Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://techstory.in/stellantis-intr...-among-owners/


Ya, gonna take a pass on that idea, dawg.

Ah, memories of using Waze in its infancy.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://techstory.in/stellantis-intr...-among-owners/


Ya, gonna take a pass on that idea, dawg.

Of all the automakers that shouldn't be pushing their luck with buyers.

[Fuzz]

I dunno, I see Jeep buyers as incredibly irrational already, so maybe they thought they could get away with it.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I'm wondering if maybe it isn't a good time to buy a used vehicle right now given what might be about to happen in the next couple weeks...

[woob]

A Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe starts at $62, 290. Shouldn't that be enough spend to permanently opt your customer out of ever seeing an ad on anything in that vehicle?

[curves2000]

Anybody have any suggestions/ advice for getting hand's free calling via Bluetooth on older cars without it built in? I just got an older SUV for work related things. I was able to find these FM style transmitters but so far results are a mixed bag. Sometimes people can hear me ok, other times not at all and are borderline useless. They seem to be everywhere but I don't know where I am going wrong. Surely in 2025 there may be some better options but I am not really a big tech guy.

https://www.scosche.com/promo/cyber-...fm-transmitter

Thanks!

[Texas]

https://www.amazon.ca/Avantree-Bluet...9BHV6HW7?gQT=1

What about something like this? It has a built in mic and speaker, essentially should work very similarly to a speakerphone in a conference room.

FM transmitter is built in as well, but optional.

I haven't tried it, but if I were in your shoes I would probably go for something like this.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Anybody have any suggestions/ advice for getting hand's free calling via Bluetooth on older cars without it built in? I just got an older SUV for work related things. I was able to find these FM style transmitters but so far results are a mixed bag. Sometimes people can hear me ok, other times not at all and are borderline useless. They seem to be everywhere but I don't know where I am going wrong. Surely in 2025 there may be some better options but I am not really a big tech guy.

https://www.scosche.com/promo/cyber-...fm-transmitter

Thanks!

Just change out the radio for a media player. There's plenty of single and double din units these days that aren't overly expensive.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Just change out the radio for a media player. There's plenty of single and double din units these days that aren't overly expensive.

Crutchfield is great for this, you enter the vehicle and it will guide you to everything you need to plug and play, adapter harness's, faceplates etc.

[photon]

And if the car has a weird opening you can usually find a replacement dash piece that has a single or double DIN opening. I almost did it on my wife's Civic before she replaced it.

[photon]

What about the Lexus IS350? Anyone own one or similar?

[TorqueDog]

Stellantis is a sad joke; everything they've touched has turned to sh't, and this in-car advertising thing is just another way that shows they're out of touch and circling the drain.

Starting with the American arm, it's a mess of mismanagement and overbranding. It's time, Chrysler needs to be taken out behind the shed; they make "a" vehicle and it's just a tarted-up Grand Caravan. Chrysler Pacifica should be branded back to Grand Caravan and folded back into Dodge along with RAM pickups, leaving Dodge and Jeep as the sole US nameplates. That's all you need, frees up a ton of overlap. Definitely some attrition in terms of models needs to happen too.

Don't get me started on what they've done to Maserati. They need to decide what they want Maserati to be, though I think for what it should be, they need three or four cars, tops:
- Levante SUV, to compete with the DBX, Cayenne...
- GranTurismo/GranCabrio, competing with the 911, DB12...
- MC20/MC20Cielo/GT2 Stadale as their halo car competing with Valhalla, and the Porsche Mission X that is set to replace the 918 Spyder later this year; fingers crossed.

Kill the rest. The Ghibli is an underwhelming piece of crap and was already 'paused' in 2023, and no one wants the Quattroporte. Axe the Grecale -- it's uglier than its Alfa cousin, and frankly Alfa Romeo is better positioned to target that market anyway. And maybe while they're at it, they could stop using switchgear from the aforementioned Grand Caravan in their $200,000 GT car and $130,000 SUV. It's no wonder they aren't selling anything.

Someone needs to make a "Stellanis Restructuring Simulator" game on Steam.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by photon

What about the Lexus IS350? Anyone own one or similar?

I drove a V6 Lexus to Vegas and back. Two door convertible, IS250 model. Decently comfortable car, but I was unimpressed with the motor. I thought it was criminally underpowered.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Anybody have any suggestions/ advice for getting hand's free calling via Bluetooth on older cars without it built in? I just got an older SUV for work related things. I was able to find these FM style transmitters but so far results are a mixed bag. Sometimes people can hear me ok, other times not at all and are borderline useless. They seem to be everywhere but I don't know where I am going wrong. Surely in 2025 there may be some better options but I am not really a big tech guy.

https://www.scosche.com/promo/cyber-...fm-transmitter

Thanks!

I haven't used it myself, but I've seen realtors use something like this. It's a two way speaker above your head that you clip to the sun shade.

https://a.co/d/0KG3pn5

[DownInFlames]

Dax Shepard annoys me but I respect his love of wagons. This Fox body beast is pretty cool.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a6...-eye-fox-body/

Spoiler!

[Table 5]

That hood gap variance would drive me nuts.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Ah, memories of using Waze in its infancy.

Does Waze still have boy band singer voice. I’d use that whenever driving my kids and their friends to hockey. Damn that pissed my kids off. It’s probably offensive but certainly funny.

How are car startets these days? I had an Audi and they were never recommended but now would a Subie work? I am not a car guy at all, just a hate cold guy.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Table 5

That hood gap variance would drive me nuts.

The hood gap is likely just misadjusted rubber bumpers, those are screw-down and easy to adjust. It's the door panel gaps you can see from outer space that would bother me.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

The hood gap is likely just misadjusted rubber bumpers, those are screw-down and easy to adjust. It's the door panel gaps you can see from outer space that would bother me.

Well then adjust them before your fancy Road and Track photoshoot!

[TorqueDog]

It's missing the logo on the front too, something tells me the imperfections are part of the appeal.