Northern 4R Adventures

[ChrisoftheNorth]

The only person who's ever complained about being able to hear me in the on BT is my 96 year old grandmother, so it may not be an across the board issue.

This is encouraging, I need to look into what's wrong with mine. I hate this issue the most because I can't trouble shoot it by myself.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Chris, does the phone call audio sound at all better if you connect to android auto?

Interesting thought. Haven't used AA yet. The built in nav and stock UI in general is rather decent. In the past, I'd use AA just for nav, but now that the built-in nav is so decent to use, I don't feel the need to plug in for AA all the time.

But it may indeed help with BT call quality, so it's worth a shot next time.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Next time you get into the car, hit menu, then in the bottom right of the screen you should see “display”.

Turn the display off.

Next, swipe the screen from left to right 5 times in less than 5 seconds. Then, right to left 5 times.
The radio should go into diagnostic mode.

If it does, snap a pic of it and send it to jcockcroft@potml.com tomorrow and I’ll walk you through a couple of things to try for the BT quality. I’m doing it from memory but let me know if it pulls up a white screen with green borders.

The Toyota radios have a BT “Gain” setting to tweak audio quality.

It goes from “awful” to circa 2009 quality level with some trial and error.

The audio quality in my Corolla is horrendous and the wife complains all the time.

I'll give this a shot, thanks dude!

[ChrisoftheNorth]

The BT in my Mk6 and Mk7 were both . Clear, loud enough phone calls, and decent streaming of audio from my phone.
Same for the H.
Obviously

I actually had no issues with the Subaru and incredibly my JL/T before that. People complained of a bit of background noise with those, but could always hear me fine. That always blew my mind because the Jeeps were so loud inside.

Which is why the 4R BT really surprised me. It's a lot quieter than the JL/Ts were inside, so you'd think bluetooth would follow.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I need that to work, imagine buying a quiet car to drive and take calls and then finding out the mic is quieter too?

I just assume Bluetooth doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked in any one of my last 5 cars…
370z plain unusable
Tdi shit
335i shit
M3 shit
Taco shit
Tessie may be ok doe. I just use a wired headset I hate blasting someone’s voice through 8-23 speakers like what’s the point

If I drive a lot and need to take calls, a wired single ear headset for talking would be 5/7. In the Subaru, people could hear me, but I'd have to crank the BT volume to the max just to hear people.

I absolutely hate talking on the phone in general because the quality is so bad. It's always hard for me to hear people, even if it's just talking on the phone in my living room.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

To me this sounds like a good reason to tell whoever that you can't talk right now.

Unfortunately, I like to scoot out of work early sometimes for trips and take meetings from the car. Bad BT quality or "sorry, can't talk right now" won't fly.

[razr390]

To me this sounds like a good reason to tell whoever that you can't talk right now.

Unfortunately, I like to scoot out of work early sometimes for trips and take meetings from the car. Bad BT quality or "sorry, can't talk right now" won't fly.

get a nice pair of wireless earbuds.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Unfortunately, I like to scoot out of work early sometimes for trips and take meetings from the car. Bad BT quality or "sorry, can't talk right now" won't fly.

get a nice pair of wireless earbuds.

There aren't a set of earbuds on the planet that stay in my satellite ears.

[razr390]

get a nice pair of wireless earbuds.

There aren't a set of earbuds on the planet that stay in my satellite ears.

Are you referring to the ones that have the silicone tips? Try AirPods. They are compatible with android as well. I have the Gen2’s and their shape works for me.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

There aren't a set of earbuds on the planet that stay in my satellite ears.

Are you referring to the ones that have the silicone tips? Try AirPods. They are compatible with android as well. I have the Gen2’s and their shape works for me.

Doesn't matter, they all fall out of my ears. I had a friend bragging about AirPods. He let me try his out, and they wouldn't even sit in my ear for more than a few seconds.

[CaleDeRoo]

get a nice pair of wireless earbuds.

There aren't a set of earbuds on the planet that stay in my satellite ears.

Bose QC buds. Swap the rubber for the large size that comes in the packaging. I've only bought BOSE buds for the last ten years because of how comfortable they are, and how well they stay in.

Or get the cheaper non QC buds which would work fine as well.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

So 2021 was a record year for 4R sales volume. 144k units in the US alone, pretty remarkable for such an ancient vehicle.

But I guess that's what happens when nobody else makes anything like it. Buyers have to go somewhere.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

There aren't a set of earbuds on the planet that stay in my satellite ears.

Bose QC buds. Swap the rubber for the large size that comes in the packaging. I've only bought BOSE buds for the last ten years because of how comfortable they are, and how well they stay in.

Or get the cheaper non QC buds which would work fine as well.

Interesting. Usually the large size rubber still isn't large enough. Moving my head around like normal works them out all the time. I have not tried Bose yet

[CaleDeRoo]

Bose QC buds. Swap the rubber for the large size that comes in the packaging. I've only bought BOSE buds for the last ten years because of how comfortable they are, and how well they stay in.

Or get the cheaper non QC buds which would work fine as well.

