After testing the previous MIO sat nav I was literally waiting at the door till the new version arrived, which wasn’t long.
The Mio V505 Car GPS came packaged well in an Orange and Black box, with two pictures of Sat Nav units on the front, this threw me as it was early morning, it then dawned this symbolises GPS and TV, dohhh.
In the box
In the box was a smart, minimal slimline design Satellelite Navigation unit, TV tuner card very compact resembled a Flash memory card, Car cigar lighter charger with USB plug, TV aerial with suction cups, suction cup holder for the windscreen and finally a CD rom.
The look and ease of use
Looks great, and simple to use in a nutshell.
This latest Mio Sat Nav V505 TV, and like its predecessor the Mio Spirit 500 we reviewed last month was basically the same model with a digital TV receiver as you would expect its very stylish in cool colours black and silver with simple discreet buttons as well as being shaped perfectly, slimline and looking expensive yet modest, making the V505 TV sat nav unit a well designed solution making it a great a addition to any car windscreen.
The experience
As I was looking at the Sat Nav unit I realised owed this GPS a decent roadtrip for it’s first outing, and that was that organised – a road trip from Silverdale, Lancashire just outside the Lake District to Chiswick in London.
I fired up the GPS and just like the previous model I was presented with a menu of coloured boxes, however this Mio V505 had alot more features.
The first menu page has icons for Find, My Places, Explore, Travel Book, Map, Capture, TV and a sub menu arrow, the second page has icons for My MIO, Petrol, Planned Trips, Home, Traffic, SOS, Food and one last sub menu arrow included in the final page is Tourist, Parking and Cash. Also displayed was battery life, and satellite strength as well as the date and time. Most of the features are self explanetary and after a little exploring the Spirit V505 car sat nav is a very simple gadget to use.
Time to test drive the unit as with all car GPS units, to add a destination is relatively simple either by using Postcode, Street, City, or Keyword, postcode, there were also a few other searches not usually found Find nearby, Find POI’s (Points of interest) along my route, Find a city/area, Pick on a map and the destination your leaving from. Postcode seemed the most apt, I was then asked to set a list of parameters to set, Tolls, Motorways etc and that’s it click GO and choose your map view 2D or 3D. The screen displays on the right a plus and minus for zooming in and out on the map, there is also a tab where you can see ETA, Miles remaining etc. The voice was clear and precise, however like all GPS units it did confuse bear a direction and turn a direction and wrongly identified Speed cameras on roads it crossed, mind you of all the Car sat navs we have reviewed this is a common trait with all of them.
When on the road I could see my heading realtime and route updates, primarily which lane to be in. Periodically the GPS would ping and a Traffic Alert would pop up and tell how far traffic congestion was ahead of me and the roads speed at that point, giving me the choice of re-routing or continuing.
A great option I found and this really assisted me in the centre of London, Picadilly to be exact was the fact that the Mio Spirit V505 TV doubled as a hand held GPS unit on foot and helped me find a club somewhere to eat and the car park.
The digital TV
As I expected this was the most awesome part of the Car sat nav experience, I was able to view extremely clear reception of various digital TV channels, including e4, Film4, BBC and ITVetc.
I will say that if you expect this GPS to allow to use the TV while travelling you will be disappointed, Mio have explained this is purely for the safety of the driver and keeping them focused, I found the TV receiver would work when crawling on motorways in queues or when stationary, it is quite clever how the car Spirit V505 TV cuts the connection when the car reaches a certain speed.
The verdict
A short and to the point verdict, a great improvement on the Spirit 500, and just as reliable with some new cool features, and the TV needs to be seen to be believed.
As my Twitter states benmk2, Planet Auto have been waiting for the perfect road trip to test the Latest MIO Sprint V505 TV and today we embark on it, our destinations Chiswick then onto Sunbury, the car V6 Gallant loaded with Bass:) watch this space to see how this latest MIO car sat nav rates.
Posted on February 16th, 2010 by admin,
Filed under: Planet Auto
It’s amazing the cars the Police miss on UK roads, what with all the cameras, policemen and panda cars. To the point, most of us know it’s not a good idea to drive a smashed up car on Britain’s roads, however I truly believe that many people don’t know its illegal. I know you can get a way with a few things damaged wings, smashed lights or windows etc, basically as long as its not a danger to pedestrians meaning no sharp edges, the engine showing or the wheels protruding. The car I saw travelling through Preston the other evening was a law unto itself, It kind of resembled a Vectra yet it looked like it had been shunted by a Lamborghini or Ferrari, the photo explains all, believe me.
I’m just glad my iPhone was on hand, how this Vauxhall started up let alone move is anyone’s guess, we followed it for a mile or two from that I deduced the exhaust was blowing the backend was at a 230 degree angle and it had electrics like I’d never seen a permanently illuminated left-hand white indicator, anyway judge for yourself, and watch out for other wrecks on UK roads.
Please send us your pics of smashed up driving cars, we want to see what people are willing to drive on the road. If we get enough we will decidce which is the best and award a prize.
Here is the leaked picture of a toy car the may well show us the future 2011 Volkswagen Touareg
If this toy car is accurate, the Touareg has been completely redesigned giving a mk6 Golf / Polo styled appearance, our thoughts are if this toy has been made officially then there is a high probability the latest VW Touareg will look very similar to the VW leaked toy picture.
