I was reading my June Road & Track which has a review of the G8. They said the performance and quality, combined withthe price, essentially puts the G8 in a "class of its own".

But what really surprised me was the secret NAV system in every G8. With the Onstar Directions package, the DIC shows the directions as you go along. R&T thought it worked great, and there is no upfront cost of $2000 for a nav system. Just upgrade the Onstar package for an extra $100 per year to the Directions and Connections plan.

yes it works awesome!!
and it is free for the first 30days while activating onstar i will however extend and pay $100 well worth it!!! it is awesome!!

Good to hear...ONstar is getting better all the time...I like that you can put the cellphone on your Verizon account.

yes it works awesome!!
and it is free for the first 30days while activating onstar i will however extend and pay $100 well worth it!!! it is awesome!!

"You can then add OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation to your Safe & Sound Plan for just $9.95/month (plus tax) on the GM vehicles listed below. After one year, you can enjoy it as part of the Directions & Connections Plan for $299/year (plus tax)." - onstar.com

I was reading my June Road & Track which has a review of the G8. They said the performance and quality, combined withthe price, essentially puts the G8 in a "class of its own".

But what really surprised me was the secret NAV system in every G8. With the Onstar Directions package, the DIC shows the directions as you go along. R&T thought it worked great, and there is no upfront cost of $2000 for a nav system. Just upgrade the Onstar package for an extra $100 per year to the Directions and Connections plan.
Good to hear, but alot of us have been using that nav system for about 2 months. It's totally hands free too. :p

Good to hear, but alot of us have been using that nav system for about 2 months. It's totally hands free too. :p

Yeah, you lucky guys who have had the cars for a while. :driving:

Just got mine last week...love it!:wink2:

Yeah, you lucky guys who have had the cars for a while. :driving:

Just got mine last week...love it!:wink2:
AAH! My bad.

You get it free for 30 days? I thought it was just a one time use? (at least that is what the OnStar person told me....and I could have sworn I read the same thing somewhere else)...

You get it free for 30 days? I thought it was just a one time use? (at least that is what the OnStar person told me....and I could have sworn I read the same thing somewhere else)...That is what they told me too, one time free use.

One time use. You get 30min of talk time on the phone also. Just waiting for the bluetooth retrofit and then it will be perfect.

It depends on if you are lucky enough to get offered the promotion for 30 days. I was, and I have been using it. Not sure what qualifies an individual for it though, Maybe first vehicle with Onstar??

It depends on if you are lucky enough to get offered the promotion for 30 days. I was, and I have been using it. Not sure what qualifies an individual for it though, Maybe first vehicle with Onstar??

Should I push the OnStar button right now and inquire how I can get my 30 free days?!

I was offered 30 days free. Although i previously had a vehicle with OnStar, i never used it. So, that's what i told them. I got 30 days Directions free. Its not bad. But telenav on my cellphone is much better. Has options for shortest route/fastest/avoid highways, etc... and it displays total miles remaining and ETA. OnStar does none of these. Also, telenav has a full map which constantly updates for traffic and redirects you around the traffic if the GPS deems it to be faster, OnStar does not do this.

I was offered 30 days free. Although i previously had a vehicle with OnStar, i never used it. So, that's what i told them. I got 30 days Directions free. Its not bad. But telenav on my cellphone is much better. Has options for shortest route/fastest/avoid highways, etc... and it displays total miles remaining and ETA. OnStar does none of these. Also, telenav has a full map which constantly updates for traffic and redirects you around the traffic if the GPS deems it to be faster, OnStar does not do this.

New law takes effect here in Washington State in July making using a cellphone (hand held) to talk or text a secondary crime with a $124 ticket. Not to mention, how do you drive and do all the button pushing to get all those features, make all those choices, and read it all on that tiny screen? I'd be in the ditch after the first few minutes of monkeying with that thing! But that's just me!:oldfogey:

New law takes effect here in Washington State in July making using a cellphone (hand held) to talk or text a secondary crime with a $124 ticket. Not to mention, how do you drive and do all the button pushing to get all those features, make all those choices, and read it all on that tiny screen? I'd be in the ditch after the first few minutes of monkeying with that thing! But that's just me!:oldfogey:

my phone has a pretty large screen, its the same size as the iPhone screen or iPod Touch. And I just call Sprint (automated service) to tell them the address/business (or I can punch it into my phone before I leave my driveway), and then there are 6 large buttons before it computes my route asking me if I want the fastest route, shortest route, avoid highways, avoid traffic, etc (I generally just hit the first button - fastest - which I have noticed is different from OnStar. Telenav gives me faster routes, OnStar must just give shortest distance). So, its actually quite simple, and ive found that its faster than using OnStar so far. With OnStar you have to wait for a rep to pick up, then explain to him where you want to go. All 3 times I've used OnStar the rep has made a mistake in the spelling of my destination, then there was an error in the call, then the directions have to go through to the car. It takes nearly 3 mins to get the turn by turn up and running. Takes 30-60 seconds on my phone. Once bluetooth is installed, cops wont be able to ticket me in Washington for using my cellphone to text or make calls.

But telenav on my cellphone is much better. Has options for shortest route/fastest/avoid highways, etc... and it displays total miles remaining and ETA. OnStar does none of these. Also, telenav has a full map which constantly updates for traffic and redirects you around the traffic if the GPS deems it to be faster, OnStar does not do this.

OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation is capable of providing the total remaining miles. So then one can determine their own ETA based on the situation.

To set up the route, one would be talking with an OnStar operator. So route choice should be available. When the online user download is inroduced, would allow similar choices.

With OnStar Virtual Advisor, one can get traffic updates specific to vehicle location.

So the system is capable of much more than it is given credit for sometimes.

I dunno. I like my Garmin with weighted dash-pad. I enter the address before I start moving, and just follow what it says. I can use it in any car, while I'm away on business, whatever. I like being able to see turns before they come up, on a map, and also get the street name of the street BEFORE my turn, for a heads up.

Nav isn't a big deal to me, its just an aid. I only spent $200 on my Garmin (on sale) and its been worth it.

The system is very good. Besides the small screen it also says the street names through the speakers. It is a lot better then I expected. It is very good for people who don't want to play around with a system. I still keep my handheld NAV in the car for quick uses.

$100 for the first year sounds pretty good. But I don't know if I would be using it so much to justify $299 every year afterwards. Maybe if they had some package where you could get like 100-200 directions for $100 or something.

I'm not sure If I missed something or not but does this directions package/ NAV show up on the head units screen? show a map, streets etc...

Once bluetooth is installed, cops wont be able to ticket me in Washington for using my cellphone to text or make calls.

Gee, since I'm getting an '09, maybe I'll have the best of both worlds............if I care to that is!:wink2:

OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation is capable of providing the total remaining miles. So then one can determine their own ETA based on the situation.

To set up the route, one would be talking with an OnStar operator. So route choice should be available. When the online user download is inroduced, would allow similar choices.

With OnStar Virtual Advisor, one can get traffic updates specific to vehicle location.

So the system is capable of much more than it is given credit for sometimes.

OnStar does not account for traffic or recent road closures. As a result of this, I was completely lost in Detroit today. The OnStar rep said turn by turn couldn't account for recent road closures. He added that he could give me directions manually, but he couldn't get a lock on my car after many attempts in a large metro area. When he did get a lock after about 10 minutes (during which time I was driving in circles since I didn't mapquest the location ahead of time), his directions were wrong and did not lead me to my location. I fired up telenav and got there in less than 10 minutes. Also, on the way into Detroit, OnStar led me right into a huge traffic jam, telenav always asks me if I want to avoid upcoming traffic - even if I did not originally select that option. Finally, OnStar allows me to calculate my own ETA? That's precisely what I don't want to do, I want it done for me. Even mapquest does this for you (albeit not as accurate as telenav). In short, I will not be purchasing the directions and connections plan after my 30 day free trial.

tried it yesterday for some directions where I did not know the exact location. Just business name and city. Worked perfectly!