Good 4 you. Unless nav can tell me "there is a crazy dude coming south on I-5 toward Marysville shooting folks" I'm not sure I need it.

 

lol. CRAZY KILLA MAN ON THE LOOSE. oh know what will i do. HE'S IN KENTUCKY. Oh well its not a big deal then. on with life. LOL unless u live in kentucky then sucks for you. but being from lousisana it wouldn't be a big deal. Sorry i'm tired.....

 

Hey! KY in the house!

 

Been there, done that on 3 cars. People don't give a damn since they can buy a system that is portable, goes from car to car etc. for far less and many people don't even want navigation. They have no use for it. I owned a G35 with nav, M3 w/nav, and Audi w/nav. Awesome systems but not worth 2 cents on resale. If you want tech toys and don't mind getting hosed then go for it but don't ever expect to get that cash back.

 

Interestingly, a friend of mind who owns an '06 Acrua TSX w/navi attempted to trade yesterday for the '09 TSX and the dealer informed him that he couldn't give him any more for navi relative to a non-navi unit -- told him they're really not bringing all that much more at auction.

The bottom line is people who need navi (not want it as a cool toy that costs over 10% of the car's cost), and must have a built-in unit, should get it and not worry about what others say. It's a fact that there are phenomenal aftermarket units (e.g., Garmin) that do everything, and in some cases, more, than the factory unit.

I've heard others state that they really want VSA, so they're forced to purchase factory navi. No doubt about it, VSA is a great option (mandatory by 2011 on all cars), but I'm not sure that it's worth $1850. VSA is especiallly good for new/inexperienced drivers and for people in inclement environments. IMHO, Honda should not bundle a critical saftey option with an expensive toy -- I think by next year this will be a standalone option similar to what other manufacturers are doing.

And finally, a lot of people are annoyed by the fact that the only way to get steering wheel mounted audio controls on the Sport is to get navi. IMHO, Honda should offer this as standard on ALL sport models -- I wouldn't be surprised if this is added as standard equipment by '10. But for someone to buy navi just for the wheel controls (I've actually heard people state this), I think they'd be better off buying a brand new steering wheel and wiring harness, as it'd probably be a whole lot cheaper.

Whew, glad to get that off my puny little chest

 

If this is true, how could they possibly sell nav units on new cars?

 

Here are a couple interesting links regarding factory installed navi and resale:

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...tion_syst.html

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...ale-usat_N.htm

 

The problem with the "bulky old car phone" analogy is that it's nice to have a big screen. The value of a big screen is not going to diminish over time.

They make a fair point about used car buyers wanting a bargain. But, I think that buyers of used Hondas that are only a few years old, who are prepared to spend $14k+ on a used car, are not such bargain hunters. They are people who are willing to pay for the quality of a Honda, but perhaps cannot afford a brand new one.

Also, I don't think these articles are saying that cars with nav will be worth less than their counterpart without nav. They are saying that the former will be worth a lower percentage of its original value, but that will still probably be a higher dollar value. The point is that a navigation unit depreciates faster than the rest of the car. See the 2007 Acura TSX example in article 2.

I can see that factory-installed navigation will depreciate faster than the rest of the car. I can see that aftermarket units have a lot of value and convenience, and are a fine alternative. However, let's not overstate the disparity. To say that on a 3-year-old car, a built-in nav unit has no value and that consumers have "no use for it" simply cannot be true.

 

I agree with you mhrivnak. I'm just playing devil's advocate here, because no matter how flat you make the pancake, there'll always be two sides. The debate of factory navi versus aftermarket navi is no exception. In terms of the two articles, one stated that an '06 Honda Accord with navi would be worth 1% less than its non-navi counterpart (per AHFC), whereas the other article stated that an Acura TSX with navi would depreciate at a faster clip than one w/o navi. I mentioned in an earlier post that a friend attempted to trade his '06 TSX w/navi over the weekend and the dealer assigned zero additional value, and told him navi units aren't bringing much more, if anything, at auction.

