I've had my '05 Six Speed for about a week now. By reading the book and spending a lot of time here, I've got most of it figured out.

And I really like the car a lot.

But the nav system? I can't believe I'm seeing everything when I go through the owner's manual and work with the system. Is routing all it does? And not, apparently, very well or easily at that.

I have for quite a few years used a Garmin GPS III, and now GPS V, in my cars and on my motorcycles. They fit easily in the palm of my hand and weight a little bit more than a baby fart. They present more information (the mapset is more complete) and have more useful features than anything I can fing on the Naviteq system. Among other things, they'll tell you your average speed, moving or total; time spent enroute, total or moving; altitude, MPG data when you enter gallons purchased, and lots of other useful stuff. Data entry is, IMHO, more intuitive, too.

So, am I missing something with the Naviteq system, or is it really that simple-minded? And if so, for God's sake, why? For two grand it ought to play Mozart and change the baby.

Pilgrim

 

yah, a big gripe we all have is that the mazda rx-8's navi is not very good when it comes to convenience features, such as locating destination by name. it only works well if u know the exact address of where u're going. but, it's still better than not having a navi altogether. and, u didn't have paid the full $2K for it as an option- ie haggling, discounts etc.

 

Not really! I don't need a dot on a screen to show me where I'm going and where I'm at.

 

Well, I certainly got along without one for many years.

But I leave the county from time to time, and it's nice to know where things are, like the nearest gas or a Best Western. Yeah, I usually know pretty well where I am, but I don't always know what's around me or what the roads are.

But if I never left the county . . .

Pilgrim