Buying my daughter a car. Her only requirements were good gas mileage and a USB port so she can play music off her iPhone. I am looking at Corollas and Civics for about $7K. Most of these cars are '10 or '11, and many of them don't have USB port. I looked online and you can get a little gadget called an "iPhone FM transmitter" that you plug into the phone and it will play through the car FM stereo. Anyone know anything about these things? Are there and glitches or tricks that I should no about before buying one?

There seem to be 2 different types. One plugs into the phone and the other plugs into the car power outlet (what used to house the cigarette lighter). Again, do any of you know the difference or which one works better.

I know this has to be a very common problem now that everyone gets their music from their phones, so I am pretty sure these things work. But I just know nothing about them and there are tons of options on amazon.

Never heard of one.

Maybe try a different car? Kia Soul or Nissan Juke's should fit in that price range and have a lot of interior options for the price. I've got a 2013 Juke and love it (and it's got a USB port). I've put 110,000 of it's 115,000+ miles and no significant issues.

(05-12-2019, 08:11 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Buying my daughter a car.  Her only requirements were good gas mileage and a USB port so she can play music off her iPhone.  I am looking at Corollas and Civics for about $7K.  Most of these cars are '10 or '11, and many of them don't have USB port.  I looked online and you can get a little gadget called an "iPhone FM transmitter" that you plug into the phone and it will play through the car FM stereo.  Anyone know anything about these things?  Are there and glitches or tricks that I should no about before buying one?

There seem to be 2 different types.  One plugs into the phone and the other plugs into the car power outlet (what used to house the cigarette lighter).  Again, do any of you know the difference or which one works better.

I know this has to be a very common problem now that everyone gets their music from their phones, so I am pretty sure these things work.  But I just know nothing about them and there are tons of options on amazon.

They really aren't unique to the iPhone other than probably the connector. My brother used to have one back in the early 2000's. His plugged into the cigarette outlet then into his phone. You could select a couple different stations on the device depending on if one was being trampled by an actual station in your area. Honestly, it worked pretty well as long as one of the station options didn't have a really strong station using the same signal nearby. 

(05-13-2019, 01:15 AM)Benton Wrote: Never heard of one.

Maybe try a different car? Kia Soul or Nissan Juke's should fit in that price range and have a lot of interior options for the price. I've got a 2013 Juke and love it (and it's got a USB port). I've put 110,000 of it's 115,000+ miles and no significant issues.

I just trust the dependability of Toyota and Honda more than other brands.  She is just entering her junior year of high school and I want a car that will last her another 6 years or so.

I have a 13 Hyundai and it has a USB port.  I have about 140,000 miles on it with no issues, but I don't trust it to last another 6 years.

(05-13-2019, 10:54 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I just trust the dependability of Toyota and Honda more than other brands.  She is just entering her junior year of high school and I want a car that will last her another 6 years or so.

I have a 13 Hyundai and it has a USB port.  I have about 140,000 miles on it with no issues, but I don't trust it to last another 6 years.

I'll warn you the Honda's and Toyota's of the last 10 years aren't the same cars that built their reputation up. They are basically the same cars as all other brads in terms of dependability. I had a 2012 Accord that the VTC Actuator went out on 50k miles in. Turns out it was a defect from the design on their 4 cylinder engines however Honda refused to acknowledge the design flaw instead forcing people to replace them only for them to continue to fail because of a bad design. My mom had a 2010 Civic that started falling apart around 60k miles, literally her engine mounts broke and the engine nearly fell out the car. In both cases the cars were bought brand new.

In terms of Toyota my mom replaced that Civic with a 2015 Rav4. The transmission went out on the Rav4 50k miles in. This was after my wife who also had a 2015 Rav4, we bought them the same weekend, had an issue with her engine as well. In both cases Toyota tried to get out of the warranties claiming they weren't correctly serviced even though all services were performed at Toyota dealers.

Long story short, the myth of the dependable Japanese car is dead to me. They are all made in America anymore anyways which leads to the same shit standards of production. I had a 2004 Accord that ran for 200k miles with no issue (Car before my 2012 one). Every experience I have had with Honda or Toyota since has been bad, but it could just be a string of bad luck.

If it were me, I'd just buy a stereo that has support built in for iPhones/Android and install it. You get more features and it will probably have better quality sound. Here is a highly reviewed Kenwood that has Bluetooth, a USB port, hand free talking (I think this is something you might appreciate for a teenage driver), etc for 90 bucks, and a few dollars less if you choose the no CD option.

https://amazon.com/Kenwood-KDC-152-Dash-MP3-Receiver/dp/B006KKS7XQ/

So about $70 more than those FM transmitters but I think overall you would get more long term value with the stereo.

(05-13-2019, 10:54 AM)fredtoast Wrote:
I just trust the dependability of Toyota and Honda more than other brands.  She is just entering her junior year of high school and I want a car that will last her another 6 years or so.

I have a 13 Hyundai and it has a USB port.  I have about 140,000 miles on it with no issues, but I don't trust it to last another 6 years.

