Nalley Lexus in Smyrna, GA wants $130 to install and $149 for the software for my 2011.

 

stanatl, would you like me to email you the especial we received? you could show it to your dealer...

 

That would be great. I sent you a Private Message with my email address. Much appreciated!

 

I agree with DJ. Lexus should standardize or have promo specials for the install. Anything to encourage the customer to come back to the dealership. $99 for the database and $50 for the install till the end of the month or year.

Also occasionally there should be promos for the Gracenote upgrade, let alone a combination promo to do both at the same time.

This is not where a dealership should be looking to maximize profits.

 

I own a few Lexus cars / SUVs with the nav package. In reality, it does look nice. But like many other decorations in life, this one is useless. I updated my RX simply because we had a newer disc from our ES. Same crappy screen, lousy interface, and disabled access when moving.

I often leave the nav on to just check street names. If we ever go anywhere, we pull out the $100 Garmin, or use our 6" smart phone(s). Immensely better than the zillion dollar lexus nav. My wife and I have gotten over it. Her little SC convertible is the prettiest car I've ever seen, and the nav system is still the worst product possible. She hasn't opened the nav screen in years. It's funny to see a very fancy, expensive Lexus rolling down the highway with a Garmin GPS on the dash !!!!

In closing, I'd never go out of my way to add the nav feature to any Lexus product unless it was $100. $2,400 is a lot of decoration coin.

Life's short. You should enjoy your vehicle.

Marty

 

I did mine at the end of the year because it was $99 plus install. I don't use it much as I always find my phone's gps simple and convenient. But for the money, I felt it was a good investment.

 

Marty I have the latest Garmin GPS which is pretty good. I also have a 2011 LS460 and the navigation is about equal. Some things are better or worse on each but by in large the Lexus is very good to good enough.
I don't know how bad they were before but I'm sure they have improved with the times. I don't think you can compare a very old GPS system in a car with the state of the art phone GPS because the technology is ever improving.

 

As another data point I have an '09 LS and when I got it last Fall the nav had never been updated. So I updated it last winter after the latest version came out. Before the update the nav did not recognize my home address. After the update it did recognize it. However, the 5 or 6 times I got a loaner vehicle from my Lexus dealership I always got a 2014 or 2015 car and none of those navs would recognoze my home address. I have no logical explanation for this.

Considering the cost of our cars and how often the average person uses GPS, I agree that the Lexus nav is severely lacking.

 

I have to admit when I got the 14.1 update I did see an improvement which was welcoming but I was a little upset that the default settings were just the opposite of the Garmin. I found that weird that when I punched in my address to go home it wanted to take me off the highway and after going though the menu I was able to set it up correctly. Once it was set correctly it just works. I like the split screen which gives me plenty of information about exists and such but I like my Garmin better because it will spit the screen and have an actual picture of the exit so I know what the ramp looks like before I see it.
I would be upset too if my GPS did not recognize my home address but it could be because of the mapping company Toyota uses.
I found the best one is Google and I believe in some of the newer cars you can connect the screen your phone which is the best option moving forward.

 

For those considering buying a Lexus, as I mentioned elsewhere, I was able to get the most current nav update when I recently purchased my CPO 2010 LS460. I think if I purchased any used Lexus from a Lexus dealer, I'd negotiate the lowest price possible and ask them to add the most recent nav version at little or no cost to seal the deal -- assuming the nav wasn't the most current. (The onliine service history should tell you if the nav was updated since the car's most recent purchase date.)

Although I still use Google Maps on my Smartphone for navigation most of the time, as another poster stated, I like the car's large screen display which is far safer for me to glance at while driving than trying to see the much smaller screen on my phone.

It's been years since I've had a Garmin or other dedicated GPS, but Google Maps is far superior to the Lexus navigation software, even discounting the dynamic (and free) updates and traffic Google Maps provides.

Eventually, I might get the Vaistech system to stream my phone screen and functions to the car's nav screen, but only after the Vaistech system keeps the backup camera working on cars like mine that don't have the Advanced Parking Guidance System (self-parking). I'd also want a USB connection for streaming my phone so that I can use Bluetooth to stream output to my hearing aid.

 

Everything on Indiegogo seems to have production toothing issues but I do like the look of that Navdy gps that projects in HUD fashion.

 

To costly to update Lexus nav system. I'll just use my smart phone if I need directions.

 

My car has the older navigation system that is updated with a new disc. I simply buy the previous year's disc for $40 and it's close enough.

 

Navdy would be a very tempting product, but the production date keeps getting postponed. For now, I consider it vaporware.

 

I wonder if the next-generation LS will finally have a HUD. I have it on one of my cars and it surprises me that more cars do not have it. The ability to see speed, RPM, radio station selected, etc on it without having to look down is great.