Convince me to get 400a over 401a

[activeGT]

The backup camera with the 401 is great, too. That is worth something.

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[Paulie]

I looked at it as what could be installed afterwards, audio, no problem. blind spot, memory seats, I looked into it and no there is a big cost to get the oem parts to add these things later.
I had blind spot monitoring in my previous car and there is a learning curve, so that didn't matter to me. The mirrors with the fish eye spots work well if aimed correctly.
I really wish I had the memory seats. I have to put the seat back every time I exit the car. I have big feet and I want to clear the door panel and the door sills. Plus the lighted mustang logos.
If this sounds like something that would bother you than the only other thing to remember is when you sell the car the packages add to the resale value.

 

[JeffreyDJ]

yeah it's just when i look at it, it's like damn $1800 for ford's system(recaro's cancel out memory seats but i suppose there is BLIS too.)... $1800 would be an awesome aftermarket system for that money even knowing I wouldn't spend that much on aftermarket either....ah decisions decisions.... my wife says go for 400 and save the money but she won't be the one driving (she can't drive a manual) or listening most of the time

The BLIS is worth more than Memory seats.

 

[nfollin]

I like the 401A. Sound is fine, the biggest problem to me is Sirius quality is in the toilet, I'm guessing most test drives are using that so it's coloring perception. Could you put an amp/sub/speakers I'm and get higher fidelity audio? I'm sure, but I don't listen loud so it's fine. Overcomes my loud exhaust easily.

BLIS is great and honestly a lot more helpful than I thought. Where my seat is there's a big blind spot, I can kind of see out the rear quarter. More accurately I could have, but my tint makes it harder to catch a car there, especially at twilight.

As for the Recaros, I wanted heated/ac seats and they work great. Honestly I normally wouldn't care about power seats, but the comfort in/out option is actually pretty amazing since I sit close to the wheel and in tight parking spots (with walls, of course not cars with my mustang!) like my single garage, it's fantastic so I do not scrape my shoe on the door panel or put excess pressure on the seat bolster trying to squirrel my way out with the seat forward. Plus, they are just basic Recaros, you can get drop ins aftermarket with the factory lack of options and have both around if you need a racing seat. Ford pricing covers a lot of the fully featured heat/vent/power am Recaros if you really wantedyour cake and to eat it to. But of course all these decisions are preference!

I got the 401A, honestly, unless you go into the sound setting menu in the test drive don't even bother. Ford defaults the system into an "All Passenger" mode that sounds magnitudes worse than "driver" mode as it tries to I guess make it the same volume in every seat? Which really just ends up making it sound bad, can't stand listening to anything with it in that mode.

As for the Recaros vs Leather, I personally went leather, at 5'9 160 they still hug me pretty good and are amazingly comfortable. Sat in the recaros at the dealer and honestly preferred the regular seats, especially because like a lot of people, it's 95% a daily driver for me.

 

[steve1107]

Well to start off I plan on getting recaro's unless I can talk myself out of it so I lose a feature from the 401a.

it really comes down to the sound system. I haven't heard 401a yet but the 400a was a dud truthfully. For the life of me I can't find a car in person with 401a's between 3 states I've been in between december and the holidays.

I mean I'm trying to talk myself out of 401a and just get an aftermarket system in the 400a but those days of ripping off door panels and running wires and mounting subs/amps are over. Once you pull it apart it's never the same again....so that's why I want to go 401a so I never touch the speakers.

My current car has a decent sound system for what it is and while it isn't audiophile by any means it doesn't "suck". My wife's 2015 rogue has a full Bose system in it and while I'm a Bose hater in the home theater (over priced mehness) it sounds really CLEAN with moderate amount of bass coming from the sub.

I'm not a boom boom boom person. I prefer music the way it was meant to sound. I don't listen to rap. Mainly edm and wife's pop music. However I just don't want to listen to a dud system when I'm in the car alone. I also wouldn't spend a butt load on an aftermarket system.

Is it smart going with 401a for my taste or should I go 400a? It's $1800 i can save obviously...but it might be $1800 worth spending to never rip the interior apart...i just don't think I could be content on 400a and i don't want to lose truck space with an aftermarket sub box. etc. etc.

thanks

Don't get the 401 for the stereo, get it for the blind spot alert and cross traffic. Although the HD radio is pretty awesome.

