Would you bother with built in Sat Nav?

Looking to buy a new (to me) car. Personal use of local commuting and the usual longer journeys. Whilst still circa £20K second hand (2014 model) it still only had sav nav as an option new. About 1 in 3 have it on the secondhand market.

Never had built in Satnav and previously been happy enough with standalone on phone based navigation but do appreciate it looks smarter integrated. Most of my experience of built in sat nav in other peoples cars has been on older vehicles and pretty underwhelming. The units in this model (VW) seem to have improved a lot but ultimately will be old soon enough. And there is the updating of the maps cost over free updates on standalone/smartphones.

Is it worth it using as a filter to search for a car or should it be an incidental nice to have if the car you want for other reasons just happens to have it?

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No.

2014? It will be slow and buggy and won’t get firmware updates.

I’ve just rented a 2017 SEAT for a week, and while the car itself was lush, the SatNav even now felt underwhelming.

Unless it has a mode where it gets out of the way and just shows your phone’s display. Now that would be useful.

No. Every built in sat nav I’ve used has been inferior to Google maps.

Google auto FTW! Google maps beemed to your in car display.

I like them for the media interface/touchscreen, but never use the sat nav – Google maps on my phone is the best option for avoiding traffic

My car has a built in Sat nav.

I use Waze when I need to navigate anywhere.

Mine has built in, dated from 2012.

It’s fine but it’s not a purchasing decision issue.

It has the advantage over phone clamped to windscreen that it won’t fall off at a critical moment but in many respects the Google map app is better other than I hate having stuff attached to the windscreen.

It can be updated.

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/how-to-guides/videos/in-car-entertainment

Nope, usually a crappier UI and costly to update

Just to buck the trend I would defo buy the one with it. Was a fan of stand alone nav/phone in the past and didn’t bother paying extra on our Kuga in 2014 but since getting our second car a year ago with it fitted as standard I wouldn’t go back. Always there, no messing about with cables or brackets and as good as any aftermarket unit I have used. I use it far more than I would if it wasn’t standard.

Yes but I probably wouldn’t spec it as an option myself as it’s disproportionately costly. I usually buy prereg or ex demo vehicles and they usually have it. I prefer a single use integrated system as I don’t want to be waffling on the phone at a critical nav point and find its all gone horribly wrong…

I’m 50/50. Just got it on the new car. Some plusses, it’s neater, always there and I can get it going very quickly especially going home. Problem is the touchscreen is like a £10 phone and the maps have loads of mistakes. It is an up to date Garmin so shouldn’t be that shonky IMO. Handy for occasional use but if I really need to go somewhere I’ll get the phone out.

Wife has it in her Clio (2012), gets traffic info and updates, presumably via some sort of sim card, works well, worth having if you’re going somewhere new, can’t really fault it.
Wouldn’t pay any extra for it though.

In my previous job I commuted 1.5-2 hours each way every day and I found Google maps on my phone much more accurate for traffic alerts, compared to my built in sat nav (on a 2012 bmw).

Yes, a phone mount may look a bit untidy but for me that was nothing compared to how much time I was saving.

I never used the built in sat nav once I started using the phone. And even with that amount of use, the data it used was minimal, too.

For me it would depend on the car.
If I were buying a cheap runaround I wouldn’t worry if it’s got satnav but if it’s a more expensive model I’d want the sat nav mainly because it may make a difference when I came to sell on.
I like google maps on my phone and sometimes use it for the car, but I still use the car satnav a lot as the map is in the right place to see (I don’t really do phone cradles).

It’s worth saying though that since moving jobs, I’ve also bought a car without a sat nav and last year in Skye completely forgot that my phone wouldn’t be any use in areas without a signal!

I know it’s obvious but worth bearing in mind…

The one in my car is as good as anything available standalone or as a mobile app. However, it’s a brand new model car that’s just been released. I wouldn’t bother with anything older, but the maps are accurate and will be updated for several years, and it does live traffic. Even learns regular commutes, can do door to door nav in conjunction with my mobile and shows Streetview of the destination.

my phone wouldn’t be any use in areas without a signal!

