I'm about to have a cat 1 alarm fitted by an approved authorised dealer, but which one ?
Had allsorts of different recommends and alsorts of conflicting advice - Clifford, Toad,Laserline or Centurion.Some say a day to fit some say 3 hours. Some say £250 some say £700 !
latest advice please and experiences.
Thanks.
Peely.

 

Clifford Concept 300, ignore peoples moans and groans about these, everyone will always have something bad to say about something. As long as it is installed and set up by a good dealer you will experience no false alarms and your car will still be there when you get up in the morning. Well worth investigating in the motion sensor and the tilt sensor if you value your wheels.

 

If you have money to burn I'll also recommend the Concept 600. I got all the 'ikkle extras fitted last Friday and it's already detered a thief!

Didn't stop some thieving slag-heap from knicking three of my four air-valve caps though...

I'm getting some locking ones from Demon Tweeks instead now.

Ross.

 

Gotta be a Clifford mate, all singing all dancing sense and tell jobby, with a little button on the remote yhat starts the car for you in a morning and warms it up, but if some spotty faced scally comes along and touches it, it will automaticly cut out and sound the alarm.......see it MUST be a Clifford

 

All Category 1 Alarms are good quality, they have to be to pass the stringent testing criteria at "Thatcham". The major difference is in the way that they are installed. The specification of them all is very similar to conform to Thatcham specification. £295-£399 including VAT & installation is generally the going rate depending on where you are in the country. My personal preference would be to install a Sigma M30 on any Subaru-It's tried and tested on thousands of Scooby's and have proved to be very reliable. I also would recommend Cobra, Laserline, Autowatch and Meta. Everyone talks about Clifford, but I can assure you, having been installing alarms since the days of Selmar Pendulum alarms that I am still puzzled by the their popularity amongst "The Boys". If you want to spend huge amounts of money, spend it on additional SECURITY - NOT GIMMICKS ! (TRACKING, SECURITY FILM, DEADLOCKS, ETC....

 

All well and good but what do people think of the Clifford anti car-jacking feature. I don't know of any other alarm offering same features - not a gimic in my books seeing lots of cars are going this way

MAF

 

OK. So say I decide on the Concept 300. What is the going rate fitted - £399 reasonable ?
Also what should I look for as far as fitting is concerned. Should all wires and other tell tale signs of the alarm be out of sight or what ? I believe most of the interior has to be removed !! Is this true ?
Its a brand new car for ****s sake !!

 

Putting a turbo timer on any Category 1 alarm, including Concept 300/600, means that the alarm is no longer Thatcham approved. Use the timed output to turn on the lights so you can find the car in the carpark, but turbo timers are bad news. If your insurers find out about this after your car is nicked, you (and the supplying dealer) could be in trouble - ie uninsured.

Also, despite the fact that I have had clifford kit for the last four cars, I *really* recommend you find a dealer you are happy with rather than one that sells the kit. Go to someone who knows imprezas, as the most common cause of electrical failures (according to my local garage) is bodged alarm installations.

Clifford kit is quite fiddly to fit and has traditionally been a bugger due to requiring clean power supplies, excellent contacts and all that sort of guff which has lead to some people having troubles through bad installs. The sensors also need to have their location thought about. As an example, the digital tilt/motion sensor cannot go under the centre console due to the exhaust system + cat being under there, so giving off heat/cooling down rapidly which can cause false alarms...

The concept 600 that I have behaves perfectly and, as mentioned above, the anti-hijack feature is spot on. I, and quite a few of the ImportingImprezas list, got it installed by Maximum Impact in Leeds (0113 244 1448) who I would strongly recommend as they really know their stuff. (Extremely satisfied customer, that's all).

Good luck. Getting the right installer is more important than the brand of alarm.

 

Oh, and if someone says it'll take a day they're taking more time over it than someone who quotes 3 hours for the same job. My Concept 600 took two days to fit (including tracking device and boot release) and I was happy about it.

 

Scorpion was my choice after much research 18 Months ago.

