Thought I'd start a thread for any touring tips...

Just got back from a blast to Adelaide (from Sydney) (this car is fantastic, especially overtaking)

Tip 1. - There is no Premuim Unleaded between Broken Hill and Burra (SA)... about 350k.

Tip 2. Fuel usage varies a lot with speed, I found 110K in 6th gear good for economy (500Km per tank).

- Burn music onto 80 minute CD's = 8 hours of music before changing discs or repeating.
- Adjust seat slightly every now and then... helps avoid back ache.
- If you feel like speeding in unfamiliar territory - turn on cruise control :p

Tint on the windows.

A couple of Brita drink bottles with charcoal filters.

Celery and carrot, etc instead of sweets - avoiding the gummy bear belly.

20l of fuel.

A good friend.

(1) Take oil. A 1 litre container is far easier to pour from than 4 litres. Take some paper towel to wipe the dipstick.
(2) Take a couple of bottles of water to put into the rear drinks holders.
(3) The spare tyre fits in the back seat if you need more boot space.
(4) Carbohydrates make you sleepy.

A little off thread but on the note about burning your "SCO vs Radio Mix" muzak on 80 min cd's - I'm about to order the MP3 module for the CD player.. anyone got one of these yet?

I'd like to know if it reads DVD's formatted as ISO9660 as I like the idea of 4.7 Gig of mp3's per disk..

++dez;

Dez,

Just check, but my understanding is the MP3 player relpaces the CD stacker, so you end up with a single CD head unit. :(

I'd rather an elegant port that I can plug my iPod into :cool:

timbo:

oh crap.. I'll take the six stacker regular cd to a single mp3 capable player any day..

There's a couple of great threads in the US side of the fence about plugging a system into the space that the lighter / coin box takes up with a new system, in particular an MP3 system.

But you have to check out this thread for "sound system mods":

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13952

iPod huh.. there must be something in the back of the Bose system that you could rig up? What about just hooking into the spare / aux port that the mp3 would otherwise fit into?

oh crap.. now I'm going to go mad looking for yet another bloody port in this car.. hee hee..

++dez;

Dez:
iPod huh.. there must be something in the back of the Bose system that you could rig up?

I have the pov pack, so no Bose, but AFIK neither of them have a port. There has been a thread elsewhere showing how to wire in if you have a tape or mini-disk head unit, but it is still a less than perfect solution, IMO.

As I think I have said elsewhere, if you work in IT, as soon as you start looking at cars closely, you quickly discover how much standardisation there is in IT relative to the motor industry:(

Must have taken them ages to all agree on round wheels :D

I work next door to Apple (Next Byte HQ) in Adelaide (when I am not visiting Onion Farms / Toilet Factories / Bread makers etc.).

The new iPod FM transmitters from Griffin are arriving today, so I'll probably pick one up and test what the quality is like running the FM transmitter through the BOSE stereo. I'll let everyone know.

On a side note - the carpark where I work is quite small, about 30 cars. Including the RX8, the follow vehicles are also routinely parked there :

350z, Lotus Elise (2000), SLK AMG (2003), Maserati Quatto(s)port (2003), WRX Sti, Porsche GT3.

Hence, I am used to having the nicest car on the road, but not in the carpark. The Maserati driver is completely nuts on the road.

DBB:
The new iPod FM transmitters from Griffin are arriving today

I've tried the Belkin FM transmitter, and was very unimpressed, mainly because the set FM frequencies it allowed you to use (88.3/88.5/88.7/88.9, from memory) are quite crowded, at least between Sydney and Canberra.

So I shall look forward to hearing about your experience with the Griffin.

Timbo

PS: Some carpark!

Yeah the carpark is cool. A bunch of IT/ERP consultants (us) and rich uber geeks from Next Byte who all love gadgets, beer, and fast cars.

(real beer. ie. Coopers. None of that Lion Nathon or CUB arsenic laced swill)

Hey dbb,

I too would be very keen to hear about your thoughts on the iPod FM transmitter - I've often wanted to plug something into my local MP3 broadcast and move it from the LAN to the Air.

I knew I shouldn't have given my last iPod away.

I wonder if I can plug the iTrip into my MiniDisk perhaps?

++dez;

Originally posted by Dez


I'd like to know if it reads DVD's formatted as ISO9660 as I like the idea of 4.7 Gig of mp3's per disk..

++dez;

No.

CD's and DVD's spin at different speeds so they aren't going to be compatible. I learned this researching burning SVCD's that hold about 45 minutes of video but burn on a normal CD and play in most newer DVD players, I thought if I could burn a SVCD on a DVD it would hold so much more, didn't work, also the laser is somewhat different from what I understand.

Originally posted by Dez
Hey dbb,

I too would be very keen to hear about your thoughts on the iPod FM transmitter - I've often wanted to plug something into my local MP3 broadcast and move it from the LAN to the Air.

I knew I shouldn't have given my last iPod away.

I wonder if I can plug the iTrip into my MiniDisk perhaps?

++dez;

I'm not sure about the iTrip, but there is something called an iRock, although not made by Apple or Griffin, possibly Belkin, it is essentially a FM modulator that will take any 1/8" jack output and play it through the radio.

