Originally Posted by SeanGTS

I purchased private party. A few more thousand on top of that for taxes.... but there is ways around that...

I'm not sure on the 2011, if you see an ISF for sale used private party in the NW, its a lucky day, hard cars to come by.

Originally Posted by davcrz5

Like stated earlier you will have a much harder time trading your car in or doing private sale 90% of car buyers in this category are looking for those items and you would probably lose more money going this route rather then just getting it with ML,Nav etc.

Yes ML is not the best sounding system out there nor is it worst, it's main problem is that it lacks bass which is easy fix, same with Nav I had 08' IS350 was a bit of pain to use but in my 11' F is much easier and more accurate and when I'm lazy I just punch destination asst and Lexus operator does all work. Back up camera is great comes in handy all the time, same go's far parking asst, and sun roof nice feature it's ok.

Some thing else to think about if you don't care about listening to music that much then it's no big deal but if you do love music and decide to install your own system then this can get expensive
Head unit between low end $800 to $1500 and up for good one

Amps mono block plus 4 channel amp both amps between $800 and $2000 or 5 channel single amp $ 500 to $1000

Sub woofer low end $150 to $1000

other stuff like cap $100 to $300, wires, etc

Install, if you can't do work yourself that means paying shop additional cost. Your cost any where between low side 2k high side 5k

Bottom line if you compare what you get for your 4k (Nav,ML,Sunroof,Back up Camera,parking assit) against just cost of installing good sound system I say that 4k is bargain and remember if you trade your car in it must be put back to stock and you will not recoup your cost parting that stuff out you will take lose same go's for private sale if you try to pass cost along of system you installed most people will either do two things ask you to take out system and give them price minus it or just won't give you price your asking for it just not worth it in end.

Good luck with your decision.
Dave

Originally Posted by Cleo

And, can you use destination assistant while the car is moving?

Originally Posted by itruns

In a car that folks expect to see factory NAV... a "stripper ISF" will be much harder to resell, and if you trade it in, you will be insulted (more than normal) by what they offer you... as it will be harder for them to sell as well.

I agree, the 2010 and up Nav is much better than the older NAV's... and it is much more than just NAV..

Originally Posted by Cleo

Thanks Dave for the insight. You make some excellent points. I guess getting the NAV is the way to go. One thing I like to add is that the parking assist sensors is not included in the NAV/ML package. That's an add'l $500 option. Some cars don't have it. I just realized that yesterday.

BTW, how do you fix the bass problem in the ML system? And, can you use destination assistant while the car is moving?

Originally Posted by davcrz5

its easy just add mono block amp install new sub woofer you can go with either free air,sealed or ported box,cap, power cable, grounded and signal cost will vary depending how much you want to spend low side around $600, to round $1500. Just do search several threads on how to do this install I add aftermarket amp and sub to my ML system and love it.