<p>My husband and I need to buy a new car this week. He totaled his car last Wednesday – hydroplaned on a highway 100 miles from home in a rainstorm, slid across three lanes and hit the guardrail with airbag deployment. (Gee – I didn’t know I <em>had</em> side airbags. Those are cool.)</p>
<p>He’s fine, didn’t hit anyone else, came home on the train, but the car will never come home. He drives 35000-40000 miles per year, ought to be comfortable doing it, ought to have AWD, and wants a car from a dealer that does the maintenance bells and whistles. We know which cars those are, and which dealers in our area. </p>
<p>My question is – is the manufacturer installed Navigation system worth the extra $1600+? (He has a add-on GPS that he kept in the trunk where it was virtually useless. I assume it came home when he cleaned out the car. His version of GPS was to call me and ask me to google for directions.)</p>
<p>My instinct is no, simply because maps are outdated quickly and the mobile gps on your dash can be updated for $50 by plugging into Garmin in your computer…however if your husband won’t even USE the mobile dash gps I’m not sure. We had one in the car we bought 7yrs ago before mobile gps was so good, but will never pay for it again. We love our garmins. I still say it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>I’m such a ding, dong…I was ready to answer your question…</p>
<p>A few years back dealer installed navis ran upwards of $3,000, Since they’ve come down in price and since your H drives so many miles per year, I say IF you can comfortably afford it then go for it. If money is extremely tight, use the portable Garmin, Tom Tom, etc. I wasn’t going to pay $3,000 or more for one built-in on my last new car purchase, but I might now. They are safer to operate, since they don’t stick to your windshield or get viewed down low. That’s worth paying “extra”. He’ll still need a portable one when traveling. He should learn how to use them-- they are wonderful!</p>
<p>cnp: sorry to hear about the totalled car but glad your husband is OK.</p>
<p>I got a new car last year with Nav/Sync in it. Stopped on the way to a college football game, test drove it, & told the dealer we would buy the car IF he could complete the paperwork & get us out the door in time for kickoff. He did. We came home with a new car & I had immediate ‘buyer’s remorse’ about the Nav/Sync system. You know, “Did we pay too much? Should I have gotten a less expensive car without the Nav system? Why did I do this?!”</p>
<p>One year later: I could not live without the Nav/Sync. I use it all the time. It’s worth every penny I paid.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t buy the one installed in the car. If you/your husband ever fly anywhere and rent a car, you have to specify the kind of car that has them installed. Also, many of the car-installed ones are not programmable, even by a passenger, unless the car is stopped. </p>
<p>I think you’re better off with a portable garmin or tom tom. You can take it with you to rental cars, it’s cheaper ($1,600 vs about $300), you can update with the purchase of a new chip for about $90, and it’s programmable by a passenger when the car is moving. </p>
<p>Both of my kid’s smart phones have a better GPS than the one in my car! If you have an iphone or something similar - save the money and use the phone.</p>
<p>We like our portable one because we can program our trips from the comfort of our home…instead of having to do it in the car. Plus…$150 vs $1600? Hmmm.</p>
<p>I have a portable Garmin that I got from Costco for $200 and I carry it with me to use in rental cars which works out just fine. I do the programming before leaving home and by the time I sit in a rental, I am good to go. I believe Costco has an added bonus where you get free map updates with the purchase of certain Garmin models.</p>
<p>Not only is a built-in expensive but if it become defective, the car has to be left at the dealer for a repair. You won’t have that problem with a portable.</p>
<p>I like the ones I have so far (in two cars). </p>
<p>My sense is that we are at in inflection point where in couple of years most cars will have nav systems built in. When we get there it will be easier to sell or trade cars with them.</p>
<p>I use them to get me places when I’m in an area that I don’t know and don’t have a map for. Also, if you hit an unexpected “now what” horrendous traffic jam, you can use them to navigate around them, as we did a couple of years back while driving on Cape Cod.</p>
<p>My kids have the suction cup Tom-Tom versions, but don’t seem to use them regularly.</p>
<p>I especially like it when I’m alone. Its basically like having someone hold up a zoomable map that you can glance at whenever needed.</p>
<p>My bottom line is that they are like microwave ovens, color tv, and garage door openers. You don’t really need them, but once you use them you’ll want them.</p>
<p>Actually I am not sure. I talked to the sales guy at the dealer where we bought the last car. He says he has leftover 2011s with nav or without nav – and the difference is about $1600.</p>
