To NAV or not to NAV?

[b13mini]

Hello all!

New to the board and thanks to all your replies to my first post, I am slowly building the MCC I want in my brain. And thanks to you all I am no longer considering another car (ie CR-V), sold on a MCC that I love!

I'm having a NAV or not to NAV dilemma. I am quite capable with a road atlas, and not a huge fan of NAV, but I hear it makes the bluetooth/ipod interface much smoother.

I am also considering leather OR NAV and I think leather may win, but wondering everyone's opinion.

[BuzzCut1]

The Nav system also makes you able to have a awesome Smart Phone hands free interface and the nav display will show your phones address book and let you scroll through and make calls.

and yes it's a great IPOD interface too

[dbhouston]

Get the bluetooth and leather without Nav. A GPS is much cheaper and can move from car to car.

[wandrur]

I viewed the NAV system as pretty pointless when I built my MCS last year, and I hold to that. Absolutely no regrets about not including it in my build. I think you can find much better things to spend that money on instead. My two pennies.

[Nor_Cal_Mini]

NAV is crucial if you also want iPod interface. You can view your iPod on a nice large screen versus 2 little lines of text. This, for me, was a HUGE selling point...

Though I will give wandrur props for having good taste in music. If you've got a black list...I wanna be on it...

[scottag]

It's not only the iPod interface. I found the stock two-line display hard to see with my polarized sunglasses (which you'd have to pry from my dead cold hands). Sure, you can get a $200 nav kit to use, but then you have to mount it, run power, and remove it when you park your car in order to not be a target for theft.

The integration it offers is pretty sweet. We used Nav on a roadtrip and the traffic notifications helped immensely. You get a detailed view of your cell phone, your iPod, street maps and general car info as well.

I'd say go fro the Nav.

[tattedXB]

I got the nav and I love it, along with the leather seats and HID headlights it really sets off my clubman s as a nice 'luxury' vehicle, love it, get it, you wont regret it!

[Shoof]

Not sure if the nav has been revised at all or not, but the last one I saw with nav was the old BMW nav (I had it in my 2006 X3 at the time), which sucked.

[thevelourfog]

I'd go for leather and bluetooth. I didn't get bluetooth and sort of regret it now.

I had NAV on a loaner for a couple days and didn't care too much for it. The maps don't zoom in far enough (400 ft is the max), so it's hard to see in advance where you need to go if you're just going by the map on screen. I also don't like the little control stalk, it would be much easier to have a touch screen input like a $200 garmin. The NAV unit doesn't seem much faster than a garmin (better reception, yes) nor is the live traffic much better. I usually just use sigalert.com on my iphone for traffic anyways which gives a better big picture scope of traffic conditions.

[BLAUGRANA]

Speedometer looks better w/o the Nav and you can get a very good GPS for much cheaper.

[LittleJoe]

When I was first choosing my options, I didn't think the Nav system was worth it. I'm a techi guy and I have a couple of gps units I have used for a while. I also know my way around my city quite well and don't often need navigation capabilities.

However, I ended up buying off of the lot and the MINI I chose had the NAV. I am VERY HAPPY I have the NAV! In my opinion, it is a huge upgrade for the whole car. I love the big nav screen for:

1. The bluetooth phone setup. I can easily see the names/numbers I am dialing and I can scroll through my contacts

2. The ipod interface works great. I scroll through my songs and easily see what songs are coming up on my list

3. The radio interface works great with the big screen - scrolling through presets, all stations, etc.

4. Controlling the car settings is easy with the big screen. You can see the whole menus and options.

5. I've already been on a couple of trips and have used the NAV extensively. While the interface is unique (like everything else on the MINI), I like it a lot. I also don't have to mount an external GPS unit, hide the external GPS when I park, worry about it getting stolen, etc.

To me, it's a whole different (and better) car with the NAV included. If you are choosing between leather and NAV - I say NAV wins easily.

[Oski]

I also didn't want the Nav system in the first place. But like LittleJoe I bought my 09 Clubman off the lot and it came with the NAV and I love it! It's much faster than my handheld Garmin Nuvi when locking on to a satellite. The Nav system also makes the speedo look much better.

[irish92]

I was vehemently opposed to the concept of NAV in any new car when I started shopping around. When I test drove mine in June I was still grumbling that the one I wanted had NAV in it. Then I started using it and like the others, the iPhone/Bluetooth/Radio aspects in addition to the excellent NAV itself won me over. I just try not to think about the price tag

[jointheclubman]

IMO, I wouldn't get the Nav. It's nice to have and may come in handy every once in a while, but if you really need the help with directions, I would get a GPS.

To me, the Clubman is more about the driving experience involved with it, so I could do without the extra little perks like Nav. The way I see it, the Nav is just one more electronic gadget that may fail in the future.

However, as some others have said, the Nav screen would indeed help with the iPod interface. But think of it this way: is it worth an extra $2000 to make the iPod interface easier? Granted you don't buy the Nav purely for the iPod interface, but then we get back to simply getting a portable GPS for directions.

