Let me get this straight... you can't give the GPS an address using voice commands on a 2014 model AVIC 8000nex?  Even my 2007 stock Honda civic had this capability.  Is it my imagination, or are car head units way behind basic smartphone technology?

Not your imagination.

So much so I've looked into using a tablet as my head unit.  Several downsides to doing that though.  The dominant ones that I see are auto-on/off with ignition, steering wheel controls, and patching audio into a 4.1 system.  It can be done, though.

Heck, I remember installing my very first navigation unit from Pioneer... Wayyyy back when it was CD based, so 10 or so CDs came with the unit for the maps. Even those were voice controlled. 

I was very disappointed to find out that my new 7000NEX could not accept a voice command. Unless my iPhone was connected to it. Even then, it would only give me directions using my iPhone's map. 

I am also disappointed that if I do start a route using my iPhone's map, the Pioneer unit can not take it over. If however, I started a route on the Pioneer map, I could easily switch it over to the iPhone's map and have it take it over. 

KOT