I just bought a 2013 GS 350. For anyone thinking of buying a 2013 GS 350 (and perhaps other years) I found the traffic notification part of the navigation system very disappointing. My wife's Honda minivan has a better system and it is far worse than what you get on Google or Apple maps.
The traffic data comes from Sirius ($15 activation fee and $4 monthly fee) and it only covers interstate highways in major cities. So no info on state highways or secondary roads.
Meanwhile there is a FM radio based system that is available in most cities and towns that gives you local roads, which is what my wife's car has and the BMW 3 and 5 series use to provide much more detailed traffic info and it costs the consumer nothing.
If I had known about the difference I might have bought one of the BMWs I also looked at. Just saying.

 

That's just the way Sirus Traffic is. It's slow to update traffic flow, accidents, clogged highways, etc.and is not usually very helpful. The larger the city (e.g. DFW with 7 million population) the only slightly better it gets. It has nothing to do with Lexus...

 

The 2015+ GS models have something called "HD Radio," which provide you with everything for free as well.

It's rather drastic to ditch one car brand completely just because one has a better nav unit then the other, but to each their own I suppose. My question is, would you rather have more expensive repairs (particularly out of warranty)/less reliability or a better nav unit? The choice is pretty obvious to me.

If you really care about cutting edge tech and don't want to sacrifice reliability, save up for a Tesla.

Btw, this is why is pays to do lots of research BEFORE you make a large car purchase (hopefully you didn't buy one out right & leased instead). There is so much information on this forum that it would have been beneficial for you to spend some time reading multiple topics on the things that are important to you.

My two cents,

~ Im2bz2p345

 

The only car to buy out wright is RX4.

 

I have the new system with the HD Radio traffic in the LS, and I had the old system with the XM traffic in my 2013 GS. While yes, my LS has more roads with traffic, the traffic information is totally worthless. I mean...completely worthless, it has no correlation to actual traffic on roadways at all.

That information is no different from make to make, it comes from the same sources. So...you aren't missing anything.

 

Totally agree. Half the time it's completely wrong, but at least the HD radio traffic is free. Lexus needs to hurry up and incorporate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so we can have traffic from Apple maps and Google maps.

 

I think the worst part about the traffic update is it does not re-route you to a better route.

 

I just use Waze now instead. Maps are much more up to date, traffic data is really good, and it gives good routing (better than it did when I started using it, even). And it's free. I've really only run into one situation in the past year where it didn't do a good job.

 

I had forgot to add..

Unfortunately Toyota did not decide to go with CarPlay or Android Auto, so they will always lag behind in the tech space: http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/30/90...scout-gps-link

So if having the latest & greatest tech in your car is a big importance, Toyota/Lexus might not be the brand for you.

~ Im2bz2p345

 

This times 10000000

 

It will do that, but why would you want it to when the traffic info it has is so wrong?

 

Waze looks like a cool app. Enticing since it's free.

All in all, if the NAV can give me directions and keep me from getting lost, I'm fine. Traffic reports are secondary, if I need to leave NOW, I'll go...with bad traffic or not. I do have a Fastrak Transponder on my GS, I have the toll/carpool freeways as another option.

 

This is true but I have ignored it especially when it prompts another route and nothing usually occurs. I also use Waze now but I find it disappointing as the thread states that we pay a high price for a car that should have great navigation.

 

If I were in a market for a car in this price range, I would rather pick the gs with the so called handicapped navi unit than an equally priced used 5. And yes this purchase is significant enough to do some homework before signing the paper imo.
As a side note the navigation is fine with me where I live. When it says "expect slow or stop and go traffic ahead" there definitely is. I'd rather go a bit slower than having a "more accurate " system guide me through unknown areas. But that's just me. Pretty easy to please.

 

Ditto. There's a reason why Google spent a couple billion dollars buying this mapping company a couple years ago.

Ever since I've been using Waze a couple years ago, I've never used anything else. Traffic data from the Lexus is a joke. It's the same with the BMW M4, it has navigation/ traffic standard but I only use Waze.