Question is how do I find out if I don't have Mapcare?, it does says on the SEAT website
MapCare is not available for UK vehicles. Please note that the only way to update the Sat Nav is through the purchase of an SD card from an authorized dealership
Surely not...!?
You follow the workaround for mib2 standard, the link I gave you, don't follow the Leon guidance else you will delete the overall.nds file then you will ask
how to sort, I will say follow the link to lost cards etc. It's all there. The workaround is thank to Exciter and used across boards now.
Better answer your first question. On your build codes of the car it will tell you if you had the one year complimentary one. The clock starts running the day it's built. They didn't use to offer this, gets round the issue of the dealer giving you an old card. 2019 atleast they moved to this prior to that you could not do any upgrade yourself using "mapcare" on UK sold cars. After the one year is up use the workaround. What I did on a new Arona, I didn't bother I used the workaround knowing one would be using that their after so didn't bother with the complimentary non renewable Mapcare in the UK. Both VW and Skoda have abandoned the Mapcare nonsense since about 2015.
Seat are dragging their heels to bin it. Basically Seat customers have to put up with the nonsense of Mapcare which was scrubbed by VW and Skoda. On the continent they can pay circa 120 Euros when the car is new for three years of Mapcare, then it's about 500 Euros for another 3 years and so forth. That's why they have adopted the workaround on the standard units, you see it on all the European threads now. High users cough up to the Seat dealer or find a retrofitter to write the high navigation FEC sufficiently high it means it's unlimited.
In 2019 the
Cupra line in Europe got the Mapcare for life thrown in on specs. UK did not. Strange love affair with Mapcare with the Seat /
Cupra brand. Consequence is they confuse customers and irritate in disproportionate levels across Europe. The introduction of the virtual cockpit putting the map display directly in front of the driver and the need to keep the maps up-to-date to fully utilise built in sat nav has just made it worse... meanwhile on the VW / Skoda brand such irritations are a thing of the past. Seat are a bit retro in this ares.
Simple enough to test whether you have Mapcare, do the first bit of the work around instructions , copy the card out to PC / Mac obey the zip / Mac instructions as I provided. Delete contents of card. Then copy 1430 which is currently the latest till about September (was delayed from June) - link on the thread I gave you. Do it without the overall.nds workaround. If it works then you are within the one year Mapcare. If it says the database is invalid or words to that effect, then copy the overall.nds file as per the instructions over the updated one, in that directory. Long press of the volume to force a reboot, card in, turn on etc.
As said you won't have the one year complimentary mib2 mapcare if the car's build date is greater than a year ago from today's date. Either way for a mib2 standard you just plunge into the workaround instructions since long term you will need to do this if you want the same financial benefits of free map updates as VW and the Skoda brand.
You must use CleanMydrive with a MAC on the SD card after writing it and the recommended unzip program whether PC or Mac. Workaround has been good for 3.5 years now since Exciter divised it... one of the advantages of the standard unit. Continue the conversation on the navigation thread.
Nb. The navigation cards you see being sold on eBay are for people with Mapcare who can't be bothered to download it onto their existing card so buy a new card.
Resource:
This
resource is applicable to all Seat navigation systems plus other Vag brands which are MIB2 / 2.5. It is built from the knowledge base on the Leon forum from a long running thread which has the advantage of tracking the twists and turns over...
www.seatcupra.net
Thread:
While I was searching the net today I found some good information sources about the navigation system updates. As you know navigation system works with the sd card that is installed at slot 2. All the map is installed in it and system uses these map from sd card. So if you can update the map...
www.seatcupra.net
I just distilled what we had learnt in the lifetime of the navigation thread so it didn't keep repeating itself on
how to do the workaround... Then will put up latest file links in the
resource as they come out or if we learn anything new e.g.
how to deal with lost map cards, accidental deletion of the SD card for the mib2 standard etc. Updating the mib2 high unit maps etc.
.
