I commute 90 miles a day around 15-16 days a month and my last Toyota GT86 had the JBL upgrade audio fitted from new, however its replacement has the stock system and it’s beyond appalling! I’m actually planning to spend some money and get the speakers upgraded to Audison loudspeakers.
I had 4x Audison speakers and a new Alpine head unit fitted in my TVR and it has made a gigantic difference for relatively modest cost (about £600 I think).
Best stereo by a country mile I have ever had in any of my cars was the factory upgrade system fitted to the wife’s Mitsubishi Outlander 2007. That was a system by Rockford Fosgate and my goodness it was absolutely fantastic! It really made listening to anything an absolute pleasure especially on longer journeys.
So to be honest I like nice sound in my car, espcially given how many hours I spend in it!
Our car came fitted with a Bose system which includes a good sized sub woofer in the boot. I love music in the car so a decent sound system matters. My daughter’s Kuga came with a B & O system and that’s also very nice. No upgrades required.
In a previous ‘career’ I used to sell Mitsubishis. I agree the Outlander Rockford system was good but the LWB Shogun Rockford system was even better - the bigger cabin and extra power/speakers really helped. Significantly better than Bose or the HK systems I heard in other cars.
I like the B&O play system in my MK4 Focus estate. Not equal to the Rockford (or home HiFi) but clear, musical and involving at sensible volume levels. The B&O in my wife’s Puma ST is OK but not as good - less power, smaller/noisier cabin.
i don’t even use the radio or any other source. When i drive i don’t want any sort of distraction. i wanno only feel the engine and theother parts, either on sports cars or dailies and stay concentrated on the road
Considering the complexity of many cars’ electronics nowadays, I’m surprised that many/several haven’t ensured that warning alarms & sounds from proximity sensors don’t have priority over ICE systems e.g. the volume of the latter regresses as the sensor sounds get louder.
Just tested the new Lexus LBX - loved it enough to order one but it does have a lot of audible alerts that are likely to be annoying. Apparently I can turn off the road sign warning thank goodness. The ICE will be evaluated closely!
The opposite of how to improve driving! One good way to improve your observation and hazard perception is by speaking out loud as a running commentary, saying things as soon as you spot - as far ahead as you can see - e.g. children on pavement, longer white lines, turning on left, 30mph limit, … Having the car say even some of them would not only be irritating but likely after a while dull you to taking any notice, of the alert or thesogn/hazard.
20 years ago when living in Johannesburg, a city not renowned for safe driving, my bank’s reward programme included a safe driving course run by BMW. High on the list of safe driving techniques was building awareness of potential dangers to facilitate preventive action. The running commentary was all part of that approach and for a while I did follow them. As well as all the ones above, my observations also included spotting pedestrians hailing minibus taxis ahead as said taxis immediately changed lane without warning. The correct driving lane was one where you could safely move to left or right to avoid accidents etc. in an environment where undertaking was the norm.
These days I am more likely to keep 2 chevrons apart and stick to the speed limits - the speed awareness course I did a few years back seems to have worked!
Interestingly France, the country of chevrons, uses long broken white lines in the same way. But it is a measure I simply don’t understand, as it is only correct at one speed (presumably at the speed limit), so whenever travelling at a lower speed it is a longer distance than needed, and aside from the question as to what that would do in heavy traffic, being patently wrong it encourages people to ignore which they continue to do when going faster. I think the old adage of “only a fool breaks the 2 second rule” would be far better to promote, including it in the Highway Code (preferably with guidance on how to count seconds!), and display on traffic information matrix signs when not in use for other things.
Naim is not exclusive to Bentley. How about the ultimate car/sound system developed by Naim for the Pininfarina Battista. A real bargain at just under £2M.
Interesting that the pinnacle of sonic experiences is for prospective owners - I suppose that once bought and taken for a drive it is inaudible above the roar of the engine and tyres on the road.
