I'm thinking about buying a 2008 Acura TL-S w/30k miles. I took a test drive yesterday and really liked the car, but the nav system seemed very outdated w/ the graphics. It reminded me a bit of NES graphics (being a little harsh).

Is there anyway to update the navigation system ? Or are you just stuck with the outdated graphics?

I already saw that there hasn't been any hacks for the nav system besides the startup screen which is quite disappointing.

Thanks

 

The software on the navi is written to match the hardware, which is at a set resolution. Some zoom levels look better than others as far as pixelation goes.

If you compare to the current TLs/TSXs, you can tell they use a higher resolution screen (but, I imagine, a different software version to work with that screen).

People have gone the car-pc route using the factory screen (as you can get a unit to tap into the video feed). So technically you could use GPS software with that solution if you were going to go that route anyway (if you also wanted it for music/internet/video capability/whatever else a PC can do), but it'd be kind of extreme to do it solely for navigation.

Besides the navigation graphics, the software itself works pretty well.

 

The Nav in that car was 5 Model-Years old in 2008. Now it's more like 8 or 9 model-years old. Technology moves fast. What do you expect? Although, I think they did upgrade the resolution/graphics in the 2007 MY (i.e. to 2005/2006-ish technology).

Even the 2012 system is 3 (or is it 4?) model-years old at this point. And that was probably spec'd and sourced in 2007/2008-ish for a fall of 2008 release.

 

WYSIWYG-- no simulated 3D views, no building simulations, no photos.


We bought a Garmin Nuvi 1490 for my wife-- the user interface on the TL Navi is better, even without considering the voice commands, as it's less menu-driven and more intuitive than the Garmin.

 

If you want bad-ass navi, then just keep on getting an aftermarket unit every year. The navi does a good job intgerating with the car and will get you most places.

I use my car a LOT for work, and I do keep a Nuvi in the glove box for the hard-to-find places.

 

its looks old, but it works great