Alpine IVA-W203/P1 Double Din Navigation Entertainment Syste Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used the Alpine IVA-W203/P1 for over a month now. I really bought the system because it fits well in my Jetta TDI and provides a large display for the GPS. I don't really plan to watch DVDs on it.
About 80% of the time that I want to use the GPS functionality, the GPS system restarts after I agree to the conditions of using it. When I then pick a destination it hangs up during the calculation of the route. If I keep it in that state, a bit later the music from my iPod stops playing as well. To get going again I have to flip down the screen and reset the GPS. All in all annoying for what Alpine calls 'the best in-vehicle navigation and entertainment system'.
I also noticed that if I try to only turn the voice prompt for the navigation system off, the alert sound stops as well.
When I talked to the Alpine service people, the first things they seem to worry about is not that their product is faulty, but whether I bought it from an authorized Alpine dealer. After getting over this hurdle, they do acknowledge that there is a problem that probably will be fixed by a free software update they hope to have available in about a month (so I assume by the end of September).
I really want to like this system, so I keep hoping that the update fixes my problems.
UPDATE: Yesterday on a trip to Hanover PA going by Gettysburg, PA, the GPS system suggested at one point in time that (with the settings for the shortest route) that I still had 21 miles left to go and it would take about 30 minutes. After ignoring a turn I knew would not get me where I wanted, it suddenly realized that the distance was really 11 miles and it would take me only 15 minutes....
I am glad I knew the best way to get there, because the GPS would have completely steered me wrong. That makes that I can't really trust this system at all.
I am hoping that the update will fix this kind of problems as well.

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