[NortonB]

Hello everyone ! Just purchased our new MKC (Reserve, 2.0 l, tow pkg). We're excited and certainly on a learning curve concerning all its features and capabilities. I'm sure that over the next weeks we'll be looking to others here for guidance and advice on various questions, but for now, two quick questions:

1. Somehow we seem to have lost the voice prompts in the navigation mode. The nav setting is set to Voice and tone prompts, but we're still not hearing any prompts. We were hearing them yesterday, so I'm thinking may have inadvertently changed something. Any advice on this?

2. I see a fuel economy option on the display, and when this is selected, I do see that the display shows litres/100 km (we're in Canada). It doesn't seem to change as we drive, so I'm thinking it's not an instant readout, but some sort of average? Is there a way to see fuel economy for a given period of time, or for a certain trip?

Thank you!
NortonB

 

[MKC4ME]

Congratulations NortonB. I have a similar model.

There is an icon in navigation to mute and unmute the voice prompts. Personally, I find the built-in navigation a lot harder to use than a Garmin GPS but it does have a nice integrated display. I find that half of the places I would like to go aren't in it and the maps are probably at least two years out of date. My preference now if I am travelling into unfamiliar territory or heavy traffic is to use Google maps and navigation through Android Auto. I can decide on my destinations and route on my computer and send them to my phone for use in my vehicle. If I need to add a destination while driving the voice search works very well.

The fuel economy display shows the average fuel consumption since you last reset it. You can watch the bar go up and down as you use more or less fuel. I just use one of the trip displays and reset it when I fill up with gas. It shows me the distance traveled on the tank, the average fuel consumption and the total time elapsed. I find the consumption can vary widely depending on how you drive. I once reset the fuel economy display and drove on a relatively flat rural highway at about 90 km/h for a while and it ran about 7.6 L/100 km - about the same as my 2013 RAV4 in similar conditions. My wife and I took a trip north a couple of weeks ago and the average over three tankfuls of mostly highway driving was about 9.5 L/100 km (~25 MPG US, 30 MPG Imperial). My RAV4 would run around 8.6 L/100 km for a similar trip.

 

[NortonB]

MKC4ME, thanks very much for this information. Very much appreciated. I'll look for that mute button in Nav. Regarding the fuel economy displays, thanks for tips. I think I'll just sit in the car today with the owner's manual in hand, and just get familiar with features, displays, controls,etc. (This is only our third day with the car, and aside from salesman's five minute orientation we haven't had a chance to really get familiar with the vehicle.

I'm very interested in your comments about the Navigation system. Like you, I'm finding - at least so far - my Garmin is a lot easier to use. Also, I had assumed - in my naivety - that map updates for a new vehicle would be free for a time, but have just learned to the contrary. I'm definitely going to be exploring android auto, and may need to come back to you for help with this.

Thanks, again!

 

[NortonB]

Re using google maps through Android Auto: Can you use downloaded google maps (for offline use)? I'd like to use google maps, but don't want to be using data on my phone for this, while enroute.

 

[MKC4ME]

NortonB:

I believe if you set up the route while you have a wi-fi connection it can download the maps to your phone though there must be a setting required to enable it which I haven't found yet. I got a new Samsung Galaxy S7 to replace my S3 shortly after getting the MKC and set it up with 2.5 GB of data which now appears to be more than I need. My current billing cycle ends today and I have only used 318 MB of mobile data, 127 MB of which was for maps. The wi-fi data usage for a similar period was 1.37 GB of which only 12.99 MB was for maps. This means most of the map detail for my route was downloaded using phone data. During this time I used Android Auto / Google maps for most of a round trip from Guelph, Ontario to Manitoulin Island (~1300 km) plus several trips to the Waterloo region and Mississauga. You need to try it yourself to gauge how much mobile data you will use. My phone is set to limit my mobile data use to 80% of my plan amount and I have to set the limit higher to use the rest.

 

[NortonB]

MKC4ME

Okay, thanks. The data usage doesn't sound unreasonable at all. I'll try it out and monitor usage over a short period of time.

A couple of additional questions, if I may: I think I've set up my phone (Galaxy S6) properly to communicate with the MKC's onboard system, and I'm seeing google maps on the screen. But, as soon as I unplug the USB cable, I loose this. Does the cable have to remain connected, or should it be connecting by bluetooth? Also, do voice commands work with google maps navigation?

Thanks again.

 

[MKC4ME]

NortonB:

Android Auto runs on your phone and only uses the screen, audio and microphone from the MKC while tethered with a USB cable (I found a 12" one). It is a nuisance to have to make the USB connection but it does allow the phone to be recharged. While in Android Auto mode the voice commands work with the phone. You can press icons on the screen to switch back to Sync 3 (without the on-board navigation) if there are controls you need to access, then switch back to Android Auto.

 

[NortonB]

MKC4ME

Thanks. Your help is really appreciated. When the phone is connected and google nav is running, is it the phone's GPS receiver/antenna that is being used or the car's? (if it's the phone's GPS,and given that the phone will be well away from the windshield, I'm wondering whether you ever have problems with receiving the GPS signal.)

 

[countryguy]

Does Android Auto work with the 2015 MKC?

 

[NortonB]

Country guy

I'm very new to the MKC, so I can't say for certain. But, at least based on what I've been reading, as long as you've got the up to date version of Synch, Android Auto should work for you.

 

[countryguy]

Unfortunately I don't think so. I just checked the Android Auto website and only the 2017s are compatible. I guess because they have Sync 3. My MKC cannot be upgraded to Sync 3.

 

[Fauster]

2016's became Android Auto compatible with the last software upgrade. I've used Android Auto a few times and it works as expected.

 

[MKC4ME]

NortonB:

The phone uses a combination of its own GPS and cell phone tower signals to identify location. Now that you mention it, I did have a couple of occasions where the voice prompt seemed to come late but the on-screen display still showed the right location. It might work better if up on the dash but it is nice to have it sitting in the console.

Countryguy:

I don't think Android Auto was available when the 2015 models were being designed. I believe it works on 2016 MKC's but some other Lincoln models have not had it available until the 2017 model year. You probably need Sync 3 for it to work. You can still operate Android Auto on the phone alone if you have a suitable dash mount for it.

 

[KenZ]

Does Android Auto work with the 2015 MKC?

The new technology in the Sync 3 hardware gives you the option for Android Auto (and Apple CarPlay). 2015 MKC are all Sync 2 hardware - so it is not available. Not sure when Sync 3 was rolled out on the MKC, 2017 for sure, 2016 maybe?

I have Sync 2 on my 2015 MKC and Sync 3 on my 2017 MKZ. After the first couple months of playing with it and getting used to it, I rarely use the Android Auto/Apple CarPlay options any more.

 

[blankster]

The 2016 MKC with Sync 3 with OS 2.2 can communicate with Apple CarPlay but the connector in the console has to be upgraded with a revised part. Android Auto is compatible.