Navigation System

[marktanner]

The car magazine reviews have all praised the NAV system in the CTS as one of the best. It's unique to the CTS so far at GM, though hopefully it's use will spread.

[TSS Taylor]

The Nav and 40GB Hard Drive are necessities in my world.

[mik2718]

Originally Posted by TSS Taylor

The Nav and 40GB Hard Drive are necessities in my world.

If you get the Nav, you get a 10GB hard drive. The Nav gets the other 30GB.

[Mayimbe1979]

I would certainly add the Nav feature because as others have stated, it looks great. The large display and pop-up screen are cool and unique. Plus, the added value during the resale makes the addition an worthwhile investment.

With that said, the functionality of GPS is very lacking for the following reasons:

1. Simply imputing a destination can become a troubling ordeal. There are times that you will have to guess whether a particular highway is stored as Route-46, Route 46, RT-46, US Highway 46, US 46, etc. GM may not be at fault for this confusion but the fact remains that it can be a pain when you can’t input the address you are trying to get to.
2. Also, while the size of the display is convenient, the views are fairly limited. Other GPS systems that I have used allow for simultaneous use of dual screens; a zoomed-out display in 3D and a zoomed-in display in 2D. This allows for greater ease when viewing the map and looking for a particular road and/or intersection.
3. Lastly, the actual directions given by the GPS can be atrocious. It constantly sends me out of my way to get to a simple location. I constantly ignore the directions given and hope that the recalculated directions are more accurate. There was one time that I was on a highway and my GPS instructed that I get off at the next (a jug handle). The GPS proceeded to guide me right back onto the same highway I was previously traveling on.

I know some folks will disagree and maybe I’m the only one with the crazy GPS. If so, let me know and I will contact my dealer to see if something can be done about it. Either way, I think you should get the Nav feature for your new car regardless of the headaches that I just listed. It is a very nice looking touch to the car even if you have to keep a Tom-Tom or Garmin with you just in case.

[OneLapCoastie]

Originally Posted by Mayimbe1979

I would certainly add the Nav feature because as others have stated, it looks great. The large display and pop-up screen are cool and unique. Plus, the added value during the resale makes the addition an worthwhile investment.

With that said, the functionality of GPS is very lacking for the following reasons:

1. Simply imputing a destination can become a troubling ordeal. There are times that you will have to guess whether a particular highway is stored as Route-46, Route 46, RT-46, US Highway 46, US 46, etc. GM may not be at fault for this confusion but the fact remains that it can be a pain when you can’t input the address you are trying to get to.
2. Also, while the size of the display is convenient, the views are fairly limited. Other GPS systems that I have used allow for simultaneous use of dual screens; a zoomed-out display in 3D and a zoomed-in display in 2D. This allows for greater ease when viewing the map and looking for a particular road and/or intersection.
3. Lastly, the actual directions given by the GPS can be atrocious. It constantly sends me out of my way to get to a simple location. I constantly ignore the directions given and hope that the recalculated directions are more accurate. There was one time that I was on a highway and my GPS instructed that I get off at the next (a jug handle). The GPS proceeded to guide me right back onto the same highway I was previously traveling on.

I know some folks will disagree and maybe I’m the only one with the crazy GPS. If so, let me know and I will contact my dealer to see if something can be done about it. Either way, I think you should get the Nav feature for your new car regardless of the headaches that I just listed. It is a very nice looking touch to the car even if you have to keep a Tom-Tom or Garmin with you just in case.

I have to disagree. I've had no trouble at all with either inputs or directions and while there are some features on my Garmin I wish were available on the CTS' system, the same can be said in the other direction. Is it perfect? No - but having just used the system in my in-laws new Ridgeline, I can tell you it is far superior to Honda's system.

[Don7790]

I think every system has its pro and cons. The other thing is that learning how to best use the strengths of each will take so time. An example is on my corvette the nav system in that pales to the looks and functions of the nav in my CTS. But I have learned how to use the one in my corvette almost its full potential. I am working on learning the one in my 09 CTS but considering my memory and age this may take some time. Never the less get the nav you wont be disappointed.

[brianwetzel]

I finally picked up my CTS yesterday and have a question about the weather in the navigation system. The setup has your timezone but nowhere can I find setting a city. My weather is for Montana and I assume that is because it is in the Mountain zone but not very useful when you live in Calgary? Or is it trying to get weather for where you are from the GPS location and it does not work in Canada?
Thanks in advance, Brian.

