We just purchased a used 016 ES 350 and were surprised to find that it is NOT equipped with navigation. The car was a good price value so we overlooked the missing nav but really would like to add one to the existing system. The engineer in me says that Lexus wouldnt build a vehicle that 90% of the market would have a nav installed. Assuming that would/might be the case, maybe the basic hardware is already there, maybe missing a module or program hack. The XM is there and on one screen, it shows the traffic map, so I know the satellite access is functional. In the owners manual, it shows a slightly different control **** and screen layout than what we have.

Anyone have similar workarounds? I really do not want to install a windshield mount GPS.

 

Time is money and you likely do not have enough of either to change your ES.
The Traffic Screen (and Weather Channel BTW) are passive displays provided
by the HD AM or FM channels and while cool and free are not an upgradable Nav.

Set up Waze in your phone(s), set the voice to "Play voice as Bluetooth Phone"
and the prompts will break in on your music with guidance. Get an A/C vent clip
for the phone to keep it out of the windshield area. Be sure to sweep off the nav
app when not plugged in because they take a lot of battery power.

 

>Set up Waze in your phone(s)

Agree, we never use the NAV in our Lexus. My wife just fires up her Iphone with Waze.
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My karma just ran over your dogma
Current Hers: '13 Lexus ES350
Current Mine: '15 Jaguar XF (its aubergine)

 

Why is Waze better than google maps? Does Waze not require personal information? Hate giving personal information to businesses.

 

Waze is a peer to peer collective that adds your speed and position to benefit everyone.
Notice when you first turn on the Waze App at the bottom it will display how many other
Wazers are currently in you area. Tap to add specific real time info if you want, disabled
car on the shoulder, Police or other emergency vehicles present. Way better than the
old CB radio chatter...Smokey Bear on the roll!

You can enter as much or little personal info as needed, your home and work address
are nice but I have found that when I am leaving work and just want the general information
to display the app thinks I'm going home and begins to guide my every turn.

 

Thank you!

 

anyone have a diy guide on this project?

 

While I agree that Waze or Google Maps is a great feature, it requires someone to hold the phone or a probable distraction while driving. The voice commands are nice but still, I would think the in-dash nav feature is something we have all gotten familiar with. The car is very nice and somehow it feels "naked" without the nav. If it cannot be done, thats ok, but I am exploring the possibility.
I agree that the satellite fed traffic feature is ok, it is a static graphic image, but it tells me that the basic hardware is present and missing either a GPS module or programing in the existing system.

 

Give Best Buy a call. They may have an aftermarket nav/stereo their Geek Squad can install for you. I don't know for sure, all it takes is a phone call on your part. To take it a step further, Crutchfield has a lot of aftermarket products with great support service.

 

I agree completely.

Since the year 2000, I have bought 7 or 8 cars. All of them except one have had factory navigation systems. The only one that didn't was an Infiniti that I bought in 2003. It was one of the first G35s that the dealer got, and the first shipments of the G35 were all coming in without navigation systems. Within days of the purchase, I regretted not waiting for the dealer to get in a car with a navigation system.

Regardless of the quality of directions offered, nothing can beat having a larger map screen permanently locating in a place that can easily be seen by the driver with a quick glance. If nothing else, I find it useful to be able frequently to glance at the screen to see what roads/streets I'm approaching when I'm in an area that I'm not completely familiar with. And, to me, any substitutes for a factory navigation system look tacky and are inadequate substitutes for the real thing.

While factory navigation systems are expensive, at least some of their cost comes back to the car buyer at re-sale or trade-in time. There is used car manager at one of the Lexus dealers who has posted here in the past. He has posted saying that, when he is making an offer to a customer who wants to trade in a car, he heavily discounts offers on non-navigation cars because he knows that they will be likely to sit on his lot much longer than a navigation-equipped car, that he may well have to send them to auction, and/or that he is likely to have to sell them at a very reduced price. On the other hand, he has said that navigation-equipped cars move off of his lot very quickly. The reality is that buyers of luxury brand used cars are much more likely to expect to have navigation systems than are the buyers of non-luxury brand cars.

 

+1 Totally agree. I think that most buyers of a Lexus car wouldn't even consider an ES without factory navigation. It has almost become the norm in new cars...