Mustang71

Should I hold out for a NAV system in looking for a used 2015 es350?

LexBob2

Personally, I wouldn't have a late model car without NAV as part of the infotainment system. As you can imagine, you'll find a lot of drivers who wouldn't bother with it. Have you had it in a car recently? Did you like it/use it?

DanZ

I wouldn't. I strongly dislike NAV systems in cars. They are very rudimentary and don't provide a return on investment, particularly since I keep my cars for 20 years. My phone has the best maps, live traffic with any live issues (Waze), has all my appointments and locations, knows when to leave based on live traffic, is very easy to upgrade maps, allows me to load routes if I am expecting no signal on the way etc. I wouldn't pay even a dollar for car NAV systems, but I certainly respect those who would want a centralized nav.

TechNut

I too respect those that prefer using their phones for Nav, but I favor the large central screen in the dash that I can easily see without reading glasses (such as I need to see content on my mobile phone). I wouldn't buy a car today without it - however that is strictly my personal preference and not necessarily a recommendation. While I don't look at Nav as an "investment," I'm not looking for a specific ROI, but I do believe it will make resale easier as it will appeal to a broader range of potential customers and dealers know this if you should trade it in with them. If you typically keep your cars for 20 years it is really a moot point as any value will be depreciated out long before you sell it. However, if you tend to keep your cars for less than say 8 years, you may want to consider Nav as it could make resale or trade-in more attractive? I guess the most important point is get the car that works best for you and ask yourself just how often you think you might use Nav if it were available in the car (as opposed to a mobile phone). I prefer it in the car but I won't argue that it is as updated as the Nav I get in a phone I replace every couple of years.

Just my .02 cents worth.

Swishbro

...advanced capabilities like warning about traffic tie-ups and the like and asked if you'd like to be re-routed. And I'm also not sure that a Nav system is priced into used cars. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a 2015 ES that doesn't have it. I test drove 3 before buying and all had it, and I researched dozens of others and, yes, they all had it.

Aside from that, Nav works off satellites, not cell towers. I've been to remote areas where a cell phone is useless while my Nav continued to work just fine. In fact, that happened to me recent in Vermont.

Just my two cents.

lesz

In the last 15 years or so, I've bought 7 cars. Only 1 of them did not have a navigation system. As soon as I bought that one non-navigation car, I regretted the decision, and I know that I will never buy another car without a navigation system.

I have no desire to be trying to view a phone screen to see a map. Not only is it awkward and inconvenient, but it can be unsafe to do so. I want to be able to use the nice large and conveniently located map that is part of the navigation system. Even if I was inclined to use the directions from a phone app, I still would consider being able to view the car's maps to be essential.

There is a member who occasionally posts here who is a used car manager at a Lexus dealership. In threads similar to this, he has said that used car buyers, especially Lexus buyers, typically expect to have navigation systems on the cars that they buy and that, when he has a non-navigation Lexus on his lot, it is likely to set there for an extended period of time. At the same time, navigation-equipped cars move quickly off of his lot. He has said that, because he knows that non-navigation-equipped cars are not likely to move quickly and that he often will end up sending them to auction, he will severely discount trade-in offers for non-navigation equipped cars. Even though navigation systems are over-priced options, they do return a higher percentage of their initial cost at trade-in or re-sale time. As already pointed out, if you are going to keep a car for 20 years, having or not having a navigation system won't make much difference in re-sale value, but, if you are going going to keep a car for, say, 3-5 years, a good portion of the initial cost of the navigation system will come back to you at trade-in or re-sale time.

Also note that, for those who like phone apps because of the better data base, if you search for destinations and routes by using the Lexus navigation system with the Destination Search app in the free Enform App Suite, you will be using a constantly updated data base and one that is much larger than the one on the SD card in the car. I consider using the navigation system with the Enform app to be an essential complement to the navigation system and one that puts its data base on a level comparable to those from any of the phone apps.

Swishbro

... while on vacation I rented a new Lincoln Navigator and I was able to sync my phone to the nav system and use my Google Maps over the vehicle's system for navigation. I am betting newer generations of systems will have that feature as well. It worked perfectly.

DanZ

I have no issue with:
1. Safety since I have a $2 vent holder that holds my iphone when I need to look at the map while driving. When not needed, the vent holder sits in the center console storage.
2. Loss of signal while driving since I store the map in phone's memory before leaving. Google map allows this and no cell tower signal is needed if driving through low or no coverage area.
3. The map size on my iphone is just fine. The handsfree Siri connection through bluetooth further aids the commands.

The return on investment on car nav doesn't work for me since I will be paying for something I do not need, and I don't care about trade-in value etc since I keep my cars until the doors fall off. But I can understand other folks desiring the car nav.

dchar

I think getting the nav on Lexus models is a must. You lose the Remote Touch interface and get a cheap-feeling **** interface instead when getting a car without nav.

DanZ

Exactly the opposite for me: I do not like the remote touch interface when I test drove, but loved the **** interface. The **** interface idea appears to be stolen from BMW and is very popular and loved by German car enthusiasts, including me and my family.

Mike728

I hate the touch interface in my wife's CR-V. I'm so used to the remote touch, it's hard to use anything else! I just wish we weren't so locked out once the car starts moving.

dspcap

Hi, would you mind explaining what this is? "if you search for destinations and routes by using the Lexus navigation system with the Destination Search app in the free Enform App Suite,"

Thanks

lesz

Instead of using the navigation system in the car to search for and set a destination, you can use the Enform App (not the Enform Remote app), which is free and available at the Google Play Store and, I'm sure, also in a version for iPhones. Once the app is on your phone, you need to have it opened. Then, you go to the ES menu and click on "apps". Then, click on "destination search". When it opens, you can click on the microphone and use voice commands to say an address, the name of a place, etc. Locations that match your request will come up on the screen. When you click on the one you want, it will give you the option to set it as a destination for the car's navigation system.

My experience has been that the data base with the Enform app is much larger than the data base on the car's SD card, and it is more up-to-date. Voice commands work very well with the app, and it is very good at finding the place you are looking for. Just a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to get directions to an apartment building is a small town. All I said in my voice command was the name of the building. I would not have been surprised if the app came up empty because the building is a small apartment building with only 8 apartments, but the app quickly came up with the building I was looking for and gave me good directions to get there.

CFO

I used to feel that navigation systems were not worth the investment and have relied on an aftermarket gps or my iphone for directions.
I recently got a 2014 CPO ES350 with the navigation system and I am gradually starting to like it more and more as I learn how to use it. It is easier to enter destinations or addresses into my iphone for directions, but I definitely like the big screen of the Lexus nav system a lot more. I have had some problems with the Google Maps app on my iphone being too slow to give verbal instructions and have not had that problem yet with the Lexus.

DanZ

No such issues with my iphone. Works great and the screen is just fine.