Why is the NAV screen of such crappy quality?

That's strange. I just traded-in a 2007 TCamryHybrid which had Nav. and I loved that system. It was a good high quality screen and was fairly fast. I had heard complaints about the Prius III and nav.

However, I bought one about 10 days ago and I find that the screen quality is about the same (maybe slightly lower definition). My complaint is that when using, it calculates directions slower....so I don't know if that's the computer itself or the satellites and antenna.

Carson

 

it's all about cost... toyota's cost for building the prius was getting too expensive. A IV with nav and solar roof is $30,000. that's a lot for a small car. in the meanwhile, they had to contend with the new honda insight. they did not know how much it would compete with the prius. they knew it would a few thousand cheaper so they had to reduce costs to compete.

we now know that the insight is really no match for the prius.. it's slower, cramped and uses more gas. still, the base insight is about $3,000-$4,000 less expensive. if you were the only driver and maybe had a passenger, you'd still think about the insight.

the prius also has to compete with other midsized cars. for the prius of a prius IV, i could have bought a fully loaded camry se with a v-6 with less money. it's all in what the customer perceives in the value.

 

You folks are so busy telling how bad the G3 is ....

I took delivery 4 days ago of a G3 IV, and I think it is fantastic. I find absolutely no fault with the Nav. screen. (Maybe they improved the most recent built?) I find the ride is supurb; quiet and comfortable; the interior is beautiful; no rattles; stability is great; fit and finish is perfect; and I am getting 54.1 mpg on my first tank. These were my priorities .... and I am not feeling denied.

What else could I ask for?

 

An iPod interface!!! (that isn't butt-ugly and labeled as "DVD"!!)
That's my only real gripe... from what I know so far, since I don't have my car yet.

 

oh for crying out loud ... that's HARDLY a fair comparison ... after all the high tech brand new Lexus screen is (OLED) organic light emitting diode technology ... and isn't the contrast on 'em something like 10x higher or more? That's like comparing HD NAV's to DVD nav's. no comparison. you can't gripe when new technology gets introduced, because at SOME point, the last model has to get phased out. This just happens to fall at an inconvenient time.

 

It seems to me that 2010 would have been the perfect time to switch to a HD nav system, since the rest of the car has been so "revamped" compared to previous years.

 

Actually, someone posted that the 2010 Nav screen was lower resolution than even the Gen2 Prius Nav screen. Can someone verify/deny this?

That would be something to complain about: a downgrade within the same line. But I do think the explanation was that they wanted to save money. This is one of the reasons the 2010 is cheaper than the 2009.

 

You're not the only one to notice that.

The 2004-2005 Prius' had a lower definition screen.

While in 2006, if you got package two and up, you got the higher definition screen.

Now, the third generation Prius seems to have a lower definition navigation screen, and a very low definition energy monitor.

 

It's interesting to see the energy monitors change over time...
Starting with the 1998 Prius though the current.

 

They had to do it to (try to) keep the price sub-stratospheric for the NAV equipped models. Having said that, and acknowledging the fact that the NAV display isn't as Gucci as some of the others out there, I was surprised to find that it's fairly easy to read (if not to use) even when competing with old Sol (the screen didn't wash out very badly in sunlight) and it's not nearly as cheesy as some of the displays that are out there even on more upscale sheet metal, which is certainly NOT true for the MDF---but that's a different topic.
Simply put....it's allllll about the $$$.
If you want a high-end NAV unit, your best bet is to buy aftermarket, and get some EE student (or dropout) to install it for you. Same with the sound system.
This isn't a Toyota exclusive. I haven't seen very many OEM head units that can compete with a good, or in the case of some, even a mediocre aftermarket system.

 

Right. I think it would be cool if the whole eyebrow (that's what I call that cluster of readouts) was just one huge LCD display.

 

That's why his name is 32kcolors. LOL!!

After looking through all those pictures, the Gen III screen sucks compared to even the Gen I. wtfwtfwtf

 

I know!
The screen in the 1998 Prius, a car that's 13 years old, has a better screen than a 2011 model car! It's laughable.

 

I couldn't agree more. Like I just said, it's horrible that a car that's 13 years old (1998 Prius) has a better screen than a 2011 model year car!