Okay for $2,000 extra...is it even worth having the Nav system added to the car? The car dealer guy told me "its a good idea to get it for re-sale value, because in 8 or 10 years most cars will have this feature" All I could think was "right & in 8 - 10 years they wont cost $2,000 either" lol :p

 

My first RX-8 I opted not to get it.

I got it on my second and couldn't imagine life without it now. We like it so much that we are buying a Roadmate 500 for Renee's Miata.

Vince

 

I think it is worth every penny.. I have used it many times, and above and beyond the "coolness" factor it really works well.

 

My last 5 cars have had a Nav. system....would not buy it with-out.....the zenon lights are the othe must have!

Kind regards,
Doug

 

Wow! thanks for all the great feed-back you guys! =) Its good to know it is worth the $2k. I need to re-think my purchase now

 

Dunno. Here in SoFla where the streets are dead easy, it's not necesary I think. I didnt pay the 2G for it, nor would I recomend it down here as it really isnt necesary.

Now if I was still in Mexico City or any other large city with crazy streets, then yeah. It can be a godsend.

 

Being a sales rep with Md Dc and Va as my territory um yea every penny.

 

So, the $2K is the cost to RETROFIT to an existing RX-8? I wasn't even aware that Mazda would do that.

Details?

 

I got my Navi system essentially for free as I got 3100 of msrp, but either way the thing is as helpful as having Atlas (the god) in ur passenger side. But other then that the most appealing feature is once I got it and im showing of my car and I press "open" every1 is like HOLY SH*T, as performance and rotary engines don't impress the "laypersons".

 

Everyone who has gotten it, has been pretty much happy with it. Those without it will only find excuses why they didn't get it.

Put it this way, you won't regret getting it down the road, especially when your lost on that road.

 

That might be right. But even more:
Those who spend 2k on it, they will not admit that they wasted their money! :p

I did not try it out on my test dirve, so I cannot say how reliable it works. But if it works, than it's a reasonable add-on.

rgds
Tobi

 

So what all does the NAV do anyway? I know i can put in an address and it can give me directions (it can right?) But if i am cruising on I75, can it tell me which exit has a Marriott? Gas stations? that sort of thing. I have not been able to find what the NAV does and why it is worth the 2k. All the Mazda website says is that it is available. But no details.

greese

 

Thats a good question greese! I am curious to know as well. All I have found about it is that its possible to some how hook up a DVD to it & watch movies, sounds kinda risky though....

 

There are many, many threads discussing what you can do with Nav other than just plug in addresses. It is hugely flexible. I even included a series of screen shots depicting different ways to use it. Search around a bit, you will find them.

 

It does show what is around you via icons. On the highest zoom settings, it will show you all of the "points of interest" (POI). POI's consist of places to stay, resteraunts, gas stations, ATM, hospital, police, city hall, visitor information, attractions, etc. One level up it will show you less POI, I guess to reduce on screen clutter.

My usual MO with the navigation system is to set my destination. It has your "marked points" (like bookmarks in a browser), previously selected destination, select via POI, and enter via address or cross street. On my way in if I need to swing by a gas station, I hit detour via point and tell it to show me a list of the nearest gas station. If a I hit congestion on the street, I either hit detour 5 miles, avoid the street I'm on, or toggle between avoid highway or shortest route. Or if there isn't enough time I simply turn off and the system auto re-route me... sometime this works, sometimes it wants to me to get back on the congested path.

The navigation system isn't as flexible as I like it. I think they had to dumb it down to accomadate users who could barely understand technology. I have several ideas that would make the navigation system more like an intelligent guide... Maybe I should get into navigation system programming?

Is it worth $2k? Depends. I got it for the geek factor and my rather long commute. It has already shown me some alternate routes I did not know about. If you are constantly getting lost or get nervous driving in a big city, it's probably a good purchase. If you don't get lost easily or travel mainly in a simple area then no it's probably not worth it. The $2k could be spent on two new sets of tires.