 

[Ruby T]

Khyber, like you I like a car stereo to sound good, but I was simply not
willing to throw an after market system in the the new car so I opted for
the 401A pkg. With the right settings for bass, mid and treble it sounds
just fine for muscle car. Besides once you start pulling panels and swapping
systems rattles and noises start to appear. That would drive me crazy. But
this Shaker Pro system beats the hell out of the old AM/FM radio +
cassette in my old 69 Mach 1. Hopefully my car will be here next month.
But who knows... still no build date nor has COTUS updated since the VIN.

I agree with Gene

 

[Khyber]

i'd never use hd radio. i haven't listened to regular radio in 10 years.

but the blis system is cool but it's no biggie for me... so yeah really is for me 401a is about the stereo lol. prob going to get it any way...i really really really don't want to rip off panels and start replacing speakers and running wire. I have no plans for interior mods at all. If i end up doing it i guess i'll have 12 holes for speakers in stead of 9 lol

 

[nfollin]

i'd never use hd radio. i haven't listened to regular radio in 10 years.

but the blis system is cool but it's no biggie for me... so yeah really is for me 401a is about the stereo lol. prob going to get it any way...i really really really don't want to rip off panels and start replacing speakers and running wire. I have no plans for interior mods at all. If i end up doing it i guess i'll have 12 holes for speakers in stead of 9 lol

Just FYI I primarily listen to EDM as well, system actually sounds good to me, if it helps, my headphone list is below to give you a background on what i consider "good enough".

Open Reference Headphones: Sennheiser HD598's
Closed Reference Headphones: ATH M50's (2nd gen)
Earbuds: Sennheiser CX-980s.

I will reiterate that the system sounds AWFUL when it is not in Driver's mode.

 

[CompOrangeGT]

Sorry to thread jack but I have a question. I have noticed that several people have said not to listen to sirius because it doesn't sound good- are you saying that it sounds worse than in other cars or that it just sounds bad in general? I have always felt that sirius has a "low bitrate" sound to it and have learned to deal with it, but does it sound worse in these cars than in other cars? My wife has a 2011 Ford Edge and it has the MyFordTouch in it, but the base 4 speaker stereo and I think sirius sounds fine compared to the pioneer I had in my 2005 mustang. TIA!

 

[JeffreyDJ]

Sorry to thread jack but I have a question. I have noticed that several people have said not to listen to sirius because it doesn't sound good- are you saying that it sounds worse than in other cars or that it just sounds bad in general? I have always felt that sirius has a "low bitrate" sound to it and have learned to deal with it, but does it sound worse in these cars than in other cars? My wife has a 2011 Ford Edge and it has the MyFordTouch in it, but the base 4 speaker stereo and I think sirius sounds fine compared to the pioneer I had in my 2005 mustang. TIA!

Its not horrible, but is noticeably worse than HD radio. It sounds fine and if you're use to it, you'll be okay. It sounds better than it did in my '14 Fusion that had the "Premium" sound system.

 

[activeGT]

Sorry to thread jack but I have a question. I have noticed that several people have said not to listen to sirius because it doesn't sound good- are you saying that it sounds worse than in other cars or that it just sounds bad in general? I have always felt that sirius has a "low bitrate" sound to it and have learned to deal with it, but does it sound worse in these cars than in other cars? My wife has a 2011 Ford Edge and it has the MyFordTouch in it, but the base 4 speaker stereo and I think sirius sounds fine compared to the pioneer I had in my 2005 mustang. TIA!

For some reason Sirius or XM is missing the highs and lows.

 

[gsxr1300]

hd radio sounds much better than sirius.

 

[Khyber]

hd radio may sound better but fm radio sucks(at least here).... i wouldn't even consider it music, just constant singing commercials....that's why i dropped regular radio in 2005. Between sirius and pandora/google music... i'm good to go.

 

[Alloye]

For some reason Sirius or XM is missing the highs and lows. I have it in a mustang, a super duty, a corvette, a mercedes and an acura. It sucks pretty much equally.

Yep. The highs and lows are rolled off, what's left is full of compression artifacts, and in some cases, the original stereo mix is flattened or destroyed. It's like listening to low bitrate, poorly encoded MP3s.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

Yep, satellite sucks. To me it's a miracle it's still in business, I guess Stern is keeping it afloat.

Anyway Khyber, we agonize over many of the same things - check out this thread for details on how hairy the stereo install can be, and this is in a base. Lots of line-converting, nasty wiring compromises, pulling panels near airbags, etc. I did a full system (4 speaker 2 amp sub) in my SN95 and while I loved my studio-on-wheels with no sound deadening, this is looking more and more like a month or two. Hopefully somebody goes full guinea pig for everyone's benefit.
http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14228

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