<p>Because of the serious mileage that my husband drives, we want as close to new as we can get, without paying a new-new price. I’m bummed about the totalled car – it was almost paid off and he planned to drive it another 2 years or so. Our insurer hasn’t told us how much they’ll pay for the car – but that we will get the cash for last week’s prior to the accident brake job!</p>
<p>Both my husband and I have nav systems in our cars. We really like them. Use mine daily, really! The dealer gives up updates on the mapping system so it is current at all times. HOWEVER, now that we have smart phones and my husband has a Ipad the nav system does not need to be there. Nice to have but if I had a smart phone or Ipad first I might skip the nav system.</p>
<p>Exactly BunsenBurner - often Navigation systems in cars are not a single black-and-white add-on option, although sometimes they can be. Usually, because fitting a car with a Nav screen requires a re-layout of the car’s dash, the navigation is offered as part of an options package, most likely with advanced stereo/climate control/bluetooth, etc etc. I wouldn’t pay $1600 just for the convenience of having my nav be inside the dash instead of on a suction cup, but the OP may also be getting some extra features like the above, so it may be worth it. (Especially if the H is too lazy to hook-up the portable device, having a built-in GPS may be more intuitive and actually get used more)</p>
<p>Looks like there are some other things tied in with the Nav option. It does include real-time traffic info so that could be <em>really</em> helpful for him. Especially when I, as full time working type person, when I am away from my handy dandy googlistic computer.</p>
<p>I use my TomTom all the time. He is currently driving my car, and I am driving our mobile storage unit (also known as the extra Jeep – long story) but I’d really like my car back. Not sure he has figured out how to use the TomTom.</p>
<p>I love my built in nav and in most cars, that upgrade brings you all kind of other goodies. My sister just got new BMW 5 series and gets her text messages on the screen and verbally. So it may offer some nice hands free options if that appeals to you. In dash navs can also be upgraded if they are DVD driven.</p>
<p>Love our GPS in the car and wouldn’t want to trade it for a portable. First, it’s a much larger screen so it’s easier to read or look at while you’re driving. Second, updates are easy to get from the dealer, actually in my newest car it’s done automatically. Third, it doesn’t get stolen. Finally, I’ve found that the portable ones have a weaker signal so they sometimes can’t find the satellite in mountainous areas or sometimes even in cities with tall buildings.</p>
<p>Cross posted but I forgot about the verbal commands I can use with the built-in system, that’s very helpful when needed.</p>
<p>I have used in car navigation and the thing I did not like is that one wants to use them like a touchscreen, but the ones I have used are not set up that way. I found them to be less intuitive than Google maps/phone/etc</p>
<p>In my experience, the map upgrades for an integrated system are more expensive then a garmin…each time you have to upgrade maps. Check this out before you pay $1,600 for a nav system and then possibly hundreds each time you upgrade maps. Each dealer could be different, but based on how long you plan on owning the car you’ll want to know the total cost of the system, not just what it is the day you take it home. Who knows, maybe some include upgrades now?</p>
But don’t try to actually use an iPhone as a nav device while driving unless it’s purely a voice driven app. The screen is too small to really see much and forget about actually using the touchscreen while driving. It’s not worth totalling another car. An iPhone or other smart phone can be referred to offline though or by a copilot if there’s one. A friend uses his iPhone for nav but has an app to speak the turn by turn directions. I’ve referred to mine for directions before but only offline while not driving.</p>
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Because it makes so much sense that in order to have a nav system the seats need to be made out of leather, or there needs to be a sunroof, or it’s required to have a 12 speaker 500w stereo!</p>
<p>I recently drove cross-country and back with a Garmin that I didn’t take out of the console. I didn’t need it for anything since I knew where I was going and like to know beforehand rather than an exit or two ahead of time. I can see the utility though for someone who’s frequently going to new destinations.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t think the built-in nav is worth $1600 since they usually surround the up-sell with other options you might not otherwise get if they were standalone. It’s a personal choice though so I don’t think you’ll get a definitive answer here.</p>
<p>One other variable to consider is resale in that you might get some of that $1600 back for the higher resale price of the car due to the options, if there really is one, which would make the effective cost less than the $1600.</p>