with over a 100,000 skills and counting.

There is redundancy with Siri and AcuraLink, as you say. I mean you can use the AcuraLink app on your phone to check your odometer or fuel level but you can also ask Alexa the same question from anywhere — this works nicely if you have at least one Echo device in your house.

You don't need the AT&T Hotspot service to use Alexa, but since I got it, Alexa has been working flawlessly. You have to have an adequate (strong enough) Wi-Fi signal, i.e. AT&T Hotspot or your mobile phone's personal hotspot (watch out off you're not in an unlimited data plan).

 

Between Siri and Alexa, I've found Alexa to be able to get my query correct much more often than Siri. Siri is so bad they make fun of her on TV commercials!

 

This should answer you questions.