Newbie - advice needed on problematic Ipod/stereo in GT-S

[biancogts]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not posting a more formal introduction prior to this, but I just got my Bianco Eldorado Gran Turismo S last month and am very happy with it after owning a Porsche Cayenne S for 3 3/4 years.

First of all, it's great to have a forum in which to chat to other Maserati owners - I couldn't find any such forums for Cayenne's, and previous to Porka I had an Audi TT 3.2 which had several forums which I couldn't keep away from, so it's good to be back posting.

There are however a couple of niggly things which are starting to grate a little, but everyone has warned me to be patient as she's Italian!!

My major bugbear at the moment is how the iPod connectivity will sometimes completely lose itself after I've pressed to change a track on the stereo controls, or on the steering wheel. This morning the iPod was playing a track when I pressed the skip track button on the steering only for the radio for to come on (not a Traffic Alert)!! I tried pressing the SRC button to change back to the iPod, but it had disappeared, and the car only seemed to think there was either a radio or the single front loading CD. I turned the engine off and removed the keys from the ignition hoping it would reset itself, but it didn't , and despite me trying this several different times it still refused to show me the iPod playlist.

Has anyone else encountered this problem, if so Please Please can you help? The car is still well within it's manufacturers warranty, but to save me driving to the dealership I had hoped that some like minded person may be able to help.

Thanks.

 

[BennyD]

Hi BiancoGTS and welcome to the madness! Italian electrics are not the best in the world and it's just a quirk of the marque. My radio doesn't work well either although it is only a spyder. I am just glad that they saw fit to put in one of, if not the, best sounding car engines ever made. Try leaving the radio off, your window part way open and the sport button selected and you may find, as I did, that you don't really need a radio or an I-pod. Other than that, take it back to the dealer and say, "make it work!". Have fun, sorry I can't be more helpful. I'm sure someone will be along to put you on the right track.

 

[biancogts]

Hi BiancoGTS and welcome to the madness! Italian electrics are not the best in the world and it's just a quirk of the marque. My radio doesn't work well either although it is only a spyder. I am just glad that they saw fit to put in one of, if not the, best sounding car engines ever made. Try leaving the radio off, your window part way open and the sport button selected and you may find, as I did, that you don't really need a radio or an I-pod. Other than that, take it back to the dealer and say, "make it work!". Have fun, sorry I can't be more helpful. I'm sure someone will be along to put you on the right track.

Hi

Thanks for your quick response!! As I said I have been warned, but I thought that this wouldn't happen on a car so young (registered August 2011!!)

I've had the car since 31st July, and the time has flown by, and for the first three weeks this all I did - and visit the petrol station rather too frequently Now I actually want to listen to music on my iPod, and not the **** radio. I have to say the Bose is a great addition to the stereo, and although it doesn't compete with the Sport button, the stereo still sounds fantastic.

I'll hang around and see if anyone else have any clues otherwise I'll have to resort to visiting the dealer, but as it's an intermittent problem - as they always seem to be - it's hard to know when it's going to do it.

 

[bigbob]

Welcome. I only got the ipod lead to so that I could charge my iphone - don't own an ipod. I find that all ipod/iphone interfaces are **** - the logic of the system on my wife's car is very poor. Personally I use the hard drive - have 100 CDs downloaded and am happy enough. Sorry not to help further.

PS Try another ipod/iphone and see if you have the same issue - maybe a software issue on the device.

 

[Felonious Crud]

Hi biancogts, welcome. I use an iPod charging lead-cum-auxiliary connector which lets me use the iPod but without any access to control it via the stereo controls. Pick what you want to listen to via the iPod, that's it. And I also have the same problem - sometimes it just doesn't want to let you select a source, it prefers to decide for you. Like Benny, though, I don't use the stereo much. In fact, in all the countless cars I have ever owned this one has the least-used stereo (except for those two lovely speakers which poke out the back).

/Adam

 

[conaero]

Biancogts, welcome.

Its already been discussed above that the Italian electrics are not the best, definitely nothing on the German quality you have been accustomed to.

I had a similar issue on my Alfa GT and it took me ages to find out what the issue was (iPhone 4). In the end I read online that you needed to soft reset the phone and it worked...something about holding the power and home key down for x amount of seconds, Google it, its worth a try.

 

[conaero]

Here you go, found this:

[video=youtube;ypeF1JlangI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypeF1JlangI[/video]

 

[Exe]

Hi Biancogts..

