Would you bother with built in Sat Nav?

molgrips – Member

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?

No, I have a good cradle and a phone with a useful battery. For long drives I wire it in but that’s not that often. (I keep meaning to add a power cable up on the dash but it’s a never-never job) I can one-hand the phone into the cradle without any bother (and it’s literally never fallen off, because I didn’t just buy the cheapest one off ebay)

Also, why would you want your satnav to be further out of your sightlines? Some inbuilts do have great locations but down in the corner of the windscreen, where I can see it without taking eyes off the road but where it’s not blocking any visibility, seems like absolutely the best place it could be, short of HUDs or having it beam into my optic nerve.

The Prius one is also close to line of sight, but it’s in the middle so the passenger can see and operate it. The vw one, which I don’t have, has turn prompts on the dash between the dials.

I prefer using the ten year old one in the Prius over my phone in the Passat. Mainly the larger screen, audio integration and lack of wires.

If you are spending £20k on a car I’d say yes get one with satnav in it, for the resale if nothing else.

I wouldn’t buy another car without built in Nav.

Just having a map active all the time in the car has allowed me to get around more traffic jams.

I don’t use it all the time for guidance, but when I do none of the BMW systems I’ve used have EVER let me down.

Some of the newer ones I have used (2014) onwards account for traffic real time, update maps automatically and respond to voice (although I have not got that feature to work satisfactorily). Mind you in theory it is illegal here to have any windscreen mounted devices so that may have given them a push. Plus no one breaks your windows to see if you left the device inside the car if it is integrated.

If you are spending £20k on a car I’d say yes get one with satnav in it, for the resale if nothing else.

So you’d recommend spending a grand more in order to get 500 back on resale? This seems a dubious argument when applied to most extras on cars.

Plus no one breaks your windows to see if you left the device inside the car if it is integrated.

Do you reckon many people break car windows in the hope of finding a mobile phone left in the car when they see a mount for one of those?

Dubious or not, if it’s on the car in the first place why choose another without one?

Seems kinda odd viewpoint.

Do you reckon many people break car windows in the hope of finding a mobile phone left in the car when they see a mount for one of those?

I have seen windows broken and a tape deck stolen so I would not doubt it can happen, I am not sure the people who break into cars to steal £30 stereos or crappy dash mounted gps are the most efficient criminals…

Personally wouldn’t have a car that didn’t have built in sat nav now. Drive with work and it saves a lot of messing about to start with, then looking down at a small screen (iPhone 6s).

Built in nav displays the full map on the main screen in the last 3 cars I’ve had, and in the middle of the dashboard. One had head up display with nav in it which was genius. All much safer than having to peer at a phone screen. Plus the car turns the volume of music down as it reads instructions out.

The Citroen Sat Nav software itself wasn’t the best – agree worse than say google. Jag satnav seems much better so far. Don’t feel the need but you can plug the phone into the Jag and it has ‘incontrol apps’ – some of which are sat nav based. It then plays phone nav instructions through the main car screen etc.

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.

This I have to agree with, and I drive lots of different cars! Some have satnav, some don’t, and I just don’t have time to fanny around trying to suss out how to make the thing work. My phone gets used instead, in a £1.25 eBay mount that’s one of the best I’ve ever used for quickness and lack of wobble, even with a big phone in an Otterbox, plus it has quite a few regular destinations stored, gives three different route choices, and updates the current route on the fly. I use Navmii, I used to use Here, but it has some idiosyncrasies that bugged me, so I swapped over.
I’ve got CoPilot, but that one just doesn’t seem to work well at the mo’, and I occasionally use Google maps when searching for filling stations; I have a BP fuel card for work, and a BP app that shows the nearest stations with routes through Google maps. Works fine, but I won’t rely on any mapping system where I have to depend on a network connection every time I need to set a new destination, there are far too many parts of the country with zero network, let alone data availability. South Wiltshire, Dorset and Devon are vast empty deserts as far as getting a signal is concerned.
For a personal car, the satnav would be way down the list, a decent entertainment system, or just a decent DAB radio is far more important than satnav, I’m very impressed with the audio in the Megane coupe that’s out the front at the moment, although it’s only got an am/fm radio, and it does have satnav, Tomtom based I think, but I’ve not used it.

Dubious or not, if it’s on the car in the first place why choose another without one?

I thought you were claiming it helped the resale value?

Northwind – Member

Some inbuilts do have great locations but down in the corner of the windscreen, where I can see it without taking eyes off the road but where it’s not blocking any visibility, seems like absolutely the best place it could be, short of HUDs or having it beam into my optic nerve.

I tried the HUD but found it distracting. This was much better….

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Nope, usually a crappier UI and costly to update

Free with VW I think.

So you’d recommend spending a grand more in order to get 500 back on resale? This seems a dubious argument when applied to most extras on cars.

It’s not a case of maybe getting a bit more back, some cars become borderline unsellable without a nav upgrade.

