Navigation 2014 / 2017 - Differences?

[T4RG4]

Hi all,

First off, I hope everyone is well during this strange times. My intended car purchase has been delayed. Not much use for another household car when many of us are stuck at home!

However, I'm tracking a couple of cars I'd very much like to decide between this week. Both diesel, one is a 2014 with very low miles and air suspension but the original Nav and the other a 2017 with double the mileage and no air, albeit nicer interior and slightly(?) updated Nav. The price difference is Almost 10k. I think I'd prefer the cheaper car to use as the family bus. However, the older Nav has me slightly worried. Is there much of a difference between the two? I think it changed in 2016. I've tried looking for videos of the older system on Youtube but can't find anything worthwhile.

Any thoughts/opinions (especially those who have had both) would be much appreciated.

Steve

[Guy]

I've got the old (PCM3.1-based) nav system on my 2015 car - it cost me about £2K!!

To be honest I rarely use the inbuilt nav now - it was about a year out of date when I bought it, and would cost £300+ to get the database officially updated and I wouldn't have a great deal of confidence in the newer data for the 3.1 system - unless anyone else can suggest otherwise. I normally use Waze with a phone mount to the left of the PDK lever, with the Waze audio playing as a BT phone call through the car audio. You can get CarPlay retrofitted, but only by an aftermarket company such as NM Automotive: https://www.nmautomotive.co.uk/carplay-androidauto

The PCM changed early 2016 - you'll find this discussed elsewhere on the forum. The newer PCM4 system allowed over the nav air updates (free initially TBC) and also CarPlay (as an option) - but no Android Auto. I've played with the newer PCM system in showrooms and loaners, but others will be able to give a better view of its functionality. I do like CarPlay - particularly if you are driving several different cars and don't want to learn new systems.

But hearing your brief description of the two cars, I would think that there are more important considerations than nav?

[Nuclear Nick]

The PCM changed early 2016 - you'll find this discussed elsewhere on the forum. The newer PCM4 system allowed over the nav air updates (free initially TBC) and also CarPlay (as an option)

I think you mean over the air nav updates , but this is only possible with cars that have Connect +, which was not standard then. The 2017 car the OP mentions might have that though, but it would require a subscription.

[Kleynie]

I have a 2017 car with connect plus and a subscription and I did not know about the over air updates?

I find the system to be very good even after running a BMW 535 with the latest idrive NBT evo.

I simply don’t like the look of the older 3.1 system, just makes the dash look dated.

[Nuclear Nick]

I have a 2017 car with connect plus and a subscription and I did not know about the over air updates?

Go to 'Home' screen, then Set/Software Update/Load Update/Online Update/Navigation data. You may get recommended regions to download or you can Select Further Countries to choose from the list. Once selected you need to press 'Start' (you may need to wave your hand close to the screen to get this icon up). You have to wait for some stages to load, depending on your connection.

In the sequence above, rather than 'Load update' you can choose Version Information to see which navigation database you already have. Mine is showing 2020 at the moment. There have been more than one database version release each year in the past.

If you search the forum you can find quite a lot of history on this subject, not all of it clear!

[Kleynie]

I have a 2017 car with connect plus and a subscription and I did not know about the over air updates?

Go to 'Home' screen, then Set/Software Update/Load Update/Online Update/Navigation data. You may get recommended regions to download or you can Select Further Countries to choose from the list. Once selected you need to press 'Start' (you may need to wave your hand close to the screen to get this icon up). You have to wait for some stages to load, depending on your connection.

In the sequence above, rather than 'Load update' you can choose Version Information to see which navigation database you already have. Mine is showing 2020 at the moment. There have been more than one database version release each year in the past.

If you search the forum you can find quite a lot of history on this subject, not all of it clear!

Thank you. Do I need a sim card in the connect plus socket?

[T4RG4]

I've got the old (PCM3.1-based) nav system on my 2015 car - it cost me about £2K!!

To be honest I rarely use the inbuilt nav now - it was about a year out of date when I bought it...

Thank you for the information. Very much appreciated.

[Nuclear Nick]

I have a 2017 car with connect plus and a subscription and I did not know about the over air updates?

Go to 'Home' screen, then Set/Software Update/Load Update/Online Update/Navigation data. You may get recommended regions to download or you can Select Further Countries to choose from the list. Once selected you need to press 'Start' (you may need to wave your hand close to the screen to get this icon up). You have to wait for some stages to load, depending on your connection.

In the sequence above, rather than 'Load update' you can choose Version Information to see which navigation database you already have. Mine is showing 2020 at the moment. There have been more than one database version release each year in the past.

If you search the forum you can find quite a lot of history on this subject, not all of it clear!

Thank you. Do I need a sim card in the connect plus socket?

Not if your subscription is up to date.

[bobajob]

what can you use for a data connection if you don't have a sim card installed?

[Kleynie]

Sorry T4RG4 for the thread hijack.
I have just updated my nav, or tried to. Firstly there was no data connection, so I connected to the house WiFi, the PCM found the server and offered 6 updates for 2019/20, so I started the download and got to 34%, then it just sat at 34% for an hour before I gave up.
Am I doing something wrong?