I'm thinking about the Sport Nav primarily for stability control. I have a few questions about the GPS.

1. Can it be shut off?

2. Is it good at finding alternate routes? For example, where I live I can go right to the highway or left to the back roads to go up town. If the GPS told me to turn right and I went left instead, would it instantly recalculate the route or would it make me turn around?

3. Can I choose an alternate route to begin with? For example, if I see a route I like on Google Maps and the GPS doesn't pick that route, can I change the route myself?

 

I am also a sport nav owner and I will try to answer some of your questions.

1. The Audio can be shut off with the power button and the gps will still work or you can just have the clock or audio display with no map screen. When I say audio off I mean no music will come from the radio. If you need more clarification I can re explain later

2. The routes are made by Navteq I beleive which is the same as what Garmin and Google use. If you change the route it may try to make you turn around or you can hit the recalculate button and it will find a different route.

3. Before you finally decide to take a route you can look through 3 or 4 different options it will give you, however the downside is I did not find an easy way to see what route the different selections will give you. You almost have to pan and zoom and follow each route. I wish it would allow you to view the directions before you select. The upside is that you can change the route after the fact so it will take you a different route. If you search google you should be able to find the manual for the gps and it will display some screenshots so you can physically see how things look on the screen.

Hope this helps!!

 

Same here. Bought the Sport w/ Navi just bc of VSA.

1. The Navi can be turned off by having it just display the clock.

2. The unit recalculates automatically (without saying "Recalculating") if I made a different turn. From my experience, it doesn't ask me to make a U-Turn most of the time if it recalculates.

3. As stated earlier, you can preview different routes. Also, you can specify the type of route you want (ie, Direct, Easy, Minimize Freeways, Maximize Freeways, Avoid Tolls).
You can also specify an area to avoid. I haven't done this personally.

All in all I like the GPS and use it all the time either actively giving directions or just displaying the map.
Likes:
1. Easy to read/view turns.
2. Accurate most of the times, both in directions and in ETA calculations.
3. Good satellite pick-up even in bad weather conditions.

Dislike or missing features:
1. I wish I can change the voice. The voice is ok, not annoying. But I'd like to have variety.
2. I'd like to upload my routes from the unit to google earth.
3. The mic/voice command recognition are susceptible to road and cabin noise.
4. The screen can be unreadable at times due to sun glare.

 

You can't actually shut off the nav once it's on, but if you don't hit the OK button on the intro screen, it will switch to the clock display after about a minute. That's actually one of the most annoying features: you have to click OK every time you start the car to use the nav. (It's an intro screen that has all the disclaimers, like don't try to program the nav while you're driving, etc. You have to acknowledge those disclaimers by clicking OK every time, so no one can sue Honda because they got into a wreck while programming their nav!)

It doesn't really give the best directions all the time, but if you ignore its directions by taking a different route, it will automatically recalculate. Sometimes, I've had to ignore the directions three or four times in a row before it gives me the route I'd normally take. (Of course, I do 99% of my driving in and around my city, where I seldom get lost. I don't really need directions to get around, but it's fun to play with the nav anyway.) It has told me to make a U-turn only once, and when I ignored it, it finally gave me the directions I wanted.

The voice recognition feature is pretty useless. Every time I say "Go home," the nav responds with "audio off." It's almost comical sometimes the way it misunderstands what I think are clearly-articulated commands!

All in all, though, I like the nav. I'm like you, though: I bought the nav because I wanted the stability control.

 

Hmm starting to sound like it's not worth all the extra money. Personally I was thinking of the option just for the Navi and the steering wheel controls. I don't understand why a front wheel drive vehicle needs stability control.

 

The navi is not worth the money by itself. There are more units out there for far less $$$ and better features.

I wanted the VSA because it's another safety measure or another form of insurance. I plan to own my car until the end of its useful life. So the cost of the VSA is low if spread throughout the car's life (assuming it doesnt get totalled in an accident).

 

I absolutely agree with this. I also would not buy navigation just to get VSA, because that means you paid $1,800 for VSA and that is WAY too much $$$. VSA is great and all, but I've been driving for over 20 years and the Hyundai Sonata I bought a year ago was the first car I ever owned with stability control and I've never been in an accident. I know plenty of other people who don't own VSA and they are accident free, it's called driving with common sense. What Honda really should have done is just made VSA standard on the sport model instead of being a-holes about it and bundling it with nav.

I did end up getting the nav option because I have a terrible sense of direction and getting VSA thrown in the deal made it worth it. The nav system, has a good routing engine and it recalculates pretty quickly, but the graphics are solely lacking. Looks like something out of a 1980's video game.

 

sales consultants are being told vsa standard on 2010 models. honda is pushing a "safety for everyone" program. looking on hondas internal network fit w/o navi are the only cars in hondas fleet without vsa, from what I see

 

Good, bluetooth handsfree also enhances safety so they should make that standard as well.
What month do they usually start selling the next model year? I might have to wait.

 

I wouldn't want bluetooth in my Fit. It would be nice if it works well. But I think it won't be practical with the cabin noise. Navi voice recognition doesn't work at 75mph. I say "Menu," and it turns on the radio.

 

What does VSA do... and why does the Navi. model only have it?

 

Here (YouTube - How Effective is Stability Control) is a good video showcasing ABS, traction control, & VSA (aka electronic stability control). Skip to ~3:00 for the VSA.

My gut hunch is that Honda only has the VSA on the Navi model because of marketing. Product bundling allows businesses to charge more compared to how much they could charge for just the individual products by themselves. Plus it helps differentiate the model/brand from others and thus help justify increased profit margin. But that's just my guess based solely on that's how I'd do it if I were in their shoes.

 

nice video, I'm convinced

 

The 2010 model should be out in a few months. VSA might be available without NAVI

 

Yes, common sense - or just plain luck

I agree - actually VSA is standard on all Jazz models in Europe (at least here in Denmark).
Navigation is extra and costs DKK22.000 - a little over USD4000 or ~10% of the total price of the car. I don't believe they sell many cars with Nav here...

 

Heh, just a heads up... my salesman was either misinformed or lying. He said that while the models that don't have Nav don't have VSA, they do have traction control. According to the official Honda site, he's wrong... you have to get Nav for both traction control and VSA. 2009 Honda Fit - Specifications - Official Honda Web site

I know plenty of other people who don't own VSA and they are accident free, it's called driving with common sense.

Yeah but there's always those situations you don't expect, like black ice, and if the VSA saves me then, it'd be worth it.

My old car had traction control (but not stability control) and it kicked in a few times... mostly in the rain when I'd otherwise hydroplane. I liked it, even though I could usually feel the car beginning to hydroplane just before it kicked in. So I knew I needed to adjust my driving slightly, but the car helped make that adjustment before I had time to react. Traction control probably also helped me get out of my driveway in snow a few times.

 

Good post, I agree with everything here. However, (although it may seem counter intuitive) if one is truly 'stuck' in snow you should turn traction control off. In this situation TC may prevent you from freeing your vehicle (it would keep kicking in and applying brakes to your spinning wheels)..

 

I have a quick question that is somewhat related.

Once you have used the map or audio screens, how do you go back to the clock screen?

Thanks.

 

Press "Setup," then select "Clock" next to the "Display" line.