New Toyota Guy... New Camry!
 

New owner to Toyota here... Just picked up a 2011 Camry SE V6 on model clearance from my local dealer.

Blue Ribbon Metallic with the Leather and Convenience packages.

The only thing right now is that I'm waiting for some accessory installs.

I ordered the following with the vehicle:
Advent OE-look Multimedia Navigation
Medium Window Tint
Rear Bumper Appliqué
Door edge guards
Hood cover

In addition, there were some blemishes in the paint that the dealer's reconditioning shop had to resolve.

I dropped the car off a week ago, and I found out from the dealer on Tuesday that the car's hood, trunk lid, and part of the roof had to be re-painted.

In addition, the dealer was waiting on the sales dept.'s approval until Wednesday to start the body work... I guess they need permission to fix a new car...

Anyway, one of the issues I had with taking the car in, was that they couldn't schedule everything to be installed and give me an ETA. Now that the "blemishes" have taken longer to resolve, none of the other work has been started. The first four days of the time in the shop was a total waste.

When I bought this thing, they told me that they'd need approx. 3-4 days to fix everything and get the gear installed. It's already been a week, and I called today for a status:

Apparently the body work is done, but none of the other equipment is installed, and this dealer still can't tell me when this thing gets done.

Am I wrong to be frustrated? It doesn't help that I have had less time with this car than the dealer has, and I'm a little bit concerned that all of the accessories are being installed by third parties, as the dealer does NONE of their own install work. On top of that, the dealer management team has been completely unresponsive to my escalations/status requests, and the service advisors act like they don't have/ can't get any info for me when I call.

Looking forward to it all being done, hoping it's all done right, and praying that it's done soon!!! Looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of this thing... My rental is a Kia... Nuf said.

On another note, anyone know anything about the Advent OE Navigation System? It's the OTOCAM2 model. I'm looking for feedback on fit/ finish and impact on the audio quality coming from the JBL head unit.

Good to be here guys. Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

I'll write a review of the navi unit myself, if I ever get the car back!

welcome to the forum!

I am getting an otocam2 as well. How has your experience been with it? I'm having trouble finding any information at all about it online other than 4 videos on youtube, and the same word for word press release. Please give us an update, this thread could be the number on hit when people search for this device hah!

--sh0ck

Welcome to the site. I suggest you go in person, and demand to see your car and the work they cliam they have completed. I feel that sometimes the phone calls /emails aren't as effective with shops as that face to face contact.

Loving it - Not without it's struggles, but a 99% OEM look/feel now...
 

sh0ck:

You're going to love the unit - It's the closest thing to OEM I've ever seen, and the controls are seamless. I really forget sometimes that its not the OEM navi system.

To that point however, You're going to have to fight your dealer to ensure an "OEM-like" install:

- The unit comes with one of those damn magnetic "mini pucks" from XM that attaches to your roof/trunk. To get a real OEM look, Advent makes an antenna adapter to use your factory antenna for navi and XM functions, and trust me, you'll want that thing installed. I'll have to find the part number for the Antenna adapter and post it.

- Also, if you're coming from a JBL head-unit, you aren't going to want to give up your sound quality/fidelity... INsist that they use the JBL harness for the install (Advent makes one) so that your amp remains engaged.

On my install they just spliced wires to bypass the JBL amp and installed the "puck" for the antenna on my trunk lid. I fought for a month with the dealer until they righted the install. Now it's perfect and OEM seamless.

One thing you're going to want to do is adjust your equalizer for optimal sound settings. By default the JBL head units that come stock are amped up on the low and high end, with midrange receiving much less power, which results in a low and sharp sound with even mids... I suggest reflecting that in your set up.

You will find that the sound volume needs to be turned up pretty high to get good results and good sound reproduction... If you're not coming from a JBL, this shouldn't be an issue.

Also - The one MINOR annoyance about this unit- I frequently use the A2DP capabilities to stream music from my iPhone or iPad... There is no AVRCP profile in this head unit, so steering wheel track controls don't work for Bluetooth audio... Otherwise, the wheel controls do EVERYTHING they did under the old OEM JBL unit. The nice touch is that the voice command button now controls my iPhone voice command (or Siri if you have an iPhone 4S) so you get even more control there.

All in all, good luck, and let me know if you need any part details to keep that dealer in check...

Well it turns out they wanted an additional $250 to get the xm and backup camera units so I went with the Advant advuv630 Welcome to Advent, which is way cheaper but has all the same functions, it just doesnt look like the original radio. Because its cheaper however they were able to throw in the xm and the backup camera for free. I just want it done.. they originally offered me some other unit and they said that it was no longer being manufactured so they gave me a choice of 3 pretty similar units, and I chose the cheepest to get the xm/backup camera for free. I dont really care that it doesnt look like the facktory one. I just want it to work and not cost me an arm and a leg lol.

Are there any hidden screens on this unit? Or any secret functions you have found? Does it let you (a passenger) mess with the dvd/nav stuff while driving? I know the factory one doesnt allow this and has a lot of people pissed that they have to be stopped and in park to change a gps destination.

--sh0ck