Nav Update Woth The Cost?

[erg1948]

Hello. Yesterday I traded my trusty '99 LS400 for a like-new '04 LS430 Ultra. Unfortunately, the new car is black. Beggars can't be choosers. The deal was too good to pass up. I guess my parade might get rained on, but here's the deal........'04 was $27,000 (53k miles, clean title, no damage history) and I got $11,500 for my '99 (90k miles, also clean title, no damage history). More to the point, I paid $15,500 and my car. It sounded good at the time. But, the car is beautiful. So was my '99.

Edmunds and Kelly (for what it's worth) showed the '04 retail at ~$31,000, and the '99 with a trade value of ~$8,000. If that is trustworthy, I did pretty good.

Now, three questions for those in the know.......

1. Nav DVD, currently version 4.1. Any opinions on upgrading to version 8.1? Is it worth it? Does it add any functionality?

2. HID headlights. My '99 had a very sharp cutoff about 40-50 feet out. The '04 seems to illuminate everywhere, up in the trees, neighbors' yards, etc. I have not received an angry flash from oncoming drivers yet. May be it's normal. The auto level functions. I cannot tell if the automatic headlight turning (ala Tucker) does anything wothwhile. But I worry, 'caus I really care about other drivers.

3. Bluetooth. It pairs to both of our cell phones fine, but neither will transfer our contacts to the car. This means we can use the car's bluetooth to receive calls only, not dial out unless you park the car and dial manually. Is there a way around this?

Thanks for any information. Hope your weekend is a good one!

Gene

[curiousB]

I have the same car. Bought it new 12/03.

1. I’m interested in the DVD question too as I have never upgraded but now the map is a little dated and I plan to keep car a while.
   
2. I get high beams flickered at me from (irate) oncoming drivers occasionally. The HID is extremely blue/white light and very bright. The turning feature only works when you’re moving so you can’t test it standstill. It is nice on a dark road but I agree a bit gimmicky. I had to fix my auto level a few months back because the rear axle height sensor seized up. Failure mode was lights pointed very low and didn’t illuminate much of road. Was kind of dangerous.
   
3. I haven’t been able to transfer more than one contact. I’ve had several phones since getting the car but mostly all Motorola and on Verizon. I did hear that Verizon locks some features on your phone to force you to do file sharing over their costly network instead of peer to peer. Never been able to confirm this but it would be a total surprise. I know of others with same car on other networks could squirt their entire phone book quite easily.
   

[nc211]

There is a guy with an SC that posted a big complaint about getting the upgrade, to find out he is now blocked out from using the nav when the car in drive. If you can use the nav while you're moving now, then I wouldn't risk it.

[snakehead]

There is a guy with an SC that posted a big complaint about getting the upgrade, to find out he is now blocked out from using the nav when the car in drive. If you can use the nav while you're moving now, then I wouldn't risk it.

Black is the badass color.. you did good.

[PilotguyPA28]

Gene,

I just updated my Nav DVD on my '03. It was 2.1 and now is V. 8.1 (if I remember right). Anyway, cost $250 and I doubt I'll ever upgrade it again. Only takes 3-5 minutes to switch out the DVD. The new version just has all new roads, interstates, subdivisions, etc. It didn't add anything as far as functions.

Trip

[jasperaxle]

Hello. Yesterday I traded my trusty '99 LS400 for a like-new '04 LS430 Ultra. Unfortunately, the new car is black. Beggars can't be choosers. The deal was too good to pass up. I guess my parade might get rained on, but here's the deal........'04 was $27,000 (53k miles, clean title, no damage history) and I got $11,500 for my '99 (90k miles, also clean title, no damage history). More to the point, I paid $15,500 and my car. It sounded good at the time. But, the car is beautiful. So was my '99.

Edmunds and Kelly (for what it's worth) showed the '04 retail at ~$31,000, and the '99 with a trade value of ~$8,000. If that is trustworthy, I did pretty good.

Now, three questions for those in the know.......

1. Nav DVD, currently version 4.1. Any opinions on upgrading to version 8.1? Is it worth it? Does it add any functionality?

2. HID headlights. My '99 had a very sharp cutoff about 40-50 feet out. The '04 seems to illuminate everywhere, up in the trees, neighbors' yards, etc. I have not received an angry flash from oncoming drivers yet. May be it's normal. The auto level functions. I cannot tell if the automatic headlight turning (ala Tucker) does anything wothwhile. But I worry, 'caus I really care about other drivers.

3. Bluetooth. It pairs to both of our cell phones fine, but neither will transfer our contacts to the car. This means we can use the car's bluetooth to receive calls only, not dial out unless you park the car and dial manually. Is there a way around this?

Thanks for any information. Hope your weekend is a good one!

Gene

My 05 LS had the 4.1 Nav and I chose to upgrade to the 2007 6.1 version. I read on here somewhere that the 6.1 was the newest one which would still allow the driver to do the "overide" on the screen. Well it doesn't and I really dont know if the 6.1 is any better than my old 4.1 I only paid $23 on ebay for it so it's not a big deal. The 8.1 version hasn't come down enough for me yet but it is a real simple thing to do the actual upgrade and only takes about 5 minutes.

I just had the rear height sensor for the headlights go and it was $600 to correct. but now I can see at night again but to answer your question on the HID's I do not get flashed by other drivers.

As far as bluetooth I don't know if you have seen the website Lexus has which tells you what phones work best with your model. I just bought a Samsung Behold and it doesn't work real well with my car at all. I bought the phone before I checked the website so thats my fault. I have had the car since Nov 08 and have had two issues totaling $1200 in repair cost but since I only paid $19800 I figure i'm still ahead of the game. The worst thing about driving this car is you just get so spoiled and never want to drive anything else. I dont even like driving the new "ES" loaners they give me when I have service done. The LS is a real pleasure drive thats for sure.

[erg1948]

Thanks for the replies! I went ahead and updated the Nav to version 8.1, I guess just so I could start out "new". It was $265 at the local Lexus dealer. As you folks said, the update was easy to do. And, as you stated, there aren't any obvious differences. So this will likely be my last udate. I didn't try override before updating, so I don't know what I am missing.

I still have problems with the HIDs. I found a tutorial on the 'other' site for doing a vertical adjustment. I got the low beams where I want them, but now the left high beam shines at the ground, and the right high beam shines at the sky!! This is just silly.

A few days ago, I tried once again to transfer my contacts to the Nav over Bluetooth. Don't know what I did different, but this time it worked perfectly. So I am happy. Yesterday I had a 4-wheel alignment done, and changed out the Yokahama 520's for a set of Michelin Primacy's. The 520s just seemed noisy and a bit twitchy. My '99 had Primacys, and I really liked them. So far, in 10 miles, the car sounds and feels much better.

Today I am having a slight tint put on the side windows, and I have ordered a Vais/Sirius tuner kit that should arrive today. I am going to tackle the install myself, so wish me luck!

Only one problem remains..........I have one parking sensor in the rear that is seeing things. It triggers as soon as reverse is engaged. That is strange because the system does not report any sensor problems during the startup diagnostics. Not sure what to do about that. All the sensors are clean and new-looking.

Gene