Would you buy a car with a Bose audio system?

Already did as it came standard on my Mercedes but I have little or no interest in car audio. It works just fine for news, traffic and weather.


Wrong company.

lol..My bad...still wont though

I did. Bought a 1990 Acura Legend and replaced the factory Bose car stereo system pretty quickly. It was more because the Bose system only had a tape deck and no CD player than anything. But I also replaced the speakers with some JBL's.

I surely wouldn't pay extra to get a Bose system in my car.

Wouldnt be a selling point to me but I would if not extra, otherwise I would just upgrade it myself. My current car has a dyna audio setup which is nice but lacks the bass I like with just 2 6.5 woofers. Though I am coming from a car with 10" w7 and another with 2x 12" w3's

Bought the wife's new car (Mazda 6) in 2007 and the Bose audio system came included along with a moon roof as factory included options. We got it for a great price, but the Bose wasn't a deal breaker. lol

I bought a 2010 Infiniti G37x Coupe last summer that came with a Bose system as part of the 'Premium Package' that also included a moonroof, iPod support, back-up sonar, and a bunch of other stuff...and was required if you wanted the nav system. The Bose system wasn't a selling point for me, but it did add a bunch of extra speakers (11 total) and does sound quite a bit better than the basic system. It's not perfect, but the sound is enough of a step up that I'm glad to have it...not because of the Bose name though. I'm just happy to have something better than the flat-sounding base system without having to put a lot of time and money into installing something else.

That said, it's my understanding that calling it a Bose system is a bit of a misnomer. I don't know exactly what is hiding under the surface, but I know there are multiple amps and other electronics to manage all the speakers. The speakers are actually made by Clarion, however, with Bose responsible for putting together the amps and EQ system. That was enough for them to market it as a Bose system and slap the logo all over the place though.

Yes, as long as it doesn't add to the vehicle cost. buy the car, rip out the crap, toss in some cheap polk speakers or something, problem solved.

Just give me a 10% discount

Already have 2:

2006 Cadillac STS
2008 GMC Acadia

They both sound very good. Would not have been a deal breaker either way though.

Anyone deciding on whether or not to buy a car based on the audio system in a given car...probably isn't smart enough to be buying a car in the first place.

Didn't see this as a poll choice .

As I've joked with my own sons; when looking for a used car on CL or AutoTrader...and you see a guy using the car's audio system as a selling point, don't walk, run.... away from it

Great points! LOL!!

My 2010 Nissan Altima 3.5 SR came with the Bose system, no way around it. It isn't bad, but as someone else said it isn't a truly "Bose" system. Clarion was involved in much of it. It does the job, but I wouldn't pay extra to get it. If I would have went with the 2.5 Altima, it was sold as an extra. I would have passed for the extra money involved. Most of the time companies lump features in together, so to get one thing you have to get another. Rarely does a company have just a Bose upgrade anymore. It is tied to a sunroof, or leather seats, or the larger engine. Hell if I could I would rather not get a sound system at all from the dealer and just install my own. Those days are gone.

I actually passed on the Nav system option for my car as my phone has free navigation, and I don't need navigation anyway. I am old school and can look up how to get where I am going before I depart. The 1% of the time I need a location on the go, my phone is there. I have heard too many stories of people getting very lost due to there Nav system. In 20 years people won't be able to read a map. Sad.

Does religion make perfect logical sense?

Wheres the option for:

I tell new car sleasfolk or salesfolk that theres low life scum and then theres true low level waste of a life scum that try to sell me Bose audio products..............

Needless to say but I never hear them trying to push Bose crap on me.

I would never buy anything Bose for the house etc. However I remember having it in my old 96 Maxima & it sounded great. I consider myself an audiophile ,also worked in the industry. (heard lots of different good brands) Personally owning: (Sound Dynamics,Energy, Mirage M1's,B&W 800 series, Genelec) In the car I'm not as picky but even with my prejudice against Bose I like their automotive stuff. Not bad.

the three cars I wanted most already had Bose sound system standard, so I have no choice. The cars were Nissan, Audi and Mazda

All three sound systems sucked even though they were supposed to be their "premium car system" available only on the well loaded models

I let somebody else take the hit and buy used cars. My good 'ole Maxima had a Bose system with 1 speaker that worked all the time, another when it felt like it, the other two were dead. Great car, lousy stereo.

My girlfriend's Gran Prix has Bose. One speaker does not work. Pretty common with used cars having Bose stereos. Cost of repair is unbelievable, I'll go yank one of those lousy powered speakers out of a scrapyard car first.

I'm not going to base my decision to buy on the stereo, though.

No high's, no lows, must be __ __ __ __!

While Bose makes crappy home audio speakers in my opinion, I've always felt their car audio was not too bad. In fact, they are pretty good.

I have Bose in my Cadillac and it wasnt outstanding but was pretty good.... dropped a 12" Alpine Type R with an 1800 watt amp and it sounds fantastic.


MR RUSSEL BURROWS I am a car salesman and take pride in the fact that I am honest and fair with my clients.... possibly the reason I am decently successful at a young age. Theres low life scum in every profession and all aspects of life. Stereotypes don't do the world justice my friend.

I don't car shop with audio at the top of the list .. my Avalanche has a Bose system and it's quite good ..

Bad sales experience .. ?? Stereotyping is on par with prejudice IMO ..

My '01 maxima was Bose and was probably the best factory sound system I ever had, even had a factory sub in the rear deck. My '02 audi s4 had Bose and was decent but i ended up blowing a few of the speakers so I ripped everything out and replaced with Focal speakers, kenwood double DIN head unit, a couple of amps and a sub...obviously a substantial upgrade.

Isn't that like buying a house because of the brand of home audio system in it??

I have to vote yes because my car has a Bose system. The problem is that the Bose system was bundled with the package that included the moon roof. If it was listed as a separate item then I would not have bought it and put the money into upgrading the factory speakers. So I would vote no on principal, but I would expand that to include most factory systems, not just Bose.

The Bose system in my Mazda 6 is not bad, but it's not great either. I must say I'm not nearly as picky about the sound in the car as I am at home, and the Bose system is good enough that it's limited more by the crappy low bitrate signal coming from Sirius more than anything else.

I wouldn't buy a Bose anything.

As much Bose bashing as we love to do, you have to give them credit for a brilliant marketing strategy .. and, the ability to make some real money ..

Just saw this got bumped. You know, I just bought my daughter a used, 98' Maxima a few weeks ago, and it has Bose speakers in it. From seeing so many mentions of Maximas in here, I guess I just learned that these were factory systems (didn't know this).

But this further emphasizes my first post in this thread; I didn't give a damn about the radio/CD player or speakers in a car when I'm looking to buy a car, not a freaking audio system!

But hey, I guess kids will be kids, because they're hopefully the only ones who are so unworldly that they'd give this question and/or factor serious consideration when buying solid transportation .

no way. Thats like giving credit to anyone who basically tricks someone into handing over their money and taking advantage of them. Legal or not, I give no credit to such things.

Whether we give them credit or not really does not matter .. they make plenty of money ..