[NJ_Jackals]

What a waste of space on an otherwise great car. I'm a new FX35 owner. Bought a left over 04 last week. Silver with Graphite interior, touring and sport package. Thanks for the great info on this forum. Already found a few great mods that I'm sure to do in the coming weeks/months. One thing that has been troubling me is the **** cassette player. What were these people thinking? Dd a search here and the best I found was to use it for an ipod cassette adapter. I hope I'm wrong about that. I'd rather have the the area gutted and serve as more storage (then I could get my cell phone out of the ashtray and use it for some spare change, and get my blackberry out of the cupholder, and use for, well, what else... cups)

By the way, some general comments on the FX... I traded in my IS300 for this puppy. I LOVED my IS. I never thought I would like another car as much. I never imagined that a SUV could outperform my Lexus. Boy was I wrong. It's such a surreal feeling sitting so high and driving a sports car at the same time. I also thought I was ready for the sport tuned suspension since I had the larger rims and low profile tires on the IS. Wrong on that one too. The FX ride is much stiffer (as I'm sure most of you already know) but only took me about a day to get used to it. Anyway, those are some of my candid comments. All feedback welcome.

-NJJ

 

[wblakes]

welcome to the board. nothing you can do about that tape player, it is one piece with the cd player. if it was a separate piece i would put an in dash dvd with a motorized screen there. i also have sports on my FX and i think the suspension loosen up a little bit. before i felt it was too stiff but now i just got back from a 6 days vacation it seems like it's a little smoother.

 

[NJ_Jackals]

i also have sports on my FX and i think the suspension loosen up a little bit. before i felt it was too stiff but now i just got back from a 6 days vacation it seems like it's a little smoother.

Thanks for the input. I've put 200 miles on it and I wasn't sure if it really was gettign looser or if I was just getting used to it. Sux about the tape deck. Don't like the "can't do nothing about it" attitude though. There are tons of smart people on this board. There must be something more useful than a money clip (best I've come up with so far. I keep a spare $20 behind the door "just in case") I WILL lose sleep over this.

-NJJ

 

[wblakes]

sorry about negative attitude there. you're right, one of these days someone will find a way to yank that tape player. but for now, we'll just have to live with it.

 

[ShadyJC]

NJJ, wblakes and "all the ships at sea"...
Here's some pictures of our all-in-one audio and climate system... if you can surgically extract the tape deck you are a better man than I... now go get some sleep! :wink:

 

[gtxjoe]

NJJ, Any progress on the Tape deck removal? Just kidding :lol: Welcome to the group.

The space behind the clock is empty. The clock panel is held on by clips, maybe a hinge and storage bin could be added there

 

[krzys4]

I know what you mean regarding the tape deck. It is useless and I doubt if more than 10% of all FX owners actually use it for something useful. I just ignore it.

As to your IS... I traded E46 BMW 328i (which is pretty much in the same ballpark as the IS) for FX45 and feel exacly the same way you do. I liked my bimmer when I had it but now I love my FX!

 

[ShadyJC]

The space behind the clock is empty. The clock panel is held on by clips, maybe a hinge and storage bin could be added there

Ooohhh now that would be cool... magnet to hold it closed and flip-down... could route the clock wires out one side... hmmmmmmm....