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due to pick my car up next week and as the thread says I’m having second thoughts about the car I picked. I stupidly decided to go for the sat nav model at an extra £200 which I’ve got but still thinking it’s just a waste of money for the motoring I do. Is it too later to swap to the lower spec car without satnav ? And would it be fair on the dealer/salesman ??
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Couple of points.
Speak to Motability to see if they will allow you to cancel and re-order.
If you can you might have a lengthy wait for a new car.
I would speak to the dealer first about your concerns, they might be able to offer a couple of options themselves, especially if it means saving a sale.
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiFord Focus
Seat Leon ST 
Mazda CX-5 Ask the dealer but to be honest even if you won’t use the sat nav if you swap to the non sat nav model if you are only saving £200 it’s hardly worth the hassle.
You just never know what might come up in the next 3 years, you might end up being very pleased with your decision. Also they can often improve the appearance of a car interior which has to be a good thing.
It’s 2018. Cars shouldn’t even be sold without Sat Nav IMO. I use Sat Nav for every journey, even on my daily commute, not because I don’t know the way, but because I find the live traffic info to be a godsend. I can see traffic jams on the Sat Nav miles before I can physically see them and I can take a diversion before getting stuck. In the old days I was having to pay a grand or two for built in Sat Nav, so for £200 for what will now be a better system, it’s a no brainer.
I always use the sat nav for live traffic updates and yesterday benefitted as there was a 6 mile queue on one road and 4 miles on the motorway. Whilst I was taken on a strange route and it added 15 mins to the journey, had I chosen either of the other 2 I would have missed my appointment.
Coming back to the original question, by all means speak to the dealer, but I would recommend speaking to Motability first before cancelling. I have known of past cases where Motability have refused the re-order of the “same” car although I recollect that may have been due to lower AP. It’s best to cover all bases so whatever you decide you are fully aware of your options.
Our Seat Alhambra has satnav as standard, and frankly it is pathetic compared with Tomtom, that we have always had and was in both of our last two Motability cars. No camera information, allegedly dynamic route guidance is very hit and miss, sometimes reroutes around jams, other times leads you straight into jams that are easily avoidable. I used the free waze app on my phone yesterday and it was astonishing. It not only rerouted me round every jam, had speed camera information, but also warned me of potholes ahead. Why VW and other manufacturers persist in their second rate systems is beyond me.
I have often thought the same Littledave. I can only assume it’s to avoid them being pursued for claims by owners who get caught out by a speed camera (or pothole) that wasn’t in the database!
Indeed my Tucson I picked up January does have live traffic but doesn’t have speed (safety) camera positions. Instead now it clearly states the speed limit
Yes my new Golf sat nav just has the speed limit no cameras
It’s worth keeping in mind that these speed limit and speed camera displays aren’t 100% reliable.
Databases aren’t always updated with speed limit changes (and many drivers are using outdated databases) and most people getting nicked for speeding now are caught by mobile ‘safety camera partnership’ vans rather than fixed cameras.
My BMW has a camera based system which ‘reads’ road signs but, again, that’s not 100% reliable. I have also found that it can struggle to read the overhead ‘variable speed limits’ on the managed motorway I use when the sun is directly on the sign causing glare.
Very good point mentioned there Glos on the database going out of date.
With my Seat the navigation database is updated annually and there is a charge for the dealer to do this, it’s not an automatic ‘over the air’ – think the dealer quoted £74 per update.
When i first had mine there were no speed signals, but i found online a way to update the navigation, was actually for Skoda and the update came from a Russian website – but it worked and i now have the latest version of navigation which shows the speed limit. Must say though, it is only for the tech competent person to update, thought i had messed it up till i found the missing file in my recycle bin…phew.
But yeah back on topic, I agree, i wouldn’t rely on looking at a screen to know what speed the speed limit is.
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 You also have to be careful with those aftermarket Sat Nav updates Trev. I had a privately owned BMW 7 series and bought a disc to update my Sat Nav (inc cameras) as it was recommended on a BMW forum. I had to uninstall it in the end as it bizarrely affected the car in other ways (comfort access etc). I hadn’t realised it, but the Sat Nav system (which also had DVD player and TV) was run off what I think BMW called the ‘MOST’ system which controlled lots of other electrical gizmos in the car.
On my current BMW 5 Series I remembered when I bought it that it was meant to have free Sat Nav updates for 3 years. I asked the service department about it when it went in for a service and they didn’t know what I was talking about and tried to sell me a USB update for something daft like £100 plus. I declined. Anyhow, almost 3 years into my ownership I finally sussed that you have to download the update on to your computer and then load on to a USB. I managed to do it with only a bit of faff (I am an IT neanderthal) and then held my breath as I plugged it in to the cars USB port. Much to my surprise, it downloaded with no problem. Sadly, no speed cameras, but it is the official BMW version and the car does have a camera system which reads road signs.
I just need to remember to check at the end of August (just before the car is 3 years old) if there is a further update as I think I am too tight to pay for one afterwards!
Oh yeah i agree Glos about having to be careful.
On the Seat’s all the sat nav data is on a memory card, learnt from my mistake, so before doing any kind of update now i backup the files on a laptop – i have folder which is again backed up on the cloud so i can’t lose them at all. If anything goes wrong at anytime, i always have the last and original versions available to me.
I would do the same, update just before my sub expires…. to be honest, i could quite happily live without the updates until you are instructed to go down a road that no longer exists, or you are toddling along B roads next to a motorway lol
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 Really to save a couple of hundred pounds the sat nav in the car will be far superior to the one you have and will also be far better than sticking one on the dash of your car and then removing it and then putting it back in evertime you go out,with the aggro people are having waiting for months for there cars some people need to really think about there order before they go ahead with it.
Well had the car 24 hours now and I’m really impressed with it not used the satnav yet but I’m sure I’ll get some use out of it. The only thing I’m not sure about is the lane assist ( I think it’s called) that keeps nudging the steering wheel when you edge to close to the white line but I’m sure i will get used to it. So atm the Hyundai Tucson 1.6 senav gets a 9/10 from me ?