Like you I am a new owner, and have had similar strange issues...

Firstly I was attempting to use my Old iPhone 32gb 3gs which always gave strange behaviour, I tested with my iPhone 4 64gb and although it appeared more stable I still had intermittent issues similar to the ones you mentioned.

I spoke to one of the guys at Maranello who advised the "best" ipod to use was a 8gb Nano (apparently the size of the HDD was also relevant, something about acting as a playlist ;p).

So I bought a 8gb Nano which worked, apart from... I had named the iPod the same as my iPhone so they were conflicting when attaching as devices, and one was overwriting the other intermittently.

Since renaming everything is fine...

So to cut a long story short, from my experiences..

Use a 8gb or less Nano and uniquely name any devices your connecting.. (my personal preference, was to save all my albums i wanted in the car as a playlist in itunes, then sync only that playlist to the ipod, and instead of playing the playlist, sort by album or artist, otherwise I had about 1200 songs in the playlist)

Hope that makes sense

Mark

 

[Andyk]

Hi Biancogts, and a big warm welcome to the forum.......

 

[fcz360]

I could never get my ipod to work so what i did is get 4 x 8gb usb sticks and plug the one i want into the usb slot in the glove box, works like a dream using the "list button" - will not work with a stick bigger than 8gb tho oddly.

Frank

 

[biancogts]

Biancogts, welcome.

Its already been discussed above that the Italian electrics are not the best, definitely nothing on the German quality you have been accustomed to.

I had a similar issue on my Alfa GT and it took me ages to find out what the issue was (iPhone 4). In the end I read online that you needed to soft reset the phone and it worked...something about holding the power and home key down for x amount of seconds, Google it, its worth a try.

Thanks for your reply, I've only just seen this as I've been away for a while. The German electronics were not as good as people made them out to be.

I couldn't wait to get rid of the Porker as things wouldn't stop going wrong with it, and just for your info to see that the grass isn't greener, during my ownership I replaced the following;

3 coils
Battery
Coolant hoses - burst on the a4, and were replaced at a COST price of approx £1200, I know a garage mechanic who helped me out with this hence the cost price element.
PCM - started malfunctioning when I returned from summer holiday, and couldn't be repaired, COST price approx again approx £1200
Pads & tyres replaced all round twice in 3 3/4 years, despite only doing approx 4000 miles a year!

I've contacted the dealer about this problem and am going to get it looked at under warranty, but I suspect it could be a loose connection.

Thanks for the video.

@Andy K - thanks for youe warm welcome, I'm trying to persuade the missus to come to the meet, but like most other half's she thinks I'm bonkers wanting to go and meet up with a load of other people with the same car

 

[biancogts]

I could never get my ipod to work so what i did is get 4 x 8gb usb sticks and plug the one i want into the usb slot in the glove box, works like a dream using the "list button" - will not work with a stick bigger than 8gb tho oddly.

Frank

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your message, what a collection of cars you have there. You must be like the cat thats got the cream when you open your garage! Having read a couple of your previous posts I presume these are all current cars? If so, what a garage.

How did you get the USB stick to connect to the iPod connector, was this by some sort of convertor/adapter lead?

Many thanks.

 

[Colossus]

I have had the same issue and there is no comprehensive "fix" for this. As mentioned above, dealer has said iPod Nano is the most consistent performer but I have never gone to the bother of changing. It has got to the stage now where I seldom use the iPod in the car and either listen to the radio or the hard drive. I have an iPod classic which will some days connect and others not. What I have found is that if you connect the iPod to the car when it is playing it will generally connect and continue to play that album or playlist. What you don't get is the track listing or search control on the screen, but it is better than nothing. Also, part of the problem is that it is simply so slow at responding that you get frustrated and press numerous buttons which simply throw the system into meltdown - got to love Italian electronics!

Having said all of the above, the stereo is truly shocking (I have the Bose upgrade) and therefore do not really use it for any serious listening. I understand that Maserati have no hooked up with Bowers & Wilkins which should hopefully mean a significant improvement in sound quality when they start to come on line next year.

 

[TridentTested]

I couldn't wait to get rid of the Porker as things wouldn't stop going wrong with it, and just for your info to see that the grass isn't greener, during my ownership I replaced the following;

3 coils
Battery
Coolant hoses - burst on the a4, and were replaced at a COST price of approx £1200, I know a garage mechanic who helped me out with this hence the cost price element.
PCM - started malfunctioning when I returned from summer holiday, and couldn't be repaired, COST price approx again approx £1200
Pads & tyres replaced all round twice in 3 3/4 years, despite only doing approx 4000 miles a year!

