The lotus makes the mini look huge!

Guess who has a new Honda? 244 horsepower, five speed, stability control, 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes… tires, windshield wipers… uh… power sliding rear doors, room for 8 passengers…

That’s right, its an Odyssey. A happy mini-van. It’s got a 6 disc mp3 playing CD player, with auxilliary mp3 player jack. It has all the basics, like air bags and cup holders everywhere (15 for 8 passengers), steering wheel controls for the radio and cruise control, power windows, built-in rear window sun shades, alarm, remote entry, fold down rear seat.

We didn’t get the advanced options – we didn’t want them. We don’t let our kids watch much TV at home, so we didn’t want DVD in the van. It would be nice to have GPS (I want a handheld for my bike, these are less than $200 now) and a sunroof, but you have to get leather seats, and my wife the vegetarian said that would be kind of hypocritical (we can’t eat the cow, but we can skin it and rub it on our ass).

The van has roof rails, but didn’t come with the cross beams. We can also get a tow hitch, but the Honda hitch is another $1500, but includes a transmission and oil cooler, and installation. As for roof racks, the Honda cross beams are $150, Thule or Yakima are $210, but I’m thinking of building my own. I’m thinking the raw parts will be less than $40, and will give us enough width (I’m thinking 7 feet, from mirror to mirror) for our current roof case (Sears xcargo) and 2 or maybe even 3 bikes. Thule bike racks are like $150 each, but I found on overstock.com you can get a set of two (unknown brand) for $65.

My wife has already made full use of the van. Carting kids around and filling the back with girl scout cookies. I gotta say I’m relieved, camping is so much easier when you can fit everything. We’ve already planned at least two camping trips this year. Eventually we’ll get the tow hitch and then a popup camper.

I bought my 2004 Mazda 6 new back in 2004. I have the Bose audio system with 6 disc changer. Ever since I bought it, I’ve been trying to find a decent way to plug in an MP3 player.

I found the Mazda6Club forum, but back when the car came out everyone was wondering the same thing and nobody had an answer. I tried an FM transmitter, but it was horrible. I upgraded to an FM modulator, which seemed to work okay. It was similar to an FM transmitter, except it gets plugged into the car power and directly into the antenna of the radio. It didn’t have any static (at first), but was kind of muddy and dead sounding. I didn’t really use it much until recently, and now when I went to use it I’d get about 10 minutes of muddy sound, and then it would start getting static. I bought the modulator used, so I imagine it was just on the fritz.

So, I went back to the forums, and, lo and behold, there was a solution! The Sylfex AuxMod Basic plugs into the factory radio, and emulates the optional tape deck. I installed this yesterday and, shebang, awesome direct plugged in sound. They are also making an AuxMod advanced, which will emulate the optional MD player – this will have the added ability to send signals to a computer or ipod to pass on the radio/steering wheel controls do the remote player. Since all of Mazda’s audio gear now shares components, this device will work on most newer Mazda’s. Getting this device was a lot cheaper than the alternative (replacing the car for one that has an audio input).

Installation was very easy, especially with my 2 year old son helping. He sat in the driver’s seat and made sure that all the buttons and dials everywhere within reach could all be turned, switched, etc. Here are the guides I used:

• Mazda6Tech: How-To Remove the Center Console
• AuxMod Basic install guide (pdf)

The last few days I’ve heard reports from many friends and family about having issues with wheel balance on their cars. Coincidence? No! We had a Noreaster, get the ice and snow out of your wheels and you’ll be all set.

On the day of the snow storm I didn’t really drive. After the snow stopped I cleaned out my driveway, and as part of that I moved my cars. I basically used the car to ram through the snow banks, and then parked on a cleared area. This pushed extra snow and slush into the wheels, and then I parked the car, so it froze. The next day I had the wheel shimmy thing going on, so when I parked I cleared out all the mess with my snow brush and everything was okay again.

The advice I’ve heard that works the best: get a car wash! I would say specifically the do-it-yourself sprayer, and focus on your wheels and wheel-wells.

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CanadianDriver: Auto Tech – Winter shakes