So I called Navteq today to inquire about the status of the latest maps for our navigation system. The guy on the phone said that any complaints about a lack of a map need to be directed to Mazda. He said their map databases are updated quartely and while they have the info ready, Mazda has not authorized them to make these new DVD for Mazda cars. The guy said that maps are released almost yearly for every car manufacturer, but Mazda seems to be the only ones who havent requested a new one. I asked him if any other manufacturer uses the same OEM system so we could just go and buy maps from another company, but he no. I have been happy with my nav up til now. I am going to Chattanooga , TN this weekend and there is only ONE street in the map. I have been to bumblef*ck towns in the middle of nowhere Mississippi that had more detail. I am on hold with mazda now...one of the options on the phone allows you listen to a Rotary engine sound clip...

 

Mazda told me the holdup was with Navteq. I called Navteq back and spoke to a supervisor. She told me in a little more detail what they do. She said they provide the raw data, but they dont make the discs. She said the has received numerous complaints about this and just emailed the Mazda Rep yesterday. she said when she heard back, she would let me know. I have her name and contact info and I will follow up on this next week and every week thereafter until we get some definitive answers. I am sick of this he said she said bullshit. I will make this my project and try and stir up some some results. If you own a Nav system in your 8 , I would request a little support incase we need to have strength in numbers. Navteq said they know there is money to be made and they are burdened with getting the complaints when they arent the only one to blame. My system is accurate maybe 80% of the time, but I paid enough money that I expect Car and Drivers 10 best Sports Coupe winner to be accurate 95% of the time. I paid good money damnit .Who's with me?

 

I am going to wait and see what she tells me, but I am all about writing a letter to their HQ and maybe even sending it to all the major auto mags to see if they cant do some investigative work. If anything, we can perhaps start some sort of thread that can be printed out or have the link in the letter so they can see how frustrated we are and how willing we are to buy. I am sure there are a bunch of 8 owners not on this board who are equally as pissed. I will keep you all informed.

 

bump-- for exposure

 

I changed to the appropriate US region....there still wasnt crap on the map

 

Got a call back from the NAVTEQ rep. She spoke with her Exec who deals with Mazda and he said they hope to be selling the DVD's within the next 45 days. I told her that I have rounded up the support here and that we *can* call twice a week until something gets done. Obviously, we dont need to do that yet, but she is aware and will pass that on too so they know we are pretty serious/upset. I was very surprised she called me back, but she seems very good about trying to keep me in the loop as best she can. She said as far as she knows, we would buy the discs from NAVTEQ @ about $199 (estimate) each. Personally, I think that is somewhat reasonable, but anything higher would require some sort of protest since we have maps that are older than our cars. I will keep you all advised. How do you make this thread sticky?

 

I sent the following to the editor of Car and Driver and will be sending to to Motortrend as well:

Dear Editor,
I am hoping that perhaps you can produce some results for us RX-8 owners who seem to be continually getting put off by Mazda. We, the members of www.rx8club.com, have been trying to get answers from Mazda and Navteq regarding the Maps for the $3000 Navigation option in our cars. If you are not aware, the Maps included in the system are from 2002. Since the introduction of the 8, owners were being told that a map update would be available "soon". I just got my 8 in November and was told there would be an update by March. There are older threads that go back over a year saying the same sort of thing. After some calls to Navteq, we were told that the problem was with Mazda and that Navteq has all the accurate data and is waiting for Mazda to approve a release. According to Mazda, they are waiting on Navteq. The real losers in this scenario are the RX-8 owners who spent the extra money for an out-of-date navigation system. There are many interested buyers who come trolling across rx8club.com for advice on purchasing the navigation system and most often they are told its not worth it. There is clearly money to made by Navteq by selling the maps and money to made by Mazda for people who WANT to get the Navigation. I am certain there are 8 owners not on our forum who are equally as frustrated. I hope that you can help us with this.

Thanks
RX8club.com members

 

The discs arent there, the data is. I spoke to a manager there who has been trying to keep me filled in. The update the data quite frequently in their database.I will check back with her in the next two weeks for an update. As for the cost, yeh...$200 is a lot, but I dont plan to buy them every year. I expect this disc to be a vast improvement over the 2002 one that we have. $200 every 3 years is worth it if you ask me for a navigation system that is more accurate...I agree, we should get a free upgrade since we got old maps from the beginning. If someone wants to fight mazda on this, go ahead. Ill support you, but I wont lead the charge. If these updates do in fact come out in the next month, ill consider my job done.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if navteq does the data research for some of these online services, because I doubt they do it themselves. They probably just provide a front end to data they buy.. from what I have reseached, navteq just compiles data. there is a collaboration between navteq and pansasonic to make the discs for our navs..or so they tell me.