Another nice thing about the NAV system is the auto-recalculate.

I had a destination that was right off a major expressway in a neighboring city, and I could have found my way there without a map, but when I arrived, that exit was closed for repairs. I just drove on to the next exit, and the NAV system automatically guided me back along the city streets to my destination, which I could not have (easily) done without a map or a lot of exploring or, even worse, stopping to ask for directions.

Highly recommended.

 

Let me give you an example. I recently had to go to a wedding in Georgia and a lot of people at the wedding were out of state and guess who they were following when going to the wedding hall, yep it was me since i was the only one with nav in the car and all were too lazy to follow directions given with the invite. The food at the wedding sucked since it was a traditional indian wedding and all they had was vegeterian food and i am not much of a peas and broccoli guy so a bunch of us jumped in my car and asked to see the nearest japanese restaurant and to our surprise there was one 8 miles away! We went there and i kid you not, it was the best shushi i have ever had and i know my sushi! Just that alone was worth paying the price for Nav. Anyone in the buckhead area(i think) of Atlanta and love sushi, try M.F Sushibar. I am a big Boston Red Sox fan and when i found out they were playing the Braves in Atlanta, it gave me a viable reason to go to Atlanta, purely on the fact that i can do 2 things that i love, the boston red sox and M.F sushibar. I killed 2 birds with one stone. If it wasnt for the Nav, i would have never found this sushibar. Is that a good reason to get nav? I think so!

 

Nav is an absolute must.

1. You won't really pay MSRP (at least you shouldn't)
2. The nav is awesome, works great
3. 5 years from now, almost all cars will have nav. Today you can even fine $13000 cars with Nav. Do you really think anyone will want to buy your Lexus in 5-7 years if it doesn't have a nav system?
4. Update disk can be found for a fraction of the listed $300 price. You probably won't need an update disc for several years, if ever.

Trust me, you will regret it if you don't get it.

DocTDC

 

I got Nav in my car and cant even use it because Alaska doesnt have maps yet in there database--sucks huh! But being military and knowing Im not going to stay up here I opted for Nav for the the trip ack into the states one year......Cant wait to play with the Nav

Backup camera is HOT! Very nice to use when backing into a parking spot

 

Not to start an argument here but, can you tell me what $13,000 priced cars have NAV?

 

Most Toyota OEM radios are the same size, so it's technically possible to put the factory nav system from a high-end Toyota into a low-end Toyota.
The cheapest Toyota product I could find on their Web site where nav is offered as a factory option was the Camry XLE, which was $30,800 MSRP with an option package that included nav.

 

Are you accusing me of exaggerating? Ok, I was. I don't have time to research all available vehicles, but I do know you can get a honda civic with Nav. Base invoice for a civic is around 14K, 18K with a nav system. And I'd be willing to bet most vehicles will have a nav option in 5+ years. Once people get used to having it, they are not going to want to spend 20K+ on a used vehicle without it.

DocTDC

 

Don't forget the Prius. Invoice 20.5K w/Nav

 

You're right - I forgot the Prius. But nav is part of an option package that has an MSRP of $28,035. You won't get near inovice on that car - still too many waiting lists.

 

If you think you will miss nav in future then get it now. Retro fit (of OEM) nav will never be cost effective solution.

The other question one might ask is comaprison of Lexus Navi vs after market Navi?

I would lean towards factori navi for how it fits. For a noLexus vehicle, (with standard din) the decsion may be more difficult.


Salim

 

Well $18K is about $5K above your $13K you referred to. I can get a used Hyundai for $5 and add NAV to it but it is not quite the same is it? Your statement was for a $13K vehicle with NAV not one that is base and NAV and can be added on.

Anyway you are exxagerating. I am not try to stir up something here since I also bough NAV with my RX350 but after owning several Lexus/Toyota products with NAV, I still dont' think it is worth it.

 

The NAV in my RX is the third GPS I've owned. I previously had the iPaq version of ALK Copilot and then purchased their Smartphone version when I replaced by mobile phone. Choosing the NAV in my RX was an easy decision for me considering it included the rear cam, bluetooth connectivity - love the hands free, and of course the GPS. I can't count how many times I've used it when I wasn't expecting to. Just this past weekend we were at a local tourist attraction that is located in an out of the way area. We were looking for a restaurant in the area and simply used the point of interest listings and found a great bar-b-que place about 2 miles away. I still use the Smartphone GPS when I am in another car such as a rental. I doubt I will ever own another vehicle without GPS.

 

so is mf sushi bar better than oishii??? oishii is one of the BEST places that i have had sushi in the US. i go there a couple times a month. haha.

 

I got it, and I LOVE it...

I figured I'm paying $40k for the car anyway... why not a couple more grand for the toys !!!


Love the bluetooth phone connection, and the rear view camera...

as for portable GPS, 1 thing I was told (when doing research before buying..) is that the portable GPS, when you lost signal, it'll just stop there (since they don't know where you're going or stopped or whatever...) However, for factory GPS, even if signal is lost briefly, the GPS can approx where you are since the GPS is connected to the car, and knows how fast you're moving, approx... what direction you're going... (and in tunnels and places, it can approx. where you are while waiting for signal...)

I live in NYC, even with buildings are stuffs, signal is still good... but it works in tunnels for sure... (I doubt they can have signal in tunnels...)

for me, I think its worth it !!! (without it, I would have lost a couple of times...)
and I didn't pay sticker price for it...

good luck with your decisions...

 

I have it and it's great but not perfect. My family and I went to San Antonio to go to Sea World last month. Sea World was not even in the map, I was very surprised. Update disk could run up to $288. One big advantage of the Lexus Nav is the added security of built-in back-up camera. This should be std on all SUV's. Nothing creeps me up more on SUV than backin up. I heard several news about parents accidentally running over their own kid while backing up. Overall, I think it's well worth it.