At the recent SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Truckin's SUV's Project Sequoia was on display in a very prominent location, namely right in middle of the popular Audiovox Electronics booth, directly across from the main doors to the Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall. There, the Sequoia received its fair share of attention, especially when admirers poked their heads inside the big Toyota and were greeted with seven TV screens, a navigation system, a DVD/CD/MP3 changer, an XM radio, and much more
Prior to the SEMA Show, the Audiovox crew at the company's California office was busy outfitting the Sequoia for display in the Audiovox booth at the show, and many of the pieces were custom-made for the Toyota, which would later be added to the Audiovox lineup for Sequoia applications. Since Audiovox wanted to mainly focus on the video side of its product offerings, the decision was made to outfit the Sequoia with numerous TV screens, a new navigation system, DVD/CD/MP3 players and changers, and the company's newest head unit.
Orchestrating the entire system is Audiovox's PAV-9 head unit that features a motorized 7-inch in-dash LCD color monitor and AM/FM stereo radio. The unit features a remote, mode selection, screen tilt, password security, audio mute, video zoom, 30 presets for each radio band, disc changer mode, and is navigation system compatible.
Mounted below the PAV-9 is Audiovox's new Nav 5000 navigation system. The CD-based system displays its information on the PAV-9's screen and provides the user with driving information in the form of acoustic and visual signals. The system is easy to operate with a few control elements and a clearly structured menu. The system uses a remote (in the Sequoia's case it was mounted just below the unit), and uses a variety of screens (pop-up menus, pull-down menus, keyboard entries) to easily guide the user to a chosen destination.
There's a total of seven LCD TV screens in the Sequoia, including the 7-inch screen on the PAV-7 head unit, four 7-inch screens in the front and second-seat headrests, a 9-inch flip-down unit which incorporates a DVD player, and a massive 15.1-inch flip-down unit in the back of the big Toyota. The four 7-inch headrest units can be ordered for the Sequoia already fitted into Audiovox-supplied headrests that are OEM color-coordinated to individual Sequoia interiors. Our Project Sequoia served as a testbed for these headrests, and these were covered in Katzkin leather to match our Katzkin interior. The LCM7030 screens can be angled for optimum viewing, and feature dual inputs for wireless headphones. The big VOH1502 flip-down screen in the back is a whopping 15 inches and really impresses onlookers when a movie signal lights up its extra-large screen.
Another flip-down unit is mounted in front of the second-row passengers, and features a DVD player. Audiovox's VOD916 unit has a 9-inch flip-down screen, an on-screen display for control of picture quality and functions, has a built-in TV tuner, a full-function remote control, two audio/video inputs, two headphone jacks, and comes with dome lights and switch. The unit incorporates a DVD player with a multitude of functions, including auto memory, skip/search, erase/write, mute, and more.
Flip open the center console between the driver and passenger seats and you'll find a six-disc DVD/CD/MP3 changer that can be used to play movies or music. The Audiovox PAV6D unit has two video outs and uses Dolby digital sound for crisp audio. For XM radio, an Audiovox Satellite Digital Audio Control and Receiver System was also installed to pick up the approximately 140 channels of XM Radio. The system includes an unobtrusive roof-mounted antenna that is used to receive the satellite signals.
All in all, the Sequoia is an excellent mix of audio/visual entertainment and mobile electronic usefulness. The big Toyota can seemingly do it all: lead the driver to a chosen destination, provide audio entertainment with either XM radio, AM/FM or a disc full of CDs or MP3s, play DVD movies or TV programs through seven screens, or fill in as a centerpiece show truck for a large mobile electronics company such as Audiovox. Our project vehicle is indeed the perfect mix of versatility and diversion, wrapped up in an attractive package. After all, isn't that what a show vehicle is all about?