“Passion, precision, and power are the DNA to the Corvette”  -Zora Duntov

C6 CORVETTE FACTORY NAVIGATION RETROFIT

Before you ask yourself, “Should I do it?”  you should be asking “Can I do it?”

 

Can it be done?  YES.  If your car has the factory BOSE system.  Not sure?  Look on the door panels for the Bose emblem on the speaker grills.  If it is there, then you are a good candidate for the upgrade. 

 

Why does it have to be the BOSE system?  From what I’ve been told, the base systems wire harness is different.  The Bose car’s have the correct harness, which includes a wire to the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) which is necessary for the GPS operation. 

 

If you have the optional OnStar, then you will not have to wire a microphone to make use of the Nav units voice commands.  Now that I have it installed, I can tell you that you wont be missing anything if you don't have a mic.  I find the voice commands to be annoying at best.

 

The heads up display will work once you plug the Nav in.  Got to love plug and play !!

 

If you don't have the Bose system, then you probably don't have the Heads up display and would be better served looking into an aftermarket unit such as the Pioneer AVIC.

 

Here is a site that I had read while making my decision :  HERE

 

I’m not sure when he wrote that opinion piece, but I think he was basing his decision not to do it solely on Price.  If you go to the dealer, expect to pay close to $3,000 for a new unit.  OUCH.  Then I would definitely go with the $1900 Pioneer.  But now than the C6 has been around for a few years it is easy to pick up a good used unit.  I found mine on eBay and paid $600.  I wanted to keep the stock factory appearance, and have it to be intergrated with the heads up display (Way cool).  The prices are going to keep going down as people wreck their cars or upgrade to bigger and better units. 

 

If you are sitting there reading this thinking this project may be over your head, let me put you at ease.  This is a simple plug and play operation,  the center console comes apart easily, (it is JUST a Chevy after all) and it is not one of those missions where you get half way through it only to say “what the hell did I get my self into??”.   No, I would rate this E for Everyone.  Took me, and I’m not a mechanic, approx 1 1/2  hours to have the dash apart, old radio out, GPS antenna placed, and new radio plugged in.

The radio screen can be displayed in 4 different color schemes.  I don't care where you’re from, that’s cool stuff right there.