Since 2011, the MX5 has been available from the factory with a built in touch screen Satellite navigation, in place of the standard BOSE unit. The Venture special edition, introduced in 2011 and the Sport Tech Nav and Sport Graphite which was only recently added to the line-up in late 2012, feature the double din navigation unit which is manufactured by Sanyo.
This is used across the Mazda range including certain models of the 3 and 6.
The built in navigation software is provided by TomTom and comes with Europe maps and a 3 month free trial of their LIVE services. The model number is NVA-SD8110.
You can read about it on the TomTom website - here.
And you can download the full manual - here.
There didn't appear to be a great deal of information on the interweb about this unit, so to contribute to the MX5 community, I have put together this little write up….
The unit appears to be well made and fits neatly into the dashboard. It has a single slot CD, there is an SD card slot on the left hand side that contains the map data and TomTom software and there is also a 3.5mm AUX input below the SD card. Due to the unit having an AUX input, there is a blanking plate where the AUX input usually is, down by the 12v accessory socket in the centre console on other MX5 models.
As already mentioned the unit has a touch screen, in addition to the hard buttons up either side and the steering wheel controls, and is fairly responsive - the speed of operation appears no different to my TomTom Start portable device anyway and is perfectly usable. People have complained about the re-routing being a little slow - in other words how long it takes to recalculate the route if you deviate from the planned route.
Also present are iPod integration and Bluetooth handsfree calling, including the ability to download your phonebook and calling history. Bluetooth music streaming is not featured.
The NAG/Warning screen appears for a few seconds after turning on the ignition. However, if you leave it alone, it disappears by itself - despite the apparent requirement to press the 'I agree' onscreen button.
In the glovebox there are a bunch of wires and plugs….
There is a USB socket - as I have done here, you can plug a USB stick in which contains MP3 music files. The manual has lots of useful information on maximum number of files and the directory structure you need to store them in. There are also RCA connectors for L&R audio input and video.
What was not clear initially is that to enable iPod integration an additional part is required. For the sum of £48 from your Mazda dealer, you can purchase an iPod adapter cable. The part number is C850-V6-572.
This enables you to play music (and video if stationary) from your iThing device and control it directly using the steering wheel controls or via the Nav unit itself.
I have ordered this cable, but it hasn't arrived yet - so I tried plugging my Apple iPhone cable directly into the USB socket in the glovebox to see what happened - the Nav unit recognises the iPhone, it charges and you can see that the songs appear, as does the album art, the play/pause, shuffle, forward and backward controls work and you can select playlists etc - it is just that there is no sound. The red and white RCA connectors in the glovebox are required for the sound input part of the cable.
You may be thinking that the Mazda adapter cable looks very similar to the Apple Composite AV cable...
It does look EXACTLY the same - but there are a couple of reports that I found where apparently it doesn't work reliably - neither do generic copies of the Apple lead that you can find online so I've read.
Of course, once your Mazda iPod cable arrives, if you have an iPhone 4S or older, or any of the iPods older than the current versions, the Apple dock connector on the Mazda cable will plug straight into the device and you should be good to go.
However, if you have an iPhone 5 or newer, then you will also need a Dock to Lightning convertor cable/dongle costing around £25 from Apple...
A word of warning - the Lightning connector is digital, whereas the original 30pin Dock was analogue. The Lightning connector DOES output line audio L&R, because a Digital-Analogue converter (DAC) is built into the connector - and explains the price to a point. However, it DOES NOT output a video signal (the yellow plug). Conclusion - the newer iThings with Lightning connector can still be used for audio but not video with this Nav unit.
The unit provides simple source selection via the touch screen...
Those not available are greyed out. Alternatively, you can select the source using the MODE button on the steering wheel.
The music I have loaded on the USB stick displays album art, song, album and artist information. This is pulled from the ID3 tag of the MP3 file - so you may need to ensure your tracks are labelled properly.
Again, you can use the onscreen touch controls to skip forward and backwards or the steering wheel buttons.
Whether playing music from a USB stick or from an iThing, you can browse your Library by Artist, Album, Playlist etc...
It is quite cumbersome to scroll through alphabetically, using the up and down buttons above, if you have lots of music - there is no quicker way to jump to S than to stab the button on the screen multiple times.
Best to use Playlists or just put it on Shuffle
The radio features FM/AM, RDS, Traffic and it also displays Radio Text (if supported by your chosen station) so the song information appears onscreen.
It is easy to switch stations by using the onscreen buttons.
There are limited settings in the tuner part of the unit - just 5 options in all (2 under settings and 3 under settings>advanced)...
Pressing the sound/note symbol hard button brings up the audio options including Bass/Treble, fader and an Equalizer. Unlike the BOSE stereo, there are only 6 speakers - bass/mid and tweeter in each of the doors and 2x tiny little speakers between the seats..
The music is muted in the front door speakers when the guidance voice and other warning sounds are output by TomTom.
Bluetooth handsfree is very good, with my iPhone I can see my full address book, information on my last dialled, missed calls and received calls. The microphone is mounted just to the left of centre on the upper steering column cover. There are reports of rubbish call quality out there, which seems to be a faulty microphone. However, the one in my car is fine.
The navigation part of the unit is standard TomTom, including advanced lane guidance. You can set a home location, favourites, recent destinations etc etc.
The setting for Night Colours is quite useful as the screen is quite big and bright and can be off putting at night - it can be set to dim the screen and invert the map colours - either controlled by headlight switch or using a built-in light sensor.
Finally, to update the maps and nav unit software, you need to remove the SD card - CAUTION DON'T JUST PULL IT OUT, there is a menu option to prepare the SD card for removal. Once it is safe to remove, it can be plugged into a computer or laptop and the included TomTom Home software must be installed.
After installing the Home software, the system checks for map updates, system updates and points of interest, cameras etc.
You can even download an MX5 icon instead of the standard blue arrow
I will add more once I get the Mazda cable and take some more pictures