Just download the maps before you go. You can do this on google, I use maps.me which is a bit easier to use without data.

Most can be upgraded I think. What it costs varies. On the i40 I had, a map upgrade cost £150. On the newer model, it’s a different system and upgrades are free. That’s not annoying at all.

Quality seems to vary. The best one I’ve used was in a BMW, the i40 one was pretty poor. I’d probably get it given a choice, but there’s no way I’d pay a grand plus on top of the purchase price for it.

Just download the maps before you go. You can do this on google, I use maps.me which is a bit easier to use without data.

I have CoPilot. Cost me about £20, has full offline UK mapping, no signal needed.

Which? Magazine just listed built in Sat Nav as the No.1 vehicle fault reported by members. I use a basic Tom Tom (£70). It doesn’t need a phone signal and if it dies I’ll buy another.

I have CoPilot. Cost me about £20, has full offline UK mapping, no signal needed.

And I have maps.me. Cost me £0, has full offline worldwide mapping, no signal needed. 8)

I like the built in one I’ve got (2012 Golf). Google may be a slightly slicker UI, but needs sticking somewhere and looks untidy. Wouldn’t be make or break, but I’d definitely choose it.

Of those I’ve used in rental cars…
Toyota, totally unusable. This rocket scientist only successfully succeeded in making the map show where I was. I can see where I am tyvm, by looking out of the window.

VW was usable, as was Hyundai one. Neither were as instinctive as Garmin, but I guess you get used to one, and use the virtually in autopilot for the 2 functions you ever use.

I’d use google, but everywhere I use SatNav is foreign and therefore international data roaming, although that is gradually tending towards no longer being a factor.

I have a Toyota one circa 2005, it works fairly well. But it has a key advantage in that it can use dead reckoning when the signal’s poor. Google maps tends to crap out when it looses GPS signal.

Updates are a pain though, you have to pay for them and it’s not cheap.

But you get a nice big screen that’s not in the way; it dims the stereo when it gives directions; you can use a steering wheel button to get it to repeat something; and the display being larger has more stuff on it – you get a proximity bar when approaching junctions and so on. And there are NO SODDING WIRES ALL OVER THE PLACE.

That last issue would make me want to go for integrated satnav every time!

I think modern cars now support the thing that displays your phone’s screen on the car’s built-in display. That would be a winner for me.

All the in built dat navs I’ve used have all been inferior to a stand alone unit/phone. Plus as has been said updating is often expensive. My FIL has an Opal Vectra which only has a map for Germany installed in the inbuilt sat nav and they want 300 plus euros for an update! Inbuilt sat navs also very popular with thieves round these parts for whatever reason.

Just download the maps before you go. You can do this on google, I use maps.me which is a bit easier to use without data.

Unless they recently upgraded it Google Maps does not perform routing on offline saved maps. It also cannot route without a phone signal, I think the route planning is done in the cloud so needs phone signal. Same for Apple maps. This was about 15 months ago so both systems may have been upgraded since.

For offline route mapping I use Here Maps which has an offline mode and also does routing via public transport too.

Going back to OP’s question, I wouldn’t bother paying extra for built in Sat Nav. If it comes for free then great. I have a built in TomTom GPS in my 2011 Renault Trafic van. Its a good system easy to use and receives traffic data. Only thing is it can be a little clunky when searching for a new location. If you have the address ready to type in then its straight forward. But nothing beats searching on Google Maps for a POI and getting directions.

In my car I just use my phone which I don’t find any less convenient. Just make sure you use a Nav app that supports downloading of maps and routing without data connection.

I think my Tom Tom app cost about £30, it has full European offline coverage and lifetime free updates. Plus it’s not stuck in one car

international data roaming, although that is gradually tending towards no longer being a factor.

