2015 Touring with Nav - Any Replacement Options?
 

One of things I didn't research ahead of time or really dig into before I made my purchase was the Nav/Entertainment unit.

We bought a 2015 Rogue Platinum for my wife the same day and it's entertainment system is FAR FAR better than what's in my $10K more expensive Z.

To be honest the Nav is almost useless and with Google Nav available on our phones it's dead weight.

The USB functions on the Z are pitiful compared to the Rogue, as are the Bluetooth.

I checked with one local custom audio shop and they told me there were no options to replace the unit in my Z. Can this be? I don;t mind scraping the entire system if I could get something useful - as it is I feel like I'm driving a 2015 car with a 1998 audio system...

There is a sticky that covers this in the Audio Section: All about Bose I believe, or something along those lines.

Long story short though, you're stuck with that headunit. Everything is integrated and there isn't really a way to replace it. With a good bit of effort you can still upgrade speakers/sub/amp, but you have to maintain the stock NAV unit.

The Nav system on the Z is decent. I own a 2015 370z and plenty happy with it.

As for Bluetooth you have to fiddle with it to enable streaming from your phone.

What USB options are you seeking?

Also it will be exceedingly difficult to remove it as many of the cars systems are tied into it.

You can swap out the speakers pretty easily. All in all for a stock system its not bad.

It's not the sound quality I take issue with - the speakers are just fine.

It's the functionality of the unit. I feel that Nissan (and probably every other car manufacturer) gouges consumers by forcing these cheap systems into "packages" that have other desirable components/upgrades.

Unfortunately if you don't want to pay $1,000+ for their $300 system you have to go with a base model and give up numerous other options.

Hopefully you don't/won't have to rely on it in a heavy traffic situation. Example: Last weekend we traveled to Ft. Worth. We used the Z's Nav and I also had Google Nav on my phone. Google alerted us to an accident with a massive delay and routed us around it. The Z Nav just kept trying to put us back on the original route. That one incident saved us roughly 45 minutes.

Coming home Google diverted us around another accident (not as major) that the Z Nav missed as well.

The Bluetooth and USB functionality I'm talking about can be seen in the system Nissan is putting in the 2015 Rogue. You can connect via Bluetooth or USB cable to an Android phone and manage your music library totally from the car system - search, list, playlists, etc.

The Z's system is rudimentary at best and borderline dangerously distracting for how much time you have to fiddle to do anything.

This was one of my biggest complaints in the Nissan survey they sent me after I bought mine. There's no reason the 370Z should have such terrible interior audio/nav options.

Sadly, if you think it's bad now, wait 5+ years for when it's really obsolete.

Non-upgradeable/non-removeable head units are just a terrible idea in general. Radios in classic cars suck but still have a retro/nostalgia charm. Obsolete flat panel/nav systems will never have any charm like that. Or maybe I'm just getting too old.

Fort Worth as well. On Nav systems I do not know what your eperience is but they generally all suck. My wifeys KIA Optima..thing sucks with about the same functionality. My mother has a pretty new Mercedes and I'm a Sys Admin guy who works on Aircraft Electronics...I have yet to figure out the dam thing.

Go over to Ford who threw in the towel recently on there own in house system...it sucked even after pouring tons of money in it.

Basically all built in Nav systems they for the most part suck. There something that is designed with a smaller budget and hits the wicket points automotive manufacture's have. There in most cases a secondary thought not a primary.

I do get pretty decent traffic alerts via Sirius but not all of them...dont really care as if I am about to hit a traffic jam in Fort Worth most likely my fate is going to be sitting in it.

I never really stream anything from my phone except some radio pod casts. I keep a dedicated mp3 player in my center arm rest.

Generally all in all any smart phone is superior Nav to just about any car Nav system...cheap or expensive.

If you insist on maintaining the OEM look of the Nav in it's nice OEM cubby, there are no alternate options.

If you don't mind changing it up, then you have a variety of options. Unfortunately, most are made more difficult due to the stock Bose equipment. Best bet is to rip everything out and install a new double din HU that does whatever you want it to do (Kenwood or Pioneer seem to be the most popular). It will installed be down lower where the audio controls are. You could also put in a less expensive aftermarket audio system and HU and put a tablet where the Nav screen was. None of these will be as good looking as OEM Nav IMO, but they have far more potential. It's all about what you want.

So you're saying it's possible to just leave the Nav Screen portion installed and "gut" the lower section?

I'm guessing it's a one way - no going back thing?

You can leave the Nav portion, but it won't work any more. If I were going to rip out the head unit, I would probably just find a cubby to install in place of the nav like a base model. And if you start ripping out the Bose equipment there's no point in going back. Just about anything you put in there will be an upgrade. I wouldn't be surprised if you could go back, but I would expect it to be very cost prohibitive.

The real problem is that everything is integrated into the NAV unit. Headlights, climate control, interior light controls, etc. You can't really remove it without hosing all of that from what I understand.

I can't stand my factory nav for browsing through songs on my usb stick. It won't let me listen to a song that is currently playing and look for the next song at the same time. As soon as I scroll up or down the song changes!! So annoying.

"Nearly everything about the Nissan 370Z models is tuned for performance over fuel-efficiency, comfort or space, and potential buyers should take that into account."

It was a no-brainer for me to skip the Sport Tech and take my $3500 to the to the audio shop for a system that I will be much happier with. I'm finalizing the specifics now (and it might sneak up a few bucks), but I'll have the Kenwood DNN991HD, Hertz components, Stealthbox, JL HD900/5 and front/rear cameras. It might have been easier to drive off the lot with my Bose system playing, but I don't think I'll have any regrets. Especially if I want to change anything out in a couple of years.

Nissan is hyping all the state of the art systems in the rest of their line, but not the Z. And I'm ok with that.

I agree with the obsolete comment about built in non removable head units. So many features an after market head unit has over a factory one including being able to upgrade years down the road to a newer model. It's one reason I refuse to buy a car with a non removable head unit sense I always remove them and add my own.