bit sad but im considering changing my car, just for the ‘driving experience’ and ease of connectivity.

i have a 57 turbo diesel octavia L&K, which is a spot on car. i always seem to be ‘bodging’ music setups tho as i suppose its dated from that point of view. it has 6xCD changer and FM radio, whereas i never listen to CDs and insist on dab for 6 music. so i have a dab adaptor plugged into aux and powered by the fag lighter, with a magnetic aerial fed out to the hatch. i then wanted the option of playing music from deezer on my phone, so bought a little bluetooth adaptor which is also fine. however, i keep everything in the centre console and have to keep swapping over aux inputs and fag lighter plugs depending on what i want to listen to.
im now playing around with using the phone as a satnav and dashcam,
android auto, and all the modern voice command stuff. this would probably mean the phone being plugged into fag lighter too for charging. its all a bit heath robinson and a bit of a faff.

so, even tho my car is great (to me anyway), id be happy to change to a petrol car (most of my journeys are smallish) and insist on something up-to-date for music, so bluetooth and dab built in, ease of connecting phone for satnav/dashcam type stuff.

id be happy to go a bit smaller than octavia, and quite like the look of seat leon, but open to any suggestions really. reliability and decent mpg over looks.

thanks for any suggestions, never really been into cars so dont really know much about the different makes and models, or just where we are with ICE these days…..

cheers

The new Apple / android car play in skodas is excellent. Does exactly what you want. Navigation, music, Spotify, phone all via voice control. You plug your phone in via a USB, it charges your phone as well.

I have a 2017 Fabia estate, we downsized from an 2012 Octavia. Honestly, its a colossal mistake, the back of the car is just too small for the children. Thing with an Octavia is you just get used to the space. It’s the width of the car, not just the length, fabia and Leon are that bit narrower and it’s a total pain.

IF you plan to never have anyone in the back then it would be alright but given your spec I’d struggle to look past an Octavia 1.4 Tsi with android interface. It’s what I should have got. 🙄

i wouldnt say we’d never have anyone in the back, but i cant remember the last time anyone was actually in the back of ours lately, and we’d almost certainly never be wanting to squeeze 5 people in, so if the narrower car is still ok for 2 in the back id still be happy with leon/fabia size. altho that octavia you mentioned does sound good and im not set on going smaller, id just consider it.

i should have put my budget really, which will probably exclude that car, id be hoping to get around £3000 for mine, and looking for something no more than £4000, altho if something really did excite me (from an ‘infotainment’ perspective rather than performance) then id maybe consider taking out a bit more wedge. will i be struggling to get something modern for that money?

thanks for that.

Just make sure it has the latest android auto (or Apple car play whichever camp you fall in)

[video]https://youtu.be/Ht8yzpIV9M0[/video]

You can buy an aftermarket system which will do all this for £500, (allow £100 or so to get it fitted properly)

Given that you’re happy with your current car, have you thought this might be the solution you’re after? Even if the car dies you can take the system with you.

Something like this;

Halfords Kenwood

I’m replying because I have been through this exact thought process a few months ago. Happy with my Octavia but utterly fed up with the ‘tech interface”.

Very very happy with Apple car play, it just works.

you know what mate, thats a very good idea. altho a part of me thinks its time to downsize a little (only me and the missus ever go anywhere in it), plus go petrol as diesels seem to be discouraged lately (so maybe the right time to switch?). just seemed to make sense to make the big change and get a different car, had this one a good few years now.

but yes, buying a new system seems a good option too.

(i also found a grammar mistake on the halfords wesite, sad arent i) 😀

make calls and and access maps while your on the road through Bluetooth

been googling away and reading up on android auto, am i missing something?

the ‘aftermarket system’ for £400 + £100 fitting…… doesnt it do just the same as your phone? plug the phone in by usb and it syncs with it or whatever, why not just open android auto on your phone (in its dock) and do the same thing for nothing?

Essentially, yes, but what else would it do?

