MMCS...what's the verdict?

[phevman]

Hi All,

I recently took delivery of my Outlander PHEV GX4h and wanted to share my disappointment of the MMCS - it's shockingly bad!

I absolutely love the Outlander PHEV, although it's such a shame that a car packed full of technology is let down by the MMCS system. The system seems very unrefined with an aftermarket feel - not what you expect from a car of this value and stature.

When the vehicle first starts up you have to wait 10's of seconds before it's ready for use, the user interface tends to be very laggy and unresponsive to touch (it's certainly not in line with what people have come to expect nowadays from smartphone touch screens), it's also very messy in terms of layout, everything seems scattered, making it troublesum to navigate settings and features.

The satellite navigation system is also lacking in refinement, again not easy to navigate the user interface, very basic in functionality and frustrating at times. Compared with other sat nav devices out there, it seems very outdated.

Finally, the voice recognition and integration with my mobile phone (iPhone) is very poor. First off, I found it a struggle to get my contacts copied to the MMCS, I eventually did it after a few attempts and reading the manual. The voice response to a call request sounds like an out of tune robot, it's almost funny the way it try's to pronounce names!

Sorry for the negative comments, but I feel this really needs to fed back as something that needs drastic improvement or a complete revamp! On a positive note, there is a lot of functionality and statistical information provided by the MMCS, but trying to find and decipher what you want is a challenge!

What are your thoughts?

 

[maby]

It is certainly not as responsive as one might hope and the interface is less than logical in several places, but I find the functionality OK. Once you have overcome the tedious interface to set a destination, I find that the route planning is as good as any other satnav I've ever used and the speech synthesis is not bad. It is pretty good at understanding my speech, but I would like to have a wider range of functions controllable via the voice recognition - in the old Prius I could control almost everything by voice including the climate control and entertainment.

So, my verdict? Not a 10, but not low enough to make me moan - perhaps a 7...

 

[kljasdfbkjaaalke]

I hate the MMCS. Trying to stay away from it.
Rumour says it will get a major overhaul in coming version. Not sure if that will affect our versions though.

When driving a PHEV I am very interested in trip data. The way the MMCS displays it is embarrassing. I would love to be able to export the data as CSV files or something. That way the forum could build apps to import it for better processing.
I would like to be able to see how much fuel and kW I have consumed since I got the car...and from when I resetted B. I know it's in there but where?

In short the MMCS is a joke. I'm glad the car is so good.

 

[jaapv]

It could be improved, but I find it quite adequate. I only wish DAB and DAB+ were more reliable.

 

[aitchjaybee]

I think it lets the car down. For me, the main thing is the processor speed, it's really slow and that's a money saving measure (€5) but a close 2nd to the speed is it's not intuitive. That makes it distracting/diverting to use unless stationary. (Let's not lecture about using on the move, most users will)

It's on my 'top 3' on the thread about suggestions to MItsu to improve.

Does it stop me from enjoying the car, or bad enough to replace it? No. But it's one item that stands out as inferior to the rest of the vehicle. Thank goodness for PsideP and this forum to find various workarounds to some of the problems.

 

[tlongdon]

Once I found the clock display, I've left it on that.
Use fuel economy, range, battery level etc. from the small display between the dials.
And a mounted Galaxy Tab for the Sat Nav (Waze).

So it's a (quite good) radio with a clock in my car.

 

[jaapv]

It seems Pioneer has a quite nice after-market one that does not break the bank.

 

[maby]

I hate the MMCS. Trying to stay away from it.
...
When driving a PHEV I am very interested in trip data. The way the MMCS displays it is embarrassing. I would love to be able to export the data as CSV files or something. That way the forum could build apps to import it for better processing.
I would like to be able to see how much fuel and kW I have consumed since I got the car...and from when I resetted B. I know it's in there but where?

....

For the first month, I kept an eye on fuel consumption. After that, I accepted that it was far worse than the headline figures, but I like the car and am not going to change it in the foreseeable future - hence there is little point in watching fuel consumption - however much petrol it wants, I'm going to put it in! Tinkering with the MMCS this evening while waiting for my wife at the station, I discovered that I've averaged just over 46mpg since taking delivery of the car - a bit down on the summer figures, but a fair bit better than the Landcruiser. It is also more or less what I was getting out of the Prius, so I'm happy - the Outlander is a significantly larger car then the Prius.

 

[Regulo]

Tinkering with the MMCS this evening while waiting for my wife at the station

That, for me, sums up the MMCS. There's a load of info in there -somewhere! But it's not obvious where, unless you go digging for it. I'd rather have LESS info, but in a much more user friendly interface.

 

[user 816]

I agree its a horrible item and I was astonished when I tested the PHEV that this rubbish was fitted in the most advanced hybrid available.

