On the verge of changing my 1.8 Copper red NC. Going for a 1.5 SE-L ND. I am considering the 1.5 SE-L Nav ND, and that would probably be my preference but £600 extra!
Not sure where I would hang a portable sat nav in the ND, or if a portable sat nav screen would be big and clear for viewing when driving.
Maybe a sat nav would be good at resale, especially if these become standard features in most cars of the future.
Anyone have any views on to have or not to have the sat nav option?
I would not give a penny for a Mazda Sat-Nav, they are okay but all have had niggles, the costs involved are significant if you wish to maintain traffic and map updates.
My Garmin was not even £100 and has lifetime maps and traffic, more importantly I can load routes from Garmin Basecamp, it’s not perfect but it’s the best I have found.
Latest Garmin capacitive screens are great, clear in all light conditions and fast touch responsive units.
I chose not to go for the factory nav on my MX5 and Volvo as a matter of principle. ((I am a tight ----- Yorkshire man as well)
I get more choice, free life time maps and camera info plus when I am in our other cars all my saved destinations are there.
I mount my nav on the passenger side in the MX5 and Mini, it is out of my line of sight but I can still hear the instructions, plus Shirley can keep her eyes on it if I look like I am going wrong.
Interestingly with the MX5 when you push the nav button the screen shows your exact position and the direction you are facing. So all you are actually paying for is the SD card with the data on, the hardware is already fitted and active.
It is your choice
All NDs have the capability to have sat nav added later. The MZD connect system contains all of the hardware, it’s just a case of buying and inserting the SD card with the nav software on it. I’m not sure how much the SD card is and whether it’s cheaper to buy it with the car or later.
edit: Sorry should have read Mad Malc’s post properly before replying.
I have Nav, for everyday use it is fine.
For planning a multi point route for a club run it isn’t fine.
On balance knowing what I know now I wouldn’t bother.
You will be able to find a place for a regular size portable sat nav not one of the silly large ones.
£600 for sat nav which has reported issues, whereas my Tom Tom had worked faultlessly for years at a fifth of the price. OK the screen is a little smaller but thats why I got varifocals. 
I don’t understand why people buy separate Sat Nav units when their smartphone can be used just as well.
Google maps is free and has live traffic information. Co-pilot and other offline packages are inexpensive (several are free).
You can bluetooth your phone to your car’s audio system so you don’t have to turn down the music to hear the directions.
For mounting I use a CD slot bracket to avoid the windscreen suction mount (not sure if the ND has a CD slot).
I use the Tom Tom app on my iPhone. It has a 'winding road ’ feature that lets you select whether you want max, med or min winding roads. I’ve used it on max to find some amazing back roads on my journeys.
Does the mazda factory sat nav have this feature?
Google maps are fine and work well, I have run into waypoint restrictions over a certain number and route customisation, normally that is not too much of a problem but for complex routes that I can set up, measure, plan stop, Garmin offers what I need.
If Google routes are simple enough to avoid running out of custom points they can be shared easily too, my Garmin will carry two weeks of routes, set up by day that are really simple to use, up to the individual of course. The original question about the car based system is still relevant, it makes even less sense if you bring smart phones into the equation.
If only there was a glovebox to store your Satnav in on the ND.
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist throwing that in.
In my experience I’ve found factory fitted sat navs to not only be expensive to upgrade, (in the case of our Toyota Prius around £300), but they’re also usually not fitted in the optimum position for viewing purposes. I also think that within ten years we’ll see the demise of stand alone sat navs like Garmin and TomTom and instead all the mapping will be on our phones or tablets.
For my purposes I’ve found Route 66 mapping software downloaded on to my Nexus 7 tablet to work the best. Not only is it inexpensive to buy the software is great at formulating specific B road routes that I like to do with my 5 and the Nexus 7 is large enough so I don’t have to squint to read the map.
If anyone with a MK1 wants a recommendation for suction mounted phone/tablet holder this one works for me http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FWPM9BG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00
I too use my phone for sat navigation and find it quite acceptable. Wouldn’t it be nice if by some technical wizardry the image on the phone screen could be sent/transferred to the car’s info display screen.
I’m not sure I would say the built in unit has issues as such, it works perfectly competently in navigating you to a location.
It isn’t alone with the portable ones in being challenged with waypoints/route handling, it can in fact do this for a little effort though not in as simple a way as some of the portable ones and their ability to import routes. I do recall I had to hack my Tom Tom in order to enable this waypoint function which must be a minority requirement.
I’ll make use of the free 3 years map updates, after that I likely won’t bother as I haven’t bothered with updating my portable one, roads up here don’t change that often for what we use it for, phone is always available as a fall back.
I love that feature on the iphone tomtom app. Used it a lot when motorbiking. I can forsee it being used a lot with the mx5
I don’t have the Mazda system in my MX but my wife does in her shiney new CX-5. The first time we tried to update the maps the software corrupted the SD card. Quoted £700 for a new card by the dealer! After we complained to Mazda they arranged a one-off update under the warranty. Had to take the car in and leave it for 3 hours while the SD card was updated!
We are planning to go to Donnington for October and are currently looking at combined dashcam-satnavs (maybe a bit like Billy Connelly’s combined coat hangar and ■■■-lighter?) which would take up less screen and only need one wire into the power socket. We’ll see…
I think satnav screens are as dangerous as texting on a mobile phone!
you have to keep looking at the screen, how long is that glance & how far have you travelled with your eyes off the road?
on the very rare occasion I have used my cheap (£36) fleabay unit, I place it face down & use the voice promt only.
on that subject, on the mk4 is there not a system like bluetooth phones, where you can direct the voice from a portable satnav through the sound system?
I have 3 ‘glove boxes’ on my Mk4 and one can be locked. So I do not understand, admittedly they are not easily accessible on the move but you can stash your sat nav out of sight quite easily.
Yes they have a CD slot but it is behind you just below the lockable glove box--------
We are planning to go to Donnington for October and are currently looking at combined dashcam-satnavs (maybe a bit like Billy Connelly’s combined coat hangar and fag-lighter?) which would take up less screen and only need one wire into the power socket. We’ll see…
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I think the major problem with a combined dashcam/sat nav is that the optimum place for sighting a dash cam is probably not the same place you’ll want to locate a sat nav. In addition dash cams are best if they’re small so they can’t easily be detected from the outside, especially if you’re using them in parking mode, whilst a sat nav screen is better the bigger it is. So if it was me I’d stick to having both but power the dash cam from a 5v power bank unit if you did not want to over use the 12v socket.