New Car -- Nav system or not?

musicprnt
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:25:26 +0000

I have a built in nav system in my Toyota Solara. I only originally got the nav system because for the car/color/level I wanted, they only seemed to have them with the nav system. A nav system is usually part of a high end package that includes a high end stereo (in my car the nav system and stereo is one unit) and is part of the reason it is so expensive (not saying it should be, the built in nav systems are like other packaged upgrades, they are how car dealers and makers make a lot of money…for years things like A/C and automatic transmissions were expensive options, that cost the manufacturer about 50 bucks and cost you 700 or 800). The whole package thing is old, old stuff in the auto industry, often when you wanted an option they required you to buy it as part of an ‘option group’, so if you wanted a transmission oil cooler you had to get what they called the entire ‘towing package’, even if all you wanted was that; if you wanted the X engine, you often had to get a whole package of basically plastic crap, including badges, bogus spoilers, etc…

I have used both the portable and the built in one, and I have found my built in one to work much better overall, it is easier to read the screen and the voice section works well. Likewise, the map software in it is pretty comprehensive, though obviously maps are constantly upgraded. Plus I have a pretty decent sound system, with multiple cd changer, MP3 support, etc, etc…the portable ones had iffy connectivity to the satellites in both city and mountainous areas, which was a problem.

There are downsides to the built in units:

-The map upgrades you can order are really expensive, I think on my toyota it was like 400 bucks, which is ridiculous (fortunately for where I do most of my driving, I have yet to need it).

-If something goes wrong, the unit in my Toyota is 2500 bucks to replace. I had a defective one, and because I hadn’t driven it much didn’t discover it had problems until after the 3 year bumper to bumper expired…fortunately, the dealer was willing to replace it under warranty, since they could see the car had little mileage on it and it was definitely a factory defect involved. The good news is from what I can tell, the failure rates on these is pretty low, but it is still a concern.

The plus side is the built in units are not a target for thieves from what I hear, and the portable ones often are.

As far as built in ones not working when you drive, there is a reason for that, it is to stop the many idiots who will try and set it when running, it was done like that deliberately. One of the downsides of the portable units is that drivers will do exactly that, be fiddling with it while driving, another distraction…

Phone based GPS’s can work in voice mode, if you are listening to the directions, but trying to follow them when driving is a pain, and if a driver is doing it, oye…

Not saying anyone should definitely get one, depends on what you are looking for and how much you use a nav system. If you don’t drive to unfamiliar places a lot, then it could be a waste and a 150 buck portable would do just fine, but if you drive a lot to unfamiliar places, I would seriously consider the built in nav unit.