Djelibeybi

Thanks guys, great advice here. I think I'll definitely go with the SonyEricsson HCB30 kit, but I may get someone else to install it. I'm not that confident taking my car apart.

Hey gang, I just got a new SonyEricsson bluetooth-capable mobile and I'd like to get an integrated handsfree kit for my BA XR6 (with premium sound). I should probably go with the SonyEricsson car kit, but since bluetooth is meant to be a standard (ha!), I thought I'd check here first to see what experiences others have had with other kits. Obviously, a key requirement is proper integration with the BA ICC, so that the sound automatically mutes when the phone rings and it uses the in-car speakers. Also, recommendations for good installers in Canberra appreciated. I'd like to have very little visible change to the interior of the car after the kit is installed. Thanks!

I know its bad form reviving old threads, but I can't stand the Ericsson software either. Take a look at FloAt's Mobile Agent instead -- its GPL software, so its free to use -- http://fma.sourceforge.net. Took about 20 seconds to setup and it works like charm.

I got LSD installed on my NA XR6 -- you can't get Traction Control though.

I have a silhouette XR6 with white-on-black rego XR600. Usually parked on National Circuit (outside the Burns Centre), but hopefully it will start being parked underground soon. I'm trying to work a parking space into my new contract. :-)

Sorry boys and girls -- my ability to SMS the logo has been cut off (I've lost my copy of Logo Manager, and I can't be arsed trying to find it, 'cos I'm too busy right now). When I do find it, I'll let you all know.

Had a great time meeting all of you fine folk. Except, last night the car decided that it had had enough and died. :( Its sitting at the dealer this morning after getting towed by Ford Roadside Assistance last night. I'm still waiting to hear what's wrong with the damn thing. Edited to add that I should get my pics and some video footage online during the next long weekend, I hope.

Chris - it takes me just on 3 hours to drive from the centre of Canberra to the centre of Sydney city. Otherwise, www.whereis.com.au has a nifty directions service that also estimates the driving time required. Edited to say... ARRRGH. I should read both pages of the topic before replying.

Speaking of which, any recommendations for a good detailing place? I'm sick and tired of half-assed cleaning jobs done by bored uni students.

Both weekends are good for me too, so counter to 3 -- just give me enough warning so I can get the damn thing cleaned.

I went with Prosperion for my novated lease, and they've been great, even after I was made redundant and lost the novation. I'm now re-novating the lease with my new company. Along all the advice in the thread, my advice is to get all modifications added to the orginal invoice, as this is what is novated. Once you've got the car, its far more difficult to get any modifications made, as the lease companies usually don't want the value of the car to change significantly (either up or down). I even got my custom rego plates added to my original invoice, and thus the lease.

Hey, is this a red XR6? I saw you parked in Civic on Sunday... I got XR600 out of the ACT registry for only $383 (but that was paid for by my leasing company, because I got the plates added to the original invoice by the dealer). Sadly, XR666 was already taken.

If you guys don't mind an NA XR6 in your midsts, I'd be interested too.

I would call or be called at least 3 or 4 times a week over an 8 week period and every time I called, the salesman (Glenn -- can't praise him enough) was great. Even though I could tell he was probably getting a little annoyed, he still dealt with me competantly and courteously. Also, I'm one of the only people that has a satellite navigation system that he knows of, so I told him he could refer potential buyers to me and I'd explain how it works, etc. Just my way of giving a little back.

Wow. I bought my NA XR6 from John McGraths in Philip (Woden) and the sales guy (Glenn) was excellent -- he freely admitted when he did or did not know something I'd asked and was great about finding out the answer and getting back to me. I changed my order four or five times before delivery, and each time, the order was faxed back to me for confirmation before submission. The car I'm driving now is exactly what I (eventually) ordered. Their service dept had serviced my Explorer LTD for 2 years prior to the purchase of the XR6, so they knew me and have given me fantastic service since purchase. So overall, I'm pretty happy with them.

There's also the Silhouette XR6 running around the south side.. rego plate XR600 makes it hard to miss. The grin on my face behind the wheel is usually a dead giveaway too.

That's Cedar Point (Cedar Creek is a different park). In fact, Sandusky, OH has another really cool park, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure which has 15 thrill rides of its own, including the new X-FLIGHT coaster.

I have one thing to say: BRING! IT! ON!

Geocities will not allow remote linking of images stored on their server. So, you can see the image if you cut and paste it into a new browser, but it won't show up when embedded into another site's page. You need to find a different server to host your image on.

Nope, they're two separate systems. The DVD Satellite Navigation drive sits in the boot, the DVD Entertainment Unit sits on the roof of the car above the gap between the two front seats. You can run both at the same time, so they would have to have different drives. I'd imagine the Entertainment Unit's drive is in the unit itself.

I'll see if I can explain it -- you can scale down to about 50m resolution (which shows all the roads in the database). However, when navigation is active, the screen splits -- one side is the map in the picture, the other side displays navigation assistance, either as a bigger view of the intersection showing the direction of travel, or a series of upcoming turns and their distance. I'll try and get some pics taken soon, but real life is interfering with this stuff, so it may be a while.

No. The Satellite Navigation requires major modification to the Premium Sound ICC to handle the incoming RGB display signal from the unit the boot and it also needs the infrared receiver for the satellite navigation remote control. While I'm sure it'd be possible to do this after delivery, its probably not something Ford would like their service agents attempting to do! However, you can get aftermarket navigation systems from VDO Dayton and other manufacturers. They start at around $2,500 or so, I believe. You can also get combined DVD players/navigation units, but those are obviously more expensive.

You can zoom in to 50m scale and out to around 10km or so. It'll be a little difficult to show the various navigational tools it uses because they're only displayed while the car is in motion. So I'd have to get someone in the passenger seat trying to take pictures while I'm driving! There are a few different navigational display modes. The one I like best displays upcoming intersections and clearly marks the direction in which you should travel. Alternatively, you can have an upcoming turn list (with distance count-downs) and there's a third one I haven't tried yet. I'm not sure what you mean about road level detail, though. Depending on what scale you use, you can see more/less road information. You can also configure the system to display up to 5 different Points of Interest (POI) icons. For example, I've configured mine to show me petrol stations, parking lots/garages, hospitals and shopping malls. You can see those icons in my picture above (the Red Cross, the P sign and the little petrol pump).

I found one pic, just of the general map view at 400m scale. I'll have to take some more at some point.