From those of you with experience buying a new car or those in the know ... what is best to buy yourself and install and what to wait for. What is worth it or not in general for the item? Personal opinions wanted! And where do you purchase these items (where applicable) yourself to save some $$$?

navigation, interior trim kit, bass system, interior illumination, day/night mirror w/compass, etc.

are some of the things too hard or aggravating to install yourself (again where applicable ... I know I can't put in a factory navi lol)? Trying to see how far I am going to bend over for the dealer lol. I think I just decided within the last hour to get the HCH II over my other choices.

did learn not to get the integrated XM ... no one at a dealership is usually competent enough to rip my car completely apart and put it back together!!!


And as always, thank anyone and everyone for your time and input!!!

Take care and have fun!!!

 

I'd vote for getting ANY accessory at the time of purchase, that way the acc'y is covered by your new car warranty. (Tho if was reading the warranty correctly, it may say that any dealer-installed acc'y is covred for the length of the new car warranty. BUT the assumption is that a post-purchase accessory buy would not be covered under hondacare or other extended warranties.

I got the day/night mirror on my 2005 HAH which is the same mirror that the HCH uses and I like it a lot - it seems to be "height sensitive" in that it works as well on a jacked up Hummer as it would on a popeyed Geo with one hi-beam.

It's just a honking BIG mirror, with the compass thing on the bottom.

I'd lean against the XM install as it's VERY expensive and you could do after-market for about $50 and run it through the Aux plug on the radio.

OR (and/or) add on the ipod gadget the Honda Audio Link. A couple of hundred, not as much disembowelment, and keeps all your ipoddery hidden away in the glove compartment.

 

Buy accessiories from the dealer are good for the warranty but if your not concerned about that buyem and do it yourself. My dealer wanted $98 for wheel locks installed. I bought them for $38.00 and installed in 5 min. I also got the entire bass kit for $268.00 including the attachment and installed it myself. It took less than an hour and was very easy. I also got the splash guards and that took about 30 min. to install. The hardest part was installing one screw in a hard to reach place behind the rear tire. I also got the trunk tray and that was for the most part just popping it in. The trunk tray really does not fit the hybrid model due to the battery but I cut about 5 inches off the front to make it fit and it works well. The only options I would suggest getting done at the dealer would be the fog light due to the need of taking off the front bumper and the XM Kit and the Ipod link. Unless you are okay with taking a part the dash of your new car take it to the dealer. The markup on any type of part from the dealer is just like jewerly. Very high markup. The warrenty is nice but if you do it your self you still get a warranty for Honda on the parts but it is only a year and not the three year warranty if you got it from the dealer.

 

Radio Shack has the iPod cord for about $3.

 

Thank you for your responses!

XM - after reading about tearing the dash out ... definately a no for the dealer or myself. I have a Hi-MD minidisc player which the 1 GB discs can store 45 hours of music, documents, pictures, PC files ... at $7 a disc and less than $2 a disc for the 13 1/2 hour discs ... and for the price of the service I can get a download service and burn my own mixes. (there is a cubby under the radio right?) Not quite the same but it will work. And with owning that, I don't see the point of me getting the iPod unless I just want to support apple. I will do that when the release thier Intel/AMD processor compatible operating system.

Thanks for the advice about the fog lights. I don't think I want to go through the project on removing the front and reassymbling it. I know on OLD cars it was relatively easy and without major parts removal.

I thought you could buy the wheel locks at a parts store relatively cheap, and who needs a 3 year warranty on 4 lugs?

Nice to hear the bass system is easy. I have installed (amatuer) stereo systems before in cars, wiring under carpet, power cables through firewalls, etc. but to know it is a simple installation is relief and the $$$ saved will be great and the year warranty should be sufficient for me. If they eventually blow after a year, I can upgrade to higher quality easily. I am passed my youth of HUGE subwoofer systems, so I hope the sound is still decent. I just don't know what to do with the 15 and 18" speakers now lol.

mud flaps sound easy enough, i am sure the interior trim kit the same if I can get it even. a 5-in trim on the trunk tray ... if it is easy to make a clean cut so it looks right.

