Honda Car Forum

So can you drive a Honda to a BMW dealer and have them install a
Garmin?

On Apr 28, 4:01*am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com>
wrote:
> dash. *(I remember that BMW also did this for their 3 series.)

On Apr 28, 7:01*am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com>
wrote:
> In article <11515-49F66B57-2...@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net>,
>
> *C...@webtv.net wrote:
> > $2000 extra for it,(my GF just bought a CRV EX without) ain't worth it.
> > I bought her a garmin Nuvi 265WT with lifetime traffic for $229.
>
> I tend to agree, although if you're going to buy a built-in nav system,
> Honda's is probably the best.
>
> We were shopping Volvos last week, for my father; we wanted everything
> on it, including nav (yeah, try getting an old man to deal with an
> external unit). *The dealer said they don't come in with much on them,
> that it would be a special order. *????? *They don't bring in
> well-equipped $40K-$50K cars? *They order in strippo models? *WTF?
>
> Anyway, I found it interesting that Volvo does offer, as a specific
> accessory in their catalog, a Garmin unit. *Their kit comes with a
> specific dash mount for the car in question, and is wired in very
> neatly, so that it just plugs in nicely and sits there on top of the
> dash. *(I remember that BMW also did this for their 3 series.)
>
> So apparently that's how Volvo sees the world: *if you want a nav
> system, plop this thing on the dash and we'll help make it look as neat
> as we can--because we generally don't expect you to want an in-dash
> unit, and we generally won't stock them at the dealer.
>
> Frankly, I wish Honda and the rest would offer such a kit as an
> alternative. *Let's say for a couple hundred dollars they could install
> the vehicle specific mounting/power kit, making it nice and neat, and
> then I could put in any Garmin unit I wanted, and change it out as often
> as I wanted. *Garmin would do well to do this with as many manufacturers
> as possible.
>
> I could probably go through four or five very nice units before I burned
> up $2000. *I could have a new Garmin every year.

Okay, so maybe it's not worth $2000... but that's not all you get with
it.
It is integrated with a rear-view backup camera (though backup sensor
is an extra option).
It has voice recognition for navigation, climate control, radio, cd
changer, PC Card (for MP3s), and most importantly, you can ask it
"What time is it?" so you don't need to glance over to the clock
And according to the manual, you can also ask it to find the nearest
Honda Dealer if your nav system stops working... errr, wait a minute,
nevermind...
Also, during my test drive I was very surprised to hear the turn-by-
turn directions coming from the car's speakers in a much clearer and
more pleasing voice than the voice my portable garmin uses in my
wife's car.
And the radio volume temporarily dropped while the intructions to turn
were emitted, which was nice.
I'm not sure whether the nav system also provides bluetooth
capability, though there is a website where my blackberry is on the
list. Now if I could just have it read my emails to me while I'm
driving... wow... I must hack that one. Honestly I think the bluetooth
is only available on European Hondas, which is disappointing.

In article
<eddac914-eda0-4761-8d8c-f8a460cecbbd@s38g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
Frank77 <frank.sconzo@gmail.com> wrote:

> Honestly I think the bluetooth
> is only available on European Hondas, which is disappointing.

er, no, American Hondas as well.

Except in America, they call that trim level "Acura".

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-0E361C.07014928042009@mara100-84.onlink.net...
> In article <11515-49F66B57-2109@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net>,
> CBX2@webtv.net wrote:
>
>> $2000 extra for it,(my GF just bought a CRV EX without) ain't worth
>> it.
>> I bought her a garmin Nuvi 265WT with lifetime traffic for $229.
>
> I tend to agree, although if you're going to buy a built-in nav
> system,
> Honda's is probably the best.

Honda uses Alpine systems.

