My BMW has developed yet another weird and hard to reproduce clunking sound while going over bumps, giving me new impetus to replace it (as I've discussed here previously). Unfortunately, many of the cars I'm interested come with the super-integrated factory stereos of doom. Looking more closely, however, there may be some hope.

The Acura TSX, for example, can come with a fancy 6-CD changer and DVD navigation system. You'd really like to keep that. It turns out that Acura has dealer-install options for a cassette deck or an MP3/WMA CD player that mount in the lower half of the dashboard, replacing a small storage bin (which looks to be exactly double-DIN sized). You just need to get the magic mounting bracket and a Soundgate adapter. Intriguing, no?

The Mazda RX-8, which is a car I'd really like to consider, is less clear. Let's ignore the history of flakey rotary engines for now and just look at the factory integrated Bose stereo of doom. In an accessories catalog, they have a page that shows components being added below the factory head unit (here's the full brochure). The catalog has part numbers for the cassette player, the MD player, and appropriate new front panels. Clearly, there's room in there to mount new stuff. Unfortunately, there's no word on whether the space behind there is big enough for the empeg or not. You think, if I went to a dealer and asked for more information that they'd have anything? It would certainly be helpful to see the MD player kit and its installation instructions.

The Infiniti G35 Coupe is another curious option. A couple months ago, I wanted to test drive one, and they only had a sedan. When you get the car without a navigation system, you get a small glovebox on the passenger side where the DVD reader would have gone. You could presumably mount the empeg there and use the satellite radio tuner aux input to feed a signal to the factory head unit. Unfortunately, this puts the empeg out of easy reach. And, apparently the factory stereo has a circuit board for the A/C inside it, so you can't remove it.


It's weird, but these kinds of things tend to make me lean heavily toward the Acura over other new cars. If I want it faster, I suppose I'll just have to add a supercharger or something.

I e-mailed Soundgate, asking about whether the adapter takes 4v inputs and a couple other questions. Their genius reply?

As far as we know right now the TSX uses a different system than the Accord and the SNHOND3 is only compatible with the Accord. Thanks CHET.

What more can you possibly ask? *sigh*

> My BMW has developed yet another weird and hard to reproduce clunking sound while going over bumps

Willing to bet it is either the rear shock rubbers (if it's a three series) or one of the four CV joints in the rear suspension (five series).

the rear shock rubbers (if it's a three series)

It's a Z3, which has the same suspension as the older E30 3-series. The best way to describe the sound, which has only happened twice, is ... imagine you just hit a modest bump and your entire transmission just unceremoniously fell on the pavement. Thunk! You hop out of the car, looking for car parts on the ground, only to find none there.