[phaphaphooey]

Picked up a 13 NA ISP Nightfall Blue over Ivory with all options except for the powerfold mirrors which I will be adding shortly. Drove it about 500 miles back and observed the following:

-Handling is, as expected, amazing
-Steering feedback is phenomenal. The steering wheel literally dances in your hands.
-Factory valved exhaust from '12 up sounds much better than anticipated.
-IPS is good but not great. Dealer says I am running the latest firmware.
-Cruise control works great. Very comfortable ride.
-Blindspots are some of the worst I have ever observed. Without the back up camera it would basically need to be backed like a Countach (hanging out of the car sitting on the door sill looking backwards).
-While I am no audiophile, tech package sound system is extremely good imo.
-Rained on me most of the drive and it did not leak a drop. However, when washing the car after getting home, the windows leaked when barely sprayed. I should be on the latest revision of the door and window weather striping. Perhaps this is why the manual essentially tells you to expect leaks and disclaims them as normal despite the fact that all other automakers figured out of to waterproof their cars decades ago.
-LED accent lighting with the premium pack is very nice but I wish I could control it and have it on at low brightness while driving along.
-My DRL harness was wrapped with some tape above the fuse panel in the passenger floorboard. I am a small guy and had trouble contorting my body to get under there and unplug it. If I were much above average height it would have been impossible.
-Heat/heated seats work well but there is a draft of cold air coming in the passenger floorboard whenever the car is going at a decent clip.
-Dealer checked the battery before I took delivery and gave it the ok but it has been charging overnight and still isn't charged fully.
-Radio is very annoying as how almost all functionality is disabled when parking brake is not engaged fully.
-I realized after going through all of the trinkets when I got home that I have no way to take the wheels off. All that came with the car as far as tools is the tow eye in a cloth pouch. On the "vehicle/despatch inspection report" both the towing eye and tool kit are checked as having come with the car. Seems like the tool kit really only consists of the wheel bolt key.

So with that said, here are my questions

What is that cold air draft in the passenger footwell? Any way to reduce it?

I have seen references on here to wiring mods that allow the radio to be used fully while the car is in motion. Is there any way to do this aside from pulling the radio? On other cars I have pulled the parking brake up one click to activate the parking brake light but not engage the brake itself. I may try this at some point but was hesitant to do so on my new car whilst at interstate speeds.

What all comes in the toolkit? Father had a V8 Esprit for awhile and it had a legitimate toolkit.

 

[tbd_Evora]

Congratulations, sounds like the drive was fun and we we're right telling you to do it.

Window seals: never had this problem unless you're spraying in some very unfortunate direction. Always try to hold the water gun in a direction roughly corresponding to the direction water could come in when driving (i.e. from front to back, up to down). There my, for example be some ingress if you're spraying against the upper seal from below.

Cold air draft: first check if it goes away when you push the recirculation button. If it does have the dealer check if one of the bulkhead plugs is not fitted properly. It that is the case cold air can pass into the heater/AC ducts.

Depending on the model it may be possible to override the parking brake in some submenu on the unit. Otherwise best is to pull the radio, which is a 5 minutes job, to override the parking brake signal. Just connect the wire coming from the radio to ground. Its a legal thing why they wire it that way.

The toolkit only consists of the towing hook and the wheel bold adapter.

You'll get used to the blindspots, it only took me 2-1/2 years:tadts:

 

[Lckitty]

Firstly congrats! and show us your new baby!

Toolkit is just that key and the tow hook as far as I know.
Does the cold air stop if you turn on the recirculate button (thinking a flap may not be closing right??) I have no issues here but reference the recent thread on how slow to heat our heaters are.
There are mods on the internet that say how to basically bypass or manually switch to tell the stereo you aren't driving and allow access to DVD etc. Dangerous, but they are out there. Do you know of the.... foot brake, handbrake on, then off, then on, and footbrake off - move to allow access to the menus.

Happy joyriding!!!!

 

[invictusmaneo]

I added blind spot mirrors. They may not look the best, but the little 1.5" circle int he corner of my mirrors makes life SO much easier while driving/parking.

Parking brake and reverse cam overrides involve pulling the HU, which is easy, and grounding the cable (or giving it switched power in the case of reverse cam override)

 

[phaphaphooey]

Will check on the recirc as I didn't try that.

I was under the impression the dash had to come out to replace the radio. Hmm...

Does the magical brake and handbrake dance apply to the 12-13 Pioneer units? From my research it seemed to only apply to the Alpine units in the 10-11 and 14 MY cars.

 

[phaphaphooey]

Found an old thread and pulling the aluminum trim to get to the radio look like it isn't too much fun.

 

[tbd_Evora]

To remove the Radio you just need to pull the covering panel, which has 4 holding clips ant then loosen 4 screws. A bit tricky, but if you've done it once it can become a habit.

 

[ShadowWulf369]

Will check on the recirc as I didn't try that.

I was under the impression the dash had to come out to replace the radio. Hmm...

Does the magical brake and handbrake dance apply to the 12-13 Pioneer units? From my research it seemed to only apply to the Alpine units in the 10-11 and 14 MY cars.

Congrats on the new car! This would explain why it's no longer on my autotrader watch list. My carbon gray is identically equipped to your nightfall blue.

I've heard of the parking brake dance and I've not experienced that in my car. The nav unlocks with one click of the parking brake from my experience, so they must have fixed the issue with the Pioneer.

 

[phaphaphooey]

I haven't tried to parking brake one click yet as I wasn't sure how many clicks it took to engage the brake and didn't want to find out on the interstate.

Do you have a Pioneer or Alpine? Some of the later 13s I looked at had the new Alpine fitted.