Understood. My wife has a 2012 Camry, loves it. Likewise, it's had no issues. The only reason I mentioned it was Toyotas tend to have a higher resale, so that may push you into a model range where that option wasn't an option, and I'm not really sure what other options there are. I remember using some kind of cassette player converter for my iPod when I drove an Explorer several years ago. But it was pretty ghetto looking. Maybe just find the car and put in an aftermarket radio? Did that for my son's car.

These things are crap Fred. It will live in her glovebox after about a month. Book it.

George has the right idea. Buy an aftermarket stereo that has the desired inputs.

I installed a aux cord input into my 06 ridgeline, but had to pull a large portion of the dash in order to get to the XM plug I swapped it out for. Thats an option too, but in this case I think a cheap aftermarket is the best bet.

If you're going the aftermarket stereo route, just get one with bluetooth capability. No messy wires.

(05-12-2019, 08:11 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Buying my daughter a car.  Her only requirements were good gas mileage and a USB port so she can play music off her iPhone.  I am looking at Corollas and Civics for about $7K.  Most of these cars are '10 or '11, and many of them don't have USB port.  I looked online and you can get a little gadget called an "iPhone FM transmitter" that you plug into the phone and it will play through the car FM stereo.  Anyone know anything about these things?  Are there and glitches or tricks that I should no about before buying one?

There seem to be 2 different types.  One plugs into the phone and the other plugs into the car power outlet (what used to house the cigarette lighter).  Again, do any of you know the difference or which one works better.

I know this has to be a very common problem now that everyone gets their music from their phones, so I am pretty sure these things work.  But I just know nothing about them and there are tons of options on amazon.

I had one in the first car I had. You just need to tune the radio to a blank FM station and pair it with the phone's bluetooth or use an aux cord that connects the phone to it directly. They're okay, but if you happen to drive through an area that is near radio towers it will f with it.

A couple of points of input:

Go Toyota. I recently bought a 2013 Corolla. I went Toyota for one reason, timing chain and clearance engines, Honda has neither, so a broken timing belt is a wrecked engine. Some Toyota engines are now timing belt (but still clearance I believe), I think mostly the V-6’s, but it’s an easy google search for “timing belt type” or “clearance/non-clearance engine”.

As far as the FM transmitter for an iPhone, I have one that I used in my ‘96 pickup, device plugged into lighter outlet and other in plugged into the 3.5 jack on my iPhone 6s Plus. It worked great for me as long I was using a frequency that wasn’t an actual local station.

When I was 16, I would have been thrilled if my father bought me a car, any car. Now days, car pleas come with stipulations like "good gad mileage", and "must have USB ports"..

Hmm, first world problems..

(05-13-2019, 10:54 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I just trust the dependability of Toyota and Honda more than other brands.  She is just entering her junior year of high school and I want a car that will last her another 6 years or so.

I have a 13 Hyundai and it has a USB port.  I have about 140,000 miles on it with no issues, but I don't trust it to last another 6 years.

I had my Hyundai for ten years.  Lots of little things like the outside thermometer didn't work correctly, but no major ones.  Finally the brake pedal would stick a bit and my brake light would always be on unless I put my foot under it, and I was like "I'm done with this thing."  Probably could have been fixed for $20.

(05-13-2019, 07:32 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: When I was 16, I would have been thrilled if my father bought me a car, any car.  Now days, car pleas come with stipulations like "good gad mileage", and "must have USB ports"..

Hmm, first world problems..  

My parents bought me a used Delta '88 in the early 80s.  I think it got three miles to the gallon.  

(05-13-2019, 07:32 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: When I was 16, I would have been thrilled if my father bought me a car, any car.  Now days, car pleas come with stipulations like "good gad mileage", and "must have USB ports"..

Hmm, first world problems..  

Younger generations don't understand the horror of actually having to roll down your window!!!     

(05-14-2019, 11:15 AM)sandwedge Wrote: Younger generations don't understand the horror of actually having to roll down your window!!!     

I have a hard time trusting any truck that doesn't have vent windows.

(05-14-2019, 12:38 PM)Benton Wrote: I have a hard time trusting any truck that doesn't have vent windows.

Or the vents down by your feet!  

(05-13-2019, 06:49 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: Go Toyota.

I did, but it was because of price.

I looked a Civic that I really liked,  but it was on the used car lot of a huge new car dealership in Knoxville.  They just would not give me the price I wanted.

So I found a '07 Corolla with only 66K miles on a small used car lot outside of town.  It needs tires, but I got it $800 cheaper than the Civic.

(05-13-2019, 07:32 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: When I was 16, I would have been thrilled if my father bought me a car, any car.  Now days, car pleas come with stipulations like "good gad mileage", and "must have USB ports"..

Hmm, first world problems..  

It has nothing to do with "now days".  Lots of people bought cars for their kids when you were 16.

(05-14-2019, 02:04 PM)fredtoast Wrote: It has nothing to do with "now days".  Lots of people bought cars for their kids when you were 16.

It has nothing to do with buying a car for your kids now days or back in his day. It was about buying a car with these added features too, not just happy with the car itself


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