How complex can this be and why should it cost the end-users any more than say $25? Especially when there are Garmin and Tom Tom devices that are way less than $200 now that are much better? A friend of mine showed me a Garmin he recently bought for about $149 that fits in a shirt pocket, has a decent screen, has a decent audible voice, and has no wires (rechargeable). I was really impressed with the device.

Doug

 

Aerojag is right, smart phones with navigation apps are about to put the garmins out of work and there won't be much need for navigation in cars, especially when they use ancient road maps.
Stand alone units like garmin also provide you with red light camera warnings and other handy info that will never be available on DVDs.
I'd recommend to kick the navigation out of your xk8 and replace it with the three gauges. Looks much better and will give you a better resale value in a few years as no one wants to look at a screen with a digital clock. It is funny how people still advertise the xk8 navigation as a positive add-on when they sell their car. My prediction is that xk8s with navigation never make it to any jaguar concours in 20 or 30 years.

 

Hi,
here is my story. I live in Barcelona, Spain.
I bought my car in Italy and it only had Italy maps. My dealer told me they dont provide navigation DVDs and I had to buy online from Navteq. On the page was: "MY2007 and on, preivous years consult dealer", so I did and they told me its fine so far as the model is the same, 300 euros spared and then it comes and of course I have a disc error message..Navteq will not take it back, meanwhile the person from the parts dept of my dealer has quit the job, so they do not want to respond for this...overall my impression of the dealer is very poor, seems like you have a Renault o some crap like this, not a premium-class car.. had complaint to the central office in Madrid, not a response in a year...shameful

 

I am making the last leg of my crusade to get updated DVD GPS disks for the Alpine system. All attempts with Jaguar, Alpine & NAVTEQ have failed so far. My return receipt letter will go out Monday with hopes to hear from them in short order. I will provide an update when one is available. I have not given up!

 

The letter is in the mail.

 

March 8, 2010
Dear Sir:
I represent a small but substantial group of Jaguar owners (model years 1997 – 2007) who have been trying to get up to date GPS DVD’s for the Alpine factory installed GPS system. Specifically, I am referring to the 100,000+ Jaguar XK8 & XKR that were produced between the years 1997 to 2005 and I should note this total number does not include the additional cars produced for the years 2006 & 2007.

Over the past several months I have contacted Jaguar, Alpine and NavTeq about acquiring updated DVD’s for the factory installed GPS systems and have been unable to find a single person in any of these three companies who is responsible for providing these updates to Jaguar owners. I first contacted NavTecq because they advertised on national TV that they can provide GPS maps for any system. They wrote back that the latest update they had for Jaguar is for the 2008 XK and works specifically with Denso system and that they had no updates for the Alpine system. They recommended that I contact Jaguar.
Next, I contacted Jaguar. They said to contact Alpine and or NavTeq. I then contacted Alpine who said to contact Jaguar. So I went back to Jaguar and they told me to contact NavTeq.

These days with all the changes in highway infrastructure, many owners of GPS systems rely on them greatly, not just for directions, but to add an element of safety and peace of mind when traveling to unfamiliar areas. At this point I am a frustrated Jaguar owner and am disappointed Jaguar and its three subcontractors have failed to address an ongoing need of loyal Jaguar owners. Have you all gotten so big that you have forgotten your customer? Remember, we are loyal Jaguar owners and just want an up to date GPS system that provides safety and comfort to us and our families.

I am not sure where the problem is and so I am sending the letter to corporate management at all three organizations, Jaguar, NavTeq and Alpine, with hopes that one of you will take responsibility for this issue and create a solution to enable updates for the alpine system.
Sincerely,

Gus J. Glikas

 

<-- gonna do this for awhile

before they send you one of these...

 

Thanks Gus, hope it works.

 

I received this letter today from NAVTEQ and like many others it fell to deaf ears.

I often wonder how people stay in business by not providing good customer service. Some could say this is a good business decision, I see it as poor customer service! They advertise on TV that they would provide maps for anyone and many applications a total untruth. For that reason I will see if I have an investment with them and I will sell it! As a general rule I invest in what I use.

Sorry I was unsuccessful in my attempt!

 

yup, I was afraid of that...now at least, we have 'absolute' proof.

 

It really is astounding that a car that was already at the upper end of things in terms of pricing (when new) and that probably had an extra of about $2,000 for the NAV did not have a provision for complimentary or low cost subscription to keep the NAV system up to date. In fact it seems like the latest model (2006 here in the states) had a NAV disc that was already a few years out of date.

Doug

 

Well Gus you can't say you did't put out the effort and did try to help everyone with an Alpine unit. Thank you for your time and trouble.

 

The thing I don't understand is that they are not even attempting this. They have the updated maps since they do other GPS stuff and they have the technology to do the old style GPS since they have done it before. How hard would it be to put the new info into the old style? I would understand that it may be cost prohibitive, but I would think that they would at least offer to do this...even at a very exorbitant rate.

It's times like this that I'm glad I didn't really want GPS and that I browsed this great forum before buying my XK8, because having seriously outdated maps would have driven me crazy.

 

I use my portable GPS. The OEM GPS is now just a fancy clock!!

 

same here, but it shoudn't have to be!!

 

Guys. I just finished a mod on my 2000 XKR. I used a Garmin Nuvi 1490.
works great, very simple and fully reversable. Finally Sat-Nav that knows where I live
If my ISP ever gets themselves sorted so I can post docs I will upload the instruction failing that ping me and I will mail you the info stewart AT pt DOT lu
substitute the caps with the obvious

 

hey jagman, Gus has exhausted his efforts at NavTeq and Alpine, see his posts above.

Our system is not the same platform as the newer model XKs.