Looking for some input.

I personally don't think the Nav is worth $2k. But it seems at a local dealer all the non-navs have bridgestones while the navs have michelin. Do you think the tire upgrades make the nav more appealing and maybe I should spend the extra 2k?

 

the nav is worth way more than $2000. Just in parts it is... the value of having it is amazing. I guarentee you, once you go Nav, you'll never go back... There are a bunch of people on this board that got Non Nav and regretted not getting Nav. One person even went as far as trading in his non navi to get a navi car... get nav, you won't be disappointed.

 

Incidentally expect the difference between the nav and non-nav to be more than 2K. The 2k difference is when we are talking msrp.

 

But don't forget the extra value you'll have at trade-in. So the real cost is far less than $2K.

BTW, this is my 2nd car with NAVI. I would never consider any car that it wasn't an option on.

 

I also would never buy another car without nav. Must have for me.

 

The tires and navi are not directly related. As stated above the navi is really worth getting. If you can $$$ it then get it, if not its still an amazing car.

 

Nav also comes with nice voice command interface for all your climate, radio and of course Nav. You'll not regret it it's worth spending 2-3K for it. If you do not and later you think you want it..there is no way to get it. Search the forum and lot have buyers remorse of not buying with Nav.

 

Interesting responses. You're almost convincing me to get it now. BTW The best dealer quote I have so far, the nav is actually only ~1850 more than non-nav (maybe dealer take the non-nav quote and added invoice price of nav). Although at > 32k its stretching my desired price range.

 

Believe me, the NAv is worth having. Try to find 3 people on this entire board who regret buying it. You can't find 'em. If it's within your means, then you have NO dilemma, my friend.
To parrot what others have said, since I have it in my '00, it will definitely be on my '04 or '05.

 

YES X 1000000

Btw, have done any mods or are you all-stock ?

 

I've had my Anthracite/Ebony w/Navi for 1 week today! (is it a weeklyversary?)
I debated for a while whether to get navi or non navi and can tell you, NAVI is the ticket!!!!
Not only is it a great toy to show off to your friends, but also it has saved me a lot of time (I get lost very easily) so far.

I really doubt you would regret getting your TL with Navi.

Enjoy!

 

I would definitely get the car with navigation. You will not regret it. Even though you are stretching your budget, it will be worth it. A lot of people on this board and others have bought a car without navigation, and now they are regretting it. Don't be one of those people. Get the navi! As others have said, I will not buy another car without navigation

 

I am extremely glad I bought the navi. Not only is it fun to use, the interior just flat out looks nicer, IMHO

 

I am very glad I bought the nav. But the car is still nice without it, so if it is pushing the budget you'll like the car without it.

As for the tires, I wouldn't justify buying the Nav for the tires. You could negotiate with the dealer to swap the tires for something else for an incremental cost that should be much less than the nav system.

 

Get the nav. It's WELL worth it. If you ever decided you wanted a nav system even remotely like this it would cost at least $3000 and no factory warranty....

its simply worth it

 

Keyser,
I thought the same as you about the Navi. Who needs it? Too expensive etc. but after reading everybodys comments here, I decided to try one and I am really glad I did. It is an amazing addition to the car, adding many features with voice commands and being able to find almost address easily. Also, navi cars do come with michelins( I called ACS and confirmed this) that alone saves you a big headache avoidng Bridgestone tires.
The downside to the navi,acording to my salesman, trade-in is only slightly higher on navi cars (about $700) and what if the fricking thing breaks after warranty? I am sure it would cost a fortune to repair/replace.
When you look at paying thirty something thousand for a car, 2K more is a drop in the bucket and the navi is worth the extra money. WTF, it's only money, give it a try and enjoy your new car.

 

GET THE NAVI!!!!

First of all, the non-Navi dash looks bad. Second, you will use the Navi more than you think. Third, a car of this class is expected to have a Nav. Nav systems are becoming very common. You don't want to be in a situation 5 years from now where everyone but you has a Nav system. Fourth, if you decide to sell the car, potential buyers will hope you have the Nav.

