Automotive Geekery.. Engage!

[kv0925]

All right, please feel free to ignore this, it's more for myself than anything. But. I can hardly express how much I am loving the new car. It's not even that it's THAT nice of a car, even though it kind of is. :) It's more that it's MY car, I picked it out, I'm paying for it, and I'm proud of it. I'm not generally one to be overly attached to tangible goods, but I'll say it: I love this car. I think her name is Julia, that's what jumped into my head and I kinda dig it.

So anyway, I've been doing research on things I want to buy for Julia, to make her more mine and add a few features that I kinda wish she had--not necessities, but nice perks. And here's what I've come up with so far!



Not a photo of Julia or even the same model, obviously, but I wanted to give the general idea. This is a cheap fix and the one thing I already ordered: replacement interior lights. They're LEDs instead of the standard incandescents, so they're brighter, use less power, and should have a pleasant bluish tint instead of yellow. I think it'll be pretty cool.


The next step from a lighting perspective would be this. Again, this isn't the right model in the photo, but it's essentially the same ambient lighting kit. I think it's pretty sweet! And it changes colors! At first I was thinking I'd just get some generic LED light strips to provide the under-dash glow, but the real deal kit from Ford adds some other cool stuff, like the glowing cupholders. And as silly as it is, I want the glowing cupholders, okay? Not really a priority, though, since I don't do much night driving anyway.


More important to me is this, a new rearview mirror that incorporates a compass and temperature display. The car has a display for the usual stuff, but it doesn't have those two things, and I like having that somewhere. The mirror is also auto-dimming, which isn't that important to me but might be nice to have. If I really feel like splurging, maybe I'll get one of the mirrors that also has a video screen in it, and add a backup camera too. Would be very cool, but those do get expensive.


Then there's this, a little gizmo that connects to the stock stereo (which is pretty good) and adds a USB input and Bluetooth hands-free phone integration, which are the two things it's missing. That would be pretty sweet, though it's not really a priority since I'm enjoying the satellite radio for now, I can play mp3 cds even if I can't yet use USB sticks, and I really don't talk on the phone that much to begin with.

Other than that stuff (and isn't that enough?!), I just want to add a few personal touches to the exterior. A front license plate (maybe something Disney Worldish), a frame for the rear license plate, and maybe a sticker or two to add some personality. I'll have to look around and see what speaks to me. :)

I dunno, it's just kinda nice to have a vehicle I can be proud of and really make my own! If I can wrangle the money for all this, anyway.. one thing at a time, probably.

Comments

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

I forgot how awesome that lighting was. I only test drove it in the day so I didn't get the full effect, but it was still really cool!

My car computer has a built in compass and I never actually look at it... I suppose because I have a decent sense of direction, but maybe it will come in handy one day! I have the auto dimming mirror too... at first I was annoyed I couldn't control it, but it works REALLY well and lights in it never annoy me at night.

Does that mean Florida doesn't need front plates? We are the same. I dread ever moving to a province or state that needs them. I don't want to drill into the front of my precious car!

I think these are all good choices :)

[midnightmadness.livejournal.com]

My current car actually has one of those mirrors and I'm lukewarm at best to it. Some caveats.

There is no flip down/up, since it's autodimming. My wife has to readjust it every time she uses my car and I have to adjust it back, unlike her car with a regular mirror it's just a simple flip of the switch to adjust for our height differences. Chances are this won't affect you, but I hate having to do that every time she uses my car and since you and your wife have similar height differences to me and mine, just something to note.

The autodimmming is only so smart / fast. It usually takes several seconds for it to dim down at night when a car turns behind me and suddenly I have bright headlights in my eyes long enough to irritate the piss out of me if not cause my eyes to outright iris closed for bright light... at night. :-/ Occasionally too, with other situations like overcast days, the sun setting behind me, going though tunnels, a truck with its lights on in the middle of the day, etc. that will confuse it and case the mirror to darken when I don't want/need it dark, and be full 100% reflective when there are times I want it darkened. There's no manual override for any of this, at least not on mine.

My temp/compass actually stopped working last year. Not worth it in the least to have to change out the mirror for me to replace/fix it, esp since I have temp in my dash and GPS on my phone.

Short end of it, I I ever do replace it, I'm getting a standard mirror again. More minuses than plusses for me. YMMV

[fairwells.livejournal.com]

Congrats on Julia. I think most people are excited when they buy a new car. I think the new additions to the car look great :)