Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Thu 9 Feb 2012 10:39

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - Sulphur Man

I'm looking at a new/nearly new car, and like the idea of built-in sat nav.

The built-in unit on the wife's Honda has often proved useful and convenient. In my current car I use an Android smartphone with Navigon software on it. It works ok, but there's the hassle of the temporary mount on the windscreen, the trailing lead to the 12v socket.....I'd prefer the convenience of built-in nav.

However, whatever car I buy I'm keeping for at least 7 years, probably longer. Would I be left with an anitquated in-built sat nav by then?

I noticed that the latest BMW iDrive "CIC" widescreen systems look far more sophisticated than their previous efforts. The Audi nav in a friends 03-reg A6 Avant looks hopelessly dated and is fiddly to operate.

So, is in-built nav a worthwhile investment for a long-term ownership proposition?

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Thu 9 Feb 2012 11:48

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - Ethan Edwards

Essentially your asking two questions here.

One - can I get up to date mapping to install into my built in Sat Nav?

Yes -this is available at great cost from the main dealer or there are more reasonable priced alternatives.

Try googling for sat nav updates. Bear in mind that Tomtom and Garmin both charge for updates and

you may find eventually they won't update your stand alone device and you may have to buy a whole new gadget.

Two - Sat Nav's from a few years ago were a bit clunky. Some didn't offer turn by turn guidance, some didn't have automatic re routing etc.

This is a bit more tricky. My opinion is that Sat Navs have matured and todays product is pretty darn good. There are some features such as lane guidance and

3d photo's shown on the mapping screen that in my opinion are gimmicks that most won't want or need.

In a few years time will it get you where you want to go? Absolutely. Will it look as snazzy as the latest all singing one's , absolutely not.

Your asking is it future proof? Nope nothing ever is. But does it really matter?

I think the days of stand alone Sat Nav's are numbered. Convergence seems to be the big thing now.

Already your phone does pretty much everything a Sat Nav does and (being Android) it's free.

Maybe convergence will make car Hi fi obsolete and you'll just get a dock for your smartphone? Who knows.

Hope that gives you something to chew on.

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Thu 9 Feb 2012 13:00

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - Man without a plan

Great answer above, not much more I can add...

Only to agree that Sat Navs now are a lot better than they were when they were first seen on cars, so I think 7 years from now they will look and feel a lot better than they would 7 years from when they first came out..

Ulitmately I agree with above, there will eventually be a point where cars have a dock for phones which become the stereo / sat nav / internet terminal and all...

As an option OP, could you look at getting a car (you didn't say what sort) that has a double din stereo and then replace it with a sat nav unit? Will probably work out cheaper than adding it as an option to a car, if you sell the car you can stick the original unit back in and move the sat nav to a new car, or if it looks out of date you can easily change to another unit...

And it may even be cheaper to replace the whole unit than to replace the maps on a manufacturer unit...

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 06:24

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - colinh

Toyota, and others, are now including an option combining the two approaches, namely, a unit with an intergrated TomTom sat-nav. The overall unit combines radio, CD, DVD, USB, MP3, iPod, Bluetooth, rearview camera, Whilst the sat-nav provides the normal TomTom facilities and can be detached and used as handheld. Map updates are considerably cheaper than the normal buit-in sat-nav prices.

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 08:11

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - jc2

And sat-nav prices have fallen so much that it is probably cheaper to buy a new device every couple of years than to update.

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 09:04

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - Armitage Shanks {p}

SFAIK TomTom can manage this with software updates. I have a 5 year old 720 and I have lane guidance, spoken street names and map udates are 4 a year for £38 and speed cameras are (I think) £20 for the whole of Europe. Garmin charge £10 per country - makes a trip to Germany, say, quite pricey.

Martyn Lewis's site has a forum re sat nav and a Honda built in updateis quoted at £200

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 09:27

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - SlidingPillar

The point about falling prices is pertinant.

Most built in units are much more expensive than stand alones, and updates are more expensive too. While that situation persists, stand alones will continue I think.

Another point is that some manufacturers sell sat navs in specific car models, not as an accessory, the Honda Jazz is one such car. And as you'd have to pay a lot, get more expensive tyres, worse ride and other "options" I don't want - if I buy a Jazz, it will not therefore be with a built in sat nav.

Edited by SlidingPillar on 10/02/2012 at 09:28

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 09:45

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - Sulphur Man

The car I'm looking at is the Golf Cabriolet, in diesel form. We have the family MPV (Honda FR-V - genius car) and this is for my new job and new commute to work. An economical workhorse which can also be a fun convertible at the weekends.

VW spec two different grades of sat nav for this model. The 'cheaper' one is the RNS315, at £720. This is a touchscreen 'convergence' device, comprising DAB/nav/bluetooth phone control and top-down graphic display of the car, showing proximity of front & rear obstructions when parking.

I've since found out that the nav system also displays turn guidance on the multifunction display between the speedo and rev counter, as well as the console t the cent on the dash, which is something that I believe no 'stand alone' nav device could offer.

There's also a 'Traffic' button, which could either be radio traffic alerts, or the nav offers live traffic info. One to ask the dealer.

I'd say, for all that functionality, and for the duplicated turn guidance display on the dash, the price is not unbearable.

VW also offer a large screen nav device, the RNS510, for a trifling £1750....this one has a hard drive and can play DVDs whilst the car is stationary. Sitting in my convertible, top down, on a glorious day, watching a DVD. How ridiculous is tha?

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 11:33

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - colinh

"which is something that I believe no 'stand alone' nav device could offer."

My under £100 Garmin has lane assistance plus "photo realistic" motorway junctions, and traffic.

The problem is due to the extended design periods for cars, a built-in sat-nav is going to be probably 3 years behind the current technology

Edited by colinh on 10/02/2012 at 11:36

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Fri 10 Feb 2012 12:30

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - Armitage Shanks {p}

Broadly speaking, the most expensive stand alone Sat Nav you can buy will be cheaper than the cheapest built in one and will probably offer more functions as well and be cheaper to update too.

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Fri 17 Feb 2012 16:15

Any - Built-in sat nav - will it date - concrete

Further to comments made previously about sat-navs. My car is a 55 plate Skoda Superb with a built in unit. The original disc was over £100 but is now out of date. It works beautifully for most of the time but does occasionally get caught out by new roads, one way sytems etc. I would like an update but really begrudge paying a hefty sum for a new disc. I have heard that there are websites where updates for most manufacturers units are available at a fraction of the cost of 'original equipment'(if there is any such thing). Has anyone any experience of these 'unipart' updates in terms of cost, compatability and performance? Your comments please. Thanks Concrete

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