 

Does Acura offer an installation of their NAV after the fact? If so, how much would they charge?

 

No ..... it would cost more to install. Best bet, get Navi to begin with.

 

Get the Navi, regardless of what tires are on it. It will pay for itself.

No ..... it would cost more to install and that's why it's an option on purchase. If they did, it would cost you more than 2K. Best bet, get Navi to begin with.

 

i have non-navi. i've seen navi in action. i'm happy that i saved over $2k for non-navi.

almost every corner and every exit has a gas station, etc. if i'm that lost i just pull over and ask (which is unlikely for me).

but that's just me.

i'm sure the extra gadgetry will awe you. if you can spring for the extra $$ then go for it.

 

wow and you're in..of all places...NYC !
Hats off to you that you can understand (and trust!) WTF the gas station guy says.

 

in general i know most of NY and AZ states (and 5 seconds on mapquest), out-of-state roads can throw me off.

i value my $$. i think the Nav is great if you drive alot to unfamiliar places (which is not me).

the voice commands are cool, but i can switch stations and adjust volume many times faster than trying to speak the words that the voice recognition wants to hear.

 

Above is probably what you will be posting if you don't get it.
I have an 02 MDX that I decided not to get navi on, big mistake. Love the vechicle but will likely trade it for a navi model next year.

If you ever travel to an unfamilar city it will pay for itself on that one trip. That will be frosting to all the other benefits discussed, GET IT.

 

...and at the same time it's probably easy to find at least 3 who have regretted NOT buying it.

 

one trip lost = $2k ?? i'd rather be lost for a few minutes.

i agree Navi is good, but IMHO Navi also has it's place.

if the extra cost is no obstacle then i would advise anyone to get it (money buys anything if you have it to spend).

 

cool just one Q: have you done any mods to the TL ?

 

For me, Navi was a must have. Helped me out in a jam in chicago.. Trying to get to Chinatown out of downtown and was able to get there almost effortlessly.

I do have to say though I think the routes the navi chooses sometimes are way off. In my dad's porsche cayenne, the navi always tells me the route which is the fastest, but on the TL, a lot of the times it tells me to go some weird way which I know is not as fast. Not sure if it's a flaw or just not as well designed.

 

I didn't get the nav and still love the car. Yes, it would have come in handy a couple of times and been cool to have, but the car was pushing my budget without it. The price difference between Nav and Non-Nav when I was looking was about $3500. That's a lot more than a drop in the bucket (if you are well-off enough to believe otherwise, please let me know, as you are more than welcome to send me as many "drops" as you like). Sure, I could have gone in debt on my credit cards or sacrificed on other things, but it wasn't justifiable IMHO. More than likely the next vehicle my girlfriend or I get (in about 2-3 years) will have Nav, but I can't say I regret not getting it.

As for resale, the navi depreciates a lot faster than the rest of the car. The Navi was only worth $500 in residual value at the end of a 3 year lease. Purchase prices may be different - YMMV. The lease residuals seemed low enough without the nav, so I ended up purchasing without Nav.

 

Get the Navi. I didn't and wished I had !!!! Do I smell 05 with Navi.......

 

The nav was one decision that was easy to make; I bought it. I didn't think twice about it. Now if you live in NYC and never travel more than 5 blocks from your area, it might not be as useful. But heck if you never go anywhere why buy a car?

I didn't really care about the resale value but I did notice that TL without nav set on the lot. This told me that it might be MUCH easier with the 3rd gen TL to sell it later if it had nav.

I too hated how the dash looked wihthout nav. I also liked the integration with the voice command system. Yes, some things are faster to do with the buttons than voice but if I want to go to temperature extremes the voice is handier. Another plus about the voice is I can keep my hands on the steering wheel and in our snowy and icy conditions this is a big benefit to me. I don't have to look away from the road to find some tiny little button.