 

As a for instance, I was with a friend looking for the Little Italy district of San Diego. I got all turned around, doing circles and couldn't find it. So I pulled over, clicked "Points of Interest" "Restaurants" "Italian" "Nearest" (4 clicks). It pointed to my left, about 1/2 mile away, about 15 Italian restaurants. Bingo! It even brought me up the right end of a one-way street so we could cruise Little Italy and check out the restaurants before parking. This is just one minor example, it saved my bacon that day when I was starting to look dumb and impressed the hell outa my friend. I have many, many other examples like this.

 

Wow - Little Italy...that's changed significantly since I last lived in SD ('94). Went online and looked at their business website and it looks fantastic!

 

I think the NavTech system is incredible... The only downfall is that even the most current maps are outdated... While playing around in the Navi System Mode I noticed that you can clear the software... I dont dare do this...but I wonder if anyone does. I wonder if there is any computer code writer that could modify other nav systems to work on this one.... Just a thought!

 

IF I were to redefine a Nav System

It would update me every minute on how the traffic is doing

because I commute all around the Los Angeles area all the time

and traffic is beyond NIGHTMARE esp at this time of season

It would show little ants to represent cars crawling all over the fwys kinda like Sim City 2000 if anyone has played that game.

Then I would know which fwy to take to my destination.

Also

Does the Nav System update itself if different businesses and city halls re-located or closed down?

If I were to make a new Nav System or a virtual MapQuest website or anything like that, I'd have updated 3-D models of McDonalds and other buildings in the surrounding area, so it would be sooooo fun to use instead of looking at yellow squares to represent districts and grey lines to represent streets.

Also, it would make coffee for me in the morning.

 

You're absolutely right; it has undergone a rebirth over the past few years and is now one of the hot places to live downtown. Plus it's got its own trolley station. Definitely visit there new time in SD and come hungry!

 

The technology for including traffic info on maps exists; it needs regional infrastructure to bring the data to your car. This has been done in England and Japan, but I'm not aware of it in the states. I'd bet in a few years we'll start seeing it. Who knows if our system can be upgraded to that when it occurs.

As far as updates, the answer is yes; you can buy new DVDs when they become available, basically yearly. Right now, we have the latest disc but an update is due soon. It'll cost between $100-200.

As far as the coffee, we all know the Renesis generates excessive heat. Perhaps this could be captured somehow to embed a brewer in the dash. A spigot could be placed there to refill your mug on the go. I'm sure our liability laws could be modified to embrace this driver convenience. It should also steam your milk to make latte. :D

 

There's some sensors in California that track congestions. I think TANN is trying to get into real time reporting to mobile devices but haven't found a big enough partner. Here is a link to the Los Angelas area display. I also use the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page before I head out of work.

Tidbit of info. Mapquest uses Navtech data. Mapquest also seems to use the most current Navtech data set. They still can't find my house but at least my street now appears. TechTV has an interesting story on it.

Yesterday a co-worker and I was experimenting with GPS, a laptop, and MS's map software. Pretty good level of detail but not very good with dealing with a rapidly moving vehicle changing streets. GPS alone doesn't cut it, the system needs to know which vector and any changes. Using the laptop, you need a dedicated navigator. Also the MS software is missing interesting key information like ETA, last measure vehicle speed, and direction. Maybe MS allows you to hook into the libraries so you can write your own interface?

 

yes, you can get traffic on the web, but integrated with in-car navigation is still in the future.

 

Well, if you didn't get it you could try something like this:

http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum...b81cbe1207e01b

Actually, this isn't true Nav but you get what I mean, there's stuff out there but I agree the built in Nav is nice.

 

That's the strap-on handheld I was talking about. Sorry, it just looks crap. Why buy a $32,000 car and do that? Just spring for the $34,000 and do it right. Retractable, integrated with your audio, augmented with gyro, entire US on a single disc, etc etc. You get all this with built-in, but not with the handheld.