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i had a loaner with nav and i loved it. when i returned it, i asked how much it would cost to have nav and the backup camera installed on my car and they said $8,000.00 for parts and $2,000.00 for labor. i asked him if he was joking and he said he was serious. what does that entail, nav, ml and back up camera? do these all go hand in hand in hand or can they do it with JUST the nav?

 

Like others have mentioned earlier, the user interface is really good. It also comes with a backup camera. The time to calculate routes is faster than the portable nav units. The factory screen is much bigger and you get a lot of stuff integrated into the nav unit, like climate control, bluetooth and audio controls that make it very easy to use. Also, when you're with your family and you stray into unfamiliar territory, the factory nav can quickly calculate a route to get you where you want to go.

I wouldn't want another car without the factory nav.

 

What an unfortunate bump...

 

Man... I got mine without a nav and I really regret it. I should of got one in there, and after reading this forum, i'm disappointed that it takes about 10Gs to install it. I might just have to get it in my next ride.

 

yea, the service guy was explaining to me something about since it's not already a part of the car it makes the price that much more mainly because of the parts and labor. now i understand why the guy before me was nagging the salesrep to find him one with nav, but supposedly there wasn't any in the area.

 

I've had previous cars with and without Nav. I would say it is certainly something I would not like to live without these days. However when it came to making the NAV or no NAV decision on my IS, I decided to save the $ and pass on it. I have the TelNav service on my mobile phone, and it works great. I even caught myself using the phone instead of the Nav system in a previous car when I had the option of using either. This helped make the decision easier for me.

Also consider that if you already have a phone with GPS capability, you don't need to buy a new phone. Additionally, the service is $10 a month and you never have to buy any updates in the future. For me, having this as an option made it far too hard to stomach the $3k+ cost of NAV in the Lexus.

So far.....No regrets!

 

But bluetooth, rear view camera and just the looks of a nav system in your ride is better IMO.

 

There's tons of cheap aftermarket nav units that support bluetooth now (or even cheaper just a BT earpiece if you're using the phone itself for your nav).

There's aftermarket nav with rearview camera available too, also for way less than the factory system, and with far more capability (realtime traffic for example)

 

I love the built in NAV. Compared to a Tom Tom, or whatnot, it's located in a good place on the dash (not on the windshield, where I would find it distracting) has a larger screen than the store bought ones, don't have to worry about cables (or the battery running down) and allows you to use the stereo and Bluetooth using the touch screen. Yes, it costs a whole lot more being built in by the factory, but it looks good, is convenient, and I happen to like it.

 

It's good for resale value and resale demand of IS.

 

backup cams paid for itself.

 

Not to mention a sweet sound system ..... but as IS-SV points out ..... come re-sale time you will get a good portion of that option cost back !

KC

 

As USA Today reported a while back, nav is kinda awful for resale because of how dated it ends up by the time you sell it.

I got the sweet sound system without the nav, thanks to special ordering... Saved over 3k compared to with it (ML+nav) and then got a $200 Garmin that has tremendously more features. The realtime traffic data alone has saved me many hours of sitting stopped in traffic when traveling.

And as I mentioned mine does bluetooth and will play over the factory stereo too if I want.

I dunno why anybody would put their aftermarket nav on the windshield though...the friction mount works perfectly right on top of the center stack... much easier to see than even the OEM system since you don't need to look down at all, and leaves nothing "attached" for anyone to notice you've got a GPS in the car. Even better, I just toss it in my luggage when flying someplace so it goes in my rental cars too...try THAT with the OEM system :P


Now the backup camera, well, you can get that with aftermarket too, and if you have little kids I can absolutely see that feature being worth its weight in gold... otherwise it seems pretty pointless...the IS is by far the smallest car I've ever owned, it's not like I'm driving an SUV or something.


Now of course folks who simply must have their GPS in the dash instead of on it also have the Flyaudio option, still cheaper than OEM, looks factory and still better (higher res screen, ipod interface, can load its own software instead of insanely overpriced Lexus maps, etc... (though still pretty pricey compared to a Garmin)

 

I'm surprised no one has metioned the Fly Audio unit for less than 2k.