Welcome to the forum.

That makes an interesting read. I had the opportunity to drive a Cayenne S for the first time recently and was quite impressed with it: perhaps not as fast as the Quattroporte and certainly didn't handle as well but the V8 soundtrack was almost as nice, road noise insulation was better and of course the view from the higher driving position was impressive.

How do you see it comparing to the Granturismo?

 

[Taliesyn]

Hi BiancoGTS and welcome to the madness! Italian electrics are not the best in the world and it's just a quirk of the marque. My radio doesn't work well either although it is only a spyder. I am just glad that they saw fit to put in one of, if not the, best sounding car engines ever made. Try leaving the radio off, your window part way open and the sport button selected and you may find, as I did, that you don't really need a radio or an I-pod. Other than that, take it back to the dealer and say, "make it work!". Have fun, sorry I can't be more helpful. I'm sure someone will be along to put you on the right track.

"only a Spyder"! I love the 4200's (dare I say best in the Marque), just wish they'd kept the boomerang lights, then I'd be in Mas heaven...

 

[Jaymaz]

Hi Guys

Mine now no longer see's the aux so cannot play any type of IPOD, going to strangle the mechanic at Lancasters as meant to have fixed this ready for my honeymoon and now in France so can't take it back to be get sorted, only have the Misses Bruno Mars CD and French radio, pure torture and now finding myself striking up conversation with the wife when have to close the window as she's too cold. Any ideas how to reset would be appreciated.

I'm not going to even bore you with the problems I've had with the Sat Nav, thank good for my Garmin and Iphone.

Saying that though I'm loving her on the quiet winding French road and shaking fillings out of the locals when going through the villages.

Will hopefully have some nice pics to share when back in UK next week.

Jay

Al

 

[TridentTested]

Saying that though I'm loving her on the quiet winding French road and shaking fillings out of the locals when going through the villages.
Al

Are we talking about your GT or new wife?

Newly weds, eh?

 

[biancogts]

Welcome to the forum.

That makes an interesting read. I had the opportunity to drive a Cayenne S for the first time recently and was quite impressed with it: perhaps not as fast as the Quattroporte and certainly didn't handle as well but the V8 soundtrack was almost as nice, road noise insulation was better and of course the view from the higher driving position was impressive.

How do you see it comparing to the Granturismo?

I also thought the Cayenne was a great car when I was leant it for the weekend, but it's different when you have to maintain it, and unfortunately it needed a lot of maintaining, and with unplanned for events like the coolant hoses bursting, Porsche offered ZERO assistance/financial input, and even said this was a 'maintenance issue' despite this being a well publicised fault of cars of that sort of age and/or mileage, and all Cayenne's of that age being recalled in certain states of the USA (e.g. Nevada) and the Middle East to have the plastic/ceramic pipes replaced with the alloy kit as the plastic ones couldn't withstand the heat in these hot countries and burst when they got too hot.

Road noise insulation is great in this car, too good I found, as you can barely hear the fantastic exhaust note!

The visibility is incredibly good - I never found a 'blind spot', and being in that elevated position really gave you such a great view, and is incomparable to the GTS - I now find myself peering round corners at a few miles an hour in Central London when pulling out onto residential streets where parked cars are blocking your view, where as before in the Cayenne I could see over these cars.

The steering and handling I found excellent, but the mpg was actually worse than it is the GTS - something the dealer had said, but I didn't quite believe him given the Maser has a bigger engine.

They are two very different cars, and it wouldn't be right to compare other plus points as one is a 4x4, with the other a sports car/GT, but I would say as a car to drive around in, and enjoy, the GTS wins every time.

 

[Wattie]

I've been lucky enough to own several Porsches over the years and am always amazed by the perception given that they are bullet proof reliable!

My experience wasn't of that...but fortunately everything were fixed under warranty! Worst of which was a completely ******* gearbox on a Carrera 4 Conv with very low mileage....everytime I went round a left hander it all moved around!

Don't ever contemplate buying a Porsche without a warranty- it could prove expensive!

Cheers Wattie

 

[wardlem]

my experience in the grancabrio is that the iphones dont work, but ipods do - im using a nano in mine and it works perfectly