[acbrisker]

Hey All,

I'm in the market for a used IS ... and have (as I'm sure others have as well) been looking at multiple other cars, such as the Acura TL, BMW 3-series, Nissan Maxima, etc.

I'm having a hard time finding a used IS with a 5spd. manual transmission, leather (not the suede), and navigation. I live in the DC area, and have looked in a near 500 mile radius, to no avail.

What percentage of IS's have navigation?

Thanks!

Alex

 

[xtaticconcepts]

very few for some reason, that's why I just put an aftermarket in, plus I don't like that knob to control it and opted for the touch screen, so much nicer.

 

[acbrisker]

If I were to go aftermarket ... and wanted a portable navigation unit to use in my other vehicle ... what would folks recommend?

 

[DanielIS300]

nav's overrated. Best luck is to just focus on a 5 speed car which means 02-05 only. That is hard enough.

 

[Ray from NJ]

I have a Garmin portable 2610. It's an awesome GPS. I added a 512mb CF and was able to load map data from Florida to Maine. I got it from a sale at http://www.amazon.com.
Garmin recently came out wth the C320. Another good unit. It has less features which brings the price down around $400.

 

[85eliminator]

Nav is so totally worth it.
I had no plans to buy a car with nav, I thought it would be a huge waste of money.
However, I got a great deal on an IS with nav, so I bought it.
Now, I don't think I'll ever buy another car without it.
I have become enthralled with this great feature and find myself using it all the time. It's just one of the coolest, most convenient, and most helpful features I've ever run across.
Also, I think the factory nav is excellent and I find that the controls fall to hand very easily and are quite simple to use. I don't think a touchscreen would be better at all, except that it would be a little quicker for typing in addresses. I know you can buy a good aftermarket nav unit for $500-$1000, but on the other hand, that's about how much extra you'll be paying for a used IS with nav. It was a $2000 option on a new IS, but it doesn't add nearly that much to the resale value of a used car. I do think the convenience of being able to move an aftermarket unit from car to car would be cool though.

Good luck with your search. I've got the exact same features you're looking for and I can tell you I love my car in this configuration. Especially with the black interior. Keep checking at cars.com, autotrader.com, and also the "for sale" forum on this website.

 

[amitkc]

welcome to the board, brisker.

its going to be VERY hard to find an MT in the DC area.. trust me.. I tried.. since traffic is so insane up there, 95% of the cars sold in that area are AT. I bought mine in Silver Spring.

As for after-market nav, I have a Dell Axim X50v coupled to the Dell Bluetooth GPS recvr. You can use the pocket PC for all your personal needs, and when int he car , just sync it with the nav recvr, turn on the nav s/w and go.

The entire thing is extremely portable and multi-functional ( pocket PC = PDA , which I take everywhere, recvr = size of a small cell phone!).

I looked at some stand alone units like the Garmin, etc. but paying $400 for that, as opposed to $400 on a handheld pc and nav recvr was hard for me to justify.

The pocket pc screen is 3.7" diag, touchscreen, and bright enough for me.

hope this helps...besta luck with your search.

 

[YellowIS300]

Your best bet it to take a look on EBAY or possibly picking up an Auto Trader from out of state and paying the $600 to have it trucked to you (best bet).

As for your car considerations, be very wary on the used Acura TLs they have massive transmission failure. BMWs.... self explanatory. g/luck

 

[iprocure2k3]

Travel Out of State

My advice is for you to look across the continental U.S. for the IS that fits your needs. You can search on autotrader or cars.com for a listing and I'm sure you'll find a hand full that will fit your requirements.

Depending on where you live, I think it's a good deal to find the car with the mileage, features, etc. that you want then fly to the dealer/private owner to test drive and negotiate. Think of it this way, you may still end up saving money if you're able to find an IS for $2K below value then add back the travel expense (i.e. $500 for flight & $500 for shipping). You're still ahead by $1K. By looking at the Total Cost of Ownership, this would be a better use of your time and money.


iprocure2k3

 

[pswnam]

i agree with iprocure2k3, shop around if nothing in state, look out of state