You want DAB, integrated phone, navigation, synced phone books, messages, audible, Spotify, and charging. That’s what it does.

yep, spose 🙂

so….. now i know what i can get for £500, do you think id get anything like a decent petrol seat leon/ fabia/ focus with anything like that built in anywhere near my budget? or if not AA, then at least dab and bluetooth?

thanks

Android auto and the like are fairly new so probably going to struggle to get a car in your price range. However if you want Bluetooth and dab you should be ok. Only issue is that it only tends to be mid level cars that have it. Although I think a lot of fords have come with dab for a long time. I was looking at Skoda’s and got a 14 plate Octavia with dab, Bluetooth and satnav for 10k recently. Can stream music from phone over Bluetooth or usb or SD card. Looked at some superbs but only older ones were in budget and not many had dab.

ok thanks, spose that sort of clears up what i can expect/hope for with the toys, now maybe to concentrate on what actually might be a decent car for me to move on to if i did decide to change.

anything else to consider with petrol medium sized cars at that sort of budget? ive thought about skoda, seat, ford, mazda maybe?

thanks

Having the luxury of driving loads of different cars as my job, I get to find out what they’re like to drive, comfort, little foibles, etc, and by and large, there really aren’t many things that would disappoint with any of those you’ve listed.
I’ve only driven a couple of Mazdas, but I liked both, I’ve been very impressed with the Leons I’ve driven, they have that slightly ‘sporty’ edge that makes them fun to drive, Octavias are fine cars, I’ve had one for eleven years, and the newer ones are terrific.
I’ve driven most Fords except the Ka, and the hotter Focus, the ST, and I have to say I like them all very much, the Fiesta is a bundle of fun, handles really well, is comfortable and well-equipped, but then all of the Fords above absolute base-level are pretty well fitted out. The B-Max is worth looking at, Fiesta based, with sliding back doors that give excellent rear access especially with the front doors open, and they all have heated screens, which I love, having had this on my Puma.
In some respects Fords are almost too complicated as far as controls are concerned, but I think you’d get used to only needing certain things most of the time and knowing where those controls are.
I have around thirty minutes to appraise a car, get it signed off, set up my satnav and drive it away, which doesn’t allow for perusing a handbook an inch thick!
I also get to drive many cars for one to two hundred miles, sometimes more, so comfort for four hours driving becomes paramount, and again I’ve got no complaints about any mentioned.
One small thing, I don’t know quite why, but the rear-view door mirrors on the Leon seem to give a particularly clear wide view behind, which if you’re doing the miles I do, is a nice touch on motorway/dual-carriageway driving, like 215miles from Helston in Cornwall back home to North Wilts.

I would have thought that buying a new car for better phone connectivity is a bit ‘sledgehammer to crack a walnut’?

I’ve currently got a Parrot kit (mki9100). This just fits in behind the stereo and works with your phone piping it into the speakers.

I just play Bluetooth audio on my phone and it comes out of the speakers. No DAB. I’m sure other options are available.

CZ, thanks for that, i may ask you for more info if i get that far.

I would have thought that buying a new car for better phone connectivity is a bit ‘sledgehammer to crack a walnut’?

it is youre right, its only cos ive half-looked at swapping from diesel to petrol that i asked about the swapping of cars alongside the phone stuff. and if i did, then the dab/bluetooth/maps type stuff would be a must now, i really do need to make life simpler for myself when it comes to those, they make driving so much more pleasurable (or less sh1t should i say).

parrots a possibility, just want something that doesnt leave wires all over the place and ‘just works’.

thanks

I use Android Auto on the phone in my work van, it does the job…but it’s much better on a head unit.

In my own van, my double din unit broke and was beyond repair. Looked at the Android Auto units by Kenwood etc, they are pretty cheap and nasty units with creaky facias and horrible onscreen menus.

(I also tried a Chinese Android unit…heap of buggy overheating junk!)

So I waited a few months, and then bought Sony’s new XAV-AX100. It’s a much more ‘grown up’ unit, fits in well and the menus are clear and easy to use. Much better experience using Android Auto on a larger head unit, no issues with reflections or small screens.

The only big disadvantage so far is Sony doesn’t have a GPS receiver in the unit, it relies on the phone which is fine…except that at the moment, Android Auto uses the head units GPS to decide when you are driving so it can limit functions such as typing. If the GPS signal is missing, it defaults to drive mode all the time, including when you are parked up. Fingers crossed they’ll fix this ‘bug’ at some point.

As an aside when I was looking at cars second hand I was looking at petrol as I don’t really do enough miles to warrant getting a diesel. However everything that I looked at with the spec I wanted was pretty much diesel. Expect it’s because the majority were ex lease cars.

May have better luck if you’re looking at smaller cars though.

CZ, thanks for that, i may ask you for more info if i get that far.

