My '00 1.8T w/ Nav was delivered to me on Saturday. I just got the CD via FedEx last night and played with the system only briefly. From what I can tell it's pretty darn cool. I was concerned about the usability of the small screen in the instr. cluster, but no more. functionality and legibility are excellent. In the end, I think I may end up even prefering the small, centrally placed screen to the full color versions offered by Acura et al. Voice prompts are nice too. They chime in when appropriate and radio volume drops automatically.

When you have the system on, it tells you the name of the street you're on. It even knew my street address in a relatively small and new subdivision. It also has the ability to find points of interest like airports, restaurants, sports venues, etc. You can, for example, look for restaurants within a certain radius from your location.

As I said, just turned it on for the first time last night, but it appears to be a well thought out system.

1. Did you have to pay extra for the CD?
2. How far an area does the CD cover?
3. Do you need to get a different CD each year?
4. What if you move? Can you just go to a dealer in the new area and have him program everything for the area you are now in?
5. Also, is it difficult to program, or is it intuitive?

Thanks for any info. you can give me.

Jim

You order the CD based on the region of the country in which you live. It is included in the price of the system and comes to you via FedEx. I live in Portland, OR, which is covered by "region 2." It happens to be a large area which covers the northwest and south central US. Not sure why they paired those two. There are a total of nine regional CD's. I'm told you can also buy special interest CD's for specific areas, which provide in depth info on points of interest. You could search for Italian food in Boston, for example. I don't yet know how much these or stock replacement CD's costs.

You wouldn't ever *have to* get a new CD. New roads and changes to routes, wouldn't be comprehended by your "old" CD. I'm guessing every 2-3 years would be enough, but I don't know for sure. If you moved outside of the region covered by your CD, you would simply buy a new one.

I haven't even read the manual yet, and I started playing with the system right away. Very intuitive. Somme scrolling is required because of the small screen, but it doesn't negatively impact the ease of use IMO.

Hope this helps.

I wanted to make sure it was included in the price. I don't trust what the dealers say. I'm going to try and get one with the NAV. I'm sure it'll make life more interesting!

nt