I have upgraded the Navigation DVD in my 2002 RX300. It was a lot easier than I thought. Here's some photos for your entertainment.

There's one gotcha that every Nav owner should know... DON'T buy just any Nav DVD you see on eBay. Those are just old DVDs pulled out of existing Lexus and will NOT upgrade your old Nav. You'll see lots of these useless DVDs listed on eBay. You must get an "upgrade" DVD. You can tell by looking at the bottom of the DVD - you should find a "CAUTION" message. (See photo 1.) Don't buy any DVD without this CAUTION message. PM me if you want to know where I got my DVD - cheap.

The upgrading process is painless. Leave the key in ACC or RUN. Lift up the trunk floor cover. You'll see the DVD unit near the jack. (See photo 2) There's a protective cover on the eject button. Simply slide the cover toward the rear of the vehicle, then PUSH the button to eject the old DVD. (I didn't push the button so I stood there for a while before I realized that there's a button to push. Don't be like me. ) Then just slide in your new DVD.

You'll see an opening screen in Japanese for a few seconds. I couldn't get this shot because it went so quickly. Next screen is a very colorful loading screen (see photo 3) which lasted about a minute. Then it's done.

The upgrade kept all my existing marked locations. However, it did erase the 10 previous destinations. So if there's any previous detination you'd like to keep, register them before upgrading.

Photo 4 & 5 are the "before-n-after" photos of my 'hood. The old Nav put me in the middle of nowhere, and the roads were drawn in the wrong places. The new Nav puts me in the correct spot in my golf course community (green area.)

 

Where did you get it cheap?

 

Man, I got tons of PM on this stuff. So here it is:

I got my 2003 version Nav DVD upgrade from Auto Parts Superstore on eBay. The price was $89 plus shipping & insurance. It's a year old but I don't need the latest 2004. You'll need to watch the store from time to time because the Lexus upgrade is not always listed. The DVD is pressed original, not burned (copied) DVD.