Hi there,

Ill warn you in advance, im a total n00b at all this stuff so please, bare with me!

Ive recently ordered a new Fiesta Zetec Climate (Sorry its not a ST, hope this is ok!) and cant wait, my only small bug is the cd player! In my current car i bought a new sony head unit which has a dedicated Ipod connection on it, meaning not only does it keep my ipod charged when im using it, it makes it dead easy to control the playlists, tracks etc from the head unit without playing with the ipod its self!

So my first question is, i understand the ford audio systems are sony anyway, do ford do one which has this type of connectivity on it?

If no, then i have another question and that is is it actually possible to do, i could put in my old headunit, but it would really bug me that i have the remote controls and the jack socket in the dash which will not work with the head unit i have, as im just like that! So is it possible in some way to connect the ipod to the standard ford radio what comes with the zetec climate, or with the later sony unit?

I hope this all makes sense, once again sorry for my total lack of knowledge!

Thank you

Marc

Hi Marc

It's no problem you posting when you don't have an ST, everyone is welcome here.

In answer to your questions, the stereo in the Zetec Climate is only the normal Ford one as standard, so unless you've specifically ordered a Sony one, then it will only be a Ford one. The remote controls are only an option also, but from your post I assume you have ordered them.

The good news is that since 2007 Ford have fitted an ipod/mp3 connection to the stereo as standard, so you won't have any problems with that.

Hope this helps
Chris

Last time I checked, which admittedly was a couple of months ago, there was not any way to properly connect an iPod to the standard head unit (except for a 3.5mm cable, but that doesn't really help).

I keep thinking about upgrading, but the cost of the unit, adaptors for the wiring and fascia, as well as anything that Direct Line would want off me make it about £200 for a reasonable one.
Furthermore, I'd rather not lose the double din headunit, so unless I get a 'Hong Kong' product on eBay, I'm looking at about £400 for a headunit alone.

Hey there,

I have ordered the tech pack meaning i will have the remote controls etc, i havent ordered a upgrade to the radio though. Would this be required?

What i am ideally after is being able to control the ipod from the head unit its self, making it much safer when driving!

Thanks

Marc

No, you won't be able to control the ipod from the head unit. The ipod is one of many MP3 players out there, so Ford would not just cater for 1 product.
You should have a 3.5mm jack for connecting to the headphone socket of your ipod but it won't charge nor control your ipod.
Just fit an after market radio if you worried.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/ica-cd-tuners/cdx-gt50ui

I have this unit which i could remove from my old car, but i doubt that it will work with the ford remote steering wheel controls

Unless you've ordered your Zetec Climate with the Tecnology pack then you won't have the radio remote fitted.

If you have got one then I think Sony do an adapter kit so that the Ford remote will talk to the Sony radio.

You can find them on the Sony site (I think), my friend was looking at them the other day for his Focus.
The standard CD player is good but not fantastic so you may as well use your Sony on, you can get an adapter kit to fit it to the dash.

Yea i have the technology pack so will have the remote.

Any idea where on the site they are, i dont seem to be able to find them.

Thanks

Marc

Spoke to the guy at work he said he e-mailed cust services and they sent him details.

You will need to give them the model and serial number of your head unit.

After looking at it abit more (If the halfords site is anything to go by) my head unit dont support steering wheel control, some others on there have it down as a supported feature. So my next question is does anyone have a Made for ipod head unit (able to fully control playlists, songs etc from the actual head unit) which is compatible with the steering wheel controls.

Congratulations on the new car!

Depending on your head unit, you can buy an audio stalk connector cable to run your remote controls off. Unfortunately no way of connecting that ford aux in socket to your sony system. I know this as i work on audio in halfords...what model sony do you have and how old is it roughly? ill find out exactly for you. As far as ipod goes, i would just buy a 12v charger and run it on that whilst playing it through the aux socket in your new fiesta.

Hi all,

Thanks very much for all the replys! After getting the car, ive decided i can live with the AUX in connection with out ipod direct connectivity, If i fitted my own, i wouldnt be able to get the ford AUX socket working with it, and the little things like the dash board display wouldnt work so i think ill stick with a player designed for that car! It currently has what i think is a 6000 CD, but i like the look of the sony ones but i have a couple of questions.

Firstly, if i was to buy a sony one, designed for the car, would i need to go to fords?

How much would one of the models set me back?!

Will it plug straight in from the old one?

Im interested in bluetooth and using the car speakers for talking over the phone, is there any specific model i would need and any adons i would need for the stereo for it to do that?

Thanks for putting up with all my questions!

Marc

In answer to a couple of your questions... someone previously said that they'd been quoted £350 plus VAT to upgrade to the Sony one. You might be able to pick one up cheaper on ebay though.

You would be able to fit it yourself as the connections are identical to the existing one, but you may have to pay the dealer to upgrade your CAN network for the cluster display to continue working. The stereo will work as soon as you connect though. People who've had a Sony one put in in the past have said that it will cost about an hours labour for a Ford dealer to do this.

Any idea on model numbers so i can take alook on ebay?

Cheers