Current 5 series for examples, dealer literally reel away if if the car hasn’t got the pro nav upgrade. Functionality is almost irrelevant, the dash looks terrible without the big, widescreen display for the iDrive & nav function.

Personally, having the above nav has been good & it does traffic too. Admittedly it’s not as slick as the phone nav, that should soon be about to change with the like of Google & Apple with the CarPlay UI stuff.

obviously my opinion is very car specific though – a 3 year old Ford Focus is a bit different to a 3 year old BMW 5 series in terms of creature comforts & expected specification.

We have a unit out of a 2014 VW car on a slightly older vehicle (retrofitted to a second hand van for the DAB and Bluetooth rather than the nav). It’s underwhelming but still has its uses, worth having but not for big money. Advantages as above of no wires about and it works with the rest of the van (display, plus steering wheel buttons for audio, phone etc). But then it’s also quite a basic one. Google better for traffic and simply chooses better routes. Live traffic function is there but limited use.

Got a sat nav in my 2013 focus (for sale in the classifieds :D) and my new car will have one as well.

Just works well. No trailing wires or remembering to download maps.

Gets traffic updates and is well integrated.

Just press the ‘home’ button and you’re away when coming home.

‘Map’ button just brings up the local map straight away.

Car also displays the speed limit from the sat nav data all the time.

Don’t want to mess around with a phone. I just keep my phone in my pocket and never take it out when driving.

I have been looking for a new car recently, all of them apart from one have satnav. The one that didn’t needed another £750 upgrade to include it. When I asked “yeah but I want that free” I was told “nah, it’s an upgrade it’s £750”
So I’ve just walked away from the dealer, the cars nice so I’ll be looking at another dealer who will throw it in. I expect there will be plenty that come up with deals soon enough, I’ll wait until then.

There will be plenty of 2015-2016 cars available soon enough, the majority will have satnav as standard. The only restriction I guess is how desperate are you for a car..right now??

Do you reckon many people break car windows in the hope of finding a mobile phone left in the car when they see a mount for one of those?

People tend to take phones with them and leave dedicated sat-navs in the car. A suction-cup ring mark left on your windscreen is a great way of getting your window smashed (or used to be at any rate, standalone GPS units are less common and a lot cheaper these days).

2010 Subaru here. Came with a better multimedia package and works pretty well, and when there is no mobile signal it can be really good. But most of the time I use Waze.

Thanks all for the responses. As expected an eclectic set of views!

The car model in question (Golf R) is rated for its performance more than the extras and because of that some I suspect some are abused. Folk buying it third hand from me in years to come will I suspect be swayed more by condition and service history than the inclusion of the optional satnav but its still a factor I guess.

I think I’ll continue looking for the right car but if faced with a choice of two I’d happily buy and if the cost differential is not massive will go for the one with one with Satnav. Similarly as the car is right on the edge of what I can afford/justify if I can get a good car cheaper because of a lack of satnav I’ll happily do so.

Dubious or not, if it’s on the car in the first place why choose another without one?

Mainly cos I’ve got sat nav on my phone & the wife’s, plus I’ve got a Garmin which is spot on & I have updates for it.
We’ve just bought a 2013 X Trail with built in sat nav & that definately wasn’t a selling point. I was more excited by the panasonic sliding sunroof, the towbar & specific dog guard!

Anyway, how many people actually need sat nav on a (quite) regular basis? Obviously if your’e travelling & visiting customers/clients it’s easier but most people probably use it less frequently. I’ve used sat nav twice this year. (& that was the Garmin)

The more I use my car sat nav the more I wish it was like my phone (which incidentally was cheaper as does a lot more as well)

panasonic sliding sunroof

Plasma or LED?

People tend to take phones with them and leave dedicated sat-navs in the car. A suction-cup ring mark left on your windscreen is a great way of getting your window smashed (or used to be at any rate, standalone GPS units are less common and a lot cheaper these days).

Indeed – I was probably being too obtuse. The point being that whilst a mount might have used to be a good way to get your window smashed, most people on here are talking about using phones as satnav. I’m thinking that a mount is rather unlikely to indicate a satnav left in the car nowadays, especially if it’s a phone mount, and I’d have thought the word has got around the scrotes that it’s no longer a good source of income. Therefore it’s rather dated paranoia.

Plasma or LED?

Dunno but it’s 4K! 😉

Here maps is offline enabled and pretty good.

I use android auto in my mk7 civic, in built in the wife’s mk8, but got a new map dvd for pennies off of internet.

This I have to agree with, and I drive lots of different cars! Some have satnav, some don’t, and I just don’t have time to fanny around trying to suss out how to make the thing work

Yeah I wouldn’t in your situation either, but most people spend a long time with their car so it is worth it.