 

[ShadowWulf369]

Do you have a Pioneer or Alpine? Some of the later 13s I looked at had the new Alpine fitted.

I have the Pioneer AVIC-X940BT, which yours should either the 930, 9330, or the 940. It took me forever to figure out I needed to use the parking brake to use the nav. I was looking at it frustrated thinking, "but I'm in Park!" Good times.

 

[JWA]

I added blind spot mirrors. They may not look the best, but the little 1.5" circle int he corner of my mirrors makes life SO much easier while driving/parking.

RLS has convex mirrors for the Evora now that you might like.

 

[invictusmaneo]

I'll take my 3 dollar circle mirrors I do like them, and had the multivex mirrors on my elise, but for the price I'd rather spend elsewhere

 

[tbd_Evora]

Just for the record, hhere the easy do-it for removing the dash panel covering the ICE:

1) Flip down the panel 27/28 below the steering column. It is just held by 2 velcro pads and flips down on its hinge.
2) Carefully pull the lower left edge of the dash panel out. You can push the clip #2 from behind.
3) Set the steering column all the way down to gain accesss with your finger at point #3.
4) Now carefully pull the panel at point #4. This one is hard to reach, I actually use a long imbus key.
5) The last hook is here, again pull carefully ant the panel is off.
6) The panel has 3 connectors to the harness, you can remove them easily, but remember which was which (you can later use trial and error - if the glove box opens when you press the seat heater you know its wrong).
7) The radio is now held by 4 screws, 2 on each side. Remove them and pull the unit.
8) The parking brake should be a light green wire. Remove the connector (or cut the wire) and connect the radio side to ground (the black wire).
9) When reinstalling the unit make sure to align it correctly. Hold the dash panel on without fixing to check alignment.

Likely one off the metal clips will fall off when you pull the panel (particularly #3). It shouldn't get lost, normally falling to the drivers footwell. Just push it back on before reinserting the panel.

I've done it a dozen times as I had issues with my antenna and have also changed my unit twice. Now running a Parrot Asteroid Smart:clap:

 

[phaphaphooey]

That doesn't look so bad. Thanks for the post. I have been following your posts about the new ICE here and on TLF as I am a huge Android nerd and having a tablet in the dash is appealing to me in a deeply nerdy way.

 

[jet37ski]

I have been able to do the one click parking brake trick on mine, but it's a MY11 with Alpine, so maybe it's different. Wasn't worried about pulling the brake up by one click while driving after the third time it put itself there on a bumpy road.

Congrats on the car! Just saw the Nightfall/Ivory combo in person for the first time a few weeks ago and it is definitely one of the best.

 

[Julian73]

Just for the record, hhere the easy do-it for removing the dash panel covering the ICE: ...

Fantastic write up, this needs a Sticky

 

[phaphaphooey]

Jet: will try the one click parking brake trick then

Julian: agreed as to the sticky. Excellent info.

 

[invictusmaneo]

it at some point is worth making a sticky-we have several threads throughout this section with crucial information but it is a bit here, bit there.


I mention this in another post on one of the stereo threads, but pulling the panel is pretty easy following TBD's directions, but I will offer some more input.

No panel removal is necessary, no special tools, just some fingers, muscle and a screwdriver and it is still a cinch. If you lower the steering wheel all the way and telescope it all the way out, there is enough room to get two hands with maybe 3 fingers each on the side nearest the column of the aluminum trim panel. Put 3 fingers near the top (this is where one clip is) and 3 near the bottom (nearest another clip.) Then pull-these metal clips that fasten this panel are quite strong but I have had mine in and out 20-30 times and have yet to break or wear anything out. The first time they are definitely stiff. Just a strong steady pull will pop that side out.

Now that the left side of the panel is sticking out, you can work your fingers along the outside edges to get closer to the right side. There is a good amount of play so you should be able to get pretty far right-go as far right as you can, then pull equally from the top and bottom of the trim. There are two more clips, though these are a bit more inboard of the right edge then the left side. Just pull strong, equally and be careful to pull STRAIGHT OUT, not at an angle or you risk bending the trim piece. This all sounds riskier than it is but it really is a CINCH. This side will pop out, and from there you can undue to the two harness plugs. The harnesses are long so you likely will not rip them out of the dash or anything when removing the trim.

The plugs only go back on one way, and there is enough of a nook on both sides of the foam dash panel under the trim to tuck the wires out of the way when reinstalling.

FWIW-if you remove one of the metal tabs that is used to hold the trim panel in (I removed the top, left one) it mkes removal easier the next time around and doesn't create any movement. This trim is held in VERY firmly.

To remove the stereo, just undue the four screws and it should slide right out. Not sure how long the factory stereo harness is but from there it is like any aftermarket head unit. When reinstalling, the brackets can be sort of parituclar about the angle and the head unit may get hung up a bit, just pull back out and try to slide it in just as you removed it.

It is pretty quick. I can have my head unit out in less than 5 minutes, and back in 10.


TBD's instructions work just as well, just giving my input for a slightly quicker removal.

 

[phaphaphooey]

More newbie questions:

Steering wheel squeaks when turning both clockwise and counterclockwise. Is there something that needs to be lubricated?

One of the lamp covers with attached festoon bulb has popped out in the trunk and is hanging by the electrical wires powering it. I can't find in the manual how to put it back so it stays and I have tried shoving it back every way that I can think of. What am I missing?

 

[JLSELISE]

Not sure about the SW squeak--but should be simple adjust and/or lube.

The trunk lamps just pop in and out, but yours may have a broken clip if it does not stay in. Maybe try popping the other one out (gently with a screwdriver) and check to see if there is a difference between the two of them in the area where they should clip into the trim panel. There should be no "magic" required to clip them in--just slide in from one side and then press in the other side so that it is firmly in place.