Prospective Owner's Questions

iain3915 said:
Do you know if an iPhone can be used with the Carver setup without too much hassle?
Has more to do with bluetooth version than the audio level, there's probably at least a dozen different versions for Europe alone. Other folk's experiences seem to vary from no problem at all to tried everything and nothing works. Chances are you'll get it paired OK, but certain functions may not work.
 
buzyg said:
Make sure the inspection 2 has been done. Should be past that by 50k, but check as it could be a £1000+ depending on dealer.

Actually, it depends on how the car is driven. Mine is at 57000 miles and isn't yet due for inspection 2, according to the onboard computer readout on the speedometer.

Regarding the question about the sport button, based on my experience in the US looking at US models, not all 3.0s have a sport button. I too HIGHLY recommend it. Test drive one with it, and put the pedal to the floor both with sport on and off, and you'll see what I mean.

Here's a 2005 3.0 with no sport button: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEAT...8551490?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item19d342c7c2
 
The benefit of the sport button is much greater with auto trans than manual. For me, it's essential with auto, with manual, it's nice to have but not at all a deal breaker.
 
bcworkz said:
The benefit of the sport button is much greater with auto trans than manual. For me, it's essential with auto, with manual, it's nice to have but not at all a deal breaker.

Agree :thumbsup:
 
Just checked mine and I have the top hifi amp shown in adamski's diagram, but with the bracket shown with the midrange amp?! :?

I'm going with the top hifi as I'm ordering up harnesses to install a Parrot MKI9200 at the weekend. I'm going to be following instructions by Hotride elsewhere on the forum. Wish me luck - I'm sure to balls this up somewhere! :roll:
 
Z4-Chow, I'm sure you can tell if it's the Carver system simply by going through the sound options for your stereo. If you have DSP (I think that's what it's called) options then you have the Carver system. No need to go looking at your amp.
 
Pretty sure Mowflow is right, DSP indicates Top Hi-Fi. Except the display doesn't say DSP, it offers options for Church, Jazz, Concert. For those that can't gather enough clues, Top Hi-Fi also has speed dependent volume adjustment, if you can't simply hear it, there is a way to adjust the volume change in the audio settings. Also, the Top Hi-Fi amp has a coax cable going into it for the CD changer connection. This last bit is an essential difference when ordering interface modules like the Parrot.
 
bcworkz said:
Top Hi-Fi also has speed dependent volume adjustment, if you can't simply hear it, there is a way to adjust the volume change in the audio settings.

I am sure mine has this, and I have poverty spec... Need to check tomorrow :thumbsup:

Might be because I have nav...
 
I can't believe we're on page 3 of this thread and no-one has mentioned the VIN lookup tool.

http://www.rubmw.ru/vincode/eng/

Punch in the last 7 digits of the VIN of any car you are looking at to see what the factory build spec was when it was new. This will list what type of HiFi it has etc etc. it may not say 'carver' specifically (mine has it but says "top HiFi" on the VIN lookup).

It's well worth finding a car with the carver system if you can, I think it sounds great and if you get a car with Nav, there is a full dsp equaliser screen that you can adjust all of the frequency responses to your taste.

There are threads on here where a sound engineer has sat in their z4 and tuned the frequencies to perfection using test equipment and they've published up the settings. I use a variation on those and I'm very satisfied.

As a comparison I've had Bose in a 911 turbo, harmon/kardon in my MINI and harmon/kardon in a range rover and I rate the z4 the best of them all. I have had an s1 Elise and s2 exige s and know how awful the radios are in the vx220s too.. Anything is better!

The 3.0 model comes with a lot as standard as I expect you're starting to see. Electric memory seats (heating was optional), sport button, rain and light sensors, headlamp wash (xenon optional), leather, climate control, metallic etc.

Notable options (if you don't already know) include; professional Nav, heated seats, HiFi upgrade (you know this), cruise control (cheap and easy retrofit), sports seats on later models, xenon lights, Bluetooth, wheel upgrades obviously, different leather on standard seats with extended leather options (this is rare but very nice - leather sun visors, leather all over the door cards not just the middle, windscreen surround etc - look for New England leather), parking sensors (pdc) etc etc.

Good luck in your search - plenty out there and you'll find a cracker.

Edited to say - the MFSW was always an option on early cars and seems to be reasonably rare. It can be retrofitted to the standard or sports (thicker) wheel for approx £200. It's on my list of things to do.
 
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