A VE stereo thread with a difference - Alpine solution

[Zend3r]

Just curious as to whether any of you have ever seen this before?

Alpine Electronics of Australia

A friend of mine pointed it out when I mentioned the iQ system being a justification for looking at brand new VEs instead of Series 1 SIDI cars. In my trawling around looking at VE stereo solutions I've never seen it mentioned.

Cheers!

[MAG00]

Very interesting, I've never seen that before. Definitely was/is a market for it. Nice find!

[StoneX]

Yeah, it's been posted several times.

[edit]
VE Double DIN facia and Heater controls now available

[Luke V8]

Been posted loads.. Looks ok in advertising pics but that's about it. Looks nasty in real life IMO

[RayLamp]

The buttons arent anywhere near as nice as the HVAC controls you get from factory, but they aren't all that bad. Hey they work!

And ive now got that very system in my VE. No more system freezing, no more funny coloured screens, better sound. The alpine head unit is so much better - touch screen, plays DVD's and has a nice cable for your ipod/mp3 player. And i have the dual zone climate control, so you need to make sure you get the right kit. The HVAC screen looks better in mine then on that link, in that you can still set your climate control in degrees rather than those analogue looking dials. Plus you dont lose outside air temp or any functionality.

Speaking of which, all of the steering wheel controls still work. And you also get a remote control for the head unit.

If your factory unit is playing up, I recommend doing this. I think it will save so many heartaches and you end up getting a much better head unit out of it.

[johnzombie]

And ive now got that very system in my VE. No more system freezing, no more funny coloured screens, better sound. The alpine head unit is so much better - touch screen, plays DVD's and has a nice cable for your ipod/mp3 player. And i have the dual zone climate control, so you need to make sure you get the right kit. The HVAC screen looks better in mine then on that link, in that you can still set your climate control in degrees rather than those analogue looking dials. Plus you dont lose outside air temp or any functionality.

Would you mind chucking up a few pics of it?

[RayLamp]

OK. Hopefully this will give you some idea...

[Zend3r]

Have you lost any functionality at all?

Like the representation of the car with the front/rear sensors?

PS: that red interior looks great
PPS: that doesn't look nearly as 'poxy' as I was led to believe

[RayLamp]

I haven't lost any functionality. I don't have rear sensors or reversing camera, however the head unit does have auxilliary inputs and it can accept a reversing camera. I doubt they would stop working if this kit was installed. The head unit also has a GPS option too, which I didn't take. Oh yeah, I also gained an infra-red remote for the head unit (handy to change tracks when you are washing the car!)

The best way to sum up funcitonality is - I've gained a touch screen, ability to play DVD's, DVD-R full of MP3's, connect an iPod/USB - but lost a 6 disc stacker (which you dont really need if you've got an iPod or you option the alpine stacker). In the last photo in my last post (showing an info panel when you go to the A/C screen), that info panel scrolls automatically though various bits n pieces. If you didn't have the battery volt meter and oil pressure gauge, I am sure that info appears on that info screen.

[wraith]

Looks like something you would find in a taxi.... Ruins that interior. Just my personal opinion.

[Zend3r]

It would be a minimum amount of work to build up a little fascia to go over the soft buttons to make it look better, less work than adding all the extra functionality to the stock unit at least.

[RayLamp]

Looks like something you would find in a taxi.... Ruins that interior. Just my personal opinion.

It would be awesome if the kit had the same buttons/controls as the factory unit. But it doesn't. For me, I sacrificed them for a working unit! I'd prefer to put up with the buttons, rather than a unit which worked only when the planets aligned in a semi-circular pattern producing pink shadows on the voyager space craft... you get the idea...