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Went to Halfords, checked that I can return the JVC (I can), bought ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siani_hedgehog an Alpine unit instead after perusing the installation guide. The bloke in Halfords agreed that the JVC design was a bit retarded and definitely not normal. Also bought more wiring stuff for fitting it. My father wants an iPod-compatible head unit for his car and it's his birthday this month, so depending on how the Alpine works I'll probably take the JVC back and swap it for another Alpine. The radio I'll remove from David's car (a JVC I got him a couple of years back) I will fit to the MX-5, since Jen doesn't need an iPod connection but it does have an aux-input for occasional connection of iPods. The 850 can continue to have the mess of cables.
I am getting very fed up with the depletion of my bank balance. Can people please stop getting older.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to finish the install tonight and relax.
Volvo decided to have the thermostat stick closed as well as open judging by the temperature. Unimpressed, will get a new one tomorrow. I've got this horrid feeling that the Volvo is going to keep needing little things done, but I shall stick it out *sighs* Looked at the brand new V70 today, the one just launched. It's very... clever. It has all sorts of folding bits in the back with aluminium rails to secure loads, a shopping bag securing/barrier system, a big underfloor area with a gas-strut assisted, hinged floor (and a very visible, very large amplifier and subwoofer, too). It also has better visibility than the outgoing V70, but still inevitably lacks the flat, thin-pillared screen of the 850. What I don't understand about car development is why we're continuing to get larger cars with less efficient use of materials and space; the 850 compared to a 240 is safer and stronger, but it also seems to me that it's already a perfectly safe car (and the 240 was also very safe). What possible justification is there to make it heavier and less safe to see out of?
Jalopnik ran a video of a Porsche being crushed. It's amazing how long the windscreen remained structurally intact. There's a lot of the car's strength right there.
Interestingly Volvo have themselves started fitting blind-spot sensors to the mirrors. Why not just make the damn pillars smaller!
Salesman remembered me after 8 years, which is frankly terrifying. He also pointed out the entry level V70 has a 200bhp Turbo 5 cylinder engine. When I suggested that this may negate my liking for the 850's 38mpg 177bhp unit, he suggested the 188bhp diesel. Bah. I don't want diesel[1]. I want an estate car as roomy as the 850, as comfortable as the 850, as economical as the 850, with a petrol engine. We're supposed to make new cars have less environmental impact - isn't that why we want to force the nasty old polluting ones off the road? So why are they still, two generations after the bloat really started in car design, getting heavier, thirstier and larger with no real gains in interior space?
Of course, I have the 850. It's just a shame it's worth so little and will continue to need more and more expensive maintenance if I choose to keep it for years instead of months, and the engine or gearbox will eventually wear out.
I had something else to babble about, but I forget what it was.
[1] Actually, I'm not really put off the diesel that much, I'm just frustrated that the 850 has all the emissions-related crap modern cars have and still returns decent mpg. I wonder what it would be like running lean-burn, high-octane with no catalyst. Or if Volvo had actually done real technology sharing with Mitsubishi, and used the Gasoline Direct Injection tech on the 5-cylinder units...
siani_hedgehog an Alpine unit instead after perusing the installation guide. The bloke in Halfords agreed that the JVC design was a bit retarded and definitely not normal. Also bought more wiring stuff for fitting it. My father wants an iPod-compatible head unit for his car and it's his birthday this month, so depending on how the Alpine works I'll probably take the JVC back and swap it for another Alpine. The radio I'll remove from David's car (a JVC I got him a couple of years back) I will fit to the MX-5, since Jen doesn't need an iPod connection but it does have an aux-input for occasional connection of iPods. The 850 can continue to have the mess of cables.I am getting very fed up with the depletion of my bank balance. Can people please stop getting older.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to finish the install tonight and relax.
Volvo decided to have the thermostat stick closed as well as open judging by the temperature. Unimpressed, will get a new one tomorrow. I've got this horrid feeling that the Volvo is going to keep needing little things done, but I shall stick it out *sighs* Looked at the brand new V70 today, the one just launched. It's very... clever. It has all sorts of folding bits in the back with aluminium rails to secure loads, a shopping bag securing/barrier system, a big underfloor area with a gas-strut assisted, hinged floor (and a very visible, very large amplifier and subwoofer, too). It also has better visibility than the outgoing V70, but still inevitably lacks the flat, thin-pillared screen of the 850. What I don't understand about car development is why we're continuing to get larger cars with less efficient use of materials and space; the 850 compared to a 240 is safer and stronger, but it also seems to me that it's already a perfectly safe car (and the 240 was also very safe). What possible justification is there to make it heavier and less safe to see out of?
Jalopnik ran a video of a Porsche being crushed. It's amazing how long the windscreen remained structurally intact. There's a lot of the car's strength right there.
Interestingly Volvo have themselves started fitting blind-spot sensors to the mirrors. Why not just make the damn pillars smaller!
Salesman remembered me after 8 years, which is frankly terrifying. He also pointed out the entry level V70 has a 200bhp Turbo 5 cylinder engine. When I suggested that this may negate my liking for the 850's 38mpg 177bhp unit, he suggested the 188bhp diesel. Bah. I don't want diesel[1]. I want an estate car as roomy as the 850, as comfortable as the 850, as economical as the 850, with a petrol engine. We're supposed to make new cars have less environmental impact - isn't that why we want to force the nasty old polluting ones off the road? So why are they still, two generations after the bloat really started in car design, getting heavier, thirstier and larger with no real gains in interior space?
Of course, I have the 850. It's just a shame it's worth so little and will continue to need more and more expensive maintenance if I choose to keep it for years instead of months, and the engine or gearbox will eventually wear out.
I had something else to babble about, but I forget what it was.
[1] Actually, I'm not really put off the diesel that much, I'm just frustrated that the 850 has all the emissions-related crap modern cars have and still returns decent mpg. I wonder what it would be like running lean-burn, high-octane with no catalyst. Or if Volvo had actually done real technology sharing with Mitsubishi, and used the Gasoline Direct Injection tech on the 5-cylinder units...
