I have no idea what these sound like, but they are a car stereo which lets you put your iPod in the cavity itself.
http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/car-s ... rot-rk8200

Ah-ha, thanks a lot. I'll pop over to the Kenwood website and look at the rest of the site too.

If possible, I'd rather have a powered USB on the back so I can throw all my music on a HDD based iPod in the glove box and forget about it.

Remember to put the ipod on some foam or the bumps will kill the HDD (not a problem for flash based players)

This is what I’m thinking. In my Skoda days, I had a cassette adapter which serviced the MiniDisc player and then the iPod. Current car has a CD player, and there was experimentation with an FM transmitter last year. The bugger being that Chrysler puts the cigar lighter (yes, that is what they call it) on the right hand side of the console, meaning that here in the UK, any dangly wires get in the way of the driver far too easily. The FM transmitter also seems ver prone to tuning out, so I gave up on it.

I am considering an iPod capable stereo myself - much to the purists’ chagrin. I will at some time be taking the OEM head out and putting in an iPod capable one. The iPod can then live in the glove compartment on journeys.

Most modern stereos have ipod control available.
My Pioneer X1 had a great adaptor so you could control it from the 7" touchscreen

I bought a brand new Nissan Qashqai about 12 months ago and I cannot believe it does not have any way to connect an MP3 player to it.

In the end I have bought myself a Belkin Tunebase which actually works okay. It keeps the iPhone charged up, so I don't have to worry about its battery draining.

Peter.

Been looking at the Belkin Tunebase but, looks to me like the cigarette port adapter is for the dashboard, am I right?

This is my interior. The white circle is where the cigarette lighter is.

How do I overcome it?

I don't think the Belkin Tunebase would work for your setup, bish. My cigarette lighter is low on my dashboard, so it sits quite nicely.

Peter.

My car doesn't even have a fag lighter!

Cigarette lighter splitter/lengthener cable

I got one and it goes from the lighter socket and connects on the edge of the passenger footwell so it's out of the way for me

Have you thought about getting a wired modulator? they connect into your aerial connection and have a 3.5mm jack out, its good as you can use any device and retain your stalk controls if you have them

If the radio is a VDO/Clarion, you can get an adapter that feeds the signal to the head unit through the CD autochanger (assuming you haven't already got one fitted).

Clicky

Gives great sound quality (had one in my old Accord) - don't know whether it'll work through the steering wheel controls like an iPod does.

There's also this one

You have much the same problem as me. Cars have left hand drive consoles, even on the right hand drive ones. This explains a lot why controls, dials, etc. are where they are. Ideally, they should be the other way round on RHD cars.

You’ll need to run a line, or have a new socket installed. There may be another power socket elsewhere under the fascia you could use. Your manual may be able to help you find it.

If it's something you are going to keep permanently then you could wire it in permanently.

Another thing to do is check the handbook for the head unit. There may be an aux in socket at the back, to which your ipod can be connected.