Hi,

I'm looking at a 500X as a 2nd car for our family.

There are a couple of 2016 models locally that look like good candidates.

One has the 5" screen with Nav upgrade and heated seats and steering wheel, and the other has the 6.5" SD based nav and no other real desirable options. Both are similar mileage and money.

My question is, how much better is the 6.5" infotainment over the 5" - is there any real difference other than screen size?

From what ive read the nav on either system is pretty slow and rubbish anyway, so should I not worry and go for the one with the smaller screen but more practical options like heated seats, steering wheel?

Is Uconnect any good - from what ive seen it looks very gimicky and doesnt offer any real usable features?

Thanks

Paul

pjrcdf2000 said:

Hi,



I'm looking at a 500X as a 2nd car for our family.



There are a couple of 2016 models locally that look like good candidates.



One has the 5" screen with Nav upgrade and heated seats and steering wheel, and the other has the 6.5" SD based nav and no other real desirable options. Both are similar mileage and money.



My question is, how much better is the 6.5" infotainment over the 5" - is there any real difference other than screen size?



From what ive read the nav on either system is pretty slow and rubbish anyway, so should I not worry and go for the one with the smaller screen but more practical options like heated seats, steering wheel?



Is Uconnect any good - from what ive seen it looks very gimicky and doesnt offer any real usable features?



Thanks



Paul

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I only have experirnce of the 6.5" unit, although I am totally unaware of such a unit with an SD card.

As far as I am aware the 5" unit is user updatable, the 6.5" is not, it's an expensive job at the dealership.

As for the other features I'm totally unaware of any significant differences.

Not much, but I hope it helps you

I have the 6.5 unit in my car and find it OK, takes a while to get used to all of the settings but once mastered as I said OK. The only downside with the unit is that any map upgrade has to be done at a dealership, the operating system is a user upgrade tho' I expect as the unit is no longer made any upgrades of the OS will cease.The SD slot you refer to is if it is the same as mine is to play music rather like the old CD players but is capable of storing a great deal more. Your CD's or downloads will have to be put onto the card first, also IPhones etc can play thro' it via either a USB connection or bluetooth.


No experience of the 5 inch unit tho there does seem to be various models of it, ie DAB or no DAB, but the maps can be user upgraded. Though really how often do you need to upgrade maps, if it is a second car I doubt the Nav part will hardly get used.

Re my previous post forgot to mention that the 6.5 inch unit on my car has a reversing camera that I find very useful, don't know if that is standard with all 6.5's but I don't think it is available on the 5 inch unit, tho I stand to be corrected.

2FiatsRon said:

Re my previous post forgot to mention that the 6.5 inch unit on my car has a reversing camera that I find very useful, don't know if that is standard with all 6.5's but I don't think it is available on the 5 inch unit, tho I stand to be corrected.

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Presumably not standard, no reversing camera on mine, just the beepers

I guess this is a matter of choice BUT bearing in mind the following points.

o Fiat generally seems to "address" the smart tech market but have never nailed it so what you get is a rudimentary solution that will be fine for some people but woefully inadequate and a joke to others

o The 5 inch units (with Sat Nav) require Tom Tom Purchased Map Updates

o I think the 6.5 inch units come with free updates via the associated Fiat website

o I have the 5 inch unit in my 500X Cross Plus and the non digital radio system works well enough for me. It connects to my phone (Blue Tooth). It plays music from my USB drive but the random play / shuffle is somewhat hit/miss event. The Sat Nav works Ok but again is fairly rudimentary and you have to pay for updates. Having said this the Sat Nav will get you from A to B.

Bottom line is this, IMHO, the Fiat uConnect and Sat Nav system is basic but functional but certainly not class leading. More class training?

The technical problem one could have in upgrading a Fiat inbuilt system (as opposed to just having a Garmin/Tom Tom standalone Sat Nav unit) is that many of the vehicles set-up parameters/menus are only available on the uConnect system.

I believe some people have replaced their uConnect systems/units but I have no info on this process and what may or may not be lost in doing so.

s130 said:

o I think the 6.5 inch units come with free updates via the associated Fiat website

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I have never been offered a free map update on my 6.5" unit. When the dealership finally found out how to do it they wanted best part of £200 for the privilege, hence the Garmin.

Alanw47 said:

I have never been offered a free map update on my 6.5" unit. When the dealership finally found out how to do it they wanted best part of £200 for the privilege, hence the Garmin.

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Did you check here https://maps.mopar.eu/en/home Alan?

s130 said:

Did you check here https://maps.mopar.eu/en/home Alan?

Click to expand...

Yes I did, after thinking about it for 12 months the dealership worked out HOW to do it. Apparently nobody had ever asked for an update before. Then they informed me that Fiat were charging approx £115 for the maps and the dealership would be adding on about £70 for labour, then there was the VAT. Or approx £165 for a top of the range Garmin with free Traffic and Map updates.

For our experience on my wifes car - I think I'm right in saying the earlier cars had the smaller screen. Ours is a 2015 so yes the early system. IMO it works ok but the nav maps are a bit slow and jerky - also the buttons to enter addresses are daft small and too easy to select the wrong letter/number. Its does ok though. We were in Italy over the summer and had a new 500X with the current larger screens. Our car being a rental did not had the built in Nav but we were able to connect our phones Nav system using Apple Carplay which worked very well once connected but did not always back kick in when you returned to the car - though that may just have been our aging phones. Oh and yes Uconnect is a gimmick and to be frank useless..............