If German rumours concerning the offroading VW are accurate, then this image fits into the story, rumours suggest the Touareg will be reworked and reskinned however we won’t know till later this year, well officially.
Posted on January 27th, 2010 by admin,
Filed under: Cars
The Motorsport division of BMW has announced this morning that all M3 GTS models have been sold, no mention on how many that is. That means its too late if you were planning on treating yourself to one the M tuned Beemers,and it seems the price tag of €115.000 has done nothing to detur people it seems, so much for a global economic crisis. Anyone who has ordered one can expect delivery any time from May 2010.
Kay Segler BMW’s M division CEO,mentioned he was surprised by the public’s reaction on the GTS. The team developed the lighter version M3 as a track-day car, but road legal. It seems the public wanted this car more than BMW anticipated, and this is their response too. Mind you this is a good thing, it means the car is unique and will stay fond in peopels memories such as the RS200, Nismo 400r or dare I say it the beautiful ahead of it’s time yet doomed M1.
The race prepped GTS road car car weighs in at only 1,490kg courtesy of its Carbon Fibre parts (190kg less than a M3), with a 450bhp engine meaning it rules the roost compared to all other M3’s.
Saab had been in the news for weeks and of late press reports have been suggesting that a possible deal between GM and Spyker over the sale of Saab could be close to completion. If the internet and press rumours are true theyr’e maybe a solution for the 63-year-old Swedish car manufacturer, and hopefully safeguarding most if not all of their 3,400 employees futures.
The Financial Times had hinted that the agreement could be announced as soon as today,others think it could be months. One Swedish newspaper published Victor Muller, The CEO of Spyker had been Sweden the home of Saab since Friday. If the takeover goes ahead, Bloomberg News believes that Spyker will acquire Saab for $500, of which $75 million cash from Spyker, $100 million cash from Saab’s coffers, and $325 million in stock.
However an email received may symbolise its already been done, It has already been seen by one Spyker followers website comment “A Spyker car has been delivered to the SAAB museum in Trollhattan!”.
Should talks between Dutch brand Spyker and Saab-parent GM falter, at least one other company is still waiting in the wings. Luxembourg-based investment firm Genii Capital made an all-cash offer to GM earlier in the year. Still, even Genii spokesman Lars Carlstrom believes the Dutch company will come away with Saab.
“We believe that Spyker is well-positioned in this deal, and I would expect an outcome early next week,” Carlstrom said.
Spyker Cars shares at 9.00am GMT were up nearly 30% on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 by admin,
Filed under: Planet Auto
Many people have followed Alfa Romeo for years, but how many of them have witnessed the only Alfa Supercar to be produced? not many I bet especially as there is only one rumoured model to be in the UK, I am of course talking about the Alfa 8c Competizione, it’s an unbelievably good looking car and we witnessed it at Autosport International 2010 on the Auto Delta stand. The guys on the stand were good enough to let us take a load of photos and tell us a bit about the car like the fact the car is mostly made with both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineering.
As you can see the car is unlike any other Supercar, and being in it’s presence is like a dream, I mean I like cars but this car has always captivated me since seeing it on Test Drive unlimited on the Xbox 360, probably by the fact I’d never seen or heard of it which is rare.
Anyway enough about my reminiscing, the Guys at Auto delta were telling me they have been tuning Alfas for years and said they had few models that compared to this marque, however they also mentioned they hada few cars in their garages which were putting out around 500bhp through the front wheels in manageable power, now that’s something to shout about, that must be one hec of a differential. More pics coming soon:)
Electric cars are the way ECO and Green Tesla Roadster
It has been announced the European Union is thinking it’s high time they embarked on major electric cars project to encourage their growth to combat Petrol and Diesel vehicles. Spain’s prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero mentioned “The other day I met together with a group of companies — some of the most important in Europe — and it was felt it was fundamental that there should be cooperation and integration of efforts in developing the electric vehicle,” .
EU industry ministers are expected to launch the electric car project in the Spanish city of San Sebastian on February 8th 2010. The aim of the project is so Europe can take a leading role in the Green cars following, Zapatero mentioned “If our markets don’t have a regulatory framework to provide financial support, and if we don’t have common standards on the technologies, then it will be difficult for Europe to take a leading role,” said.
“In the meantime, we see that China and Japan are developing fast on electric vehicles,” he added. “They’re working very hard on batteries.”
Jose Manuel Barroso the European Commission said his people were already compiling draft rules to aid the Eco project.
It looks like we will be seeing more of the Tesla Roadster and Audi e-tron sooner than we thought.
Posted on January 18th, 2010 by admin,
Filed under: Car shows / TV
Well the Planetauto team are back from a great couple of days at the Autosport International 2010 at the Birmingham NEC, and what a SHOW, over 800 exhibitors and four different halls - The racing car show, Engineering show, The karting show and Pistonheads The Performance car show. I have never seen so many cool things under one roof in years, cars, car technology and car related bits littered everywhere. The Planet auto team took well over 1000 photos and 25 minutes of live action footage. This is just an update to say we have some great pics to debut even one car by porsche that has never been saw before that show.
Over the coming days expect to see pictures of the only Alfa 8C Competizione in the UK, Lexus LFA , Gumpert Apollo even the Evo 2 Group B Audi Quattro.
here are a few pics to keep you entertained while we sift and sort:)
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