Depending upon if the CL-S is made in 2004, I will trade my non navi CL-S six speed for another, or the Accord coupe EX Six speed which I hear will be 260 HP with a six speed with every available option, but I am iffy on the navi. Tell me about these things. I travel for work alot, and on one trip to michigan last year I got lost, twice in one day, relying on computer generated maps that are way too general. Questions:

If you have it, do you wish you didn't? Too hard to figure out?

If you have it, could you now not live without it?

Is it difficult to reprogram while driving? Is it more of a distraction than talking on a cell phone while driving?

Should you only program it in the driveway, regarding safety?

I see the navi system on the 03 Accord will respond to 150 voice commands. Anybody know about this?

Resale value of the option?

My CL-S is only two months old, 3,000 miles, but I will trade after turkey day and before the silly season. I am asking here, because if I go to the dealer and have him demo it, I just might do something stupid and get a new car on the spot.

P.S. Fours year of car payments on the CL-S are 35% paid for. Car will be paid for by 5/1/2003. There will be no "dealer paying off the balance on the 03 CL" antics going on here, it will be a straight trade. Thanks in advance.

 

what's up man...

1st-I wouldnt trade my CL for the 2003 Accord, yes they're a lot of similarities, but it says Honda and not Acura

2nd-The Accord is coming w/ 240hp, which is pretty close to ours, but not quite.

3rd-I heard the new navi is awesome with the voice control system, thats one thing i wish would've come on MY 2003, but it didnt, why im not sure cause its on the 2003 MDX, oh well i still love my navi, just wish an updated disk would come out.

4th-Personal preference, honestly, if this Accord(6spd) had been out when I was car hunting, it would've been hard to resist saving almost $8000 and only getting 20hp less, but now that i have my CL, I wouldnt trade it for the world.....well maybe a Ferrari or M3

 

1. I have it, and I love it ... When I went on business travel, it was well worth it. And everytime I've gone somewhere where I am unfamiliar with the directions, the NAVI has gotten me there. I even use it for long trips when I already know the directions, just to figure out how many miles I have left, and how long the NAVI estimates is left time-wise for my trip.

2. I don't think I'd ever buy another car without it ... I think most would agree that the NAVI is something that is extremely useful to them and they would probably buy another car with it.

3. It isn't easy to program while driving, especially on the non-voice models like on my TL-S because you have to type in the address and sometimes the touch-sensitive screen doesn't recognize that you pressed anything. However, if you're going to a destination that you previously programmed, it isn't difficult at all. I would not recommend typing in street addresses while driving, unless you have 4 eyes and 4 hands ... I have never used the voice activated ones like the one in the Accord, so i can't comment on how easy that one is to use.

4. I usually program it while parked if I am typing in the address ... Sometimes I will be in the middle of driving if I decide to use a pre-programmed address (like one that I've typed in already on another occasion).

Don't know much about your 5th and 6th questions so I'll leave that to other people.

 

Yeah, what Zootking said.

But to answer your questions in my own words:

If you have it, do you wish you didn't? Too hard to figure out?
I have it, I'm glad I have it. Super easy to use. The UI is so simple and intuitive it's no wonder the Acura navi has been called the best in the past.

If you have it, could you now not live without it?
After a little accident I drove a Volvo for a week. Once during this week I left the apartment knowing I needed to go someplace I hadn't been before and didn't know how to get there. It was only when I was within sight of my rental car that I realized I couldn't get there. I had to run back, print a mapquest map and directions and run back out. The directions couldn't detour me around traffic, find closest gas stations or tell me the fastest way to my work building from where I just happened to be. So, yes. Whenever I decide to purchase a new car, availability and quality of a navigation system will be high on my list.

Is it difficult to reprogram while driving? Is it more of a distraction than talking on a cell phone while driving?
I don't own a cell phone. It can be distracting but most of the time you know where you're going when you get in the car, so you program it then(while waiting to warm up or whatever), and not once you're on your way.
Most of the interactions with the system while moving is to change the view (map/guide) or to zoom or to detour or change the route method (direct/no tolls/easy/etc) - all of which require you to press 2 or less buttons.

I see the navi system on the 03 Accord will respond to 150 voice commands. Anybody know about this?
Don't know and don't care. Voice recognition is so sketchy sometimes that I'd rather keep the touchscreen interface.

Resale value of the option?
Irrelevant to me. It'll probably be negligible. This was not even on my mind when I made my decision to get the navi.


