£6k, four doors, best in car entertainment system?

[shoestring7]

Need a winter beater until the GR Yaris arrives sometime next summer/autumn/never.

What 4 door offers the highest quality factory audio experience for £6k? I don’t mean a zillion bells and whistles and CarPlay, just great listening to all sorts of music while I cruise around waiting for Toyota.

Cheers

[Deerfoot]

Lexus IS with a Mark Levinson system should be OK, I think the SE-L spec cars will have it.

[ZX10R NIN]

As above any IS250 with Nav means you get the Mark Levinson upgrade also make sure you get an 08 or newer to make sure you have no E10 issues.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110128...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109046...

[V6Nelo]

Might not be your driving style but the Infinity Premium sound system in the Kia Optima 3 is mighty fine with its 12 speakers and good insulation

[J51dhu]

Volvo V70 with a Hu-850 head unit. Can get one for £2-3k. Very reliable and comfortable cars too!

[Terzo123]

Boston sound system in a Overland spec WK Jeep Grande Cherokee

[ninjag]

Jaguar XF with either the Bowers and Wilkins or the Meridian Surround sound system, which are made even better by the quiet cabin.

[SlowV6]

Lexus LS430 or 460.

This means the surrounding car is as quiet as possible so you can enjoy the Mark Levinson stereo. Also all your passengers will love you.

[RoVoFob]

J51dhu said:

Volvo V70 with a Hu-850 head unit. Can get one for £2-3k. Very reliable and comfortable cars too!

You can get different speakers with the HU-850 head unit in Volvos. Aim for the Premium Sound available on 2000-2007 S60s and V70s for the best quality, as this has a more powerful amp - 325W in total, compared with 225W in total for the High Performance Sound system.

The better speakers make a difference (I’ve had cars with both systems in the last 6 months), though even the 225W system is very well set up and lets you tweak levels with physical controls, which works very well.

The S60 has 13 speakers, rather than just 11 as in the V70, with big speakers on the parcel shelf, so I imagine even with the same systems the S60 should sound better. The High Performance Audio system was optional on S60 and V70, but seems much more common in the S60. Having listened to the Mark Levinson speakers in a Lexus GS430, I thought they had great clarity, but didn’t sound very pleasing, compared with the richer Volvo sound. Not sure how similar the LS430 system is, though…

You can also get 2004-2012 or so S40s and V50s with a 650W Dynaudio sound system, which is supposed to be phenomenal and those are both sub-£6k.

[shoestring7]

Some great suggestions, thanks. I hadn’t realised how little I knew about premium audio set-ups.

[FWIW]

ZX10R NIN said:

A
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110128...

fk me, that's shabby...

[shoestring7]

FWIW said:

ZX10R NIN said:

A
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110128...

fk me, that's shabby...

It does appear they've colour coded the seats and headlights in horse urine yellow.

[eleveneleven]

ZX10R NIN said:

As above any IS250 with Nav means you get the Mark Levinson upgrade also make sure you get an 08 or newer to make sure you have no E10 issues.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110128...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109046...

The Mark Levinson in Lexus are amazing but check that it works, The Amp is a weakspot for these especially on the IS250 due to where they've put it.

Edited by eleveneleven on Thursday 4th November 11:40