Are those FM modulators legal in Australia? They aren't in the UK as the entire FM spectrum is licenced, so the iTrip/iRock type devices can't be sold.

There are similar devices in the US to allow mobile phone output to be picked up on the car radio. With the new UK law coming in on 1st Decdember banning you not only using but just touching a mobile phone (even when stationary with the engine on), some unscrupulous importers have been still been selling them.

Cheers
---Dave

and I hear you get no guns either.

I love the U.S.A.

[offtopic]

Hmmm ... In 1999 the US had 28 874 firearms deaths.

In the UK, with no guns, there were 62 deaths the same year.

That's why we allow small power FM transmitters to operate in Australia.

(Well, someone had to get this thread back on the topic :D)

Astor: yea, I was hoping that if Mazda was going to put an in car pc / mp3 player type gadget together, that they may just use a DVD/CD drive in light of the fact that these days, manufacturers of CD drives are defaulting to DVD capable units as they are the same cost to make almost - pc's, servers, etc are almost all coming now with dvd/cd drives by default wehre as once it was special to even get a cdrom drive of course..

As for the iRock: http://www.myirock.com/players/irock400fm.asp

Up to 30 feet - thats not bad.. Would be nice if it was further, and if it could let you set your own frequency * grin *


druck: I don't think they are currently..

It's every dweeb's dream to cruise around with a gadget you can set to your favourite radio station frequency and have your own muzak emmited from surrounding cars radios * grin *

I would love to dial into say a Country & Western station, drive through say Tamworth in NSW, playing Timo Mass re-mixed by Fat Boy Slim and watch the "what the?" faces.. hee hee..

++dez;

Touring Tip: Take wallet, billfold, whatever you might call it, out of your back pocket.
That's always the 1st place I ache.

Hey all,

My 2cents on iPod + iTrip. I got one sent out from the states a while back. Sound quality obviously not as good as CD, but still pretty good - if ipod volume too high, distortion creeps into sound. High frequency end of things is a little muffled. Wonder if imprinted rear antenna + tinting + itrip transmitter on inside work well together.....

Still as far as fun factor and choice of music goes, having ipod on hand is pretty awesome. Impresses most passengers to boot also. Haven't tried other transmitters though. Also found an a great ipod holder for car - belkin tunedok - Sits in cupholder with tilt-adjustable ipod tray.

BTW, if anyone discovers an easy way for hardwiring ipod to bose system let me know.
:)

Originally posted by Eightball
Hey all,

My 2cents on iPod + iTrip. I got one sent out from the states a while back. Sound quality obviously not as good as CD, but still pretty good - if ipod volume too high, distortion creeps into sound. High frequency end of things is a little muffled. Wonder if imprinted rear antenna + tinting + itrip transmitter on inside work well together.....

Still as far as fun factor and choice of music goes, having ipod on hand is pretty awesome. Impresses most passengers to boot also. Haven't tried other transmitters though. Also found an a great ipod holder for car - belkin tunedok - Sits in cupholder with tilt-adjustable ipod tray.

BTW, if anyone discovers an easy way for hardwiring ipod to bose system let me know.
:)

You'll get better quality with a proper "wired in" FM modulator ... JVC do one that's "auto on" and will give heaps better quality than an iTrip. Got mine, but I haven't installed it yet (I've got a backlog of things to fit!)

A forum member invented a hack for the cassette deck to privide a direct line in ... there will be Line in + protocol adaptors eventually that will mimic the tape/md accessory - just not yet :(

Druery at Brookvale would fit a proper FM Mod + they do a fair bit of Mazda work - the FM Mod is less than $100, but I've no ide on how much labour they'd charge if you got them to do it.

Originally posted by Kev
You'll get better quality with a proper "wired in" FM modulator ... JVC do one that's "auto on" and will give heaps better quality than an iTrip. Got mine, but I haven't installed it yet (I've got a backlog of things to fit!) ……
…… Druery at Brookvale would fit a proper FM Mod + they do a fair bit of Mazda work - the FM Mod is less than $100, but I've no ide on how much labour they'd charge if you got them to do it.

Kev

Pls keep us posted on this. I have the f*&king Belkin piece of sh*t and would appreciate hearing how your wired in solutions goes

Timbo

hmm... I'll add my name to that list [ of people who're looking at FM transmitter gizmo's ] so more info on your experiences pls, price etc?

++dez;

I think the FM Modulator should sound good enough for Mp3's, they already have lower quality sound than CD's because of the compression. Mp3's always sound worse when played through the same setup. A friend of mine had an one set up in his car to a 10 disc changer, it sounded very clear. Not sure what brand though, might have been Pioneer or Kenwood.

Sampling rate has a lot to do with this. Then there's the quality of the MP3 unit's reproduction.

An MP3 that's sampled ~192kbit should provide a source signal well beyond typical fm radio's offered frequency response.

Anyone found a supplier of CB's with those comando neck mic's voice activated by any chance?

They are neat'o !!

And hair pin turns into 40km at 104km makes it tough to handle a tiny CB handset and drive!

++dez;