Nope. It's the default. I have brushed aluminum.

 

Actually, I'm a guy and everyone knows men don't ask or need directions

 

Everyone knows men don't ask, no one beleives they don't need.

 

I'm one of those people who is blessed with a pretty good sense of direction. I generally know where I am, even if I'm in unfamiliar territory. I'm typically the navigator anytime there's a road trip, both on two-wheels or four.

Perhaps I'm just lucky, but I also think it is training and my desire to simply have some idea where I am all the time. I've been a private pilot for most of my adult life and I think this training does tend to make you more spatially aware, even on an unconscious basis.

I also love paper maps which still have a richness about them that is compeling. You can spread a big paper map out and gain a feeling of where you are and where you're going that is impossible to get with any current GPS system. Someone once made the analogy that navigating with just a GPS is like shopping in a video store in a wheelchair looking through a paper towel roll. And I've never seen a GPS system yet that does a good job with backroads - paper maps do such a better job of color, legends, and road line weights that give you a feel for finding interesting back roads in the boondocks that no GPS can match. (If you want to look at a really good paper map, check out the Benchmark maps at www.benchmarkmaps.com).

I have a portable GPS (a Garmin 60Cx) and honestly, I woulld not be able to take the trips I do back in the boondocks without it. It's a wonderful technology and I use it frequently. But I do think many become overly dependent on it. They dial in their destination in the GPS (often laboriously) and slavisly follow the commands on the screen, even if they don't may any sense. And woe to the person who types in an address with a digit transposed - I've seen people drive completely to the wrong side of town and wonder why the Target store isn't in the cornfield they're looking at. Even the best GPS systems have tons of errors, both in their routing algorithms and the underlying databases which are difficult to keep up to date. I've also seen people drive 20 extra miles following a GPS route when one glance at a paper map would show a better route.

I used to motorcycle tour with a guy where he'd use a GPS and I'd use a paper map. When he was navigating, he'd take very odd routes and was constantly stopping on the side of the road to figure out what the GPS was saying. He had no spatial awareness of where we were going whatsoever. Now the GPS systems have improved dramatically since we toured. And I carry a GPS now to supplement a paper map. But I still have paper maps in the car and bike and spend time with them before going into unfamilar territory.

Sorry to ramble, but when I see folks saying a Nav system in a car is a "must have", I like to point out that these systems are far from flawless and may have the drawback of increasing one's dependency on a technology that may not always work or work properly.

If a OEM car GPS system gets to the point where it's a $400 option and works really well, I'd certainly spring for it. But at about 10% the price of a new Mini for what is generally acknowledged to be about the crappiest OEM GPS out there, I see a very poor value for most drivers. It's a cash cow for MINI as these systems probably cost them $100 or so to put in the car.

- Mark

 

Mark,
Your info is "ok" at best, but mostly way off the mark (no pun intended). The part your right on, is the price. As I noted in my first post, these systems only cost the manufacurers a couple hundred bucks currently. BUT, if they put them in every car as STANDARD equipment, the cost would be 100 or probably less. Then as you said, even you would get it, why not as that would pennies on the total cost over 5 years or so.

BUT, what you missing is about 95% of the use of a current GPS system, and that is not knowing where you are. It is finding "things" you otherwise, ESPECIALLY with paper maps, would never find otherwise. By this I mean, I'm up skiing in Vermont, it's 7pm, I'm hungry. I'm not from Vermont so I'm not familiar with where to eat, what kind of restuarants are around... I know where I am somewhat cause #1, I have read a real paper map before going on the trip, and #2, my GPS map display, gives me a pretty goo idea. So anyway, I hit menu, Destination, Places, Restuarants, then select ALL Types (or select STEAK HOUSES if I were in the mood for a chunk of cow). The system then displays a list of restuaraunts in distance order from my current location. I simply look for one that looks tasty, and hit GO, and I'm on my way. You on the other hand would be looking at a papper map, saying hmmmm... wonder if there are any restuarants in the little red area that looks like a town.... I on the other hand will be 1/2 half to "Outback" to get some wood fired oven roasted pizza. Some the best pizza on the planet by the way!!!

Oh, then there is service, expecially for the wife. I break down on the side of road, say a flat or worse, I'm ok figureing out what to do, hitchhikin...whatever. The wife on the other hand, is in deep do do. She could pull up the menu's and search for the nearest mini dealer, or any dealer, or any any car service station. THOSE are the beauties of having a GPS system.

As for errors, I have never seen any errors on any of my systems (have one in all vehicles), except for missing stuff when there are new stores/shops and I have an old disk.

The of course there are the OTHER features of havign the GPS display. Like the park distance control displayed on it, like the radio controls displayed on it, instead of on a small 2 line lcd screen.

Now as I said again in my first post, if money is an issue, Iertainly understand not spending the extra $2100 which is a nice chunk of change for alot of folks. But if you are furtunate enough like myself to have a few extra potatoes laying around, get it. And I would include even if it is a bit of a stretch, cause you have to remember it 2100 over the life of the car, not just today. Most of my vehicles I keep 5 or 6 years, so for me it ends up being a couple hundred a year. I spent a couple hundred last night at dinner on Fire Island. One less of those, and My GPS option is paid for for the year.

