All,

I've been reading posts on this board for a while now, and I'm glad to say that I'm almost ready to get a new TL-S. I'm trying to decide if I should get the Navi or not. I live in a relatively small town (Sebastian) in Florida and I rarely travel to unfamiliar areas.

That being said, I still want the Navi option, and I'm trying very hard to rationalize the added expense (I plan to lease the car).
I'm simply afraid that the Navi won't cover my home area and/or any of the "smaller" towns in FL that I do travel to. I know I don't need one, it's just that it looks too damn cool.

Can someone with the Navi help me out? How is the Florida mapping? Anyone regret getting or not getting the Navi option?

Thanks in advance!

J

PS> Please don't slam me for not doing a search on this topic first. I did that and there seems to be about a ka-billion posts. By the time I read through them, we'd be talkin' about a 2010 TL-XS!

 

Go for the NAV. I have one and cant imagine that i drove my old honda without it for so long. But why in the world would you want to lease this wonderful automobile?

 

If you plan on leasing the car the residual is higher on a non-navi car (50% vs 59%) at least that is what I was quoted when I got mine. Also with the navi you can't add it to the residual, so you pay for it though the life of the lease.

 

If you live in a small town in Florida, the Navi may not cover your area. The instruction on the back has a listing of all the areas it covers. Maybe if you search on the forum (ha ha), someone might have posted all the listings (it should won't be me).

That being said, I'd get it anyways. Especially if your a tech geek. I remember when I picked up my car and the dealer was showing me the features, I was so happy I bought the Navi. It's awesom! Plus, without it, when your friends sit in your car, there isn't much to show off (after all it is just a car) unless you let them drive it. And for that to happen, you have to wait until after you break it in.

 

Bro,
I got a NBP 2001 with the Navi becasue I was new to the country. It helped me out tremendously and made me feel safe and at ease even when I was driving far and wide across state borders.
Now I cannot imagine driving a car without Navi. It is simply a must. Whenever I get into a rental or someone elses car I feel really wierd becasue there is no navi.
If you want my opinion, get the navi, you will not regret it at all. On the other hand, if you dont get it, I can guarantee at least one day in the year you will regret not having it.
I know financially it makes sense not to get the navi. But maan!, if you are leasing a $30000 car why not spend the extra dough for the navi.

 

I'd have to agree with all above. The navi is really something special , especially if you haven't had one before.
The really cool part is the recalculation it does if you go off course. It recalculates and tells you how to get to the desired location even though you are using a totally different set of roads. It will get you there , period !!
Like someone said before , it really makes the cars interior !
If , in fact , you do end up buying it out after the lease is over , you'd have better resale since almost all cars will have some type of navigation/onstar system on board. W/Out the Navi , your car won't be as marketable. I think that's what pushed me over the edge.
Consider buying. I almost leased but then found out that I could get a better interest rate from buying the car.

The rule I use is , if you can keep the car free of door dings , stay out of accidents , limit the miles and don't prefer to modify the car at all , leasing is probably better.

The nice thing about buying is that you can get a break on interest ( you can bargain more with the banks since leasing usually goes through a limited number of companies ) , spread payments over 5 years , mod your car if you want , get door dings , put on tons of miles w/out getting charged and just plain old do what ever the hell you want with your car.

Think about it .
Go for the Navi ! You wouldn't regret it. Don't worry , it will be well enough up to date. The newest DVD just came out so you wouldn't have to worry about updating too soon , like me.

Good Luck !!

 

The database will update once a year... I can't see why FL won't be added in the near future.

 

I'm really not trying to sound like a party pooper here... I'm a gadget geek and sometimes I really wish I had the NAV (if for nothing else, then just another toy to play with) but I don't do much out-of-area traveling in the car so I would very rarely need it. As has been said before, very litte of the cost of the NAV is residualized in the lease, so you're more or less paying 100% of the cost of an item that you'll be returning with the car at the end of the lease term.

When I leased my 2000 TL, I casually asked how much more the payment would be if I decided to go with NAV. The salesman's initial response was about $50/month. Granted, I don't shop cars by lease payment, but that's an expensive toy considering I'd really only use it maybe once a month.

 

you can buy a lot of maps for 2K! I didn't get the navi and i don't regret it at all. Sure it looks cool in the car that i'm not going to argue with, but if your not driving to unfamiliar areas all the time then why do you need it. But then again most things that make the car look cooler you don't really need. So if love the look of it then get it. If not and you don't plan on using it then take the 2K and get some different mods.

 

I will definitely get the navi. That was my only regret after I purchased my car. I don't travel much, but sometimes it might come handy.

 

I agree with RAdams.... it's definitely cool, but it's not necessary (at least for me). I chose not to get it and I am very happy that I didn't. Save me $2k that I can use for a lot of other things. I don't know about you guys, but I pretty much drive my car to and from work every day (about 70 miles roundtrip). Obviously I know where I'm going, so the Navi wasn't necessary. Whenever I have to travel to visit a client, I go to mapquest and get directions and I've never had a problem. Plus, the fact that the AC/heating controls are on the Nav didn't excite me too much either. I kind of saw it as a problem waiting to happen. Anyway, that's my opinion. Most people on here seem to like the nav, so I guess I'm in the minority......

 

Get the Nav! I regret it! Now that I want it, I have to go aftermarket that's going to cost me more and it's not even touch screen. Get the Nav!