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New Navigation DVD?

14K views 22 replies 9 participants last post by  Kriston 
#1 ·
The 2009 disk set has been out of stock at gmnavdisc for what seems like forever. 2010 disks exist for other cadillacs, but not the XLR. I've asked the folks at gmnavdisk if there will ever be a 2010 disk set, but they haven't responded. I've sent in an inquiry via the cadillac web site, and also been ignored.

It's starting to look like GM has no plans to either restock the 2009 disk or produce a 2010 set -- they probably think it's too expensive to support the few XLR's and old-model SRX's. I'd just go buy a Garmin or TomTom, except for the inconvenience of having to secure it when running into a store leaving the top down.

Does anyone have any GM contacts who might know if there will ever be a new nav disk set?
 
#2 ·
It a shame to have to look to other methods to do this but the nav just isnt great. I have an Iphone and I use the GPS Drive app by motion x and it works great. I put an Iphone mount in the little area between the cig lighter and the cup holders. It feeds through the stereo system and it works better than my garmin.
 
#4 ·
I'm very clearly getting the picture that Cadillac does not want to answer this question. Two calls to gmnavdisc, no callbacks. Question via website, no response. At dealer's suggestion, called Cadillac customer assistance. They said the only ones who can answer are the navdisc center. They gave me a po box where they claimed I could write to Cadillac to complain about the navdisc center. When I asked for the name of the Cadillac division gm, they told me James Taylor (wrong by more than a year...).

Ok, so what's the consensus among XLR owners? Garmin, TomTom, Magellan?
 
#6 ·
Ok, so what's the consensus among XLR owners? Garmin, TomTom, Magellan?
If it help any, I just installed the Kenwood DMX-9960 because it had the Garmin instead of the crappy GM nav system.

My dad has a 2008 STS. The nav is MUCH better than the one in the XLR. I drove a 2010 CTS for a couple days. The nav in it is at least that much better than the STS. The Garmin beats all by quite a bit more.

We chose Garmin by on-line research, and by going into stores that sold different systems and trying to set up a route. The Garmin had the best user interface for us. You may have a different opinion due to the way you do things, that is why there are so many different ways of doing things :yesnod In fact, I understand that some people actually like using Windows over Linux/KDE, but I will never understand why :lol
 
#5 ·
Nav.disc Not Available

Hello All,had Two Ssrs Concerned About Parts,sold Them And Purchased A 2009 Xlr.[assuming Parts Availability Would Be No Problem With A Car With A Mrsp Of $ 90,000 !!! ] Looks Like I Trusted G.m. Product Support Too Much.i Will Remember That When I Buy My Next High End Vehicle!!!! Thanks
 
#7 ·
I have a Garmin for another car and have to agree, it beats either of the Nav systems in both my Cadillacs, hands-down. It's ease of use, data entry (by my navigator) while driving, online-updates, and real-time traffic monitoring are awesome! Occasionally, it routes me to La-La Land, but overall, I'm pleased. (--Like they say, "You have to be smarter than the equipment you're operating.")

I wish GM would subcontract their Nav systems the way they use Bose for their stereos; Denso has been spanked. Garmin rocks!

CC :cheers
 
#8 ·
I just purchased a new CTS Sportwagon and opted out on the nav system - figured I'd try the turn-by-turn offered with OnStar or use my old TomTom that updates from my computer. My salesman on the CTS recommended the turn by turn, but I have not had a chance to use it to see if it is acceptable. If this is a good alternative, I may opt to resubscribe to OnStar for my XLR. Anyone else have experience with turn by turn?
 
#9 ·
Kahuna, the CTS nav system is actually pretty good. Far better than the others they have.

As to Turn by Turn, I have not used that exact one. I used one in Atlanta called Never Lost. I called it Ever Lost. I needed to go up Cobb to Windy Hill and turn left. Go down to the RR track and turn right. It had me pass my left turn and take a right exit that wound around on some freeway circling the Air Base and then coming back from the other direction.

I just work LOTS better with a map that I can see. Others may like it. Just my personal opinion.
 
#10 ·
Kahuna, the CTS nav system is actually pretty good. Far better than the others they have.

As to Turn by Turn, I have not used that exact one. I used one in Atlanta called Never Lost. I called it Ever Lost. I needed to go up Cobb to Windy Hill and turn left. Go down to the RR track and turn right. It had me pass my left turn and take a right exit that wound around on some freeway circling the Air Base and then coming back from the other direction.

I just work LOTS better with a map that I can see. Others may like it. Just my personal opinion.
Well, I have 12 months to try Turn by Turn to see if I like it. The good news is it does not require updates, ...:cheersand I still have my Tom Tom to fall back on.
 
#11 ·
I've made one more attempt to get an answer. Clara at the gm navdisc center (which, btw, is run by Helm) spoke with their GM representative, and passed on the answer that there will NOT be a 2010 update. However, the long-out-of-stock 2009 disk will supposedly be available later this month.

