Blue Apron Spiced Pork Competition

Like many people (it seems) Fran is subscribed to Blue Apron. It’s a fun way to try out new “high end” cuisine. It doesn’t come ready to go though- you still have to cook it yourself. For a lot of people, like my wife,  that’s part of the fun. Blue Apron recently held a video contest where they invited people to film themselves cooking their Spiced Pork dish. We decided it would be fun to give it a shot. Even though we didn’t win (I still can’t figure out who did) it was enjoyable to film and edit my wife’s entry (although like all my personal videos it was a “rush job”).

991 Illuminated Carbon Fiber Door Sills

The only option I wanted that wasn’t present when I purchased my car was the illuminated door sills in carbon fiber (it never occurred to me to ask the dealer to add the sills when I bought the car). I periodically lamented this omission and after a year of wishing and wanting I finally took the plunge. I never felt like the old inserts looked bad, but I always felt like they were out of place.

My local dealer was willing to price match a well known online vendor on the part and the quoted install price was reasonable enough that I was happy to have them do it (again, wary of doing any electrical work on the car myself). As it turned out, the total cost of the sills was only a couple hundred dollars more than adding the option when the car is being ordered new.

One thing you can be sure of: I will pick carbon fiber every time.

The carbon fiber illuminated sills look amazing. The “Turbo S” lights up in a very crisp bright white each time the door is opened and the carbon fiber insert is much longer than the stainless plaque. Admittedly I don’t notice it every time, but I usually do and it’s a very satisfying upgrade.

From what I was told by my dealer (and also from what I’ve read online) the install is difficult. In particular the dealership had trouble reprogramming the lightning control module. They also put a small dent into the door frame while removing the old sills (you can read about that here if you’re interested). Regardless, I’m extremely pleased with this mod and it will absolutely be included on my next 991.

The video below shows the operation of the illuminated sills and discusses install complications:

991 Hardwired Radar Detector

As has been mentioned on my blog, last year I bought an Escort Max 360 radar detector. I have enjoyed the unit quite a bit and have it an indispensable part of my driving repertoire. Due to power cord limitations I had the unit mounted fairly low on my windshield which caused the unit to be comfortably out of reach. With no easy way to hit the mute button I typically kept the volume lowered which meant that I sometimes missed warning. Most aggravating, however, was the cord constantly being in the way. Eventually I decided it was time to hardwire the Max 360.

Easy enough to fix! I purchased an Escort Directwire SmartCord and  had my local dealer wire it up (I’ve become more wary of messing with my car’s electrical systems). They actually created a new circuit for the detector, ran the wires behind the paneling and relocated the Max 360 underneath the rearview mirror. Having the mute button / indicator lights located to the left of the PCM has been very nice. And what do you know, it’s even wired up correctly (i.e. it doesn’t come on when I open my car door, only when  they key is turned to the accessory on position or the car is running).

Life with a cord was tough… the detector was over my clock, too far back to reach, power cable dangling out. Thank goodness for the Escort SmartCord! Detector repositioned and no cord, no problems!

In short, hardwiriing the detector is a functional and aesthetic upgrade that I would definitely recommend to anyone with a windshield mounted radar detector 😀

I did consider the Escort Max Ci system but felt like there were too many drawbacks. For example, the price seemed high and the technology was essentially the same as what I already included in the 360 (minus the laser shifters, which I don’t really think I need). I am always hesitant to be an early adopter of technology- I’d like to see the system vetted prior to a purchase like that. Additionally the Max Ci can’t move from car to car, I had a Beltronic STIR-Plus system installed on my ’07 Corvette and while it was cool to have everything integrated I actually preferred my STi Driver.

The video below shows the radar detector components, mounting location, installation information (as noted above I did not do the installation) and operation: