I am not so sure that a motorcycle Nav would be equivaltent to the TL's Nav features, but hey..., I don't have either. But, for comparison sake, I think you should take your views of the Lexus Nav and join your friend for a tour about town with his TL. And you will probably come away with a different viewpoint of the Nav on the GX (also keep in mind that the GX is about $20K more). You may also come to conclusion that the OEM of the Nav needs to work on it, and Lexus needs to offer a better solution.

 

Oh I agree, the nav systems currently available from all manufacturers need a lot of improvement. The one in my GX shows me at a different house number than the correct number I live at. But the one in my friends TL does the same thing. My brother had an older Garmin 2610 portable unit a couple of years ago, and that little thing showed the correct house number. Yet the auto manufacturers built in units are lacking a lot of the features that the portable units already come standard with. But of course you have to always remove the portable unit so no one walks off with it. And that's a pita.

 

I believe that the issue with house numbers is that all the newer systems calculate the position of house numbers and don't have them in a database. Keep in mind that you have the entire country on one DVD, including maps and POIs with detail. With better processing speeds it is easier to calculate specific house numbers, not try to fit them on one DVD! I'd bet some of the older, simpler systems just included them in smaller, one city databases and didn't have the same processing power.

My house is in the wrong place (usually the same wrong place all the way down the block on another corner) in every system I have seen - including all the online mapping systems. I'm at the end of a cul de sac, and the numbers can be a bit confusing. Our number is marked well, but that only helps if somebody actually makes it down to our end to read it and doesn't go circling elsewhere. Worse thing was when our own town's ambulance corps couldn't find our house in an emergency and took what seemed like foreever to get here.

 

Does the 6disc changer in the glovebox read MP3 files?

 

Why not start another thread for this?

 

No it doesn't.. not on 2004 model

 

My LS430 has Navigation and it's annoying, IMO. You have to push the stupid lawyer button every time you start the car. I also never use the navigation (what is it with people not knowing where they're going? ). The only reason I'd get it again is if I had to do so in order to get the sound system upgrade.

I purposely bought a GX WITHOUT the navigation system, and I much prefer the AC and radio controls of the non-Nav setup. I would like to have the better sound system, though. That being said, the ML system is pretty lame compared to a good one, so if you REALLY want a good sound system, you'll have to go aftermarket in the LS430 or GX.

 

I second that. The controls are much more intuitive without the NAV, and you get that extra space above the glove box for your owner's manual.

 

Me, on the other hand, would never buy a car without a Navigation System. I've had NAV systems in my cars since 1996. It gives me great peace of mind, NEVER worrying if I'm going the wrong direction, particularly at night and if I am, the system recalculates and sends me on the correct path.

~ Cap

 

We purchased a new '06 during the 12/2006 Dec. To Remember event. They had many '06 GX's without Nav available because most folks probably want Nav. Anyway, the deal made it (IMO) worth passing on the Nav. Also, I would have wanted to have gone for an '07 if we were getting Nav to get the Gen 5... but without Nav I was fine with the '06.

I will consider a Garmin car unit eventually for the longer trips. Looking into the Garmin Nuvi 660 and others. Costco.com occasionally has some good deals on some of the units. I know they did during the holidays on one of the StreetPilots and the Nuvi 350.

Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin Nuvi 660 or 350 or 360? BTW, this is a decent site for GPS reviews: http://www.gpsinformation.net/

 

Yes. On the 07 it does play MP3s and DVDs. I have an MP3 disc in my Gx and it has over 100 songs on a single disc - the song title displays and I love it. Just be sure to burn the disc properly with all the info on it and make folders to divide up the type of music and it rocks!

 

I would not buy a new car without Nav. I love Nav, and I use it all the time. I also have it in my BMW. It is even handy just to get the ETA to a current location. With my 07 GX, I can use the voice and say "nearest Japanese" and I get the the list of nearby restaurants, then push the telephone icon and I'm on the phone via bluetooth - works great. I also use it to bypass traffic jams - However I must admit that I am a gadget guy.

 

The nav is directions without arguments. I would never buy a car without.

 

6 months ago I would have said yes don't buy without Nav. I still have the GX and I recently bought a 05 330ci zhp bmw with low miles (no Nav). I picked up a Garmin Nuvi 660 from gpscity.com. The Garmin blows the Nav in the GX (05) away. While having the builtin is nice; the features, price and usability of modern portable is outstanding. So if I were buying a new car now I would not buy it unless it was packaged (I hate when they do that) with some other desirable options. Besides the enhanced feature set; setting up a destination in the house and plugging the darn thing into the car when you're ready to go sure is nice rather then sitting in the car messin' with the thing. I've already brought the Nuvi into the GX for that exact reason.

 

I have a portable unit as well, working pretty good and I can take it from car to car so I dont get stuck driving on the long trips all the time. When I bought my GX last year, there was like 20 to 25 GX on the lot with nav. and only 1 without. I almost bought the GX with the nav even though I have a portable unit already because of the Mark Levison system sounded so good. Then my wife smack me on the head and knock some sense into me .