Anyway, how many people actually need sat nav on a (quite) regular basis? Obviously if your’e travelling & visiting customers/clients it’s easier but most people probably use it less frequently. I’ve used sat nav twice this year. (& that was the Garmin)

I use mine on the daily 25 mile each way commute as it does traffic rerouting. Rarely get badly stuck anymore and always know when I’m going to get home. It’ll even text the wife eta updates 🙂

The built in one on my car seems ok, it has traffic updates so rerouts if necessary and if I want instructions whilst having something else on the screen I can swap the satnav to the screen between the speedo & rev counter. The voice control actually seems to work and it has more places of interest than only golf courses.
I have my phones plugged into the USB sockets in the centre console anyway next to the bag of jelly babies.

Built in satnav on Hyundais is crap, it tells you to turn 20-30m after you’ve made the turn.
Beware when following Hyundais.
Ford one seemed ok and the boss won’t pay for the Audi one to be activated.
On the whole I’d have a built in satnav as it keeps the cockpit tidier.

Built in on the Civic (2008) and I like it. Yes it’s not up to date. Old car so DVD based. I can get updates but Honda charge £200 for an update DVD… yes, £200 😮 !!! – does include firmware update for the in car system though. Do have entire Europe on the thing though without needing to download anything.

Everyone I’ve seen with smart phones spends ages faffing around clipping them in and then faffing with menus and all kinds to get going. From my experience of smart phone sat nav in cars without, I find the same. In mine, I just start the car and press the sat nav button, bingo map. Want to get route somewhere, twiddle knob to set post code and off it goes.

Plus smart phones have a habit of crashing and display is small, and some can’t cope without a signal. They can’t cope with tunnels either as have no sensor for speed without the sat view, whereas some in car systems are still picking up speed and maybe direction from the car.

My in-built integrates into the entertainment system so it will quieten the front speakers while it’s talking to me (but not the rear). Bluetooth phone also an that will quieten the sat nav whilst there’s a call.

Only niggle is the traffic alerts are crap. It gets them off a radio signal, but they’re really quite useless. Not that bothered about it though, or even the odd out of date map. It’s just neat, big display and little faff to use.

There are ways to get upgrade discs for the Mk8 civic…

teethgrinder – Member 
There are ways to get upgrade discs for the Mk8 civic…

There are. Not sure about “those ways” when I get my car serviced at the dealer. They can easily spot it.

The car model in question (Golf R) is rated for its performance more than the extras and because of that some I suspect some are abused. Folk buying it third hand from me in years to come will I suspect be swayed more by condition and service history than the inclusion of the optional satnav but its still a factor I guess.

I would defo get one with the nav. I would imagine 90%+ of buyers would expect it on one of those, I know I certainly would. Can’t believe they don’t come as standard TBH.

Can’t believe they don’t come as standard TBH.

I know. It does now but didn’t on the earlier cars.

As I pointed out above, it can be just seconds to mount it, and it’s a couple of presses to get going with Google Maps (what on earth are people using which is more hassle than that?) If you have to twiddle a knob to set the post code, then that’s going to take you longer than the whole sequence including taking phone out of pocket required to start routing on my phone – typically also a couple of presses to do routing as it will be to somewhere I’ve recently searched.

Yerbutt, not everyone can see the screen on a smartphone can they. Some struggle to see out of the windscreen whilst in possession of a set of keys. Not everyone wear glasses even if they need to.

Most (ok, nearly all) inbuilt satnav screens are bigger than your average smartphone screen and the graphics are bigger and clunkier with far less detail, which enables the user to see 1) the road 2) a line on the road they need to take 3) upcoming turns and less about 1) Mr Squggles Ballon Emporium – on the left, click for details 2) a 3D type image that’s difficult to read when all that’s required is, as mentioned, a blue or red line to follow.

You can argue the toss about how easy it is to clip the phone in/plug the leads in/have all the leads obliterating the other controls of air-con, radio etc.

But it’s just so much easier to have inbuilt satnavs.

Built in sat navs are normally in crap places
….Like the centre console.

I hate using my phone as well invariably It will ring or worse a notification for some eejit commenting on your mates Facebook photo/ an email/ phone update etc etc at a critical moment.

On the odd occasions I use sat navs the Garmin nuvi gets wheeled out as it’s just more intuitive to use and no menus or fiddly wee on screen buttons to press everything’s big and clear

….Like the centre console.

Filling the screen that you’re supposed to use for seeing where you’re going seems a much betterer idea. Audi is now doing a satnav screen that’ll pop up where the clocks are now, right in front of you. Tasty.

Mrs Coolhandluke uses her tomtom instead of the satnav in her car. 2011 gopping mini.

Tomtom has traffic so it avoids jams, car obe doesn’t so always opts for what is usually the quickest route ( if nobody else was in the road)

Sadly, that usually ends up being the longest route,

I could have got my car with sat nav for an extra £1000, I bought a tomtom 5200 with lifetime updates on maps and traffic cameras and lifetime traffic. Saved myself £750 too.