After a Lexus GX470 showed up in the Leftlane virtual garage earlier this week for evaluation, we were thrilled to discover that it was equipped with a factory-installed cassette player. We rushed home to our dual-cassette boom box to spend hours creating “Booty Mix #9,” the latest mix tape made from a combination of live radio recordings and previous mix tapes.
Maybe we weren’t quite that excited about this antiquated device highlighting the roster of standard features on a 2009 vehicle, but it sure did get those rusty gears spinning in our heads.
The disappearance of cassette players in new cars should come as a surprise to few. Now relegated to truck stop country mixes and sappy children’s music designed to improve listening skills (our mothers apparently didn’t buy those for us), cassettes went the way of the eight track and velour seating surfaces about a decade ago.
Few convenience features were as ubiquitous as the cassette tape just 10 or 15 years back; nary a single model on the market didn’t at least offer as an option the ability to play those hunks of plastic that liked to melt when left on the dash of dad’s car on a hot day in July. Unlike many convenience features introduced to cars, the cassette tape merely faded into obscurity thanks to a changing market.
CDs quickly made cassette decks outdated, though they experienced a short revival in the early days of iPods and other MP3 devices when users bought cassette adapters in order to hear Britney Spears hit them one more time over and over. Today, however, nearly every car on the market offers an auxiliary input jack that not only simplifies things, but provides better sound quality to enjoy a mature, mellow Britney belt out “Fakin’ like a good one.” [Really... I mean, really? - Ed.]
We put the Leftlane research staff to work to come up with a list of 2009 models that still offer cassette players. Unfortunately, we were pretty disappointed with the results. Just two brands offer cars that we know of that can be optioned with these blast-from-the-past devices [Thanks to mhaw2001 for the tip!]:
As if to add insult to injury, Mercury makes buyers and cab drivers fork over extra money to play their classic Beach Boys tapes in order to relive the glory days. An AM/FM/CD-only unit is standard on the ol’ Merc.
Can you, our readers, come up with any other 2009-model cars sold in the United States that are available with cassette decks?
Perhaps next in this series of “Features Leftlane Misses,” we’ll focus on cars still equipped with lighters, weatherband radios, roll-up windows and power antennas.
Words by Andrew Ganz.
12/18, 5:22 PM
posted by:
JakeK66
Not a 2009, but the 2008 Kia Sportage my mom owns has a cassette tape player. My favorite is the Mamas and the Papas California Dreamin’ that I play on it.
12/18, 5:36 PM
posted by:
bimmer_mann_18
Still have one in my 03 Tacoma. Planing on replacing it with a Double DIN touchscreen w/ iPod access because the tape deck doesn’t play very well when connected to my iPod. Still better than nothing.
12/18, 5:43 PM
posted by:
Tony46727
Ironic that the high-tech golen child of the industry (Toyota) is the only manufacturer to still offer these things as standard equipment. Makes sense as an option on the Grand Marquis given the blue-haired demographic of its typical buyer.
12/18, 6:00 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
If it was just domestics or GM, LLN would be banging on them for not being willing to change.
12/18, 6:08 PM
posted by:
mhaw2001
Taking a look at the Lexus website, it appears the ES, GS and RX models also have standard tape decks for the 09 model year. To be honest, these are just simple placeholders for North American models, as the same dash space is instead used for MiniDisc (MD) players on the domestic JDM market.
12/18, 6:24 PM
posted by:
Andrew
mhaw2001, thanks for the tip! We’ve updated the story. Now excuse me while I go fire the research staff…
12/18, 7:22 PM
posted by:
bradleygt
i know i was suprised as heck when I worked at Acura just this past fall and seen the ’08s still had Cassettes! None of the ‘09 Acura’s do though; i guees the pokemon grill and cassette decks just dont mix
12/18, 7:35 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
My Beretta has a tape deck… I love it! Why bother getting a new-fangled headunit with iPod plug when a good old-fashioned tape deck adapter works just fine.
12/18, 7:53 PM
posted by:
DrFill
Lexus is kickin’ it old skool!
Forget Coach bags
I want Adidas with Fat Laces in my trunk!
And a turntable over the glovebox
Yeah boy!
DrFill
12/18, 8:14 PM
posted by:
biff152
Not really a surprise, lots of asian cars are behind in electronics.. Have they even figured out automatic headlights yet?
12/18, 8:16 PM
posted by:
Brendino
My friends take their iPods into my ‘05 Sable and try to mess around with their FM transmitters. When they invariably suck, we always go back to the cassette adapter. Still indispensable to me!
12/18, 8:37 PM
posted by:
LuckyLou
Outstanding Lexus!!! I still have one hooked up on my home stereo…can’t let the rap tape collection die forever…and I hate iPODs!!
