The Alpine navigation system in the Acura TL ranks highest in customer satisfaction among factory-installed navigation systems, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Navigation Usage and Satisfaction Study recently released.

The study measures new-vehicle owner satisfaction with factory-installed navigation systems. Lawrence Wu, senior director of automotive emerging technologies at J.D. Power, said six factors contribute to overall customer satisfaction--ease of use, routing, information screen, system speed, system appearance and voice prompts.

Wu said owners report high levels of satisfaction with system appearance, but as demand for functionality in factory-installed navigation systems increases, new-vehicle buyers report the lowest levels of satisfaction with the most basic function--inputing destinations. Satisfaction with user manual instructions receives the second-lowest attribute satisfaction rating.

"Alpine understands the importance owners place on system usability," said Wu. "Acura TL owners rate the ease of inputing destinations higher than do owners of all other systems."

Real-time traffic information enhancements are highly desired by new vehicle buyers, according to the study. "Navigation system owners expect an improved driving experience, and although there are currently two models in the market equipped with the feature, the overall high demand for real-time enhancements is not yet being fulfilled," said Wu.