If you are really stretching to buy the car financially maybe you might be better off buying an Accord. Might as well go full boat if you are buying a lux or semi-lux car than to cheap out at the last minute. One other thing is the Michelins also helped factor into my decision and that helped offset the cost differential between the 2 versions.

Last but not least the emergency use factor of the nav. I had a family emergency this past weekend and I was able to quickly locate a hospital in an area I wasn't really familiar with other than shopping and restaraunts. To me the nav is not a toy and I use it a lot for business purposes. I absolutely love how I can dial a point of interest via the handsfree. I can call the restaurants I want from my car from within the nav system.

 

I would get it. I'm one of those who didn't and wish they did!

 

Get the Navi. The first time you get lost you'll appreciate it. It also completes the look of the center console. Not to menton the voice commands.

 

You're right!! What was I thinking?!?! Acura should be ashamed of themselves for even making Nav an option. I'm going to go trade my TL in for an Accord this evening.

I said it was pushing my budget (for a car), not that I am whoring myself out to make payments - which is good, cause I don't think I'd get paid much. The point is, the car is great with or without Nav. If you don't get the nav, you might wish you had it at times, but that's not enough to regret getting the car.

 

We purchased a non-navi 05 a few weeks ago and I don't expect to regret it. Our circumstances are a little different:

- we're in Canada, and the coverage didn't seem great
- we don't do a lot of highway driving
- I already own a colour GPSmap handheld that we used on our last trip this summer
(okay, no voice commands, but there are always two of us in the car)
- the non-Navi in Canada comes with Michelins

I wasn't convinced that it would add a lot to the resale value in five years. I love GPS, but
didn't feel it was worth what they were asking for it.

It's a great car - GPS was way down on our list of things we wanted. Zero regrets so far!

 

My point is as others have mentioned that in this level of car a nav becomes an almost must have. It sometimes doesn't matter what KBB or Edmunds says about how much the nav adds to the car sometimes not having certain options can make the car very difficult to git rid of later.

For example a dealer where I bought my MB has a Porsche Cayenne Turbo on the lot. It has been there almost forever in car terms. It will probably set even longer until they take a pretty big loss on it. It isn't because they are into it at a bad price, problem is it doesn't have a moonroof. It has some other sweet options but the kiss of death is no moonroof. Almost everyone wants one in that car and for some reason the guy ordered it without.

In my area the used TLs w/o nav out number the one with nav by huge margin. If you can believe the asking prices the ones with nav seem to be holding their value better on '04 models than without. It is your money and do what you want with it.

I'd really be interested in seeing how the nav sales break down vs. non-nav. Anyone have these statistics? I have found that the other TL owners w/o nav I've met on the street since buying mine have been unhappy they didn't wait to get nav. In our area it's still hard to get a car with nav and many people didn't want to wait so they bought it without nav and regretted it.

Buy what you like. If you don't like the nav or you do it doesn't matter a whit if all of us here love or hate it. If you are on the fence then sometimes you might see opinions that appeal to certain aspects of your psyche. Some people like the bling of the nav, others like the usefullness, some people have no clue what to do with it.

 

I think this is a good point. I tend to be very pro-NAVI myself. But I live in a very urban area where every street is fully mapped out. The funny thing is, I know the area better than most people since I drive a taxi here for 14 years. But I still find it very useful.

But I do travel occasionally to poorly mapped areas. As an example, I have a friend that lives in Kalamazoo Michigan that I visit. The street that he lives on isn't on the maps. So what I do is is use Mapquest and then start working backwards on the intersections. It's really nice to be fully guided for 150+ miles and only have to worry about the paper map for the last mile or 2.

 

Get the NAV, I did not get it and I have been kicking myself everyday since. The only thing keeping me sane is I got a pretty good deal at 30,900.

 

just rims and tires. springs shocks and camber kit soon. maybe new custome exhaust.

 

Get the NAVI: High class car, High class goodies. This is one of the best navi systems available!!!

Besides with the NAVI the dash looks better and you get extra voice commands!!

TL-Rocket

'04 SSM/EBONY/6MT/HPT/NAVI