12/18, 9:01 PM
posted by:
Badass Z51
What’s a cassette deck?!
Talk about taking a giant leap backward!
12/18, 10:31 PM
posted by:
Madcapp
Mute testomony as to the target audience of Lexus.
12/19, 8:59 AM
posted by:
MercMark
The new Avalon comes with a paper roll player piano!
12/19, 9:01 AM
posted by:
Bimmer
I wish Mini Disk-players were more popular. Disks are far superior to CDs’ by being 2″x2″ and enclosed in thick plastic yet offering same capacity and re-recordable for up to million times.
12/19, 9:37 AM
posted by:
gehrhardt
My ‘02 MPV has both a cassette and CD player. It sounds so much better running the Sirius Radio through the cassette adapter than the crappy FM transmitter.
12/19, 9:41 AM
posted by:
jonmiles
lol @ madcapp
12/19, 10:09 AM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Imagine a circle that is 2″ X 3″. A circle like that would fail at being a circle.
Sorry, I just had to.
When it comes to format wars, there are usually two things that cause a “win”: support and price. VHS won over Beta because they were cheaper and because other companies besides Sony were allowed to distribute the product. CDs won over MDs because of price and because few record labels distributed MDs. MDs are superior not only because of size, but also because their sound quality is slightly better than CD sound. However, anymore, MP3 players are right up there. And they are re-recordable, too, only there is no need to change discs. Ever.
I remember I got a tape deck in my PT Cruiser when I bought it. I paid more for it, too. But I didn’t have a CD burner at the time, so I needed something to play my “mixes”. As soon as I got a CD burner, though, I lost all of my cassettes and made my “mixes” on CDs.
12/19, 12:52 PM
posted by:
Bimmer
beatusmongous,
MP3 does not give as good sound quality as MD, since it uses more compression.
12/19, 3:10 PM
posted by:
Tripleoneflipper
My Mom’s 86 Acura Legend has a cassette player in it, too bad my George Michael “Faith” cassette is stuck inside of it. Maybe I will upgrade to that used Sparkomatic I saw at the yard sale in the trailer park.
ACURA LEGEND CASSETTE PLAYERS RULE! Just check out the resale value of one on KBB.
12/19, 3:58 PM
posted by:
tripleonefive
You are still a loser
12/19, 4:02 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Just to let you know TOFlipper, your not all that funny.
It is ironic you mention that. I remember a huge, ridiculous post I made about the technological advancements of Detroit with vehicles. The only thing tripleonefive could come up with was Acura being the first with a Navigation system… in 86′!
12/19, 4:02 PM
posted by:
tripleonefive
10 POST SO FAR AND COUNTING
12/19, 6:39 PM
posted by:
tripleonefive
I dont recall that JJ I recall you trying to say a Honda Accord was 45 k with options and other nonsense
I said Acura’s RL was the first US car with in screen navi in 97 for the 98 model year
So Sit down lol
Keep trying
12/19, 8:05 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Now is this the rebadged Land cruiser or the rebadged sequoia?
I wangled a ride in a McLaren Roadster that had a cassette deck.
“We rushed home to our dual-cassette boom box to spend hours creating ‘Booty Mix #9.’” Too much information, LLN. I like to put some incongrous stuff on my playlists. I’ll go from Hagar to Bizet to New order to Pantera.
Can’t buy any new music cassettes, but I think books on tape are still out there.
“hunks of plastic that liked to melt when left on the dash of dad’s car on a hot day in July.” Lost a classic Rick james tape that way. Living in the Midwest, my Led Zeppelin remasters just froze to death.
LLN: There’s no such thing as a classic Beach Boys tape.
Tony46727: “Makes sense as an option on the Grand Marquis given the blue-haired demographic of its typical buyer.” Maybe they should have Victrolas.
RaineMan: My Beretta has no tape deck … nor an engine.
DrFill: “L—s is kickin’ it old skool!
Forget Coach bags
I want Adidas with Fat Laces in my trunk!
And a turntable over the glovebox
Yeah boy!”
Good stuff!
MercMark: “The new Avalon comes with a paper roll player piano!” beautiful!
Bimmer: “I wish Mini Disk-players were more popular. Disks are far superior to CDs’ by being 2?x2? and enclosed in thick plastic yet offering same capacity and re-recordable for up to million times.” Yeah, but americans are reluctant to change.
gehrhardt: My olds had a cassette and CD player.
Tripleoneflipper: “don’t be dissin’ George Michael!
01/01, 4:00 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Actually, Bimmer, it depends on your encoder, your bit rate and your sample rate. Remember, MDs have some compression, too. However, not all players can play high bit rates, and high bit rates and sample rates have obviously larger file sizes. What’s the purpose of a 40MB MP3 audio file when the uncompressed version is 55MB?