And I take it you say the compass mirror is definately worth it. I will look to see if it is easy to put in myself.

I have read the nav/no nav thread but it is still hard to decide with the premium. I like the idea of integration with car info, but is it truly worth it? It would be nice to hear from the die hard navigator enthusiast to talk me into it lol.

I just wanted to say thanks again for the input and any more to come. I do appreciate it that much!

 

Acutally, *ANY* accessory that you have put in the car that touches the electrical system (XM, Mirror, or Ipod) requires some pretty heavy disassembly of the interior, including (at least) the lefthand side of the dash where the fuse connections are. The mirror also requires removing the trim around the A pillar on the drivers side (the car isn't pre-wired so you have to run the cabling up from the fuse box to the mirror.)

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As long as the itunes software is intel-compatible, who CARES about the O/S on the Mac computers? When it comes to the most cost-effective way to listen to 60 gigs of stuff in the car without swapping out a zillion CDs (at least the HCH drive is MP3 compatible - my Accord is not) I'll take it all in one unit, just because I never know when I'll be driving along the roads of NC and suddenly decide to swap from the Branderberg Concerti, to the Dukes of Hazard soundtrack.

You just gotta have ALL the music in one place to make a quick change like that.

(I switched up to the 60gig Video iPod because (a) I thought I was getting the HCH with the ipod attachment anyway, and (b) my first generation Dell Jukebox is now so old/out of warranty that Dell doesn't support it any more, so it had to go, anyway.)

 

For me, it came down to knowing myself. From a feature set standpoint, the factory NAV and after market ones are pretty close, but you have to disconnect and stow the aftermarket ones each time you park or risk tempting a thief. I know I would consider that too much of a pain after a while and it would end up spending a lot of time in the glove box, so I got the factory NAV and I use it all the time. The factory NAV also has a few features that the after market ones don't, like adjusting the color scheme to a darker set when you turn on the headlights (nighttime mode), displaying audio info on the same screen including folder navigation/display for my MP3's, lots of PHYSICAL controls (rocker switch for zoom, joystick for scrolling and panning, etc.) which I find much more ergonomic than pure touchscreen, ability to use the steering wheel controls, etc. I don't regret it at all. I also read that the NAV system runs on top of WindowsCE, and the software is on the NAV DVD, so eventually I might start experimenting with the hacks that are out there

 

No, that's just an audio cable that feeds the iPod's output through the car's speakers. I myself use such a cord to play my iPod in the car, but I have to use the iPod's controls and screen to play, pause, change songs, or see what song is playing. With Apple's new iPod Link, you'd see the song on the car's stereo display, and can use the car's stereo controls. Today I came the closest I've been to almost being in an accident because I was looking down at the iPod when the car in front of my stopped and I just barely managed to slam the brakes in time.

 

And for some of us, we simply can't get the NAV option (it isn't offered in Canada!). So, if we want Navigation, we need a third party nav unit.

Stephane.

 

I think I will go with the Nav now ... the integration, and sounds better than (if i did need it in the future) toting a portable around. It also sounds that once you have it you use it more than you would think never having it before.

I will have to consider an iPod and the iLink in the future. I forget they are 60GB now!!! that is huge and will keep from having to switch out even the ultra long minidiscs. I had made the mistake of buying a top of the line MD player just before the iPods really hit the market, so in a way I am trying to get use of my investment which I don't see ever happening now. they are great, better than CDs, but it doesn't really have a market and MP3 players have made them useless and a hassle in comparison. And I didn't mean that I thought I need Mac OS to do the iPod, iTunes came with my Windows XP MCE, it is just that I have owned a Mac before and I like thier system much better, but I do admit XP far exceeded what I had used before on PCs.

I didn't know they need to take your dash apart for the mirror ... I can see if not pre-wired the a-pillar applique and the kick-panel by the floor. I wonder about the illumination how much needs to be taken apart as well. Just trying to decide if they have to take it apart anyway, then maybe I should go ahead and get the XM ... or not get any of them.

thank you all so much. I have a good idea of what I am doing now, including some self-installations. Been a great help!!!