[ptted]

Leather seats and Backup Camera are the two Options I would have liked. Eventually I plan on getting one of the Gentex Mirrors with the backup screen built in and install the camera.

I will tell you though that using your Smartphone with Google Maps or Bing is a VERY good option. You will always have the latest update to the mapping software and at least with Android 2.3.3 on HTC Sense, one can have the turn by turn navigation voice playing over the CT's audio system. I will likely start a new thread for us Non-Navers to go over this a bit.

Cool! Yeah I have an iPhone that I have been using some random navigation app on. I was reading up on the tomtom app for iPhone and am thinking about trying that one out.

 

[Don]

Couldn't disagree more. i chose not to get the NAV even though i can afford it - it is merely a waste of money to me. i did get NAV in my fully-optioned-out SUV thinking the grass was greener like you said, but as i quickly found out: the Toyota/Lexus NAV blows (and it is documented all over car forums on the internet that it notoriously stinks compared to Honda/Acura's Nav). the added functionality of the integrated system may be nice, but, IMO, clearly not worth the added cost.

But as i qualified with all my opinions, that's just me. hopefully it has been the life-changing savior fulfilling your childhood dreams for a measly $2-3k for which i am very happy for you

I agree with you totally jcpharm... the Toyota/Lexus navigation isn't half as good as the navigational system I have in my Acura TL. The navigational system in Honda/Acura is far superior in all respects... and, you can switch between a male or a female voice. A lot of times I tune my wife out for talking too much... just like I do with the lady that lives in my Lexus navigational system. Also, the front speakers mute the audio in the TL so you hear directions clearly without competing with the radio chatter.

 

[midcow3]

the art of simple phone conversation

Use a landline. LOL.

Or even better. A rotary landline. LOL.

I think I've read about them before. Or saw one in a museum once.

I know you were just trying to be sarcastic to me Matt, but a large majority of touch smart phones and blackberrys have very poor microphone pick-up and speaker clarity. It is very easy to overdrive the volume and clip the conversation. in otherwords they are so smart, so advanced and have so many non-phone conversation features, that they cannot handle a simple phone call.

I would have sent you the answer on a paper tape, and dialed-up your 300 baud acoustic coupler, but your terminal probably not longer has a paper tape reader or an acoustic coupler

 

[midcow3]

MCD stock

...
If I had to pick one place to try and get 9% right now it would be MCD stock. 19% annual return for the past 10 years (not including it's dividend which is at 3% now) when the market as a whole didn't do much. Of course the past is NO indicator of the future..

I think you need to recalculate MCD ( McDonald's) has not had nearly that much gain over 10 years (see below).
In ten (10) years the stock went from $30 per share to $85 per share. That is an annualized gain of 11% Not bad if you bought 10 years ago. However, this is not 19% and right now with the whole market being bearish, it is flat to down.
And you are absolutely right that the past is not an indicator of the future, which I am reminded every time I hear the 1999 $300 per ounce gold hawker commercial " do you still think kit is too high?"
However, if you have "free" funds that you can afford to potentially lose, and have the gumption, now with NASDAQ below 11,000 now is the time to buy back in especially if the market turns bullish and actually goes above 14,000 by year end as they are predicting. <This is my opinion and should not be considered advice on the stock market>

 

[kalo925]

I think you need to recalculate MCD ( McDonald's) has not had nearly that much gain over 10 years (see below).
In ten (10) years the stock went from $30 per share to $85 per share. That is an annualized gain of 11% Not bad if you bought 10 years ago. However, this is not 19% and right now with the whole market being bearish, it is flat to down.
And you are absolutely right that the past is not an indicator of the future, which I am reminded every time I hear the 1999 $300 per ounce gold hawker commercial " do you still think kit is too high?"
However, if you have "free" funds that you can afford to potentially lose, and have the gumption, now with NASDAQ below 11,000 now is the time to buy back in especially if the market turns bullish and actually goes above 14,000 by year end as they are predicting. <This is my opinion and should not be considered advice on the stock market>

Ok mister MidCow.. I've had wine... so.. I'm not sure about my math.. but... 30 to 60 is 100%.. 30 to 85 is about 190% divided by 10 years... is 19%... plus all the dividends one has been getting over that 10 years... way more than 19%... It's right there on the chart.. How are you calculating this?

I might add.. the market was down 1.6% today.. MCD was up 1.9% today. That means MCD was up 3.5% relative to the market today...

