Good Morning. I have a 2006 FEH that I own since 04/2006, when I bought it the right color available at the dealer didn't came with the NAV radio system. I was browsing around the Internet and couldn't find any available and was told by a Ford Dealer that the unit is not available other than the supplied with the brand new car. At this time the big doubt that I have is: If I am lucky enough to find the original unit some place else, is the wiring for the 6 CD radio that I have now ready for the other model? If it is not the case, I saw that the ALPINE IVA-W200 may fit in the dash without much pain and cost, any of you have had any experience with this Alpine or any other unit?

Thanks in advance for any answer you may have.

Regards.

The only advantage to the factory system is the hybrid/fuel economy displays. If you are not interested in those then there is no point as the radio and the Nav system are outdated and practically worthless. On top of that, you probably won't have the wiring setup in your vehicle for the hybrid/fuel displays or the nav wiring/antenna. Did I mention the factory unit is NOT Sirius capable NOR able to play MP3 Cd's?

Given that, I would not consider adding the factory unit after the fact....especially since it is more expensive than a superior aftermarket unit. There is a thread at escape-central.com where a user installed a Pioneer double DIN unit with GPS, Rear Camera, etc. Looks nice and probably works 10x better than the factory unit.

http://www.escape-central.com/1forum...threadid=23199

-Tim

2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD
Black with Pebble interior
Premium Package with Nav & Moonroof



Current ODO: 26,152
Typical Drive: 20 min crosstown in heavy traffic (3.5mi there and back twice a day)


532 Gallons of gas saved
That's 10,642 lbs less CO2 emitted

I recently installed an Eclipse 5435 NAV/DVD/MP3 etc unit in my 05 FEH. The Eclipse is the exact same unit that is factory installed by Lexus(Lexus/Toyota owns Eclipse) for $4100(mine cost me less than $1000 on ebay). The Eclipse has a beautiful 6.5" LCD screen.

The unit I installed absolutely blows away the factory NAV & looks factory installed. My unit will play MP3's on a CDR disc & plays burned & pre-recorded DVD movies. It gives spoken turn by turn directions anywhere in the USA without switching any disc's & has a 50x4 internal stereo AMP.

~John

Thanks TIM, and you're right I forgot to mention that the important thing to me were the hybrid/fuel displays. I am going to look for other brand options and see what is available that also fits my budget.

Regards.

Jose O. Mancini
omancini@bellsouth.net

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will perform some research in the eBay world...

Regards.

Jose O. Mancini
omancini@bellsouth.net

I would not say the built in NAV is worthless. I find it very useful and it gets me everywhere I need to go.

Even the 2007 models are shipped with the 2005 edition maps. That means the database is 2 years old and that's VERY old for such a database.

It appears that Ford has absolutely no interested in having NAVTEQ update it. I would guess because Ford is betting that a DVD based system, instead of the CD based system used in FEH and MMH, is the future.

What that means, is the NAV system in our FEH's and MMH's will just get more and more obsolete, and with that, become more and more useless.

IMHO, that is not a really good position for Ford to be putting us into.

The Alpine IVA-W200 is also a very nice unit that you can buy add-on modules for Bluetooth, HD Radio, XM, Sirius, & GPS. The head unit is a nice 6.5" touch screen DVD player and I got the Ipod direct control cable for only $29! That is the feature I use the most. I also added the Bluetooth interface which makes me legal for hands-free driving in CT. Once they get the bugs worked out of the Blackbird GPS unit, I'll add that as well. I'm considering the HD radio option, but don't listen to the radio very often now that I have the Ipod interface and lots of audio books from Audible.com. That's made my 2.5 hours (round trip) of commuting more bearable.

Just my $.02

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirfergy I would not say the built in NAV is worthless. I find it very useful and it gets me everywhere I need to go.

I’m with sirfergy –

Yes I know that there are more elaborate systems out there that do everything but cook your breakfast, but I have used the OEM NAV/Fuel/Systems unit and have never had any problem with it. To say that it is 'obsolete and practically worthless' (Heard that a 1,000 times) is a little over the top.

I have made about 7 trips using the NAV – each being over 500 miles – one from Atlanta to Williamsburg, DC, NYC and back plus using the POI’s or inputting address points within theses cities – I NEVER pulled out a map and it was always right on the money – one-way streets and all.

Sure the screen might be small and it might not have all the bells and whistles – but it gets me there and back just fine.

It just didn't seem worth the $2000 price tag to me. I paid half that for the Alpine (head unit only) and I can add the features I want when I want. I'll end up with a much more capable system for basically the same money. I have GPS on my laptop for now so I can wait for the Blackbird to be refined a little more. I never used the factory Nav system so I can't comment on it's usefulness but I'm happy with my current setup.

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD