The driving directions on my C-Max (with the much maligned Ford Sync 2 system) are actually really nice to use.

Inputting addresses is a pain, and UI responsivity is terrible (which is part of why people don't like it; it's also not pretty, but like who cares? Does the radio need a lovely background image; flat green is fine), but put in into the show the map on the left and the next three steps on the right, and it's way better than using my phone. It's been a while since I tried it, but Android Auto in a rental was worse than just using the phone, so I've avoided it since.

Also, I'm not willing to pay for maps updates every year, and XM for satellite traffic and compressed to hell music that cuts in and out all the time because I live where trees do.

Upcoming turns in the dash is nice too.

Mercede's integrates it into their dash. They have 3 "Customizable" slots, Left, Center, Right. Left is music, Center is arrow with what direction or any turns, also tells me what lane. Right is a zoomed in map so I can see if anything is coming up. On the screen in the center of the car, I have my maps up for a large view.

This is a killer feature for me, and I actually don't even use Carplay anymore. In other cars I've owned it's been Carplay or nothing, I even paid extra for it in this car. But I don't use it since they went above and beyond in implementing decent software.

I prefer built-in GPS, reason being:

* Location on the map and distance to turns is represented far more accurately

* Knows which way I am pointed and can give accurate directions as soon as I start navigation, while sometimes with my phone I need to move a bit for it to know which way I’m oriented

* Works in tunnels

* Tends to stick to main roads while Apple and Google maps are far too aggressive sending me down side roads or crossing over 2 lanes of traffic.

* Don’t need to pause navigation or mess around with my phone when getting in and out of the car for breaks

* Has detailed information about the services/stores/restaurants available at each rest stop along the highway, and distances to each stop

* Detailed information about lane closures, temporary speed limit reductions due to weather, chain restrictions, etc

* Displays accurate representations of street signs and 3d renderings of off ramps

* Displays landmarks at intersections (e.g. turn right before the ramen shop on the right)

* Much more customizable interface. I can choose whether I want it to display gas stations, convenience stores, parking, etc. on the map. How many prompts before a turn. I can enable or disable various features like split-screen turn guidance, etc.

About half of these have nothing to do with being built-in. They are just software implementation details.

Right. The parent asked “GPS? Does anyone prefer an auto manufacturers software GUI over the GUI of their phone?” To which I responded with the reasons above for preferring my car’s built-in navigation over CarPlay.

I’m not saying that Google/Apple couldn’t build these features. Just that they haven’t.

Yeah, the satnav built into my Volvo is actually really nice and I trust it more than I trust Google maps. The interface for Google maps is somewhat nicer, but android auto cannot be made full screen in my Volvo while the built in satnav can. And the built in satnav can be displayed on the driver's dash.

The satnav in my Volvo is better than my phone, except maybe on forest roads BUT the interface to enter an address is a God-awful mess of about 8 lines of input done one character at a time through a wheel setup. It takes forever to input an address and if that address isn't in the system for some reason you won't know until you've wasted 2 or 3 minutes trying to input it.

There used to be an app that greatly simplified this process. Of course, it cost $20/month. It isn't supported anymore because a 2017 model was built with only 3G and my car can no longer connect to a network in the US.

Aside from the infotainment system, I love this car and will probably drive it until the wheels fall off. It is a Geeley product, so the wheels will fall off at some point unlike the battle tanks of old.

So my 2020 XC60 has an app, fortunately it isn't anywhere near that expensive - £29 a year. And yeah I just use it to send the destination to the satnav, then it pops up on the screen literally 10 seconds later.

Tesla’s is pretty good. My only gripe was occasional slow loading of map times (oddly slow enough to suggest they didn’t cache at all?)

My BWM GPS is pretty great, to be honest.

The step-by-step guiding is top-notch and well integrated in the dash infos, the physical knobs & buttons make it easy to use while driving, it can reroute me according to live traffic infos, and it meshes nicely with the rest of the UI.

I don't really see a reason to use CarPlay/Apple Maps in this case.

Yes - I much prefer the nav on my car to using my iPhone even though I do have CarPlay.

I have a Skoda, so mostly VW software, and I only use Apple Maps for navigation. Like it better than the built in software.

The kind of places I like to vacation commonly have no cell service. The built in GPS works pretty good without cell service. Google/Apple maps fail in this scenario.

I don't buy that. I live and recreate in an area where cell service is bad to non-existent.

I navigate with Google maps all the time. The key is downloading offline maps. I've got multiple states on my phone and they take up surprisingly little space.

I still like my nav in the vehicle because of the larger screen, but I never use it to navigate.

I would do this even if I used the on-board GPS. I wouldn't be in the car 100% of the time, so having downloaded maps on the phone is handy.

Fair- I shouldn’t have said that about google maps. I’m not a google maps user, so not as familiar with what features are available.

You need to plan ahead and know about it, but Google maps lets you download regions of map data so it can work offline.