...and yet, the "professional" installer did cut and splice wires incorrectly, thus producing major problems for this woman.
Just because the installer was an idiot doesn’t mean it can’t be done correctly. I wouldn’t call him professional. There are shoddy technicians everywhere.
“Just because the installer was an idiot doesn’t mean it can’t be done correctly.”
I agree. However, we have heard tales of woe on this board as a result of bad installations of audio systems and remote start systems. An aftermarket nav system is prone to the same types of mistakes done by idiots.
" I wouldn’t call him professional. There are shoddy technicians everywhere."
Exactly!
That is why I put quotation marks around the word professional!
That guy did shoddy work, despite holding himself out as a professional.
When a friend of mine wanted to have a remote start system installed in his Rav-4 about a month after he bought it, I urged him to get the genuine Toyota remote start system, and to have it installed at the dealership. What we didn’t know at the time was that the dealership brought an outside “professional” installer into their shop for this type of work.
The “professional” installer screwed up the installation, and even though he was not a Toyota mechanic, because of the fact that he did the work at the behest of the dealership and because of the fact that it was a Toyota system, I was able to invoke The Lemon Law for my friend after the dealership’s mechanics were unable to resolve the weird, random electrical problems after 3 visits.
Toyota wound up sending both the Regional Service Supervisor and a Japanese engineer (who barely spoke English) to work on the car, and they were able to fix it in about 2 hours after a real fix had eluded the dealership’s mechanics. This action on Toyota’s part would not have been possible if the equipment was an aftermarket system, and if it had not been installed in the dealership’s own shop.
Anyone question why we are having this discussion over penny pinching on a new Lexus?
“Anyone question why we are having this discussion over penny pinching on a new Lexus?”
Precisely!
I guess that the next question will be…Do I REALLY have to use premium gas in my Lexus?
;-))
Since we haven’t heard back from the OP in a while, I’m going to guess that they were able to get a good deal on this RX, partly because it didn’t have the nav system option, I bet.
In case anybody is interested, I found the old thread regarding the botched installation of aftermarket equipment on a brand-new Honda CR-V. What amazes me the most is that this thread actually dates back to 2008, but it seemed much more recent in my memory.
The aftermarket equipment in this case was a remote start system, but the overarching principle–of allowing somebody other than the dealership to install non-OEM equipment on a new vehicle–is the same.
Time speeds up the older you get. I measure time in ten year segments now and I think Christmas should be every five years instead.
My wife would like remote start but I said we’d never have it added on if it weren’t a factory option. She drives the new Acura without it. I drive the cheap G6 that came with remote start standard. So once in a while when she is watching, I’ll remote start it just to rub it in a little. I’m sure our next car will have it even though we don’t need it.
I’m seeing a pattern here. The wives drive the good cars and the husbands drive the beaters…
;-]
That’s the way it worked in my marriage. And then when she split she got the new car and I got the old pickup. The new car was a Saturn. The old pickup was a Toyota. Guess which one of us actually got the longer lasting more reliable car… by a very wide margin? There is occasionally justice in the universe after all.
Believe me, I was speaking from experience…
The OP has to look on some Lexus forums to see what options are available. On newer Mazda’s, the system is nav capable but you have to pay (I believe $600) for the module. On my older Mazda there were two options. Some Chinese companies make a plug and play unit, they are android based and no name brands. You can also get an aftermarket brand name system. These would usually need a trim kit to fit and for the newer cars they usually need an extra module to make certain other functions built in the radio to work. Crutchfield has info for most cars.
In my case, the stereo shops were not interested in installing the extra module b/c of the extra work needed. By doing this I would have lost my clock and gas mileage displays. I also did not want to let a shop work on my car due to what is mentioned here. I made sure I take my time, do the wiring properly and test everything as I moved along. It was well worth it (saved ~$600+). I like having the rearview camera and the BT is almost a must since I have to make emergency phone calls all the time when I am driving. As mentioned, as I was a bit excited about having the nav, I am finding it not that helpful after all.