>
> We were shopping Volvos last week, for my father; we wanted
> everything
> on it, including nav (yeah, try getting an old man to deal with an
> external unit). The dealer said they don't come in with much on
> them,
> that it would be a special order. ????? They don't bring in
> well-equipped $40K-$50K cars? They order in strippo models? WTF?
>
> Anyway, I found it interesting that Volvo does offer, as a specific
> accessory in their catalog, a Garmin unit. Their kit comes with a
> specific dash mount for the car in question, and is wired in very
> neatly, so that it just plugs in nicely and sits there on top of the
> dash. (I remember that BMW also did this for their 3 series.)
>
> So apparently that's how Volvo sees the world: if you want a nav
> system, plop this thing on the dash and we'll help make it look as
> neat
> as we can--because we generally don't expect you to want an in-dash
> unit, and we generally won't stock them at the dealer.
>
> Frankly, I wish Honda and the rest would offer such a kit as an
> alternative. Let's say for a couple hundred dollars they could
> install
> the vehicle specific mounting/power kit, making it nice and neat,
> and
> then I could put in any Garmin unit I wanted, and change it out as
> often
> as I wanted. Garmin would do well to do this with as many
> manufacturers
> as possible.
>
> I could probably go through four or five very nice units before I
> burned
> up $2000. I could have a new Garmin every year.

No. Honda stopped using Alpine probably a decade ago. They went cheap
with the Panasonic/Matsushita unit. Remember the CD player PE-0 error?
Real stinkers. Then they went Pioneer. And from this article below
they took a share in Pioneer.
So you're getting a Pioneer unit in there.

REPORT: Honda to invest in Pioneer electronics:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...f8747528cff44#

On Apr 30, 8:57*pm, "L Alpert" <alpe...@xxgmail.com> wrote:
> Honda uses Alpine systems.

<johngdole@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:805997b0-4b20-437b-85e0-c1df055371de@d19g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
No. Honda stopped using Alpine probably a decade ago. They went cheap
with the Panasonic/Matsushita unit. Remember the CD player PE-0 error?
Real stinkers. Then they went Pioneer. And from this article below
they took a share in Pioneer.
So you're getting a Pioneer unit in there.

REPORT: Honda to invest in Pioneer electronics:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...f8747528cff44#


The DVD upgrade for my Nav system in my 04 was directly from the
Alpine web site.


On Apr 30, 8:57 pm, "L Alpert" <alpe...@xxgmail.com> wrote:
> Honda uses Alpine systems.

On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:36:56 -0700 (PDT), Frank77
<frank.sconzo@gmail.com> wrote:

>> I could probably go through four or five very nice units before I burned
>> up $2000. *I could have a new Garmin every year.
>
>Okay, so maybe it's not worth $2000... but that's not all you get with
>it.
>It is integrated with a rear-view backup camera (though backup sensor
>is an extra option).
>It has voice recognition for navigation, climate control, radio, cd
>changer, PC Card (for MP3s), and most importantly, you can ask it
>"What time is it?" so you don't need to glance over to the clock
>And according to the manual, you can also ask it to find the nearest
>Honda Dealer if your nav system stops working... errr, wait a minute,
>nevermind...
>Also, during my test drive I was very surprised to hear the turn-by-
>turn directions coming from the car's speakers in a much clearer and
>more pleasing voice than the voice my portable garmin uses in my
>wife's car.
>And the radio volume temporarily dropped while the intructions to turn
>were emitted, which was nice.
>I'm not sure whether the nav system also provides bluetooth
>capability, though there is a website where my blackberry is on the
>list. Now if I could just have it read my emails to me while I'm
>driving... wow... I must hack that one. Honestly I think the bluetooth
>is only available on European Hondas, which is disappointing.

None of these features are useful to deaf people, so thanks for
outlining them all for consumer review.

"Eternal Searcher" <eternalsearcher@yahoo.ca.invalid> wrote in message
news:gtai8h$7p0$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> Pszemol wrote:
>
>> For me, the biggest benefit of built in navi is the convenience,
>> neatness of the solution (no cords hanging from the dashboard),
>> better integration with a car as a whole thing, integration with
>> the car radio and bluetooth phone and - which is important,
>> it is much more difficult to steal from a car, so you can leave the
>> car with navi on a parking lot and go without carrying the GPS
>> with you in the pocket.
>
> And the biggest drawback is when the unit needs to be serviced.
> At least
> with a portable unit, you don't have to have the whole car taken in.
>
> You don't have to carry the portable unit in your pocket all the time.
> Just
> store it in a concealed storage space in the car... although not for
> prolonged periods of time when it's very hot or very cold outside.

This way you give a reward for beaking the car window...