Is it possible to add NAV Traffic like the RL have on 04 TL w/ NAVI? I really wish the TL NAVI can get an upgrade for NAV TRAFFIC... Traffic in Houston REALLY SUX!!!

Anybody?

Thanks,
Jrbn2g04AcuraTL

 

http://www.xmradio.com/xmnavtraffic/index.jsp

 

Someone asked this in the most recent Acura Style magazine. If you have it, check it out. I remember that the answer was no because there were certain parts that the RL nav system had that the TL didn't. I don't remember the specifics... sorry.

 

A similar question was asked in the latest issue of Acura Style. Sclass88, you beat me to it. Here are the specifics:

 

Wait, that makes no sense to me. "Adding a touch screen", isn't the 2k4 TL Navi touchscreen already? I think that response was based on the answerer assuming that the 2k4 TL was a 2G. Can anyone clarify this?

 

Lister, you forgot to add "interface" and what I think the individual is referring to is communicating with the XM receiver and other components to make it "real-time". Mind you, this is speculation on my part. I, for one would love to have real-time info, but I don't know if the cost of upgrade (if available in the future) will be worth the money.

 

I also found their answer a bit confusing. We already have XM receivers, touch screens, navigation units, etc. The XM is already tied to the navigation, according to the diagnostics page. It seems to me they trumped up the answer to "justify" not making it available on the TL.

 

I'd love the traffic info, too. But from Acura's point of view, if they put every bell and whistle of the RL into the TL they're likely to lose some RL sales.

Not that there's a lot of cross-shopping between the two in the real world, but that's how these guys seem to think...

 

I agree... Im just curious if there is something that we can just add to our TL to get the NAV-Traffic.

 

Well, If somebody got some new info about upgrading the TL's NAV to Nav-traffic... PLease PVT message me...

Thanks guys,
Jrbn2g04AcuraTL

 

There are aftermarket head units that feature NavTraffic, but I'm not too eager to swap out the factory one.

 

There is always something wrong gonna happen when u put aftermarket on your car... from my experience or maybe people installing shyt on my car just dont know what are they doing...lol

 

Jrbn2g04AcuraTL - I'm sorry to say that you'll never see a "plug-in upgrade" coming from Acura for NavTraffic.

While the answer provided may not be exactly correct, it's 90% of the way there.

The RL's Navi unit is very different from ours, and may even be a different manufacturer than Alpine. That means that we can't just take the RL's software and just drop it into our units. Thus, we would need some sort of upgrade (software, hardware, or both) to our existing system.

As a minimum, there would be a major software upgrade that would cost Alpine many thousands of man-hours of development. Writing and testing software is still complex and expensive. Of course, Alpine (and their customer, Acura) would want their money back for this effort.

There's also a good chance that new hardware would be required as well, such as a more powerful Navi CPU, updated graphics controller, and additional RAM to support the new real-time display updating and new XM signal decoding for the NavTraffic data.

This all assumes that existing data bus and other hardware connections in the TL don't have to change.

Since the target market (Acura TL 2004-2005 owners who already have Navi installed) is pretty limited, Alpine and Acura would have a tough time getting their money back from the development. Would you be willing to pay $1000+ for a pure software upgrade for NavTraffic functionality, so that Acura and Alpine can make their profit? (If you think this figure is way out of line, keep in mind that Acura charges $185 for just a Navi database update disc). And the price would get even more expensive if there were hardware changes.

I know I wouldn't want to spend this much, even though I'd love to have NavTraffic.

 

RL Odyssey '05 MDX and Ridgeline all have the same nav ECU...

The RL has a seperate NavTraffic module in addition to the newer ECU (compared to the TL, TSX, Accord).

Considering that our Navi ECU has native support for a backup cam, because the '04 MDX had the same Navi ECU, there is still alot that we can do with our nav units.

 

it is made by alpine. there is either a seperate module that links the navi up with the xm unit, or the xm unit plugs directly into the navi system. if someone had the schmatics it would be easy to figure out

 

I was playing around with my XM yesterday on a trip back home and found something neat.
I think it was near channels 200(?), but it was giving weather and traffic updates in about 10-15 major citites around the country.

 

umm Yes it does that. 22 cities actually.

There are also Canadian and French channels available now also.

And when you aren't in your TL you can hear XM on Direct TV.