We have a previous Outlander and the MMCS is quite similar but at least simpler.

The bit that gutted me was the phone function, I hate voice dialling!!! I have a lots of business contacts I need to call on the move and they are listed in various ways that give me reminders about who or what they are, I can't remember what they are all called, that's the point of a contact list to browse.

I test drove several other vehicles and every one had a 'phone' button then one press to phone book, up/down to browse then press the contact to dial. Easy.

But on the MMCS its a nightmare and takes about 15 presses to do this. And yes its also astonishingly slow. The unit in the £14K Suzuki S-Cross I tried was far more capable, had camera, dab and could even read your incoming texts out loud. 4H cost £38,000!

If it wasn't for the special hybrid functions I would rip it out and stick an after-market one in.

Moans aside, I have still ordered the car.. 3 days to go!

 

[Ozukus]

With so many posts on this forum about the disappointment of the MMCS I am so glad I purchased a GX3h.

My moaning is therefore restricted to my inability to configure certain items like intermittent wipers and manual side mirror close.

The only other disappointments, which were considered prior to pre-purchase as the above I wasn't aware of, are not having pre-heat and not having a DAB radio that I would have liked for 5 Live Sports Extra for the cricket (though lots of complaints of that on here). For the DAB Radio I have resolved this as my portable DAB radio with external speaker sits nicely in my mobile phone holder.

So now the only thing I wish I did have was pre-heat and at an extra cost of £80 per month, definitely isn't worth that for a few months of the year that would effectively give it a relative cost of about £240 - £320 per month.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Well I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that I actually don't hate the MMCS unit. I agree it's a little slow, it's not wholly intuitive with regards to where you expect to find certain pieces of information or controls, and it's certainly not as slick a user experience as my old BMW 5 iDrive system........but, I'm pretty familiar with it now, it does everything I need it to do reliably, and there are plenty of interesting things to browse through when you're parked up waiting for the wife to finish shopping! I don't use the app, bluetooth phone, voice control, DAB radio or altimeter, charge history/cost, and I certainly don't need a picture of what satellites are tracking my whereabouts, but I use the power/economy screens to better understand the workings of the car and improve my driving style, I use the audio with USB drive without any issue, I use the preheat/deforst timers a couple of times every day at this time of the year, I can easily find where to stop mirrors folding during the frosty mornings, the satnav is just as good/bad as in the BMW (in fact the alternate route suggestions due to congestion are easier to switch to in the PHEV).

Now I'm used to it, the only things I would change are (i) faster processor especially on start up, (ii) more sensitive touch screen, (iii) album art display directly from USB....but none of these are a big deal to me!

There, I've said it......let the avalanche of MMCS hate continue! :lol:

 

[maby]

Well I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that I actually don't hate the MMCS unit. I agree it's a little slow, it's not wholly intuitive with regards to where you expect to find certain pieces of information or controls, and it's certainly not as slick a user experience as my old BMW 5 iDrive system........but, I'm pretty familiar with it now, it does everything I need it to do reliably, and there are plenty of interesting things to browse through when you're parked up waiting for the wife to finish shopping! I don't use the app, bluetooth phone, voice control, DAB radio or altimeter, charge history/cost, and I certainly don't need a picture of what satellites are tracking my whereabouts, but I use the power/economy screens to better understand the workings of the car and improve my driving style, I use the audio with USB drive without any issue, I use the preheat/deforst timers a couple of times every day at this time of the year, I can easily find where to stop mirrors folding during the frosty mornings, the satnav is just as good/bad as in the BMW (in fact the alternate route suggestions due to congestion are easier to switch to in the PHEV).

Now I'm used to it, the only things I would change are (i) faster processor especially on start up, (ii) more sensitive touch screen, (iii) album art display directly from USB....but none of these are a big deal to me!

There, I've said it......let the avalanche of MMCS hate continue! :lol:

I'm broadly in agreement with you - functionally, it's pretty good, but is let down by a slow processor and some rather clunky menu structures. Once you have learnt your way round it, it is easy enough to use and does most things well enough. The accuracy of the voice recognition seems very good, but the range of things that can be controlled by voice is a bit restricted.

By the way, has anyone discovered any "easter eggs" in the voice recognition? On the early runs of MK2 Prius, if you told it "I'm hungry", it took you to the nearest fast food outlet and if you said "I'm confused", it took you to the nearest higher education establishment.

 

[SMB]

I told it to 'speed up' and it took me to a race track!

 

[user 816]

Plus... in the old MMCS in our Mk2 Outlander (well C-Crosser) whilst stationary you could play a DVD movie on the screen. Ideal to keep the kids (and Dad) occupied whilst Mrs Bob spent a decade looking at shoes...

I don't think the new one does.