Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Saw this and thought of you Richie:

FUCKING HELL!

i always wanted to put a rotary in one

I had an ivory white Kingswood SL with a brown vinyl interior that was stock and a much nicer car than the GTS. the gts was a bit poo.

7000+ miles LA>NYC>LA

I've seen a lot of muscle cars in the last few weeks. Still can't choose one.

Can you bring me a 66' Mustang Coupe back?

He's fixed the bland steering and unconfortable seats then.

If you think that is quick the integra type r bits fit the crx...some of those are mental.

I'm after a replacement stereo for the Skoda. Looking for something that'll do bluetooth for calls, ideally do music via bluetooth as well (what bitrate would this be? Does it sound ok?) or USB sync with an android phone for audio whilst allowing me to use phone for Google maps for directions. Not too chavvy looking, don't need CD player but can't hurt I suppose.

Is the above realistic and if so, what would you lot recommend?

If Bluetooth, etc is your only concern; buy pretty much whatever you want as long as it's got a double din stereo socket. You can get plenty of aftermarket units that do sat nav, Bluetooth etc etc

Dammit - money no object, 67/68 Fastback, they're by some way the most handsome. 69 Coupe is an interesting choice as it still has the nicest front clip and the coupe lines were stretched to look more like the fastback.

Cheaper to import one from the US than get one in the UK?

Cheers, yeah I've got a Parrot bluetooth thing but it's a bit crap. I like the idea of the stereo doing the whole thing, well - voice calls and playing music via BT. And able to listen to some radio and maybe play a CD. Don't want built-in satnav, happy to do that with my phone. This Sony head unit looks ok, as far as I can tell...

Also, why double DIN?

More for the sat nav. Quite a few decent solutions that integrate a screen etc.

If you're not fussed about sat nav, you can ignore...

The Blaupunkt Toronto 420BT I got for my car works really well at the Bluetooth thing and sounds great. Better through the cable but ok through Bluetooth.
It's not 100% at reading an iPhone or iPod when one is plugged in. Sometimes it never seems to get past reading the tracks. The interface is not good enough to control an iPod through the stereo either. I believe there's a new Apple protocol on newer stereos that integrates with Siri, so you can do it all with voice without even pressing the home button.

I'm not bothered about iphone compatibility as I've got a Android phone (S3 running CM11, if it makes a difference). The Sony one specifically mentions Android compatibility but I don't know quite what that actually entails. I envisage having my phone set up as one might with a sat-nav, be using it for directions (sometimes) and using it for music. Happy to control music via the phone itself, but if there was a good interface for doing it via the stereo that'd be cool. Guess that'd be a reason to go double DIN. Also I suppose if there was a good double DIN one that did satnav (and was easy and cheap to update/load up dodgy tomtom software onto) that could be interesting...

There are plenty of cheap ones on eBay etc that have sat nav, Bluetooth etc.

Purchase a car with integrated bluetooth. :)

So why do you want to use the phone while driving, or just get a stereo with a mute button.

New car's always an idea, but I rather like my vrs :)

Using the phone whilst driving would entail having it mounted on windscreen/dash to use Google maps as satnav, which is what I already do.

I also want to also be able to play music from the phone on the car stereo. Currently I do this by plugging one end of a tape adaptor into the phone and other end into the tape deck. I had an ipod compatible USB head unit in my old car and it was way more fiddly and difficult to select a track, skip tracks etc. Just not really practical with a one line display which most of these units tend to be.

Ah, you edited and now I'm even less sure what your question is?

The stereo with a mute button is for silencing the 'tunes' if a phone call comes. But overall I don't get the using the phone while driving, nor texting but then I might be an old luddite. Or some one who gets really annoyed with people walking while speaking/texting and not being aware of their surroundings.

Also music wise I have a zune and a waterproof garmin for car/bike/cycle use and using a modern phone for these function seems to go through charge quite quickly. Meaning not being able to finish the route at the minimum.

Last two people I used were in Swindon and Chichester, both being fit in when you can jobs and the chichester painter was relaquering metallic painted panels that the laquer panels had peeled and the match was perfect but took 12 weeks but that didn't matter to me as he stored the car.

Last time I had work done in west London used guys between stamford brook and think they are gone. Last lot of London work I had done was on camberwell station road. There seem to be a few painters in the area used by main dealers and hire companies to repair the cars.

I agree generally with not wanting to use the phone while driving and I'm aware that even handsfree can reduce awareness. Sometimes it's a handy thing to have though and I want to be doing it legally. I am at the mo', but would rather combine it with the stereo than have a separate little Parrot thing, as it can be a bit flaky.

I've got separate GPS for the bike and for running and wouldn't use my smartphone for that, but I find actual satnavs are out of date within a year or two and require you to spend more money to update the maps. Google maps is free, up to date, has live traffic updates and will reroute you around crap traffic.

As it's in the car, I can plug the phone into the lighter socket so I don't run out of battery. I've got most of my music on my phone so it makes sense to just have the one device to carry around that can do all those bits as long as I can not run the battery down. Also, using phone for both means music gets automatically paused if a call comes in.

Outlaw Vette anyone?

I have no shame in saying I drove for 2 hours through Kansas without anything more than an occasional glance at the road. The whole trip from NYC back to LA I spent more time looking at my phone than I did driving. You can drive hundreds of miles of interstate without seeing more than a handful of cars, then all of a sudden you reach a city limit and boom there's hundreds of cars everywhere. I kept feeling really claustrophobic and anxious in town and not feeling relaxed until I could see the road leading to the horizon.

Like the look of Tim Allens Camero:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxvAkUupnKw&list=UUQMELFlXQL38KPm8kM-4Adg
-4Adg&v=VxvAkUupnKw