cossie1600

Has anyone done it on their car? Outside of the new streets and businesses, does it do anything else to change the interface? Local dealer is doing it for $169, but the service writer actually doesn't recommend it

BertL

In my last several Lexi, I've done the upgrade about once in the 5-7 years I've owned each of them. Issue is the maps are purchased/licensed from Navtec (owned by Nokia, and so that's most of the reason why they cost money every time you want an update) and while there are thousands of updates each year, there are not that many generally in a particular area that one car owner travels to. POI are updated, so those are more valuable to some people -- but not to me. My personal experience is it can sometimes take 3-5 years or more to get new subdivisions into the mapping database (...and before someone complains that is a Lexus issue, I had the SAME issue in my former BMW -- they don't own or manage their map database either -- no car mfgr does that I'm aware of.) FYI, with the update, you get new map database, POI and Gracenote updates, but no "logic" changes that drive the interface to the mapping system which is tied to the hardware your specific vehicle has.

Your Lexus dealer gave you sound advice that it was probably not worth the money to update on a relatively new car. This is this Lexus website you should go to, to determine if the updates are valuable to you. (The Release Notes tab has specifics between the current and previous year changes.) Only you can decide given the geography you specifically travel.

DunWkg

Back when I had a car with an optical drive under the passenger's seat, Nissan supplied two disks. One would have improvements to the interface and the second provided map updates. No labor charge for installation, as you could do it yourself. Lexus charges an installation fee in addition to the cost of the update itself.

Although it's unlikely I would notice any changes, I've done all the updates as they become available. For me it's like having the latest update on the firmware/software of my computer, tablet, phone, camera or whatever electronic device that has updates available.

I'm sure the OEM hardware prevents updating, but it would be nice if Lexus would provide an update to the look and feel of the mapping interface.

BertL

I get the "back in the good 'ol days" thought, as I too used to wait and order special discounted versions of the disks from Sewell they tended to offer each Fall, and do the upgrade myself. Life and technology has moved beyond that for the good and bad of it. Most mfgrs have moved to 80GB+ hard-disk based Infotainment systems, eliminating a specialized DVD player for only the Nav disc with it's inherent ~4GB space constraints, and therefore the "self-insert DVD update" approach was eliminated (we could debate I suppose if it HAD to be eliminated, but let's not go there). Even my 2009 BMW forced me to go to the dealer for all updates, when my 2nd gen RX still had the DVD-based mapping system I could update myself. My 2014 MBZ will also be hard-disc based, and require me to go in for service to get any updates done. As much as I hate to say it, this is one thing I'm glad Lexus was not the leader with, in terms of hard-disk transition -- it saved me a few bucks, but now Lexus is doing their Nav updates in all models just like the other big luxury players in the market today.

kitlz

I never updated the 330 and still managed to get where I needed to go. But I finally broke down last year and had it installed on the 450h. I used Lexus points to pay for it. My SA said it was more useful for changes to POIs since the roads don't change much around here. So if that is a concern, I'd consider it especially since you just moved to CA. Just note the next update will be coming around in the fall. It might be worth waiting for the next one.

cossie1600

Yeah maybe I will wait. I thought maybe they do more than maps

Droid13

Yea, the updates for POIs are probably the biggest benefit if you use them. They tend to change much more frequently than roads do. If you are planning a big road trip, might be a good time then to update. I had mine updated when I bought mine as CPO because it still had the 2008 version and I wanted everything to be good as I could get it to start with, so the current 2012 version I have now will be the last.