So I finally had some work done on my G that went right for a change! I'm pretty sure all my bad luck was related to the fact that my car had wood trim (I'm convinced the tree was grown in a pet cemetery).

So, I had an Alpine IVA-W505 installed after a lot of research. I wanted a DD setup that could work with my Blackberry, have an SD slot, and work with an iPod quickly and not take 2 minutes to boot up. I bought the stuff from Audio Video 2001, and also had them install it. I know a lot of you would cringe at having them do the install (as did I originally), but they have a lifetime warranty on their work, and will do an un-install for free. I also got to check out their work on a few cars, including a 911, and was impressed with the OEM quality look of their work.

The GPS antennae is in the corner of the dash on the passenger side, and the bluetooth mic is on the top left corner of the windshield (can't even see it when sitting). It works really well, callers can hear me clearly even at 120kph. The steering wheel remote also works well although there is a slight delay in registering commands (I got used to it after a couple of days).

Here are some pics (taken from my blackberry) of my new deck, and no wood trim! I'm sure most of you take the aluminum trim for granted, but I had to suffer for a good 4 months with wood.

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention, they did a parking brake bypass as a part of the install. They installed a simple switch underneath the steering column that lets me disable the parking brake function lock. It works really well too.

 

Looks great!! But Prince and the Revolution?!? HAHA..j/k...

 

Hey man, Purple Rain was one of the greatest albums ever made!

 

Well, I will admit to having enjoyed a small part of the movie involving Apollonia Kotero. But all kidding aside, nice setup.

 

Looks great. I think I've used my CD player twice since I've owned the car.

 

Nice set-up and I was listening to the song Purple Rain the other week

 

That looks hot!!! It's making me want to do the same thing.

Was the store location a Toronto area one?

 

Looks great
No wood, sweet , now your black cloud is gone

 

Thanks for the props folks. It's nice to finally have an install go perfectly smooth for once. And for those that are curious and haven't seem the factory wood trim parts before, i'm selling them here: https://g35driver.com/forums/interio...wood-trim.html

Sorry for the grainy pics though.

 

looks very nice congrats on the new equipment

 

sweet set up...I know you're enjoying it

 

Maaaaaan that is exactly what I have been looking for.. Alpine always makes top notch products, I have never been dissapointed!

Not sure if I am ready to take the $1,5K step.. As I live in Chicago and park on the street..
Is the face detachable?
what mounting kit did you buy?
Does the Navi show up on the 7" screen as well or just the portable?


Thanks!!! Again Really nice set up!

 

Yup, when the Navi is docked, it appears full screen on the 7". Alpine now has a cheaper Navi unit available which can go in the W505, but it is a dedicated unit, so it doesn't 'undock'. Its a few hundred bucks cheaper than my set up. The face itself isn't detachable. But if you look at how this thing is installed, you have to rip out the entire center console in order to steal it (my car spends most of the time outside too, since most houses downtown Toronto don't really have garages).

As for the mounting kit, I bought the JDM DD kit (check out the Audio/Video section on the forums, you'll see lots of people talking about them. With this kit, you can simply re-use the brackets used for the OEM head unit.