Recommended by a dealer in Newcastle who is authorised to fit all makes mentioned here so far. The business was never going to him which he always knew. Working colleague of mine was a close personal friend of his.

I ended up with Scorpion from a company in Aylesbury. Aylesbury car alarms I think.
Very professional job, about 350.00

Regards

 

Peely,

I'm getting a Clifford 300 fitting next week. Estimate is 350. Wanted the Clifford because it could be set up to leave the engine running for a minute after ignition has been turned off - negating the need to sit in the car like a dummy. Is it a gimmick ? well if it is its one reallllly want.

Im having it fitted at place because a collegue had one fitted to an open top sports car last month and was really PLEASED about the great job they did on the wiring. So much so that he is going back to the same place to get the hi-fi (oops ICE) fitted.

Now, is it the alarm manufacturer that dictates that the wiring is tidy and well done or the place that fits them ?

If it all goes wrong (which I doupt) I wont blame Clifford. I think all Thatcham Cat 1 alarms are pretty intrusive.

My car is brand new so I am just as edgy about leaving it to some cowboy.

Wait a week and Ill tell you what happens to my new Scooby.

bkar

 

I'm also is the same position, expectant arrival of MY96 WRX in about three weeks time and I've been following these alarms threads with a lot of interest. Anyone recommend an installer in the Gatwick/Crawley area, don't really want to go to local Road Radio type operator.

Cheers Steve.

 

Steve,

I can install you a Sigma M30 or cobra 7928 -both Category 1 for £295 including fitting & VAT. On a '96 car you will also need a motor in the the drivers door because they are pre-multipoint CDL, this will cost £25 if it's not already been converted (some early cars have had remote locking retro-installed). I always recommend the Sigma on Impreza's and I can install on site.

 

Nick,
I've been to two instalers now and both have said that the passenger door will require an additional motor to be fitted, is this true? It's a brand new MY00 turbo car
that I have !

 

Peely, Nick,

I thought it could be Cat 1 with the Turbo timer. If you are right (and you sound as if you know a damn site more than me) then I might as well go for the Sigma and save myself 50 quid.

The people doing it said they would need complete day and asked me to drop it in as early as possible.

They also mentioned the motor on the passanger side. They said that sometimes you need them and sometimes you dont and until the look at the car they wont know. They said that if I need one it would add an extra £50.

Bkar

 

Peely,

Passenger doors NEVER need additional motors, you're getting confused or the guys you've been talking to are not too clever ! Early cars may however need a motor in the DRIVERS door-normally an extra £25 including parts & labour-any more and you've been ripped.All MY00 cars have "multipopint" central locking as did all the RB5's (RB5's came into the docks with a remote transmitter-but you never see these ! The CDL wiring configuration is single wire control (thin white wire on CDL relay) Some alarms will need "farting about with" to make them work, that's one of the reasons I tend to install the Sigma in preference to the A.N.Other alarms. A point to mention on installation time - I consider the Impreza a very nice vehicle to install and feel that 3-4 hours from start to finish to complete a quality installation is more than adequate.

 

Agree with Nick O on this one. If someone says you need a motor for the passenger door, nod politely and find someone who has a clue. You may want to point out that unlocking the driver's door with the key also unlocks the passenger door and maybe suggest that it's pure magic?

Spot on on the driver's door, too: some will tell you that it needs one. Walk away and find someone who's worked on the Impreza before. UK spec cars from the EU come with an infra red transmitter to open doors, which includes the drivers door.

My installer didn't faff about with the single wire control and went for the throat - as the Clifford has relays to drive door motors directly, it controls the drivers door which in turn drives all the other doors.

The impreza is easy to work on, as the trim falls apart if you look at it the wrong way . Clifford kit may be more complex than Sigma, which may explain the time differences. Another point is that Nick's done literally hundreds of Sigmas (IIRC), so he could probably do it with one hand tied behind his back blindfolded .

Nick: where are you in the country, just for reference?