What I did to decide wether to get it or not was to take a test drive on a car with it. When I was looking to buy the dealer didn't have a CL with navi to test drive so I took a TL-S for a spin. After about 10 minutes I was convinced.

...and the chicks love it

 

 

Get the navi. You will not be sorry.

 

I could not have said it better myself. When i orignally bought my 2003 CL in July it did not have Navi. When I went to my dealer for my first oil change in October, the had another 03 CL with Navi and I bought it that day. I love Navi, has paid for itself in the many times I have used it. Navi will be in every car that I own in the future.

 

OK guys. Every reply was positive, so in it goes on the next one. And Zootking, I think you might not have understood me. I will stick with a CL-S, the question is, if there is a 2004 CL-S! (or similiar model that they rename). Judging by you number of posts, I assume you know about this. And rumor has it the 2003 Accord coupe goes to 260 HP in March or so. Of course, it is also rumored that the 2004 CL-S, if it survives, will be 280 HP. Thanks everybody! One of the few threads on this board where an arguement didn't start!

 

If money isn't an issue definitely go for it.don't use mine much but is the shit when I do.

 

Our '03 MDX has the new voice recognition feature and it works pretty well. Much easier than trying to mess with the touchscreen while driving. The voice commands follow the main menu's by words directly. Submenus can be navigated through by speaking the number corresponding to the choice. You can ask it to "Find the nearest ATM, nearest gas station, etc." and it will display a list for you on screen that you can pick from.

The recalc speed on the new version is amazing. Seems twice as fast as the navi on my '03 CL. Also has a nice feature that lets you show all routes one by one in different colors so you can choose the one most appropriate to you.

You have a choice between male or female voices with either being more natural than the one in the current CL's.

I don't know how to describe the difference in look between the CL and MDX navigation screens. The MDX seems to have more resolution and more vibrant colors.

 

I know others might disagree, but I honestly believe that ignorance is bliss. All I know is that everyone who's riden in my car has seen the light. Personally I wouldn't buy another car that didn't have one. If money was an issue, then I'd get a cheaper car and sacrifice performance JUST so I can keep my navi.

 

If u travel the same roads month after month then a navi wont be as useful. But if u like to travel and such then definetly get it.

I just moved to houston 2 weeks ago and my navi has been god send. I didnt realize it would come in this handy when i was in austin for yrs cos i knew all the roads. But being in a huge city like houston, this thing lets me know i'm in the right direction.

Dont think the current navigation on the CL is perfect - cos its not. Its got some serious flaws and honestly i hardly ever follow the direction it gives me cos sometimes its absurdly inaccurate and makes u go around in circles to a place which is RIGHT IN FRONT of u.

But its lets u know where ur going and looking a map gives u a sense of direction. So u can always stop to the side and find ur own way to ur destination if the computer loses its mind.

 

I've never experienced that...... I've always been led to my destination with excellent accuracy. My only complaint is that sometimes the Navi will take a route that seems a bit out of the way (on the "direct route" option) when I know a better way. But that's one of the limitations of the system. It even mentions that in the Navi owners manual.

If you "hardly ever follow the direction it gives me", then what good is it to you? Do you drive around looking at the map screen and choose your own directions?

 

the navi is calling...YOU MUST ANSWER! the navi is a must have!

 

Ask any fo the guys who like to drive places other than their home area and they will tell you it is uber convienent.

 

Actually i do. I'll follow the general direction becos half the times it'll figure out a way to chose a longer way while one going straight to the dest. will be ignored. I honestly wouldnt even began to tell u how many times it has shown a way which would give me the run-arounds. So i have to make adjustments and from experience i've learnt that its best to do so.

Yet its extremely helpful cos w/o it i wouldnt have a clue where the major streets and freeways are. And since every place usually forced u to take those , i just guide myself there. Plus i'm not so clueless as to not know where i live or in which part of the town i wanna go.

 

Sadly, the routing algorithms in our NAVI is "VERY POOR" I found those on Mapquest, Yahoo and Mappoint and MS Streets way better... If it seems a BS route... I recompute or adjust and edit the legs of the route... YOU CAN Edit the computed routes...!

 

Nashua,

I once compared a printout of a Mapquest directions to the Navi's directions for the same address.

I was surprised to see that they were almost completely different.

But after comparing them, it seemed to me that the Mapquest directions were horrible. Maybe it was just a single occurance.... I dunno.... I never tried it again.