That's good to know. I was worried that I'd loose a lot of value in my factory nav upon trade/sale.

Is that supposition, or are there stats on that?

A quick search through autotrader or Kelly Blue Book will prove it.

I know this may sound like a dumb question, but does the built-in nav system come with bluetooth, or do I need to order that seperately?

I don't know about in the R56, but in the 02-06 cars the Nav did not come with bluetooth.

Just as an aside, having now spent time in a car whose nav is integrated into other functions and the screen alternating for this I have to say I really do prefer the simple straight forward way our Mini has the navigation unfettered, but for the basic computer and settings. Not only is it easier and faster to use when driving, the fact you can turn off the monitor to darken the interior is really nice.

With the R56, you have to spec bluetooth separately.

the garmin Nuvi 660 and possibly others have this- you wire it to the stereo via an aux input jack.

If you're playing MP3's from the SD car slot on the nav unit (4/8 gig cards available to stick a lot of tunes on there) it'll mute the music, announce the street name to turn on, and then resume music.

The 660 also allows Bluetooth phone calls also using the car's stereo system as speakers.

IMO it's much better than the factory nav option if one gets it mounted solidly and hides the wires!

I'll likely be picking up a Nuvi 680 as I don't want TMC real-time traffic data but instead MSN direct real-time traffic data.

And yes, both get real-time traffic updates in major metropolitan areas.

I found this gallery of R56 sat nav pictures over on MINI2. Some nice UI and ipod screens.

I ordered the NAV System #609 on the list for my R56, I also noticed on the order list (#620 Voice Control) what is that? How does it work?

I went back and forth on the Nav and finally opted for it since it seems to have a lot of other integration with the car and the standard radio split was not thrilling me. I do love how they keep the speedo numbers around the outside.

Nice links on Mini 2. Can't wait to see it in person since I'm paying $2K for it.

I'm goin to end up buying the nav. only for the looks of the center console. (graduation present :D) the standard one doesnt appeal to me. but how does all the other screens and the dvd functions look? are they crisp and clear or???? lol hopefully some of you that have already gotten this in somewhere in the world will get some pics up for us.!!! or better yet a video goin through the screens and functions would be amazing :D

dont forget that the NAV screen also integrates with the Parking Distance system(if you order it) to give you a graphic and audio layout of objects behind you when parking.

I have ordered it too, why do you need a hardware upgrade?

Just acknowledging that hardware changes over time - processors get faster and can do more. In the MINI, the first Nav units were CD based, so you need 7 CDs to cover the US, where the later versions are DVD based, so one DVD covers US and Canada. Now they are incorporating traffic info. No doubt in the future they will have more features and be faster.
If you get a portable unit, you can sell it and upgrade. It's much more difficult (and expensive, if possible) to do that with the OEM Nav.
I still like it, and would probably get it again.

I found this on another thread. Enough said.

ha i was loooking at that yesterday :D

Is it possible to install Nav on a car that doesn't have it already? I wasn't able to order my car because I wanted a 2006, but they had pretty much exactly what I wanted in the showroom, just without Nav.

Pre-2007, it is easy to install a built-in nav system.

I think that tuition meant the OEM in-dash one, in which case the answer is no. Tuition - LynnEl is talking about an aftermarket head unit solution, that includes Navigation. The 1st Generation center console allows for much easier head unit replacement than the 2nd Generation.

True up to a point. The NUVI handheld NAV unit is much better than the older Garmins and faster than the CD based system I had in a 2001 BMW. However, the older BMW unit could still do something the NUVI cannot, navigate without a sat lock. This is very useful in large cities where tall buildings and overpasses or tunnels can frequently block a NAV unit's access to the sats. I would still take the 2001 unit over a new NUVI.

You are right, Edge. I was referring to the after-market, in dash units. I installed a Pioneer in my 2004.

Wow! I just learned something today! I go under a pretty short and deep tunnel each day under the National Zoo in DC. And as soon as I get out of the tunnel my Nav system always looses the ability to calculate my route. I'm an idiot for not realizing that it's because of the tunnel. I thought it was just something weird with Rock Creek Parkway.

It's true that the NUVI (or any of the other handheld units) doesn't have any kind of inertial nav capability to continue tracking without a satellite lock, it's never been a concern for me. The *only* time I have even lost satellite lock with our NUVIs or my prior Garmin (276c) was when going through tunnels or while inside parking garages. Since all of the tunnels I drive through only have one entrance and one exit, and none of my routes take me through parking garages, the momentary loss of lock has never affected the routing solution from the GPS.

With the new SiRF receivers in the NUVI and other units, trees, nearby buildings and overpasses should pose no problems with maintaining a satellite lock.

I have a SiRF receiver in my Garmin bike computer, it still can't get a lock on my street in Manhattan, it doesn't lock until I reach Central Park. Many routes in and out of Manhattan involve tunnels and roads that run under other roads, not having inertial navigation is a serious handicap. A tunnel may have only one exit but if you exit a tunnel in New York and don't immediately move to the correct lane, you could find your self moving in the opposite direction to the one intended. Boston has now opened its big dig which is a fairly extensive set of tunnels under downtown, I wouldn't want to lose my NAV guidence in Boston either.

The other annoyance with a portable NAV system in a city is you have to keep removing it from the dashboard everytime you park the car. I do that with my Ipod now, it gets quite tedious.

It's really sad for me to hear about the lack of appreciation for the large center speedometer on the MINI. Obviously, you have never seen an original Mini. I owned a 1969 1275 and one of the most unique features was that the large speedo was one of two instruments in the whole car. Why dont we go digital a put heads up displays on the windshield? Toyota's don't have large speedos...think about it.