 

[midcow3]

How to calculate annualized gain

Ok mister MidCow.. I've had wine... so.. I'm not sure about my math.. but... 30 to 60 is 100%.. 30 to 85 is about 190% divided by 10 years... is 19%... plus all the dividends one has been getting over that 10 years... way more than 19%... It's right there on the chart.. How are you calculating this?

I might add.. the market was down 1.6% today.. MCD was up 1.9% today. That means MCD was up 3.5% relative to the market today...

Actually, that is not how you calculate annualized gain . After the first year's gain that amount is the basis for the second year's gain and so on. It is better to use a calculator on the actual increase. Here is an online one:

Present Value Calculator

There are many other calculators.

But here is a simple example using your 10 years, 10% annual rate increase, and beginning value of $1,000

The gain is 10% per annum, NOT ($2,593.74-$1000)/10 = 15.93%
And yes, if you bought at the right time McDonald's would have been a good investment. It depends on you risk aversion and how well you think history will repeat. It is pretty iffy to invest a large amount in a stock that is inverse to the market indices. The fact that MCD was up 1.9% when the market was down 1.6% is not necessarily good.

 

[Jedi767]

ZzZzZzZzZz

This silly navigation thread has taken a turn for the worse.

 

[G550guy]

How true.

 

[Max12]

ZzZzZzZzZz

This silly navigation thread has taken a turn for the worse.

An ugly turn.

 

[kalo925]

ZzZzZzZzZz

This silly navigation thread has taken a turn for the worse.

Sorry Jedi. It is not the best to discuss other than the topic, but tends to happen sometimes. Just a yes or no about navigation or not would be a little boring too I think. And the OP did get a lot of opinions already...

Actually, that is not how you calculate annualized gain . After the first year's gain that amount is the basis for the second year's gain and so on.

And yes, if you bought at the right time McDonald's would have been a good investment. It depends on you risk aversion and how well you think history will repeat. It is pretty iffy to invest a large amount in a stock that is inverse to the market indices. The fact that MCD was up 1.9% when the market was down 1.6% is not necessarily good.[/FONT][/COLOR]

You are Totally right about this.. If I hadn't had to much wine last night I would have realized that! Oops.. My way seems right at first glance but then I see how far off it could be. Doesn't take compounding in to account.

MCD was inverse for that one day and does tend to look like a defensive stock these days but obviously over the 10 years it's done much better than the market.

I have to say though, when one takes into account the reinvested dividends along with the annual return for MCD I think we are going to be at 19% or over for those 10 years.. Its a little difficult to calculate it out though.. I will try to find an online website that can do this.. not sure if there is one.

Thanks so much for straightening me out on this.. I'm sure I knew it at one point but haven't played around with investing numbers like this for 20 years or more. R

 

[Matt_RN]

LOL.

 

[midcow3]

Kalo925,
At least you had the excuse of having some wine. And whoosh it went over the heads of Jedi 767, G550guy, and Max12. LOL


Back to navigation or no-navigation. For $2,000 off a person should absolutely buy. But as Kalo925 pointed out the cost between a non-premium CT and a CT with Navigation is more than the cost of the navigation, first there is the premium upgrade=$1,680, then there is the premium audio upgrade=$1,125, then finally the navigation package =$2,445 for a total difference of $5,250. And Kalo925's point it might be better to invest that amount, especially if the person were young and/or were stretching to buy a CT. However, if this is the direction you intend to go, get a QUALIFIED financial advisor.

However, as has been pointed out, the navigation package offers a lot more than navigation which is why some people are will to pay the premium even though they could much more cheaply get just navigation functions with a stand-alone Garmin or through their iphone.

The navigation package was worth it too me, some people may have different opinions. However to state that a thread has taken a “turn for the worse”, just because you don't understand what is being said is pretty immature an narrow-minded. If you were more open, you might actually learn some new information

Cheers,
MidCow3

 

[metropolitim]

...a large majority of touch smart phones and blackberrys have very poor microphone pick-up and speaker clarity. It is very easy to overdrive the volume and clip the conversation. in otherwords they are so smart, so advanced and have so many non-phone conversation features, that they cannot handle a simple phone call.

This is especially true for my iPhone 4. My email sig is "Sent from my iPhone. Might as well. Not like I can make calls with it."

Seriously, I can't imagine using my phone as either a phone or a GPS when compared with the nav system integration. Here are some of my favorite features.

• You can hear the phone.

