Greetings,

I've never owned a Toyota before, but am in the process of buying an 08 RAV4 for my 67 year old mother.

She has to have GPS, and if at all reasonably possible, wants an in dash one, (her last vehicle was a Honda Odyssey).

Since Toyota doesn't offer the factory GPS as an option on the RAVs, I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on what after-market systems would fit and which would be best. Ease of use is probably the most important feature to me.

Thanks Jon

You can go to http://www.crutchfield.com/ and see what will fit her car. They are very knowledgable about aftermarket equipment, and offer a wide array of possibilities. It might give you some ideas.

Hey there,
I have an '08 RAV4 V6 and love it, one minor quibble is that the OEM radio sounded crappy. I bought a Pioneer AVIC-D3 to get a radio and NAV system, and it's been great! Especially with the double-din plastic template from Crutchfields (mentioned above), as I wanted it to look like it was made at the factory. It looks great and you can customize the AVIC-D3 backlight and screen colours to match the RAV amber dash lights. FYI the Pioneer Nav sustem is DVD-based, that's why the price is better than an equivalent HD-based system. Sound is great too, but definitely need to replace the OEM speakers for the full effect -- the installer fell over laughing when he saw the size of the Toyota OEM speaker magnets (their miniscule size partly explains the lousy sound quality of the OEM radio)
Lots of Web reviews on the AVIC-D3 so you can see all the features. Best way for music is via an iPod, I converted all my CD collection to MP3 and as the AVIC-D3 has iPod compatibility I plug it in via a cable and take all my tunes with me wherever I go.

cool, will check it out, thanks for taking the time to reply.

To both you guys that responded, thanks again. I had been messing around trying to research this stuff piecemeal for a week--I went to crutchfield and followed your recommendations, and got the GPS, speakers, installer, and everything wrapped up in 15 minutes. I really appreciate the help.