[MoFex]

Weather forecast has nothing to do with NAV. If I am not mistaken it is XM feature. I would not be surprised if it did not work in Calgary.

Aby Canadian friends out there? RAB, could you confitm it?

[RAB]

Originally Posted by MoFex

Weather forecast has nothing to do with NAV. If I am not mistaken it is XM feature. I would not be surprised if it did not work in Calgary.
Any Canadian friends out there? RAB, could you confirm it?

Mofex / Brian:

Yes, I can confirm that XM NavWeather does not function in Canada for "XM Canada" customers (i.e. no local/Canadian weather data is provided by XM Canada). With my '08 CTS4, when I would be driving close to the Canada/USA border (or when I travelled into the US), XM NavWeather would begin functioning, with weather data being provided by/through XM USA.
If I was to press the Infotainment System's (NAV's) "Info" key when home in London, ON (or elsewhere in Canada well away from the Canada/USA border), the system would advise that no data was available for the particular city or town I was in.

I've found that I'm getting a different result with my '09 CTS. With I hit the Info key on the new car, the following message appears:
"XM NavTraffic / NavWeather requires a subscription. The information provided may not always be reliable, complete or timely. By subscribing for or using these services, you agree to not solely rely on this system and to ensure that any and all potential users of this system agree to the foregoing. See Owner's Manual for more information".
I'll have to look into the above, as it appears that XM service is not properly set up on my new vehicle. I want to be able to receive/view XM NavWeather when I travel into the US.

For info.. note that we get XM NavTraffic in Canada, but the service is limited at this time to three metropolitan areas - Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. XM NavTraffic is functioning on my '09 CTS, but the traffic information I receive is from 200 kilometres away (the Toronto metropolitan area), and is really not much use to me when I'm home in London!

Cheers
RAB.

[brianwetzel]

I guess that explains why I get the forecast for Montana as it would be the closest US point to me. I am surprised that it does not work as these days getting a weather forecast for anywhere is so easy.
Thanks, Brian.

[Mr Snappy]

I guess it will be up to me to voice the opposing view

Fisrt off, I think the NAV is very cool, if it were only a $1000 difference TRULY, I would probably go for it.

However, let me tell you the reasons I did not.
1. Not a heavy NAV user, seems like a waste for something I would use less than once a month.

2. Not portable. I have a GARMIN that works fantastic and it goes with me.

3. Not able to get value back in trade. I checked into this and you don't recover the investment on the trade back.

4. One more thing to break on a first year car. My CTS is a 2008 and there were alot of problems people were reporting with their NAV's. This scared me a bit. Also, once the warranty is gone, I can see this thing as the first thing to break and cost a fortune to repair.

Now I DO have the HD Stereo and highly recommend that. If you are going in that direction, the NAV may be a bit easier to take a chance on.

[FrankRizzo]

worth it for the color / popup screen alone.

[C "T" ess]

I couldn't afford the NAV so I just take Mapquest maps and stick them to the dash.

[jmangia223]

In my opinion the Cadillac NAV is lousy...I just had an experience where I was driving home from New York Westchester county to southeastern PA and I was on the Palisades Pkwy in NJ and the NAV directed me over the GW bridge back into New York and then a turnaround once over the bridge to go south that is just nuts! The user interface is horrible compared to the Garmin Nuvi I use. I use the Garmin now exclusively in the Cadillac as I have had some really bad experiences with the Cadillac NAV on my 2008 CTS DI.

[jrhut]

I have one complaint with the nav system on my recently purchased 09. When I have the volume set on the system so that I can hear the voice directions clearly, the tone that lets you know a turn is coming is very loud. I have not been able to figure out how to either shut the tone off without shutting off the voice directions, or a way that I can control the volume on them separately. I have only been on a couple of trips with the car and in order to hear what the turn is coming up and not look at the screen for safety reasons I adjust the volume of the nav system as I understand I am supposed to, while the turns are being spoken until that is comfortable. The next time I come to a turn the "Bing" sound will be very, very loud. Is there a way around this problem? I have also found that on a Garmin nav I have in another car I can change to voice from a woman's to a man's and that makes it easier to understand for me. I don't think that is possible with this system either. Other than the volume thing I like the system very much and agree that it is worth the money.