Dino
aka Dins
Easter weekend has come and gone and fiddling has been done.
First was to replace the wheel center caps. 3 of 4 had lost their crest, normal as the glue ages. Originals are around €100 a piece (lol), so I bought 4 fake ones for €30 total on Ebay. Right is the original, left is the replacement. Works just as well.
With that big ticket item done, it was time to do the 600km drive up north to the families and many delivered parcels.
Next up were replacement wind deflectors in the rollover hoops. Again, new ones are 160 a piece, these were 100 for both. With the windows up and the complete deflector set, the wind buffeting is very low with the top down.
Then came the big weekend project, replacing the terrible 2000s era radio with a double DIN unit that supports Carplay/Auto.
I went with the Pioneer SPH-DA160DAB. It's an entry level unit with capacitive screen, Bluetooth audio and wired Carplay/Auto. Wireless would have been nicer, of course, but being a budget build I want to keep costs down. The total bill was just over €400 including all the brackets, radio splitter cable and little things.
All the cables.
There were two things I was worried about: 1. Moving the climate control cables, which can be a gigantic pain. 2. Getting the aftermarket speakers and cables (again yeay 2000s) to plug in. Both were rather minor issues, so we felt really good about it. Turns out the double DIN radio cage and facia didn't want to work at all, which made the whole job last 3 hours longer than intended. However, the end result isn't half bad:
All that is left is to grind down the radio facia so it fits flush. The screen is a big upgrade in terms of looks and usability and makes the whole car a lot more modern. Also, having never used Carplay before, it's really good. I'm quite impressed. The wife is also a big fan, it's made her like the car now, not just tolerate it. Excellent.
With all that and a few not noteworthy things done, my wife's 4 nieces and nephews wanted to have a go, so many loops on the autobahn were had. That's what toys are for.
On Monday, back down to Switzerland we went, another 600kms of surprisingly comfortable driving. That also means that I've now done almost 3000kms already, which is quite surprising, given the season hasn't even really begun. With some mileage, I can also get a decent impression of fuel usage.
Was expecting to be somewhere around 10l/100km in combined driving, and that's what I'm getting. To my surprise, highway driving at around 160km/h yields pretty decent economy. It's possible to go below 8l/100km with careful driving, not that you'd want to. Spirited driving will net around 12l. If only she didn't take premium fuel.
First was to replace the wheel center caps. 3 of 4 had lost their crest, normal as the glue ages. Originals are around €100 a piece (lol), so I bought 4 fake ones for €30 total on Ebay. Right is the original, left is the replacement. Works just as well.
With that big ticket item done, it was time to do the 600km drive up north to the families and many delivered parcels.
Next up were replacement wind deflectors in the rollover hoops. Again, new ones are 160 a piece, these were 100 for both. With the windows up and the complete deflector set, the wind buffeting is very low with the top down.
Then came the big weekend project, replacing the terrible 2000s era radio with a double DIN unit that supports Carplay/Auto.
I went with the Pioneer SPH-DA160DAB. It's an entry level unit with capacitive screen, Bluetooth audio and wired Carplay/Auto. Wireless would have been nicer, of course, but being a budget build I want to keep costs down. The total bill was just over €400 including all the brackets, radio splitter cable and little things.
All the cables.
There were two things I was worried about: 1. Moving the climate control cables, which can be a gigantic pain. 2. Getting the aftermarket speakers and cables (again yeay 2000s) to plug in. Both were rather minor issues, so we felt really good about it. Turns out the double DIN radio cage and facia didn't want to work at all, which made the whole job last 3 hours longer than intended. However, the end result isn't half bad:
All that is left is to grind down the radio facia so it fits flush. The screen is a big upgrade in terms of looks and usability and makes the whole car a lot more modern. Also, having never used Carplay before, it's really good. I'm quite impressed. The wife is also a big fan, it's made her like the car now, not just tolerate it. Excellent.
With all that and a few not noteworthy things done, my wife's 4 nieces and nephews wanted to have a go, so many loops on the autobahn were had. That's what toys are for.
On Monday, back down to Switzerland we went, another 600kms of surprisingly comfortable driving. That also means that I've now done almost 3000kms already, which is quite surprising, given the season hasn't even really begun. With some mileage, I can also get a decent impression of fuel usage.
Was expecting to be somewhere around 10l/100km in combined driving, and that's what I'm getting. To my surprise, highway driving at around 160km/h yields pretty decent economy. It's possible to go below 8l/100km with careful driving, not that you'd want to. Spirited driving will net around 12l. If only she didn't take premium fuel.
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