I have always had minor complaints, but this one was a doozie. Long story short, they sent me to the wrong town by about 20 miles on Friday. I used the free maps app in my iPhone to get where I needed to go, driving at excessive speeds because I was late for a surprise party, holding a phone. (I know that was stupid, but it is what it is.) Just to make sure the maps were wrong, I re-entered the address into the nav two more times when I was in the wrong town, and it said "You have arrived at your destination." Has anyone done that maps update that I have read about a few times? Is it worth it? Thanks for any help.

For anyone that cares, apparently Porsche believes that West Hampton Beach is the same as Sag Harbor. It's not.

 

Well, the 996 Nav system is about the most obtuse and cumbersome to use among the in-car navigation systems that I came across.

The, touch-screen 997 setup is pretty sweet!

 

Yeah, but at least you can add an iPod for a touch under $1G! If I didn';t hate aftermarket head units so much, I could've switched to a unit with great maps, Sat Radio, HD Radio, Ipod Connectivity, and Bluetooth for less than my iPod gear cost. Ehhh.

 

I believe the nav software was made by navteq not by porsche. the software does suck however, and there are no options for upgrades while keeping the stock nav. i'd probably just get a new kenwood or pioneer double din w/ nav, bluetooth, and mp3 capabilities.

 

Yep, I agree 100% with you on this one. My Cayenne TT has NAVI and I stick my garmin right over top of it.

 

I have a VW, same sort of experiences. I wanted to find an amusement park once - it sent me to their corporate offices. I wanted to find a fast food place that was near an address the navi software couldn't find - they had that particular fast food place listed about three different ways - to find it I'd have had to look in each category! I have a Garmin Nuvi 265W and it cost me a good bit LESS than what updated maps for my OEM NAV would have cost and it's more intuitive! I have YET to see an OEM NAV system that was worth anything and I've tried out about 4 of them in various cars. The Garmin always wins and when the Garmin has issues the Google maps on my iPhone wins and if I'm still stuck I use the Navigon software on my iPhone - and I'm tempted to get the Tom Tom too but want to see if Google brings their Android app over first! I suck at directions and thus I make sure that I have options available to me anytime I need to find a place. Half the time my iPhone gives me th eaddress to feed into the Garmin - it's sad! Heck there's one MAJOR road here that it doesn't even list because of the funky restrictions on the road, anytime I want to goto an airport on th eother side of that road it wants to route me MANY miles out of my way - it's amazing.

Anyway, do not be too down on the P-car navigation as ALL of them seem to suck badly. Cost of updated maps, when you can even get them, exceed the cost of a brand new handheld - it's insane. One of these days I'll get around to using my nav screen in the Jetta for something, navigation sure ain't it!

 

I can assure you of this much, I will NEVER pay for a NAVI system in a car/suv. Often times they sell it as an upgrade, I see them as a downgrade because you become a prisoner to it.

 

I wouldn't paint with such a broadbrush. I found the OEM nav units in Merc and Audi to be lifesavers while on business trips in EU. The honda/acura nav units was easy to use and provided better guidance then the handhand unit I had (mio). Even the BMW iDrive wasn't that bad once you got used to its idiosyncrasies. The nav units in 996 P-cars are hopeless indeed.

 

You can upgrade the maps and software. Suncoast sells them. Not cheap but a lot better than the old maps and software.

 

Ah, in the EU! Audi uses the same mapping stuff my VW does here in the States - sux! Checkout what those various companies want to update their maps and I'll bet you wouldn't be so happy. My Garmin is lifetime for $95. Still not cheap but geez my VW was like $300 and it took them 3 years to release a single update

 

[quote=PeterK;2645093]Well, the 996 Nav system is about the most obtuse and cumbersome to use among the in-car navigation systems that I came across.


It's bad but not as bad as the Nav in my 05 MBZ C55. At least I can read the mis-information on the Porsche screen. The MBZ screen is near useless.

 

Is it actually a lot better? I guess any improvement is good. I think it's about $300, right?

 

I think it is about two more years more uptodate. However, I think the CD based units are physically limited compared to the 997 DVD based units

 

Yes it is about $300. It is still CD based. Maps have more detail. I have had not problem with mine. It sucks you have to use the turn **** to enter in stuff buy at least you can enter an address while the car is moving.

 

Function12 which year nav unit do u have 2001?