A regular feature in advertisements, brochures, and dealers’ regurgitations is the volume and extravagance of ways to connect media to your car. This insatiable desire to make as much of a musical communications post of your personal transport has brought auxiliary, USB, Bluetooth connections, digital radio receivers, and even mobile internet. It can, however, be then a matter of spending enough to be blessed with the output equipment that gets the best of your high bit rate music connections.
It’s a bit of a fairy tale that cars are lately so well equipped that Bluetooth is judged as critical for many buyers, and indeed it is perhaps with this kind of rationale that Ford, Nissan, Peugeot, and others, have pushed their little hatchbacks’ starting prices – B segment cars the anoraks will have you know – previously from £8k to the now £12-14k range, and so now include many shiny things, blue and beyond. Unfortunately this, for many models, still doesn’t include air conditioning, and neither for that matter does it necessarily include a decent speaker system.
Sparkling distractions aside, this means that you can now spend £12k on the new Nissan Micra, for example, which, while equipped with Bluetooth, has a pitiful 2 speaker arrangement scarcely good enough to give the Today programme the crisp clarity it deserves. Amidst the haziness of this fancy but non-air-conditioned cabin, the colourful media screen’s significance might now seem as detached from reality as the distorted political speech buzzing through the doors. For a basic car with a view to enjoying music, then, the pricey Micra doesn’t quite cut it.
Kindly, Nissan will help you out of this situation, with a BOSE 6 speaker system, including 2 driver’s headrest speakers, and air conditioning, but only once coaxed up the model range. As much as I love the idea of reviving Pontiac Fiero vibes, £15,615 for this equipment is less 1980s flashback than 2010s inflated swindle. Beyond the novelty, on only one headrest mind you, Nissan’s hype doesn’t stand up to competition.
Indeed, the so-equipped Nissan is priced dangerously close to the VW trio, starting with the Skoda Fabia, offering 6 speakers, through the Ibiza – adding a subwoofer – and ending with the special Polo Beats, which we’ll discuss later. In fact, if you’re prepared to sacrifice a little anonymity, the quirky Smart ForFour can be fitted with an optional 12 speaker JBL system with an 8-channel amplifier and 320 watt output, to place it in a fantastic position of value at £12 and a bit grand.
On a budget, and if a car, with 5 doors, is quickly followed by blasting tunes and keeping cool in your list of priorities, 6 speakers in the air-conditioned MG3 ‘form’ is difficult to beat at a price point of roughly £10k. You’ll see on the graph below that the Sandero (Lauréate) is the cheapest way to roll off the forecourt in hyperactive post-purchase drum and bass excitement. For true value seekers, the difference between this and the pre-wired, but without speakers, Sandero is £2,600 in speaker & head-unit spending money. Of course, with this solution, you’ll have to spend the weekend fitting before testing Dacia’s panel fit with Dimension’s latest bassline.
On the below-averages side of the trend-line, Renault and Mazda are victim to their option restrictions; mid-high versions are required for their maximum speaker counts, and are relatively expensive in general. These two therefore represent some of the worst value propositions in the 4-7 speaker bulk of the pack. The Audi, unsurprisingly, is simply expensive and only makes a worthy case here when specified with the optional 10 speaker (including subwoofer) system (£255). Included in the price is clever engineering of the wheel-well mounted subwoofer which still allows space for a spare wheel. The new Seat Ibiza has inherited this capability, having had the two mutually exclusive in the old model. For Cupra buyers, where the spare was standard equipment, this must have raised some awkward questions pertaining to ticking every box on the order form. Fortunately for those extravagant hatchback shoppers of the present, you can have both and now that means the Beats audio system appropriated from the Polo. Just say goodbye to playing any CDs.
In the group as a whole, things continue like this for the aging compact disc, being pointless in the Mini, Kia Rio & Soul, Skoda Fabia, Citroën C3, Renault Clio and ForFour. Peugeot will explicitly make you ask the dealer for no more than an external player to plug in to their 208, presumably so that they can laugh at you for being so last decade. That is of course, until you go and buy an Audi A1 with the same money. You should, too, with the 208 priced at £14.5k for a 68bhp 1.2 and unremarkable sound system, likely only forgiven by its digital displays of distraction inside. This, the Renault, and Mazda find themselves outclassed by the others when sound is first and fundamental features are second considered.
If substance, particularly in metalwork, is your attraction, it is significant to note that these aspiring Clios and the like are competing with some cars of the segment above. The Nissan Pulsar, Fiat Tipo, Kia Soul, Dacia Duster and Suzuki Baleno are all available for around £13k, most being as cheap as a base Fiesta. Air conditioning and six speakers are standard on most, and the Suzuki is even equipped with its latest 110bhp 1.0 turbo. Even a 1.2 turbo Duster 4×4 is still competitive, at under £15k. However, these cars offer nothing spectacular in the way of audio systems, and so are really are best used as reminders here to the makers of these pricey smaller cars that their game had better keep sharp.