• When my iPhone is connected via USB, the nav system understands music files, podcasts, and - especially nice - any playlists I created in iTunes. The USB connection also charges the phone.

• I can set my navigation routes on my computer, and the nav system downloads them. This gets around the tendency of all nav systems to create wacky routes that I have to manage while I'm driving.

• Another thing that I like is that the Lexus nav system is far less prone to such wacky routes than the TomTom or Garmin GPS units I've owned.

• Best voice direction I've ever used. I really like the "bong" for the instruction and "double bong" to say DO IT NOW. Invaluable for the way I drive.

• I'm certainly enjoying my free year of Destination Assist. In fact, I haven't yet tried to use the nav system interface for entering an address manually. I just call up Destination Assist and let them do it for me. Ditto for "searching nearby." They really do it all.

• That said, I just entered my first address using Voice Command. Got a huge kick out of that, and found it to work really well. Even if I drop the Destination Assist service when I have to pay for it (and I can't imagine that I will, frankly), entering travel commands by voice is awesome.

But I have to add that the rendering on this thing is hideous. Really ugly. If this was 1988, I'd say it was downright futuristic, but here and now, I'm sticking with ugly. Not that that gets in the way of it being useful, easy to use, and downright fun. The drawing of the maps is just ugly.

Your mileage will vary, but for us, it was an easy choice. If we ever buy another car we'll get this again.

PS. One reason I don't own stocks anymore is that I got tired of TALKING about owning stocks.

 

[Max12]

However, as has been pointed out, the navigation package offers a lot more than navigation which is why some people are will to pay the premium even though they could much more cheaply get just navigation functions with a stand-alone Garmin or through their iphone.

The navigation package was worth it too me, some people may have different opinions. However to state that a thread has taken a “turn for the worse”, just because you don't understand what is being said is pretty immature an narrow-minded. If you were more open, you might actually learn some new information

Really? And all this time I thought making assumptions and blanket comments about people you don't know, personal attacks and making statements such as "you should keep quiet" were narrow minded and immature. I guess we all have our own opinions...

 

[Dirvin]

I read an article on the 2012 revision of the nav system. The images showed an interface that looked like a musical keyboard. I can't seem to locate it now.

But, it could be as reliable as mac rumors on the iPhone 5. Until it's out, nobody knows...the focus of the article was a that a big revision in the interface was being made.

 

[Max12]

I read an article on the 2012 revision of the nav system. The images showed an interface that looked like a musical keyboard. I can't seem to locate it now.

But, it could be as reliable as mac rumors on the iPhone 5. Until it's out, nobody knows...the focus of the article was a that a big revision in the interface was being made.

Haha, so true!!

 

[Don]

Navigation System

Does anyone know how or if there is a way to override the navigational system so you can put in a destination while moving? I don't want to use the e-destination trial feature from Lexus. I get scared when someone I don't know talks to me in the car and knows all about my position and the model and color of my car. Yikes! I feel so exposed and that Big Brother is watching me and my every move.

 

[wbaker911]

Bought the base model and don't miss any of the options
It's a fourth car used strictly for commuting
But I was pretty delighted to get it out the door for less then $30K
So far a pleasant surprise

 

[midcow3]

Congrats!

Bought the base model and don't miss any of the options
It's a fourth car used strictly for commuting
But I was pretty delighted to get it out the door for less then $30K
So far a pleasant surprise

Pretty darn nice "commuting" car .... even the base is LOADED

 

[midcow3]

Does anyone know how or if there is a way to override the navigational system so you can put in a destination while moving? I don't want to use the e-destination trial feature from Lexus. I get scared when someone I don't know talks to me in the car and knows all about my position and the model and color of my car. Yikes! I feel so exposed and that Big Brother is watching me and my every move.

The eDestination works great; It is under POI and I hope it doesn't go away if a person no longer has Enform. If you are using the Internet at all, such as CT200h forums, I wouldn't worry about "big brother" when you download your destinations to your vehicle's nav system. However, apropos, in Houston their TransStar system has receivers to pick up bluetooth information to determine traffic speeds; currently it is all random, but it does pick up the MAC address, which if the wanted too, could be traced to the vehicle registered owner.

As far as entering when you are moving; I too would really like to have that feature. I know you can still enter when you are moving very slowly; I was in stop-n-go around a wreck and was going probably less than 5 mph and the destination was not grayed out. There should be a hack to fix this; someone will find it .