I'm of the view that no 2010 disk means no future update ever, so I'm not likely to shell out a couple hundred to update from 2007 maps to 2009 instead of biting the bullet now and getting a gps

Although... I've been researching what the disk contains, and it appears to look a lot like a Toyota gen4 nav disk I found out on the net, so I may have to see what happens if I do a little combining...
 
#12 ·
What we (all of us here) have discovered is that the XLR has a different NAV disk than ANY other GM vechicle. WHY I really don't know. It would seem logical that it must have "cousins" somewhere in the automotive world but NO unless somebody has found one. The disk format is different.

FWIW: I also have a 2006 SSR. the owner who owned it prior to me installed a Pioneer AVIC-Z2 sytem which includes the Nav run by GPS and a back up camera, bluetooth and a hard disk. It's a great unit and will fit the "hole" in our cars as I understand as will the later models designed for GM cars and trucks. This monster as I understand was $2,500 WOW!!!

With all of this background, I am of the opinon that the iPhone 4 NAV systems will work just fine for my needs. The cost is considerably less and just as accurate and up to date.



 
#14 ·
We aren't the only ones using the particular disk. It's also for a couple of Deville & Seville years, and the first 3 years of the original SRX. Just a few more owners Cadillac has chosen to flip off.

No success yet trying to make a hybrid disk by adding maps from a different disk. However, a couple of interesting things have been identified. By stripping out the index files for other regions, I can rebuild the 2007 cadillac disk as a small enough image to fit on a single-layer dvd, and found that burning a DVD+R of that image works in the XLR. In fact, a DVD+RW seems to work fine too, thereby reducing the testing cost significantly. And, since these work fine, there appears to nothing critical hidden away on the original disk.

The big map file (alldata.kwi) on both the 2007 xlr disk and a 2008 toyota gen4 disk identify themselves as format version kiwi01-22-00, so that's promising. The XLR's denso unit is almost certainly generation 4 then, as the disk for my 2007 lexus's gen5 system is quite different.

If anyone has a 2008 or 2009 disk, I'l love to know the contents of the spec.kwi file (which is a very small text file on both the disks I'm looking at).
 
#15 ·
We aren't the only ones using the particular disk. It's also for a couple of Deville & Seville years, and the first 3 years of the original SRX. Just a few more owners Cadillac has chosen to flip off.

No success yet trying to make a hybrid disk by adding maps from a different disk. However, a couple of interesting things have been identified. By stripping out the index files for other regions, I can rebuild the 2007 cadillac disk as a small enough image to fit on a single-layer dvd, and found that burning a DVD+R of that image works in the XLR. In fact, a DVD+RW seems to work fine too, thereby reducing the testing cost significantly. And, since these work fine, there appears to nothing critical hidden away on the original disk.

The big map file (alldata.kwi) on both the 2007 xlr disk and a 2008 toyota gen4 disk identify themselves as format version kiwi01-22-00, so that's promising. The XLR's denso unit is almost certainly generation 4 then, as the disk for my 2007 lexus's gen5 system is quite different.

If anyone has a 2008 or 2009 disk, I'l love to know the contents of the spec.kwi file (which is a very small text file on both the disks I'm looking at).
I have what I believe is the last upgrade disc Version 8.00. This is 2 disc set, one labled: United States/Canada - West and the other US/Canada - East. Version is listed as 2008-2009. I cannot open the file you referenced, but the date of last modification is listed as 2/4/2003 11:00 AM. I guessing from that that it is the same as yours.

The files showing 2008 updates are the ones in the IDX folder, and the KWI files: ALLDATA, INDEXDAT and of course VERSION (a test file) reading: COMMENT=2008-2009

Please let me know if you need any additional info.
 
#18 ·
Progress: I've now confirmed that the system in the XLR is older than I thought; It's denso's generation 3 system. Further, I tracked down a Toyota/Lexus generation 2/3 disk for 2007 and burned a slightly reauthored version omitting the firmware load files. It works, although voice prompts are missing. (I didn't want to try the original toyota disk, as I'm not sure what would happen if the new firmware got loaded.)

I don't have any later toyota map disks available at this time, and Toyota hasn't released the 2010 disks yet, but it looks like when they do we may very well have a way to update our maps despite being abandoned by Cadillac.
 
#20 ·
The entire Nav unit, the screen, how it looks and how it works is very poor, especially for a $100k automobile, I am replacing the entire unit with a New Kenwood eXcelon in dash unit, it has 3D nav map (will never need a new disc), NAVTEQ traffic, 5.1, blue tooth, Ipod,, and your passenger can operate Nav and play DVD's while in motion. I hate to replace the factory one, but it's useless. I will put back when I sell, although probably be worth more with aftermarket unit.
 
#22 ·
If you are looking at the DNX-9960 model, you might want to read my thread about what I went through. Everything is now working quite well, but I had to go back a few times for things that were not quite there.

Overall I LOVE the Kenwood and Mobile Sound Systems did an excellent job. I would recommend it and them to anyone.
 
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