alarm in the mx-5
Discussion
I am kind of new to this whole convertible thing,
When parking up to go into the shops or similar, is it worth putting the hood up?
Sometimes I have popped into shops for 15-20 mins in what I regard as a safe area and left the car unlocked with the hood down and the windows down too.
The car has a cobra immobiliser.
Is it worth getting an alarm and central locking? Should the central locking deadlock the doors, and should the alarm beep when chavs put their hands inside my car?
I have a sony stereo,but the face isn't removable, so some chav may be interested in acquiring it!
When parking up to go into the shops or similar, is it worth putting the hood up?
Sometimes I have popped into shops for 15-20 mins in what I regard as a safe area and left the car unlocked with the hood down and the windows down too.
The car has a cobra immobiliser.
Is it worth getting an alarm and central locking? Should the central locking deadlock the doors, and should the alarm beep when chavs put their hands inside my car?
I have a sony stereo,but the face isn't removable, so some chav may be interested in acquiring it!
I've never had an alarm in a '5 and never had a problem. Of course I might have just been lucky (especially as I have had it parked in the street overnight at a mates house in Slough a few times 
If the top is down then make sure there is nothing that anyone will want to nick within reach. If the top is up make sure you never leave anything at all on display, not even a baseball cap on the seat as some chav will slash the roof to see if anything is being hidden underneath it.
When I leave the top down I always put the windows up and lock the doors - just so that is the worst happens I can inform the insurance that the windows were up and the doors were locked but omit the bit about the top being down
Is the Sony stereo a removable unit? If it is then remove it when you park, if not then sell it on eBay and get one with a removable face.
If the top is down then make sure there is nothing that anyone will want to nick within reach. If the top is up make sure you never leave anything at all on display, not even a baseball cap on the seat as some chav will slash the roof to see if anything is being hidden underneath it.
When I leave the top down I always put the windows up and lock the doors - just so that is the worst happens I can inform the insurance that the windows were up and the doors were locked but omit the bit about the top being down
Is the Sony stereo a removable unit? If it is then remove it when you park, if not then sell it on eBay and get one with a removable face.
Mattt said:
jamoor said:
what do people do with stolen tax discs?
Laminate them and play frisbee.MX-5 Lazza said:
I've never had an alarm in a '5 and never had a problem. Of course I might have just been lucky (especially as I have had it parked in the street overnight at a mates house in Slough a few times
If the top is down then make sure there is nothing that anyone will want to nick within reach. If the top is up make sure you never leave anything at all on display, not even a baseball cap on the seat as some chav will slash the roof to see if anything is being hidden underneath it.
When I leave the top down I always put the windows up and lock the doors - just so that is the worst happens I can inform the insurance that the windows were up and the doors were locked but omit the bit about the top being down
Is the Sony stereo a removable unit? If it is then remove it when you park, if not then sell it on eBay and get one with a removable face.
No,If the top is down then make sure there is nothing that anyone will want to nick within reach. If the top is up make sure you never leave anything at all on display, not even a baseball cap on the seat as some chav will slash the roof to see if anything is being hidden underneath it.
When I leave the top down I always put the windows up and lock the doors - just so that is the worst happens I can inform the insurance that the windows were up and the doors were locked but omit the bit about the top being down
Is the Sony stereo a removable unit? If it is then remove it when you park, if not then sell it on eBay and get one with a removable face.
it's one of these bad boys
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-WX-C570R-Double-DIN-CD-...
talking of stereos, my music system is total s
te, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?Well, my new car has an immobilizer fitted - and I have been getting quotes to add central locking and a CAT1 alarm with remote locking. The Central locking is coming out to £140, and the alarm at least £350. The way I see it is that it should be cheaper to lock up the glovebox and armrest - and leave the roof open, and even if the roof is up - £500 will cover the cost of 2 fully fitted new hoods...
I feel pretty ok about the security, as my car is either parked off the road at home, or at an MX5 event, as I use my other car for menial tasks. My (very young) Brother in Law has had his '5 left outside on the street, near a tube station for the past year - he always forgets to take the face off his Alpine stereo, leaves his sunglasses, and sometimes his TomTom on the passenger seat, but incredibly his car has still not been broken into.
I feel pretty ok about the security, as my car is either parked off the road at home, or at an MX5 event, as I use my other car for menial tasks. My (very young) Brother in Law has had his '5 left outside on the street, near a tube station for the past year - he always forgets to take the face off his Alpine stereo, leaves his sunglasses, and sometimes his TomTom on the passenger seat, but incredibly his car has still not been broken into.
jamoor said:
In that case I would deffo sell it. Did you notice the sellers name on that one > roger-muffwell 
jamoor said:
talking of stereos, my music system is total ste, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?
It might be crap speakers or it could be a crap stereo. The speakers don't need to be great so don't spend a fortune on them. You could easily spend £200 on high quality speakers that sound fantastic while you are stationary but they won't sound any better than £50 speakers at 80mph on the motorway.te, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?Don't worry about the power handling of the speakers - they all lie about that anyway. Take more notice of the sensitivity. The higher the sensitivity the louder they will be at the same volume level. I have separates in my car (£70 Pioneer, mid-bass and tweeters) which sound pretty good but you can forget about bass when the car is moving - £1000 speakers wouldn't help unless they were driven by a 1KW amp.
