The PC Card Slot on the TL and Honda's Internavi service
 

Is the PC card slot adjacent the Navigation Box designed exclusively for Honda's Internavi system? If so wouldn't that mean that Honda is likely to bring Internavi to America at some point? Why else would they provide this slot in the American and Canadian version of the TL?

The Internavi Premium Club is a subscription service offered in Japan that enables a driver to access the Internet on the car's Navigation screen when the car is parked. It also allows the user to access a web page on their home PCs to get information about the car such as number of miles travelled and maintenance schedule information. It's all explained at:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/...nda001009.html

Back when the above article was written it cost 29 cents a minute to use a car phone to access the Internavi service. Now with Bluetooth available on the TL that cost is much lower. That's because people can use their own cell phones that have thousands of minutes available per month. The article says that the PC card (that fits in the trunk slot) can be used to save spots (URL bookmarks) for quick access to favorite Internet sites. If Honda does decide to expand the Internavi service beyond Japan that would be one more reason to consider getting a Navi model.

Interesting, but of limited use in this country. Especially if I'm paying by the minute for the service of accessing web information about my car that is available just by looking at my dash. I'm just spoiled, though by having broadband available at what is essentially a discount price for all-I-can-eat service.

I find that I have hundreds of unused minutes on my cell phone at the end of each month. In that sense there would be no per minute charge since I would be using minutes that otherwise would be lost. Also one could access a traffic camera web site on the Nav screen in the car before leaving to see how much congestion there was along a given route. If there were excessive traffic one could alter one's plans to save time and frustration. Finally one could program a home or office computer to periodically access the site and see if the mileage on the odometer had changed. If it had one would know that the car had been moved without authorization. That would provide an added layer of security.