In either case, let us know what you end up choosing. It looks like your Clubman is coming together and we'd all love to know what it finally ends up being Good luck!

[b13mini]

Thanks for everyone's input. I don't really need for directions, and have had no desire to get a Garmin/GPS in the past. But I do like the idea of better bluetooth interface, more for a safety standpoint. I'm gonna see if I can play with one at the dealer for a final decision. I can get stuck in a decision loop forever! My other is to roof rail or not, gonna look at them again if they are on any car at the dealer.

I appreciate everyone's help!!!

[jointheclubman]

Originally Posted by b13mini

Thanks for everyone's input. I don't really need for directions, and have had no desire to get a Garmin/GPS in the past. But I do like the idea of better bluetooth interface, more for a safety standpoint. I'm gonna see if I can play with one at the dealer for a final decision. I can get stuck in a decision loop forever! My other is to roof rail or not, gonna look at them again if they are on any car at the dealer.

I appreciate everyone's help!!!

In regards to the safety standpoint, I can't argue with you there; money most certainly can't buy you safety after the fact.

I guess the next step in deciding on NAV would be to consider how often you'll be on the phone in your car. Do you currently have a headset for your phone and is it causing problems when you drive? To me, it sounds nice to be able to hook up your phone to the car and use it as a phone, but it is more of a perk than a necessity. However, if you are going to be using your phone a lot in the car and don't currently have a method down that is safe, then NAV may be the way to go. It won't hurt to have directions too.

Just more of my two cents. Hope it helps!

[BLAUGRANA]

Seems as though there is a sentiment that you need the NAV for your ipod/mp3 player or cell phone. You don't.

[ran-o-matic]

Originally Posted by BLAUGRANA

Seems as though there is a sentiment that you need the NAV for your ipod/mp3 player or cell phone. You don't.

Seconding this. The two line interface you get without nav isn't pretty, but it works fine.

[BLAUGRANA]

Originally Posted by ran-o-matic

Seconding this. The two line interface you get without nav isn't pretty, but it works fine.

Yeah, the interface isn't as pretty but IMO the speedometer itself looks better. Looks more retro like the car.

[alanfgag]

If you can swing it, Nav and leather is my vote! The Navigation system is a great piece of theatre in the middle of the car. The perspective map is very neat and keeps the passenger eyes off the speedometer. Its an expensive toy, but I've never regretted the purchase.

cheers,
Alan

[09 CMS]

Don't get nav not worth it. Just get a gps there's also mapquest. There's better ways to get directions for alot cheaper

[Barley]

This is fun, as it hightlights pretty clearly the "different strokes for different folks" dilemma. For this folk, I vastly prefer the look of the speedo WITH the nav.

If the Nav was an apples-to-apples comparison to a nice Garmin - no contest, I prefer the Garmin. But to me it's not, so I prefer the Nav, on balance.

It is indeed a crummy nav in terms of ease-of-use compared to recent Garmins, but it's passable in the role. I like that I don't have to pay/subscribe to traffic info. I like the voice-input. "New Destination!" "From Address Book!"

I use it for phone interface somewhat, and iPod only occasionally.

What I really like it for is as an interface to the various vehicle systems. So nice when I pick up another nail or screw in my run-flats (sigh) to have an outline of my vehicle pop up with the buggered tire highlighted. Easy to twirl through the various settings to change or check this or that (example, maintenance information). I assume non-Nav setups all have to be processed through the turn signal stalk and a tiny orange display. If true, I would not like that.

[Riffster]

$2000 for nav? Ridiculous.

Plus its almost impossible to update. So if you are going to keep your car for awhile and you have any construction going on in your area it can get pretty annoying for the maps to be incorrect and that pretty much renders it useless...

[taysan]

I just mounted my TomTom 730 using the gominigo mount off the tach. Used a Garmin -> TomTom mount adapter to do it.

Looks great (TomTom 730's housing matches the stock MINI dash colors perfectly) and the TomTom has voice recognition.

I wouldn't bother with a GPS that didn't have voice-recognition. No typing of addresses on fiddly touch screen keyboards. I tap the map, tap the Navigate To icon, tap Spoken Address icon and that's it. It then asks you city, street and number and gets it right 99.9% of the time.

I powered mine using the Add-a-Fuse in the fuse panel and you can't see the wires at all.

I'll snap a pic, but I would never personally buy the Nav package in any car, unless it was $500 or less. Bluetooth in the car is great. While my phone (HTC Touch Pro 2) doesn't seem to be 100% compatible (no address book from what I can figure so far) the voice-activation works great.

Get the comfort access or whatever they call it - proximity sensor in keyfob so you never remove it from your pocket. Love that.

[b13mini]

No NAV, didn't like the look of it plain and simple. Nor the toggle behind the shifter. Thank you all for advice, it helped a lot!

B