Any comments on the nav system. Are they hard to read while driving. Do they get washed out in the sun? One person told me that they are a huge distraction and big cause of accidents.

The BMW dealer was telling me that they have a better system that is all voice recognition (no screen I guess). You tell it where you want to go and it tells you where to turn street by street.

 

I love the Z's nav system. Voice recognition sounds sweet though. We have to use the joystick, which is a pain in the rump. My question though is with the top down, will the voice recognition be accurate?


The Z's isn't hard to read. Sometimes, with the sun shining directly into the screen, it's hard to see, but you can shield the sun a bit and see it fine. I do notice that the voice commands cannot be heard while doing 70 with the top down. You know it's speaking because it cuts into the stereo, but you can't here it. Most of the time, I don't use the voice anyway. It gets pretty annoying.

 

I like it. I have been using the same system for 1 year in my FX so there were no surprises for me getting it in my Z. Any system that doesn't have a screen to display a map is worthless IMHO. The GPS satellites are not as precise for civilian uses as they are for military uses. The system can on occasion not have your proper location. Also when considering alternate routes it's nice to be able to look at the map display. Voice recognition is a nice gimick and it's great to impress your friends. I had it in my E55 for the audio and phone. It's not "tuned" to your particular voice and speech patterns and therefore error prone. I use voice recognition software at work for chart dictation and you start out by "teaching" it your voice and speech patterns. You also have to tune the microphone to the ambient noise levels. I wouldn't buy one car vs. another based on the availability of a voice recognition AV system. Just my $.02
Rich
'03 FX 45 w/tech, Black/Brick
'96 911 C4 Cab, Iris Blue/Marble/Marble
'04 350 ZR, SS/BO w/18's & NAV

 

Spend little more and get after market Navigation. 350Z Navi is most UN-User friendly navigation I had to deal with. The only reason why I got the Navigation was it only costed me $700 more. There were 2 Roadster I was debating with. One had Navi & the othe did not but the one that did not have navigation had 18' wheels which was $1200. I already had SSR GT3 which I had on my previous car which was 350Z coupe so I decide to get the navi.

The other reason why I got the Navi was because of the automatic sliding door.

 

is that your car?

can you post some pix

 

is that your car?

can you post some pix

 

I just bought the '04 BMW 330CiC for my wife w/NAV, and its not voice activated at all.. It does however speak the directions out loud, so you don't have to look at the screen. That works pretty well. However, the controls are kind of cloogy. Not nearly as nice as the Acura NAV. I've heard that the 5 & 7 Series BMWs have a different NAV, so it may be voice activated. But, with the 5 & 7 you are talking about $$$.

 

I only have experience with Nissan/Infiniti nav systems...I don't count the Hertz never lost, or is it "ever lost" system as a nav. Actually, I found the nav to be very intuitive. I really liked the touch-screen nav that was in my 02 and 03 Maxima's; the joy-stick is a little more hassle, but seems to be the most common application these days. You can adjust the guide voice to be as loud or soft as you need. I've not ever had any trouble hearing, and you can always recall the most recent voice command if you missed it. Visibility of the screen is good most of the time. If the sun is coming in right on it, it is going to be hard, of course. Same with my TV at home but that's not the manufacturers problem. I think it is a good system and i'm glad i have it. Actually, I like the nav screen in my roadster better than the FX or Maxima because the screen isn't shared with the HVAC or audio control settings. But that really isn't a criticism so much as a preference. my 2c

 

I only have experience with Nissan/Infiniti nav systems...I don't count the Hertz never lost, or is it "ever lost" system as a nav. Actually, I found the nav to be very intuitive. I really liked the touch-screen nav that was in my 02 and 03 Maxima's; the joy-stick is a little more hassle, but seems to be the most common application these days. You can adjust the guide voice to be as loud or soft as you need. I've not ever had any trouble hearing, and you can always recall the most recent voice command if you missed it. Visibility of the screen is good most of the time. If the sun is coming in right on it, it is going to be hard, of course. Same with my TV at home but that's not the manufacturers problem. I think it is a good system and i'm glad i have it. Actually, I like the nav screen in my roadster better than the FX or Maxima because the screen isn't shared with the HVAC or audio control settings. But that really isn't a criticism so much as a preference. my 2c

 

Thanks for the NAV input. I noticed that you must be a bmw fan also since you just bought the 330 too. As you may have read in my other posts, I'm torn between the Z4 and the 350Z. They are very close in many ways, but the BMW has a better build quality and well, it's a bmw. I have a 328 now and I love bmw. The 350Z is a lot more bang for the buck and is the practical choice. But, I still have a little voice in my head that says "get the bmw". Maybe it's an addiction. However, BMW means and extra $12K+.

I'm curious if you had this same dilemna and if so, how did you finally decide on the 350Z.

 

All I can really say is that after 8 months of looking at the 2 cars, reading about them, test driving them and what seems like a million other things, I decided on the Z Roadster. I pick it up Friday. It's one hell of a car!

 

Actually, the BMW was all my wife's idea. She wanted a relatively small car, with four seat, and a convertible. That pretty much reduced her options to Mercedes, Audi, or BMW. She was trading in a Passat, so she didn't want the Audi. The Mercedes was too much $$$, so that left us with the BMW. She was looking at the 325, but once she test drove the 330, she couldn't give up the bigger engine.

Personally, I've been a repeat nissan owner all my life.
I've had the following vehicles in my relatively short driving history.

81 Chevy Malibu Classic Station Wagon (Gave to me by Dad).
91 Nissan Pickup
93 Nissan Pickup
91 Nissan Maxima
00 Saturn SL2 <-- Hated this F'ing car.
02 Subaru Outback
04 Nissan Maxima
04 Nissan 350ZR

So, as you can see I like my Nissan's. I test drove the Z4, just so I could say I looked around, but really I wanted the Z when I bought the Maxima. My wife thought it was "irresponsible" at the time, but after we got her the BMW, she couldn't say no to the Z )

 

Here you go

 

wow I love the rims
i have the same colour and everything but dont have money for the rims yet
how much are those rims neways?

 

$529 for the front ones & I think $569 for the rear ones at tire rack.