Interesting. Usually the large size rubber still isn't large enough. Moving my head around like normal works them out all the time. I have not tried Bose yet

Do you wear glasses or sun glasses? You can also get the Bose frames if you do. Fingers crossed your can make the cars BT work for you though

[max225]

So 2021 was a record year for 4R sales volume. 144k units in the US alone, pretty remarkable for such an ancient vehicle.

But I guess that's what happens when nobody else makes anything like it. Buyers have to go somewhere.

It’s a shift in customer behavior everyone has money and no one gives a shit about commuter boxes. So people are buying up lifestyle vehicles. Let’s also not forget there is a wrangler and a bronco on the maket. All of which are selling great

[ChrisoftheNorth]

So 2021 was a record year for 4R sales volume. 144k units in the US alone, pretty remarkable for such an ancient vehicle.

But I guess that's what happens when nobody else makes anything like it. Buyers have to go somewhere.

It’s a shift in customer behavior everyone has money and no one gives a shit about commuter boxes. So people are buying up lifestyle vehicles. Let’s also not forget there is a wrangler and a bronco on the maket. All of which are selling great

Wrangler and Bronco make sense because #lyfestyle and ZOMG Open air. Plus the Bronco is brand new.

I just didn't expect the 4R to do as well, it's quite a bit more boring than the Jeep or Bronco IMO (but also why I prefer it).

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Interesting. Usually the large size rubber still isn't large enough. Moving my head around like normal works them out all the time. I have not tried Bose yet

Do you wear glasses or sun glasses? You can also get the Bose frames if you do. Fingers crossed your can make the cars BT work for you though

Wow, I had no idea these existed!

[D Griff]

The BT in my Mk6 and Mk7 were both . Clear, loud enough phone calls, and decent streaming of audio from my phone.
Same for the H.
Obviously

Yep, IMO it has worked fine in all of my cars. The streaming audio quality is kind of meh, but whatever, it's in a fucking car, it doesn't really matter. BT is just meh tech, but it works.

[D Griff]

It’s a shift in customer behavior everyone has money and no one gives a shit about commuter boxes. So people are buying up lifestyle vehicles. Let’s also not forget there is a wrangler and a bronco on the maket. All of which are selling great

Wrangler and Bronco make sense because #lyfestyle and ZOMG Open air. Plus the Bronco is brand new.

I just didn't expect the 4R to do as well, it's quite a bit more boring than the Jeep or Bronco IMO (but also why I prefer it).

You have basically four vehicles in a red hot segment: Jeep, Bronco, 4Runner, Fendie. They all offer their own pros/cons, pick your flavor.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Wrangler and Bronco make sense because #lyfestyle and ZOMG Open air. Plus the Bronco is brand new.

I just didn't expect the 4R to do as well, it's quite a bit more boring than the Jeep or Bronco IMO (but also why I prefer it).

You have basically four vehicles in a red hot segment: Jeep, Bronco, 4Runner, Fendie. They all offer their own pros/cons, pick your flavor.

I wonder if the Jeep and Bronco were easier to get if 4R volume would drop off. But indeed, they all do something unique, and the segment is tiny.

Been seeing more Fendies by us, people taking major gambles without a dealer close by. They sure do look neat, I totally get the wants on them. If we had a dealer, I would have seriously considered one.

[max225]

You have basically four vehicles in a red hot segment: Jeep, Bronco, 4Runner, Fendie. They all offer their own pros/cons, pick your flavor.

I wonder if the Jeep and Bronco were easier to get if 4R volume would drop off. But indeed, they all do something unique, and the segment is tiny.

Been seeing more Fendies by us, people taking major gambles without a dealer close by. They sure do look neat, I totally get the wants on them. If we had a dealer, I would have seriously considered one.

The 4 door wrangler nearly killed the 4R in 2008…

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I wonder if the Jeep and Bronco were easier to get if 4R volume would drop off. But indeed, they all do something unique, and the segment is tiny.

Been seeing more Fendies by us, people taking major gambles without a dealer close by. They sure do look neat, I totally get the wants on them. If we had a dealer, I would have seriously considered one.

The 4 door wrangler nearly killed the 4R in 2008…

Exactly, which is why I'm surprised to see 4R volume continue to climb over the year despite record 4-door JL volume and added Bronco availability.

[Dbest]

The premium audio is kinda bullshit, there’s 2 levels of premium audio. One comes with a subwoofer, one doesn’t.

I did the 12 Volt Solution remote start on my 4R and my exs Highlander, the poverty kits using OEM remotes. Cheap and super simple plug and play install. The only down side is the range is limited to OEM remote distances, and it turns off when a door is opened.

[wap]

Yeah, you'd think so, right?

FWIW, I think the mic is up in the overhead console.

Here I am yelling at the radio... DO YOU HEAR ME??!

[max225]

The 4 door wrangler nearly killed the 4R in 2008…

Exactly, which is why I'm surprised to see 4R volume continue to climb over the year despite record 4-door JL volume and added Bronco availability.

Yep. Customer behavior shift. + everyone is rich now.