How difficult is the install?

 

I'd like to know if this is the same for the 07-08 G models too...

It's good to know this bit of info b/c there were talks that adding NAV on a NON-NAV was a huge headache due to the NAV system having a completely different interior main harness.

 

Ok so after doing some digging, and looking at a few FSMs, unless you want to whip out the wire cutters to get this to work correctly if your car is from 06-08 then the swap would be plug and play, 09-11 would again be plug and play. Taking an 08 -> 11 wouldn't play well with the other car.

Ergo, you need to get a Navi as close to the year of your car as possible. The other huge problem is the aluminum finish changed from 10-11. So for your car to look right if you have an 11 you would have to get a donor vehicle which is also an 11. At this point in time those are far and few between.

What it all boils down to - If you are buying the car new, and you want Nav, chose a car with Nav already in it. If you're buying a G25 then track down a 2011 G37 donor car.

 

Would a car PC with touchscreen overlay make better sense?

 

unfortunately the 07-08s are definitely not plug&play or easily swappable. it requires custom wiring and adding/changing existing harnesses. it's seemingly not worth the effort involved, but it would still be cool to do.

as for adding the gvn53 it's not difficult at all. someone over on g35driver.com has done it and there is a good thread there in the electronics section. for most people the gvn53 is an excellent alternative. i chose to go the carputer route which works best for me.

terrycs - i ended up using a small netbook pc with a 1ghz atom processor. i run garmin mobile PC and it works awesome. i added a USB touchscreen to my stock screen and it works like a charm. it's not high quality but it's very stealth.