We're coming up on our 10th anniversary with our '05 Prius. It's been a rock-solid family car and I recently, at 125,000 miles, had all the struts replaced to keep it solid another 100K at least. That got me to thinking that I should update the map DVD in the Nav system since it's still the original and a lot of roads have changed the past decade. I remember when we bought the car they told us the updates were ~$500, so I just lived with the increasingly out-of-date maps. Last year, however, I bought a new Garmin Nuvi (for my other car) for only $75 and it came with free lifetime map updates, so I figured that the map DVD's should be down to $50 or $60. Not so! I was shocked to find that the dealer price is still over $200 and even online they start around $170! How can they possibly justify these prices? Are they deliberately trying to drive business away? What's the latest thinking on updating a 2nd gen Prius Nav system? - Jack
Garmin has competition (oodles of it) for add on GPS. Toyota has a monopoly on its proprietary one. Hence Toyota can charge whatever it wants or believes their customers are willing to pay for it. Which is also why a beer is $9 at a major league sporting event.
That's true, but it's still supply and demand. The supply may be controlled by them, but I can't imagine the demand being very great for a 10-year-old mapping system. I wonder if they're really selling that many, or if they're just giving up on most of the market to cut down on the annoyance? - Jack
Oh so you have to put the DVD in a slot under the drivers seat, is that what that box is only just got the car this week. Did some quick research, it possible to burn version AU & NZ v20 onto a Dual Layer DVD. I'm in Aus and happy to split the costs if others are willing to give it a shot. $300 is a rip-off! P.S. does anyone have the workshop manual for Gen 2?
Apart from forum rules preventing the discussion of pirating activities, from what I have read, copy DVD's do not work. Your best bet is to try and find someone who is selling (on eBay et al) a previous version that is more up to date than your current version. $300 does seem a bit rich compared to the EU price of €110. If you want the latest and greatest, then you will have to pay what the dealer sells it for.
Your response conflicts with what a parts rep at the local Toyota dealer told my wife when she asked if we could share the GPS DVD between her 2008 Prius and mine. Not sure if he was trying to take advantage of her or if he didn't really know. What we want to do is replace one Prius with the latest DVD, then use the DVD being replaced in the other Prius, which has an even older DVD. Does that make sense, and is it possible?
yes, that makes sense. what he is saying is that the dvd has to be in place for the gps to work. so you will have the latest and greatest, and she will have your old one. i don't know if generations or years matter. i guess you should move your dvd to make sure it works, before buying the new one.
if you both got 2008, you can do it. I don't believe the nav will function if the disc is not in the nav unit.
I believe that the discs will be interchangeable between Gen II MY's as long as the screens on both cars look the same. As Bisco said try your current newer disc in the car with the older disc, if it is not compatible, you will get some sort of error. One thing to note, that if the new disc contains updates to the features of the actual Nav system (e. g. removes the moving lock) then these updates will remain even if you put the older disc back in. Reiterating what Shovlhed said, you will need one disc or another to be in the DVD player in order to use the Nav system, as the maps stay on the disc and are not loaded onto the system.
They put other updates than the maps on the dvd's ? I think my dealer had the dvd's on sale for 160. I rather use my up to date google maps on my phone.