Was considering moving to a Rav4 for ease of getting in and out. Researching the topic it appears that if you want a nav system (XSE only?) you have to pay a yearly subscription and hope you are withing 4G cell towers to get nav info. No cell towers you're dead in water. On my 2018 plug in, there is an SD card that has all the info and you bought a new card for updates but it was stand alone system (I have learned Toyota switched multi,media heads in 2019 models so no SD cards are available for my 2018 (except sketchy amazon dealers),. Now as I read it, newer rav4s all require subscriptions, or you buy a Garmin unit as your nav system.. What am I missing or nor reading correctly?
No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto? At least with CarPlay you can download your maps so they work off-line. All you need is a GPS signal which is pretty ubiquitous. J
Any new Toyota with the latest "Toyota Connected Services" system (so the new 12" and 14" screens) have "cloud navigation". So yes, after the 3 year trial, it will be subscription based. Annoying as heck but I suppose it will just accelerate the use of 3rd party apps like Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps.
our '24 hycam had no gps after a 3 momth trial. apple carplay works well though. can't get bluetooth to work, but it is fine when plugged in.
I acquired a RAV4 Prime XSE in February. Yes, the Nav is now on a cloud-based subscription. It has many characteristics I dislike (e.g. cannot lock in "north is up", and much useful map side detail alongside my selected route is dimmed out), so don't plan to renew the trial. Don't remember the Nav's trial length right now, various different items are on trial subscriptions from 3 months to 10 years, and I didn't miss whatever item expired at 3 months. My only positive comment for NAV, is that it displays upcoming turn information on the HUD (head up display, only in an option package). Other than that, both Garmin and Google Maps better fit my needs. Last weekend, supporting a gravel bike event with very little cellular coverage, all my navigation was by pre-loaded maps on the RideWithGPS and CalTopo mobile apps. Didn't even consider using the Toyota Nav.
So bottom line is maybe NOT consider a rav4 vehicle since the nav system is subscription dependent on spotty cellular services. How thoughtful of toyota...
Started with Tesla and the Model S on 3G. Those early cars can't even load it anymore since 3G was decommissioned.
I wouldn't know for beans personally, I've read that apple works better on wifi. If your cam supports it, it might be worth looking at what options are available for wireless.