MX-5 Lazza said:
jamoor said:
In that case I would deffo sell it. Did you notice the sellers name on that one > roger-muffwell jamoor said:
talking of stereos, my music system is total ste, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?
It might be crap speakers or it could be a crap stereo. The speakers don't need to be great so don't spend a fortune on them. You could easily spend £200 on high quality speakers that sound fantastic while you are stationary but they won't sound any better than £50 speakers at 80mph on the motorway.te, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?Don't worry about the power handling of the speakers - they all lie about that anyway. Take more notice of the sensitivity. The higher the sensitivity the louder they will be at the same volume level. I have separates in my car (£70 Pioneer, mid-bass and tweeters) which sound pretty good but you can forget about bass when the car is moving - £1000 speakers wouldn't help unless they were driven by a 1KW amp.
jamoor said:
No,
it's one of these bad boys
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-WX-C570R-Double-DIN-CD-...
talking of stereos, my music system is total ste, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?
From what I remember that stereo can be made to sound okay with some better speakers attached. They had the same/very similar head unit in the better specced old model Avensis. I remember fiddling with the settings and being quite impressed, especially with the bass.it's one of these bad boys
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-WX-C570R-Double-DIN-CD-...
talking of stereos, my music system is total s
te, when the car picks up speed and i turn up the radio, the stereo gets all distorted, does anyone here have reccomendations for a decent set of speakers?I always leave my 5 top down when it isn't raining (well, unless I'm parking somewhere really unsavoury). I have the factory fitted Cobra alarm/immobiliser with microwave sensors so if you put an arm in the vehicle the alarm sounds - although it doesn't happen instantly, the thief would have to move in slow motion for it work!!
princeperch said:
All depends on where you live.
To be honest my main concern with leaving the car parked up roofless, is if some scum walking past decide to jump in, release the handbrake and push the car off or similar...
Do these things have a steering lock?To be honest my main concern with leaving the car parked up roofless, is if some scum walking past decide to jump in, release the handbrake and push the car off or similar...
can,t be bothered to go check!
jamoor said:
princeperch said:
All depends on where you live.
To be honest my main concern with leaving the car parked up roofless, is if some scum walking past decide to jump in, release the handbrake and push the car off or similar...
Do these things have a steering lock?To be honest my main concern with leaving the car parked up roofless, is if some scum walking past decide to jump in, release the handbrake and push the car off or similar...
can,t be bothered to go check!
I put nothing past chavs and their ilk these days..
Edited by princeperch on Friday 9th May 11:25
jamoor said:
My brother has bose speakersystem in his maazda 6, no matter how high you turn up the volume they dont distort,
A couple of points there - a Mazda 6 is a saloon which is a much better environment. It has a quiet engine. It doesn't suffer from road noise. Even a poor system will sound much better in that car than in an MX-5.The Bose system is high sensitivity low impedance speakers matched to a special Bose amp controlled by the Bose head-unit. No part of that system is compatible with any other system (i.e. you can't fit normal car speakers or replace the head-unit or amp).
MX-5 Lazza said:
jamoor said:
My brother has bose speakersystem in his maazda 6, no matter how high you turn up the volume they dont distort,
A couple of points there - a Mazda 6 is a saloon which is a much better environment. It has a quiet engine. It doesn't suffer from road noise. Even a poor system will sound much better in that car than in an MX-5.The Bose system is high sensitivity low impedance speakers matched to a special Bose amp controlled by the Bose head-unit. No part of that system is compatible with any other system (i.e. you can't fit normal car speakers or replace the head-unit or amp).
Yes you can but you have to bear in mind that you will be MUCH more volume to be able to hear it on the move compared to a saloon car. Also bear in mind that you will never get high-fidelity so there is no point going for a very expensive system as it would be wasted. Put it this way - I have an ancient tape/radio playing through stock single-cone speakers in my Focus and it sounds better than the £250 Pioneer cd/radio + £70 Pioneer 2-way separate + Phillips 2x75W amp I have in my MX-5 - well it sounds better on the move anyway. What I do have is distortion free music at all but very high volumes.
First thing to try is adjusting the sounds on your head-unit. If there is a low-pass filter then use it (mine is set to filter out anything below 50Hz) but I doubt it does. Take all of the bass off then feed it back in as far as it needs to sound good (most people have it set for too much bass which is the cause of most distortion). After that try the same with mid-range if you have that option.
Do all of that on the move, not stationary as that's not how you generally listen to music in the car.
Try replacing the speakers. Some decent £50 2-way co-ax will be fine. They do the same as above.
If that sounds good then you are laughing but I doubt 35W is enough.
First thing to try is adjusting the sounds on your head-unit. If there is a low-pass filter then use it (mine is set to filter out anything below 50Hz) but I doubt it does. Take all of the bass off then feed it back in as far as it needs to sound good (most people have it set for too much bass which is the cause of most distortion). After that try the same with mid-range if you have that option.
Do all of that on the move, not stationary as that's not how you generally listen to music in the car.
Try replacing the speakers. Some decent £50 2-way co-ax will be fine. They do the same as above.
If that sounds good then you are laughing but I doubt 35W is enough.
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