empeg vs Honda Fit

I am seriously considering purchasing a Honda Fit, Sport model, used, sometime in the next year or so.

Does anyone here have any experience with this car, in particular can I install an empeg in it without too much trauma and gnashing of teeth?

The photos I've seen suggest that the standard radio is not a normal DIN unit, and I don't know what (if any) electronics are integrated into the standard radio.

If the empeg won't work in the Fit, my high-end stereo days may be coming to an end. Last week, following a moment's inattention at 40 below zero, heavy ice fog, darkness and icy roadway I totaled my beloved ShoWagon. The car is literally irreplaceable, there are no others available in the world. If it had only 100,000 miles on it I'd spend the $6-$7K it would take to fix it, but at 200,000 miles and 15 years, there are so many things that will need attention soon... wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends, shocks, struts, alternator, power steering pump, AC compressor, rings/valves, brake pads & calipers, even little things like the lift struts on the tailgate.... these things are all working now, but for how much longer?

No, I'm afraid I am going to have to let go of something that has been been a very important part of my life for the past five years or so. The car was too large to be useful in the narrow cobbled streets where we will be living soon in any case.

Sigh...

tanstaafl.

Sucks to hear about the SHO.

Check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330211463349

Wow.. perfect! How do you know about this stuff?!!!

On ebay, search for DIN and "your car make, model and year". There's a kit for almost every car. Obviously, the more common it is, the more likely.

ebay is a treasure trove of odd/grey market car parts. Searching for your car model + "dash kit" will almost always yield a result... especially if your car is a globally-available model.

When searching for a solution for my Saab 9-3, I learned that the level of finish can severely affect the car's price in certain markets due to import taxes and such. In certain markets, cars are delivered from the factory with no stereo. The dealer is expected to install this "option." So, Saab actually has a part number for a DIN kit. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an actual Honda part for fitting a DIN stereo in the Fit/Jazz. It may not be easy to find in the US though...

An odd example of tax dodging is the first-gen Isuzu Troopers. For some years, they were imported to the US as the Trooper II. The only thing different from the Trooper and Trooper II is that the II was imported into the US without a rear seat. Once the dealer installed the rear bench, it was then considered a finished vehicle... assembled in the USA. I'm sure that loophole has been closed by now.

My trusty online Honda Parts Source doesn't seem to list any such item for the dashboard, but I only did a cursory check of a couple sections (accessories-interior, audio unit, console, instrument panel).

Volvo does, too.

Metra has one Link

OMG! The poor SHOWagon!

I'm so sorry!

Are you OK?

Slow on the uptake here....

I am guessing that I am perhaps the only member of the BBS who got to experience the SHO Wagon. Best I ever heard.

I am very sorry to hear About the SHO. The idealist in me has to think that there is a good way to go. Streets in Mexico aren't that narrow. Sigh.

So sorry to hear about the SHOwagon. To an audio and wagon fanatic, this is a true loss.

Good luck with the Fit! Hm, can you fit ALL of those amps in there?!

I'm fine. Physically.

It was such a [b]fantastic[/i] car. A complete sleeper, looked like any ordinary old grocery getter, but could surprise the hell out of anybody foolish enough to try and test it. On the road, passing a semi, I didn't mash the gas pedal down, instead just a gentle pressure and I'd be doing over 90 when I went by his front bumper. Yet, on a slow (60 MPH on the cruise control) 360 mile trip to Anchorage, I got 31.6 miles per gallon. It had the full SHO suspension and brakes, too -- four wheel disk brakes and independent suspension all around, and I always felt comfortable going into posted corners at double the speed shown on the warning signs.

To put it into perspective... I have a Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera that has been sitting disassembled in my garage for the last five years. I've never been interested in putting it back together because I had the ShoWagon.

I can count on the fingers of two hands all the people who ever listened to the stereo that didn't volunteer, without prompting from me, that it was the best sounding car stereo they had ever heard.

God, I'm going to miss that car. The damage doesn't look that bad, but it is. The chassis is tweaked, the car is enough shortened on the passenger side that the doors now overlap each other. See attached.

tanstaafl.

I've experienced it, too.

Good to know you're OK.

Well then you know. We should plan to have a secret ceremony.

The picture looks bad....but not that bad. What hope? I just thought the SHO would be the perfect gringo Consiga los comestibles a la Mexicana. I mean, you do want the locals to talk about the crazy gringos, right?

None that is fiscally realistic.

Estimated repair costs are $6000--$7000, which just isn't feasible for a 15 year old car with 200,000 miles on it. The chassis is tweaked, and damage to that rear quarter panel is severe -- some of the crush structure underneath the bodywork is... well, crushed.

As I said above, if the car only had 100,000 miles instead of 200,000 miles I'd be tempted. But with all the mechanical bits that have pretty much reached their service lifetime at 200K, the car would be a money pit beyond any realistic hopes of supporting it.

Tony is correct -- he has experienced it too, but only in a pale imitation of what it eventually became. When he rode in it, the stereo consisted of an empeg duct-taped on top of the dashboard feeding into an FM modulator thingie stuck in the tape deck playing through the stock Ford radio and the four OEM 4" speakers. The car itself was in sad shape mechanically, running on only five cylinders (fuel injector failure) with the power steering pump sounding like a clothes dryer full of golf balls and the five-sixths engine practically shaking the car to pieces every time I tried to accelerate.

Ah, Tony, if only you could have experienced that car in its prime!

tanstaafl.

Does that double-DIN setup mean I could install both my empeg and my radio/CD player, one above the other?

tanstaafl.

Interesting. Certainly looks like it, with that kit.

As I said in a private email, my Honda is only about 1.75-din, and some people were able to cram Empeg+CD into that space with some elbow grease. But coming back here and following that link, it looks like Scosche has solved that issue. :-)

That's the way to do it! Both my wagons have this and it's so easy to use. Their outputs are switched with a PIE MPSS-4 source switcher. Simply put the empeg into standby and the switch restores power to the radio, allowing it to play. Press a button on the empeg, and the switch turns off the radio, sending empeg audio through the system. Now, I don't know how high quality the components of the switch are; both of mine have given me whine requiring extra grounding and filters. Maybe you can tame them! Good luck.

That's exactly the setup I currently have in my [deceased ] ShoWagon, except that I am using one of the no-longer-available Sony XA-39 switching relays. I had the same system in the car before that. Six or seven years with no problems.

tanstaafl.

I just have the line outs on my cd/radio feeding the aux in on my empeg. Push and hold the rotary knob and it switched inputs. Nice thing about this is the visuals still work on radio or CD's.

Ah the memories. Sold mine to a gent from Oz. Since I quite frequently did not have the Empeg in the car, i just set it up to go through the head unit's AUX-IN. If I can get my energy together this spring, I'll clean up the car and reinstall the Empeg using the remote display kit. Then I'd *really* like the XA39 back. But maybe that less expensive switcher will do.

Yeah, that gent from Oz who lives in Alaska. And no, you can't have it back! It will go into whatever new stereo car I end up building, whether it is the Fit or something else.

tanstaafl.