To this end, Hyundai make sure that its equipment list is comprehensive, specifying the i20’s standard digital clock which, while surprisingly not accompanied by a tape deck, is at least in a cabin served by a reasonable 6 speakers in the £13k SE. Thanks to the persuasive and somewhat detailed text of brochures, the analysis of models individually can reveal the greater value of seemingly expensive models, with the Polo Beats as a particular example. Its 300 watt, 8-channel amplified system is part of a package that also includes various trim items such as excellent quilted sports seats.
However, in practice, most would be well advised to upgrade to the 75bhp (+15bhp) engine for around £600 for some hope with keeping up with the rest of the crowd, and even with this the Polo lags behind the others. For the consideration of cars with equipment you might actually care about buying, a revised selection of cars to include only those equipped with DAB radio, wired and Bluetooth connectivity, preferred engines, and air conditioning, can cut through some of the inevitable disparities between the cars and more accurately support a decision making process. Hence the below graph and hopefully useful discussion. Sadly, however, I cannot guarantee the fitment of digital clocks across the group.
The underlying data here shows how hopeless the Nissan, Honda, and Mazda offerings stack up against the competition, all priced around £16k even before the engine upgrades wanted to challenge others. That a Mini One with over 100bhp should be cheaper, with a 410 watt Harmon Kardon system option, is a little ridiculous. About as ridiculous as owning a 5dr Mini of course, but that’s by and by. In fact, this quite prestigious option is only closely challenged in the performance
stakes by the turbocharged Kia Rio 2, the Corsa 1.0 turbo, and the bargain MG3; all good performance interests, with 6 speakers each.
A league ahead, in the middle of the road, lie such cars as the dated Fiat Punto, the only one here with particularly small speakers in the rear, at 4”, rather than the 6.5” largely standard across the group, the Hyundai i20, which loses its battle of value to the Ibiza and Ignis, and the Renault Clio, probably a lovely car and even equipped with BOSE sound but too expensive to make a real case for itself here.
If it weren’t for the Ibiza’s usurping of Beats audio, the Polo Beats would win the Volkswagen group struggle. As it is, there is a £1,000 premium on some fancy seats and VW badges. Arguably the Ibiza puts an £800 premium on a subwoofer and removing some Skoda badges, but actually you gain Dr. Dre’s unquantifiable stamp of approval, an amplifier too, and the dignity that comes with avoiding the poverty-stricken look of a nearly base spec Fabia SE. No Skoda, chromed door handles don’t change this.
Meanwhile, Ford offer a Bang & Olufsen alternative which can be had in a 10 speaker version at the price point of the Ibiza. As you can see graphically, this pushes the Fiesta up on the value chart, although unfortunately you’re not given seats evocative of the early 20th century German audio engineers. So if you’re out cruising and demand All Eyez on Me, you’ll have to cover up your unquilted upholstery.
The overall value offered by the MG3 – even in high specification – is remarkable both nominally and for not cutting corners beneath the skin, at least in speaker count as some here have done from preceding models – namely Micra and Hyundai i20. The Dacia Sandero, a known champion of value, is not quite as impressive, unless of course you design and fit your own system into the base model. Many watts will be required, however, to reconcile yourself from the austere reality of black plastic bumpers. The Suzuki Ignis also deserves a mention with respect to value, being available in range topping specification at £13k to include decent equipment and 6 speakers, plus a funky design original in its ability to be cute without being retro.
As can be seen, the Mini, Ford, and ForFour are the winners in the outright ability to blast Tchaicovsky’s 1812 overture and unsuspecting street-side victims into a frenzy of jubilations, but the Smart Forfour takes the true prize in this discussion for providing excellent value ultimate audio (although no CD player) in a versatile package, even when equipped with its higher output 90bhp engine. The Fiesta B&O offers more in the way of practicality, a more conventional layout, and a system still very capable of imposing your music tastes unto others, so affords itself a closely won spot in the winning three, ahead of the more expensive Mini. The sheer value of the MG3 has meant that even its 3form sport trim, with the uplifting side skirts and other sporting goodies, provides a well-equipped, 6 speaker cabin for £10k, only omitting the availability of DAB radio. It deservedly takes its podium spot, just ahead of the less well equipped Sandero.
The difference in style and function is still marked among this more evenly distributed lot, so the full set of models used for the graphs discussed can be seen below. My concluding thoughts are that while the Ford’s package is well-rounded and those B&O logos are attractive, I figure I could always buy a roof box for the Smart ForFour and ask Peugeot nicely for one of their special external CD players all before reaching the price of the Ford, and all the while have a car probably worth more than the MG3’s discount factor.
Data valid as of 04/10/2017. New Ford Fiesta only just released.