On my Saab 2.2 TiD, cruise control did not come as standard and IIRC was a £575 extra (when new in 1999). But the car has a fly-by-wire throttle and has all the necessary sensors, microswitches, light in the dash, installed as standard (presumably cheaper to have one standard wiring loom for all trim levels?).
All I had to do was buy a new indicator stalk with the cruise buttons on, and it took me 10 minutes to fit it myself. Cost of the stalk was about £55, mail order from Elkparts.co.uk.
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I saw an Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TDi specced up to £27k when I was car shopping in December. £27k!!! The mind boggles, it's still only a 2 litre diesel smallish car.
That was when I came to my senses and walked away from Audi. Lovely cars, but for me, only an option if someone else is going to pay.
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Check with your dealer about the cost of the sat nav - recently honda were offering the sat nav at a highly reduced cost through leasing companies although not sure if it was retail as well.
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I saw an Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TDi specced up to £27k when I was car shopping in December. £27k!!! The mind boggles, it's still only a 2 litre diesel smallish car.
No worse than the £25K A Class's that you see in Merc dealers.
The Honda prices for Sat Nav seem almost reasonable - and it really does 'lift' the Accord's interior. If it's available with bluetooth for £1400 then that's not too bad - it used to be £1500 for Nav on its own.
MB options are ridiclous - Sat Nav (COMAND) is £1800, phone (wiring only) is £500 - the phone holder is another £135.
On most Merc's, you're really looking at a minimum of Auto, leather and phone for about £3000, adding COMAND takes that to more or less £5000.
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I got Tom Tom sat nav for my Merc and a phone holder off the shelf, cost of fitting was two pints of bitter to an engineering mate and a bill for £260 in all. Some folks still seem happy to pay for factory kit though.
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I would say your engineering mate robbed you then as there is no way there is two pints of bitter's worth of labour involved in installing those. 8-)
Factory fit satnav looks much better than a TomTom stuck to the windscreen. It is also larger and easier to read, usually integrages nicely with the audio system and best of all doesn't attract smash and grab thieves armed with a brick. In some model/brands the car will actually be easier to sell on with factory fit satnav than without.
Having said all that I wouldn't pay that much for factory sat nav, but can certainly understand why others would.
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£5K for fitted extras on an XJ,E-Class or 5 Series might be the norm but also one has to take into account who is spending the money.
I would say the majority of the cars are company owned and few are retail punters.
Witness the number of prestige car drivers who, when they retire, then find an Accord/Mondeo perfectly adequate especially when the car and the petrol card do not come standard with their monthly pension.
An exception might be the £250K per year GP we have heard about this week.
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£5K for fitted extras on an XJ,E-Class or 5 Series might be the norm but also one has to take into account who is spending the money.
That's rubbish, to be honest - company car tax is horrendous on these kinds of car, and adding options just makes it worse, as it pushes up the taxable value of the car.
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On my Saab 2.2 TiD, cruise control did not come as standard and IIRC was a £575 extra (when new in 1999). But the car has a fly-by-wire throttle and has all the necessary sensors, microswitches, light in the dash, installed as standard (presumably cheaper to have one standard wiring loom for all trim levels?). All I had to do was buy a new indicator stalk with the cruise buttons on, and it took me 10 minutes to fit it myself. Cost of the stalk was about £55, mail order from Elkparts.co.uk.
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Its a near identical story on the Golf/Passat and almost exactly the same price, although you have to pay the dealer 1/2 hr labour for enabling the software after byouve fitted the parts.
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OK, not so much 'extras' but what about Special Editions?
Mazda are experts at this, ESPECIALLY on Mx5!!
Take Mr's V's, now 3 yr old Montana, list £18995 - around £2000 more than the Sport, was but no 16'' wheels, wheel arch extensions & no limited slip dif, but you DID get, pearlescent paint, leather, air con, hardtop, fog lights, dashwood kit, mats, just 250 made in the colour, so not bad value.
Then she added the wheel arch extensions & painting of, radiator mesh, style bars, hardtop stand & cover, locking wheel nuts,fluffy dice & we've added another £200 almost.
So you can save, but still spend more.
& no she didn't pay list, or anything like!!
VB
PS If you've a spare 1/2 hour & want to be REALLY scared of £$£$ cost, try the Range Rover accessory brochure & up spec it the way YOU'd have it!!!
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Meant added £2000 almost!!
VB
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Sticking with factory fit gives some benefits:
Its harder to nick factory fit sat nav, and it uses speed sensors as well as GPS.
Factory fit telephone kit often integrates with the cars MFD and steering wheel controls.
Also, in modern cars some serious electronics/rewiring is required to integrate aftermarket stuff into the cars loom (eg. Golf V and clones have no switched live, illumination, or speed signal to the headunit).
That said, I'm not sure if I would pay £350 for a telephone kit when a better aftermarket one is only £150!
Joe
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Having had factory fit satnav in the last car, now am temping in another whilst waiting for the right car to come along. So at the moment have no factory satnav and have invested in a standalone unit.
Lovely bit of kit, clever, fast, nice features, (although still not as good on my previous one) but also a right pain in the hoop, what with putting it in cradles, removing it every time you stop, hiding it, fiddling about with power cords and recharges...
The journey through Welsh mountains yesterday when it lost the satellites every six seconds was a nuisance too. Can't wait to get back to a proper system! At least when you lose satellites with those it doesn't just give up, as the sensors fitted to the wheels drop it into dead reckoning mode for the duration of loss.
I appreciate there's a bit of a price advantage of course, but you do get a lot less hassle with factory fit.
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That said, I'm not sure if I would pay £350 for a telephone kit when a better aftermarket one is only £150!
What's another £200 when you're paying several thousands, or perhaps even several tens of thousands, for a new car? If I wanted a telephone kit I'd be happy to pay the extra £200 for the peace of mind that having it factory fitted (and warranted) would give.
--
L\'escargot.
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