freeman

I have had my 2013 991 for one month. I have used the NAV system around town satisfactorily. I am now on my first long distance intercity trip. While the software got me to this major city, it had a very hard time finding hotels and restaurants using POI or addresses. In general, it wants to take me around the block 10 miles to get to a location 1 mile away. Last evening, it took me 20 miles away from my intended destination but kept telling me I was getting closer.

Does anyone else have a "wandering" GPS? Other than consulting the dealer, what are my options? This is obviously a software problem and not a GPS problem.

rpilot

I can't say for sure but let me assure you that Porsche's nav is no Garmin. Although 20 miles for something a block away might be a new record.

If you have a smartphone with a GPS built in handy, find the app that gives you some GPS co-ordinates and put the Porsche Nav in that mode as well and compare to make sure you do not have a GPS receiver hardware /firmware problem. If that matches close enough, well.. then it is a c***shoot from there on.. Make sure the dealer installs the latest firmware updates and check to make sure you got an updated map (but that is unlikely the problem.. the map data that is). If this occurs at different places all the time, then short of comparing with another 991, I really do not know.

Good luck and let us know what you figure out.

simsgw

I'd say the nav system database is slightly better than my 997.2, and the interface is a significant step up -- but overall I agree with rpilot. Porsche seem to be compelled to use a source within the corporate family and it is not nearly as good as the solutions we have available even for smart phones.

The database may be good in Europe but it rates about 'C' for major cities on the West Coast and a 'D' on less populated areas.

Wait until you get the cheerful report that "You are in the area of your destination now." First time I heard that, I assumed it was a "heads up" to start paying attention. Actually, it just means the nav system has given up: "This is as close as I can come. You take it from here, boss." What's ironic is I've have had that twice when navigating to an out-of-area Porsche dealer. How in the world they let that slip past I can't imagine.

Gary

Odo3

Porsche’s nav system is terrible on all levels: interface, function, etc. My sons and daughter are into all sorts of software and they can't believe Porsche has such a primitive/crappy system. No excuse with all the good technology/systems available. Overall it’s a small part of the car, but that and the voice recognition I am truly disappointed with.

GT325

PCM nav so so. Cradle your smart phone and use waze. Way better.

SiNi

This is not my experience in the 991. I think the nav system is one of the best I have had! I particularly like the way the nav info / map is repeated on the small TFT display next to the tach. Sounds like the database is significantly better for UK than US.

rpilot

Most European Car Navs work better in Europe than they do here. Teleatlas database is better for Europe. Their database sucks for the US. Furthermore some European car manufacturers are moving to the Navteq database for US, which is much better. I don't know what Porsche is doing or who they are using. I hope it is Navteq for the US considering they charge $500 for a Map database update.

Regardless of database used, the problem IMO with a lot of the software (and by this I mean the navigation logic) in European car navs runs much much deeper than the database itself. Programmers use a certain set of logic in routing that is more suitable for European roadways rather than US. U-turn logic, the most efficient way to handle road medians and routing on one way streets, logic of reversible lanes which are much less frequently used in the US, among other things, all combine to make a less holistic (I hate using this word, BTW) and cohesive approach to picking most efficient routes to destination. And one of the reasons Garmin does much better than just about every other car nav is that they use elevation data in conjunction with precise geo-mapping data (is that the right term?) down to the lanes on a road or freeway much more effectively than the in built navs, Porsche included.

Besides your praise is somewhat focused on what you find to be a good user interface and I concur. Better ergonomics and integration is why I keep shelling (in this case it is included in the US) out the big bucks for the built in navs, although I keep my garmin handy for rental cars when traveling away from home and for use in mission critical appointments when I don't exactly know where I am going.

John 996 TT Cab

I have the same problem with the GPS in my 2012 BMW 650. It wants me to take some creative ways to get around Vancouver. Some routes are even illegal! Waiting/hoping to see what the 991 Nav system is the best way for me to get home!

simsgw

We've discussed it occasionally among computer geeks and I agree with rpilot. Aside from the poor database, the big issue is cultural. In two directions really. First, the way we expect to use our road system as rpilot says. But also the way we expect to interact with computers. I'm willing to accept a little bit of that as being part of owning a European car, like drinking warm drinks when you visit the United Kingdom. I could learn to "think European" if that was the only problem. A more serious problem is that damned database. It's not quite worthless, because it can find an address if I already know it. But as the OP said, the POI search is almost completely impossible.

It's acceptable only because I don't buy this car for it's center stack, a Porsche's real purpose is getting me from here to there with joy. But if the nav in a Mercedes or an Audi was this bad I'd be sorely tempted to trade in the car for a Buick.

For myself, I take the trouble to tell them so every time PCNA sends me one of those surveys.

Gary

TTCarrera

My wife had a similar complaint about the NAV in her BMW M6. It seemed to take her the long/slow way all the time. The same NAV in my BMW X6M was awesome.

I checked her Nav's setting/preferences. It was set to AVOID freeways. Duh.

I unchecked that box and it works great now.

jlamb

I'm not saying the Porsche system is nearly as good as a Garmin, but it is way better than my wife's 2010 Volvo. That one is the worse I've ever experienced. I usually bring my Garmin instead of using the factory system when driving that car.

freeman

OK, let's do some history. I bought a Garmin in 2001 for my 1995 993. Several years later I bought a lifetime update which does so four times each year. It is flawless. The software is designed by Navteq. My wife bought a Ford Taurus SHO in 2010 with a Nav system whose software was also designed by Navteq. Unfortunately, they charge us $175 for each upgrade; many of which are designed for a Carleton system (?) and not her Sony system. But it has never lost us. Now we have the Porsche system from an unknown software source. It lost us on our trip to a major city this week and lost us in the city as well. Ironically, it got us home OK. I will confront the dealer and then PCNA next week until I get satisfaction.

I am shocked that no one has had the same misery. Our friends called the cops when they could not retrieve us from the boonies.

Justin N

I think the nav is good overall especially with the integration to the LCD on the gauge cluster. My issue is with the POI system- you have to give it so much information of where you want it to search, what category, etc and even then the results ar crap. They could really learn a thing or two from google maps.

rpilot

Professor, I assure you we all have had our share of nav misery to varying degrees. Just the other day, my BMW nav kept sending me back and forth between 2 shopping centers about 3/4 of a mile apart on either side of a light. I could not see the store I was looking for from the road so ultimately I just picked one and drove around the back. Perhaps some of us are just more de-sensitized to it than you are at the moment owing to your recent unfortunate incident.

freeman

rpilot-

my problem is that my long-time Garmin has never lost us nor has my wife's Taurus' GPS. How can we settle for this in a Porsche? This is new to me in a 991.