You’re more than welcome to anything else I can add. I’m no Surfmatt or Clarkson, I hasten to add, it’s just I get to play with a wide variety of cars, sometimes four in one day, usually three, and depending on pickup and drop-off destinations, that can involve a total of between three and four hundred miles spread across two days, so you quickly find the ones that cause yer bum to go numb! The other issue that affects me is an arthritic left knee, so I need to be able to stretch my leg right out, to the side of the clutch/brake pedal, depending on whether manual or auto, but some cars just don’t allow that.
I don’t know how long most dealers will allow for test-driving a car, but I’m getting a much better view of what cars to look at as a prospective replacement for my 51 Octavia, with a tendency towards the smaller crossover SUV’s, like the Qashqai, Mokka, Hyundai is35, Mazda CX-5, just for the higher seating position, I’m not as limber as I once was…
The Qashqai might be worth a look, they’re nice to drive, fairly compact but with that higher seating position, and there’s shitloads around – they’re a very popular Motability* car, so there’s lots go into the auctions, which is where I get involved, picking up the car from an owner or dealer, then moving it to a hub for onward movements, or direct to an auction site, or sometimes to a dealer.
BCA do specific Motability auctions, or ex-lease cars from different manufacturers, like Peugeot/Citroen, BMW, Mercedes, and there are other auction sites around, like Mannheim, Motorpoint, etc.
Worth signing up to BCA, checking out their auction listings and getting the catalog sent for any auctions that are close enough to get to.
*caveat – I would seriously suggest going and actually looking at any cars you might be interested in, most cars are pretty low mileage, anywhere from a couple of thousand to near twenty thousand, for a two to three year old car, and conditions can be pretty variable! I’ve picked up a Skoda Citigo, three years old which had averaged around 1400 miles/year, and a two year old VW Touran with 2300 miles on it, both just needed a bit of a clean, otherwise they were in almost showroom condition!
At the other end the very first car I had to appraise and drive was a Motability Qashqai, 16,000 miles and three years old; it was dirty, every body panel was scratched or with small dings and chips but the alloys were perfect!
The Touran above I took to a dealer the morning after I picked it up, the girl signing it off asked what it was like, so I said lovely, a really nice drive, very tidy but just needed a good clean, after which she said good, I’ve just sold it!
Thing is, these cars are low mileage, serviced, and most just need a really good clean, if there’s some small damage/scratches, then there’s less worry about scuffing it yourself unlike with a brand new car, and it gives room on the price, too.

parrots a possibility, just want something that doesnt leave wires all over the place and ‘just works’.

No wires with the parrot. Well, actually there are loads but they’re all hidden in the dash. The only sign of anything non-OEM for me is the screen (which I’ve hidden behind a folding door in the ashtray cubby).

I’m not saying it’s your answer but it’s a cheap and easy option. I sometimes use the iplayer radio app for 6music. Even on the motorway it rarely drops out these days.

Why is it only now I have realised that ‘sadexpunk’ is most likely ‘sad ex punk’. I have always thought of your username as ‘Sade x punk’ as is 80’s soul singer loves punk. I am truly a massive div.

Worth signing up to BCA, checking out their auction listings and getting the catalog sent for any auctions that are close enough to get to.

signed up mate, although im not actively looking yet until i have a clear goal, but thought id have a look how it all works. thanks for that extensive advice again, much appreciated.

I sometimes use the iplayer radio app for 6music

its 6 music id want to be listening to, do the parrots not do dab then?
and do these units come with proper aerials?

Why is it only now I have realised that ‘sadexpunk’ is most likely ‘sad ex punk’. I have always thought of your username as ‘Sade x punk’ as is 80’s soul singer loves punk. I am truly a massive div.

it is indeed sad ex punk, i dont believe sade was a big pistols fan 😆

its 6 music id want to be listening to, do the parrots not do dab then?
and do these units come with proper aerials?

Don’t know – not the one I have.
They don’t have an aerial – they don’t need it for the functions they have. The radio works as normal but the parrot can ‘cut in’ to play Bluetooth, USB etc and do phone stuff.

I’ve had mine years – it felt really hi tech in 2011 ish but I don’t think they’ve updated the car stuff much in the last few years. They’re concentrating on drones, it seems.

Countzero – have you driven a Seat Ateca yet? Have to order my next company car soon and it’s between a 1.6 manual Ateca, a 1.6 DSG Touran or a 2.0 Passat GT. Would like the Passat but my lower back disagrees

Apologies for the hijack. My recommendation is a pair of Kenwood 6x9s cut into the parcel shelf with no reinforcement ply. Bosh! Sorted.