I have decided NOT to purchase Porsche's NAV system or any of their other electronics for that matter. For one, this keeps the cost of the car down and for another it avoids my ultimate FRUSTRATION when their NAV becomes obsolete in the near future. Or more like the near past.
Porsche's NAV is poorly designed and over priced. Other manufacturer's on-board NAV systems are much better, especially the Japanese. Porsche's NAV is down right embarrassing.
Even the Bose System is insufficient and leaves much to be desired.
Sure, the new portable NAV with traffic control warning that Porsche is releasing this summer looks good, especially at under a grand. But, these things become obsolete so fast and are not ready for prime time. Even then these electronics are not supported as they should be and not updated!
The first auto manufacturer that realizes that making a modular and constantly upgradeable NAV is going to get a lot of business and eventually all auto makers are going to have to migrate to this marketing model in order to compete and to satisfy and hold customers. Once they start offering support for these systems with upgrades and new maps and features, then I'll be interested.
PORSCHE AG, ACHTUNG! You want my hard earned money? Then don't sell me something that you're going to find embarrassing in such a short haul!
The Porsche NAV that comes in the Cayman is miserable. It is poorly designed and is bottom tier. You want to put something in that can be constantly upgraded.
Such planned obsolescence may make you a lot of money today, but you'll be losing that customer tomorrow. That is :crazy:
You want my advice?
Make the NAV electronics upgradeable, design the module for easy replacement and service and SERVICE the thing! Don't make these fine driving platforms obsolete so fast. Sure, there will always be some who want$ the newest thing and may be able to trade in every year for the latest and greatest.
BUT most want to personalize and fine tune their cars and keep the same machine they've worked so hard to afford and worked so hard to upgrade and put their personal touches upon.
I'll take mine with the basic audio system and no NAV and NEVER even consider the on board cell phone features. They are a rip!
One more thing, educate your salesman better and make your options clearer, more understandable, with better visual support. My dealership experience smacks of the same steering the prospective buyer into cars they don't want that are in stock and (over)controlling the matter from beginning to end in the same low life manner as lower class marques.
:argue:
Having a data base available with current builds in stock for dealers everywhere would go along way to making it easier to find and get the car one wants. The interactive website to design one's car in a bit anemic, especially when we've come to expect a certain superiority from German engineering.
My advice to others? Walk more often, much more often. These guys can't move the cars. The odds of the same car being there should you change your mind are greater than it being gone. Porsche buyers are very rare and the way Porsche has niched the Cayman, giving all to the 911, just shows the obtuse and anachronistic attitude that prevails therein.
You want to see that Cayman RS or one at least equivalent from the factory with 911 power? Then let them sit. If they sit on the lot, Porsche will have no choice but to actually build upper variants--much faster than the planned and seemingly locked-in incremental improvement and marketing that Porsche AG already has scheduled.
They can do it. They are a "marketing" company now. Porsche success is undeniable. They know exactly what they are doing and when they will do it and how to maximize profit as their ability to buy VW demonstrates.
Frankly, Porsche made a set of serious strategic errors in bringing this mid-ship platform in so low, but then, when I can get one of these CS's for $25 grand in a year or two, I'll be very grateful.
:banana:
Gee
I guess my poverty is showing!
Finally, my biggest gripe? Porsche eliminated the color I want. Blending into the highway is the best way I know to survive the watchful eye of the (anal) law. I think felony speeding should be reserved for only those moments that damage occurs. I gave up everything else but they have made 20 mph over the posted limit a felony! REAL :crazy:
Bring back the Seal Gray. :cheers:
Shouldn't this topic go in Cayman Complaints?
I guess so. Do you want to move it? I have no idea of how to do that. I just wanted to post about the NAV and the idea of making the NAV modularly update-able, but then I got carried away . . . and griped at large.
Its a GPS ... how is it going to become obsolete?
I got a Magallen 700 I bought 2 1/2 years ago and guess what ... it STILL gets me from here to there
If your talking maps, they all use the same maps.
If your talking fancy widgets like BT, mp3 or whatever, they are just widgets to sell more units. Do you order fish and a steak place?
If you consider that the whole point is to get from point A to point B, it will never be obsolete.
If you want a bunch of fluffy widgets that marketing at Garmin, Magallen, Tom Tom or whoever need to push to sell units ... then to each their own.
In the meantime, I can get from Point A to Point B in my nearly 3 year old GPS w/out the fancy widgets and I bet in five years ... I will be able to do the exact same thing
