My 2012 with NAV unit is sweet car, with a crappy NAV. It is a miracle when the NAV takes us on the shortest route. So bad, I pulled my Garmin out of retirement. Anyone else think this way about their NAV?

 

Mine is a 2007 ES350 with the Nave that still uses the DVD base nav maps and doenst have BT for the Audio only phone
i wish i had the 2012 navi unit wondering if i could put one in my car if i bought a used unit from ebay or if the wiring is diffent for that unit to work.

Yes there are some things that i wish would be diffrent on it and it does suck sometimes i like the units in the 2013 and newer ES350 better than the 07-12

 

Yeah, I think Toyota/Lexus Nav sucks,..suck really hard, even the latest one (model 2017, 2018 or whatever) let alone our old cars. I hope Toyota can just give up and offer Android Auto instead. I'm ready for a new Lexus if it comes with Android Auto.

I use Google map exclusively for most of the time. The only times I use built-in Nav was when I drove to some national parks with no cellphone signal but forgot to preload trips in my Google map.

 

Nice to know, I am not the only one.

Not crazy about the monochrome look on the radio/climate controls and the Ipod interface as well. If I could I would swap it out for the non-Nav unit.
Live and learn. I love the rest of the car though.

 

My girl friend has 2010 Premium plus with navigation, but it's never show correctly the total distance( when you set the destination). but navigation on my GS 350 2013 is a lot better and simple to used than the ES 350 2010 . not sure why

 

Lots of lexus owners complain about this. cars are great but Satnav and interior electronics sucks A**

 

I suspect the older generations find the system to be sufficient because they didn't have these features in past cars. Then there are those who used mapquest of google maps which are more powerful systems with better info . Then comes wase (sp) where it is more active and provides better info. Some car mfg's picked up on this and feature idrive or android auto as a solution . So if you use the later versions of nav systems then a lot of even today's cars don't provide you with up to the minute places and conditions. So if you don't like or want to use the Lexus system then get a cell phone mount and use one of the direction apps.

 

Yes, even the new 2017 Toyota and Lexus Navigation lags behind Google and Apple maps. In general, all automotive OEM navigation sucks compared to what Google and Apple can come up with.

The tech giants (Google, Apple, Samsung etc.) all have billions more to pour into R&D and essentially specialize in software development and UX interface design for years.

The major automakers (Toyota, VW, GM, Mercedes, etc.) should form a partnership, but none of them are willing to do so with one of the major tech companies.

 

Which is a shame because Toyota and other automakers having been experimenting with in-car GPS systems since before Google even existed

I remember luxury cars (Lexus, Acura, Mercedes, Cadillac) featuring in-car navigation as a new option in 1999-2000 when they debuted at the autoshow.

They could have easily dominated the field if they had put more effort and standardized their interfaces.

 

Yes,yes,yes.dear god, yes.

 

I actually thought my Nav was good! Simple to use, easy to learn, and it takes me where I need to go. Point A to Point B is nice and easy.
What I would like to have is the ability to download a route plan into the NAV, so that I can pre-plan car trips spanning multiple days. Or maybe there is a way to do this, and I haven't figured it out yet.
But something tells me I should keep my trusty Garmin because I can do my route planning on Garmin's Base Camp software and download the route into the Garmin.