Brexit, though…

Co-Pilot app here on the phone. Off to France later, “France” is downloading now. Means deciphering weirdo hire car sat nav systems isn’t necessary either.

I personally wouldn’t bother unless it was an android auto type Sat Nav i.e. Google maps. “Here” sat nav on the phone is bloody great.

Mine’s pretty good, it’s from 2011 but the unit’s been in service since 2006/7 I think.

I’ve upgraded it to 2015 maps and firmware, I think the disc was £15 or something, they’re a lot more from a dealer.

Yeah the UI is crap, originally it wouldn’t take a full postcode but it does now and it works on a dial system like a low-rent version of the BMW Idrive system, you’d never try to programe it on the move, its would be irresponsible at best.

The latest cars can have Apple or Android CarPlay which gives you a much better UI and google maps. That’s what I want next time.

Brexit, though…

fortunately I live on mainland EU (where “abroad” is not very far away, hence practically every journey being foreign)
So just trips back to UK that I need to worry about 😉

I had built in in my focus, used my phone 90% of the time. I did like the focus one though, with the mini directions in the dash, I’d like one that worked like a proper built in, but let me search for the directions on my phone, and I didn’t have to input the address in with a clicky wheel

Nah. Colleagues have them and sometimes our hire cars do too but none of them’s been as good as Copilot for my phone (which is a paid-for app but £20, totally worth it)

I think it’ll be interesting to see how many satnavs are handling the M8 closure- one of the roads they’re using for the diversion is brand new and isn’t in google maps yet let alone older satnavs, so suddenly one of the busiest roadsin Scotland will have satnavs screaming NOW TURN AROUND

Conversely, I like it and have had it in our last 3 cars

Having sat nav means the dash looks nicer and all the media/entertainment generally displays better

5 series (me) and civic (wife), now an e class (shared)

I like using the integrated sat nav, but also like having a rolling map of where I am, even if I’m not using sat nav. Also phone/Bluetooth is easier and the cars are designed for the bigger screen so having no sat nav means smaller screen and it feels more peasant spec.

Wouldn’t get a normal car without sat nav built in now, i.e. For those cars that you can normally spec them in

In a regular car hatchback might be less important, but in a big saloon/estate/exec style car I would definitely be opting for that

No-one else finds it a faff to fit the phone to the cradle and plug it in every time you want to use it?

Some of you lot are doing it wrong. I’d hate to have stuff on my windscreen (and I hate the trend of other people having big lumps with bright displays blocking their view). Hence I have a Scosche Magicmount stuck to the dash between steering wheel and stereo:

Unobtrusive when not in use, no faffing with brackets – the most time consuming part is getting the phone out of my pocket, once it’s in my hand I just pop it on the mount. It has never fallen off. I guess other phones may be more trouble, but I have a Sony with magnetic charging connector, so if I want to charge that takes seconds and can be done one handed with the phone on the mount. So yes, there is one sodding wire, but then I tend to put my phone on charge when in the car even if not using satnav (which is most of the time).

Nope. The faff of using every inbuilt satnav I’ve ever tried (which is admittedly a small sample) is far higher. Typically if I’m going somewhere it’s in my recent search history on my computer, so comes up with a couple of taps on Google Maps, if not it’s the same amount of taps to bring up voice recognition and I just tell it where I’m going.

My car has a built in Sat nav.
I use Waze when I need to navigate anywhere.

+1. 2016 Golf. The VW sat nav is pretty good, but the ease of being able to just type just about anything, like business names etc into waze and it finds it is the killer advantage I think. Putting postcodes into the VW one is a little faffy, too. It’s nice to have on whilst driving, but I don’t wouldn’t have deliberately paid extra for the privilege.

In built media systems / sat navs really irk me. Girlfriend has one and you can only use one or the other. So you want to change radio stations, you lose navigation. The whole thing with complicated touch screen interfaces is something else all together. I’m surprised they’ve not been banned. Modern cars are just a complicated distraction.