Regardless of which article holds more weight, the fact remains that a factory navi unit is not a sound investment, especially on an entry-level vehicle. The same can be said about the entire car, as vehicles depreciate significantly 10 minutes after they leave the dealer lot. Simply put, if someone wants navi they should get it because they really want/need it and feel they will use it enough to justify the added expense. To buy navi simply for resale (which I've heard some people mention) simply makes no economic sense, as a navi unit after 4 years will bring zero to a few hundred dollars at trade (or maybe several hundred dollars more selling the car yourself).

In the end, it's a personal decision. In fact, I've been on the fence myself, especially given that navi is bundled with VSA and steering wheel audio controls, which I want desperately.

 

The first navi i had in my car i enjoyed alot. But i sold it because a person liked it so much that they offered me $300 more than i paid for it. And i'm a person that can't pass up deals, be them deals on stuff i buy or on stuff i sell. Gets me in trouble sometime. But usually comes out well.

 

I am not shocked that most think the NAV is extravagant since most are interested in the Fit due to its low cost -not exactly the spending demographic that may be interested in a "toy." Alot of you are probably $1 menu folks. But come on -we are talking about a car that costs 15-19K -whats the big deal about spending a little more for the NAV. I am going to -I have a TomTom in my 07 Odyssey and it works fine. However the wiring mess from an external NAV unit is bothersome. The tight integration and the voice command capability with the Honda NAV is down right cool --for both directions and radio control.

I think we are all being quite reasonable with the Fit with its overall price -2K in the long run with the integration is not that much to add.

Skip the drive thru and it will pay for itself.

 

Hi, I thought I'd post the pix of the 2009 Honda Fit Sport that came into my dealership with the navi. I still have mine on backorder (since July) for the Sport w/o Navi. Click here to see pix of the one I walked away from: http://www.flickr.com:80/photos/inyopets/ By the way, it is still on the lot. I thought it would get snatched up right away. I guess the economy may be having an impact on the luxury add-ons after all.

 

Man, this car looks great in any color! Thanks for the photos.

 

A) I too wish I could get the VSA without paying for the in-dash navigation unit. It doesn't even have bluetooth capability!

B) The steering wheel mounted audio controls are standard on the Fit Sport, regardless of whether or not you have the navigation unit.

 

It's surprising that the navi doesn't come with bluetooth because I read it's virtually the same unit as found in the Civic. Curious as to why Honda deleted this feature.

In terms of the steering wheel mounted audio controls, this feature is available only with navi. I test drove 2 sports w/o navi, and each had only steering wheel mounted cruise control buttons. I think this is an odd oversight, which I'm guessing will be remedied for the '10 model. As much as I want this item, I'm unwilling to wait another year.

 

Yeah, as an owner of a Fit Sport w/o Navi, I can assure you that steering wheel audio controls are not included.

We have a CR-V with the steering-wheel audio controls and I love them. But somehow I don't miss it as much on the Fit. The volume knob is just easily within reach. It's not the disappointment I thought it might be.

 

I'm glad to hear that you're not overly disappointed by the lack of audio controls and are now able to live a normal life. I'm coming from an Acura that has them (as well as XM radio), and I use them every day. I test drove a Fit last week and, you're right, the reach wasn't all that bad. It's amazing how we feel we can't live without something that wasn't available not so long ago. What color did you get?

 

Yes, not having steering wheel audio controls is an ordeal that I have managed to overcome. Dealing with this sort of adversity has been a character-building experience for me.

The car is silver, motivated by the fact that it does the best job of hiding dirt. If the car would magically stay clean, I might have gotten blackberry.

 

Belated congrats on your new Fit. Silver is the color I test drove, and I really liked it. When the sun hits it the silver actually looks lighter, and when it's overcast the car darkens up a bit. I have a Taffeta White on order, which I thought would hide scratches (etc) over time, and I'm hoping to keep the car for a while. I'm coming out of gray car (hides dirt incredibly well), and my car prior to that was black (doesn't hide so incredibly well), so I was aiming for something a little different. I did see some pics of the Orange Revolution recently which looked, to my surprise, really nice -- wondering though if I'd grow tired of orange after a couple years relative to white and silver, which never seem to go out of style. The blackberry seems to be a rarer color, and it looks great clean, but I'm not sure if the magical cleaning system is available on the '09s -- it's probably bundled with navi.

 

Hopefully it'll come with the automated paint chip repair system as well. Fantasyland might be worth 20K!