But your point on price I agree with. SHAME on ALL of the manufacturers for ripping us all off on the Nav units.

 

But that is a two way street. Yes, sometimes I've wondered why is the GPS taking me in a certain direction (if I knew the general area but not the specific sidestreets) ... so you ignore it, get to the general area, then let it guide you. On the other hand, sometime if you click "fastest way" or "no highways", it takes you places you may never have known about and quicker.

As to price, its simply not worth 10% of the value of a car.

You have a point about POIs, especially if in a remote area you know nothing about. But is it worth $2K when you can get the same info for $300?

 

Speak for yourself. For example my wife, who might like GPS a lot for work, has a computer with a cell modem provided for her. Wifi is getting close to being ubiquitious. Give if a few years and this will be a moot point. Data plans are way overpriced but won't be forever and you can pay for a LOT of data with $2,100.

 

On both the doors and the dash trim? Do you have pics?

That's a good point about visability out the rear window... I guess the NAV is still up for debate. But now I will have to get the park control option if I go with it. I agree that it would be a nice function to have, but that brings my MSRP up to over $32K, which is pretty steep for a mini. Plus I intend to spend close close to another K on accessories (carbon fiber mirror caps, handles, etc) afterwards and possibly an after market chip when they come out with a good one. So it's really a matter of cost at this point. Is the NAV something I can have installed after I have the car built?

 

Not at reasonable cost.

- Mark

 

Good points but a couple rebuttals.

On the price question, the mfgs are always going to "rip us off" because they can. Things are never priced by what it costs to make them; they're priced by what the market will bear. If people are willing to spend $2100 for a crappy GPS, they'll keep selling them for $2100 and put $2000 into their pockets. It's the reason McDonalds sells hamburgers for less than it costs to make them and makes all their profits selling $1.50 soft drinks that cost them $0.03. The only way this stops if if we stop buying. When superior aftermarket GPS systems are available for $500, we need to stop buying $2100 crappy OEM GPS systems or they'll continue to cost this much.

I agree that finding POI's is a strength of GPS and I use it occasionally. But again, GPS is not the end-all. When I check into a hotel, I ask for restaurant recommendations and when I'm driving in a strange place, I'll go in an find someone to give me a recommendation, because the GPS will do a great job finding McDonalds, Outback's, and AppleBee's but it never finds the cool out-of-the-way places that are truly memorable and not the homogenized chains that are in the GPS databases. Again, GPS is a supplement, but not the end all, must-have system to find things.

And in your example of your wife breaking down, the GPS isn't going to summon help or get the car going to that service station that the GPS can find. For this sort of emergency, GPS isn't what you want - you want OnStar or at least a cell phone. For this happens-every-ten-years emergency, a cell phone and AAA 800 number is a lot more valuable than a GPS.

Again, I'm not anti-GPS, just think it's something that for most people, once they get beyond the gee-whiz aspect of it, is something that is of true value occasionally. And thus, it deserves perhaps $400 of expense, but not $2100.

But then I honestly don't understand spending $32K on any Mini, not when the same money will bring home a G35 or even a hard-negotiated stripper 328i. So the value subject is always slippery because everyone has a different sense of what things cost.

Thanks for the interesting discussion.

- Mark

 

Yes is it worth it. How much is your $300 handheld unit going to be worth when you go on vaca skiing, and forget the charging cable at home, after the 2nd day and it's dead, it's useless. Then there is the ergonomics of it being built in. Do I want another 7 or 8" box on my dash of my Mini? The mini is that, MINI. Of all cars, this would be the last one I want other external devices with wires dangling around on my dashboard.

As for the guys that use the argument "oh, they will have a new better unit out next year, and you won't be able to upgrade". So what?? They will have a new, better unit EVERY year. But guess what, my built in unit will continue to function just like the day I bought it, and perform all the tasks I need it to. And my next car, will have the new unit, with the new features, whatever they may be.

Worrying about the next generation of things to come out is always a dumb reason to not buy something. You would never buy a computer if that were the case, they have something new every day.

 

Mark,
On the point of pricing, and us not buying it to get the price down. It will be supply and demand that sets the price. Ford will eventially offer it in every car, for "free". Then bmw and others, will have no choice to follow.

Personally, I think they all should have done that years ago, the cost would be nill with those QTY's, and everyone would reap the many benifits of having Nav without having to rig up their own.

 

Yes. But brushed aluminum gets you a silver plastic oval and brushed aluminum on the armrest trim.

Here's my car:



Here's a Redwood Red with brushed aluminum:

 

You're really clutching at straws with this reason. And for the record, my handheld is powered by AA batteries and has absolutely no wires "dangling around the dashboard". Last time I checked, the batteries were available in approximately 4.5 million retail outlets.

- Mark

 

My handheld (use it as a backup on my boat), also has AA bat's but I got tired of throwing bat's away after a one day offshore Tuna fishing trip, so I now use recharges, and bring a charger, adapter, extra bat's just in case.... All stuff I don't want to bring in my mini. ;-)

 

I noticed that all the red leather came with the rooster red color trim on the door. Does anyone have one with the dark grey trim? And the red color isn't the bright apple red I see on my screen, right? I was thinking it was more of a darker brownish red....