[RFI] Buying New Vehicle - RFI issues with these models?

[Mel Crichton]

Let me chime in. I have a 2002 Toyota that has bad fuel pump and ignition noise. I pretty much killed the ignition noise by shielding plugs, wires, and ignition control modules and by grounding the hood to the body.

The fuel pump is a little worse, but a dozen ferrites and a toroid brought it down. 

The computer makes no noise and is not bothered by RF from the 100 watt rig. 

The coup de gras is the Elecraft K2, which has an excellent noise blanker for ignition noise. I use it whgen contesting, or an IC 706 for general travel, and both work well.

Made 380 QSOs in 9 hours from Ohio last weekend.... not bad for crummy conditions... and I work Larry (and other county hunters) whenever I travel cross country ... yes there's SOME ignition noise but there are plenty of signals above the background noise level.

A few years back, GM made the quietest cars for RFI, as a group. There were exceptions. But everything short of a Ford fuel pump seems to have been tamed, and I think there are some in Ford Explorers who have managed to fix even that problem.
 

Mel KJ9C

Don't believe the gloom and doom for a minute.  I know literally
hundreds of folks running HF mobile via my association with the County
Hunters.  While there are occasional issues running HF at the 100w
level, the fixes are generally quite easy.  We have many members who
rent vehicles and do a temporary install of a 100w HF radio when going
on extended trips.  These are brand new cars.  There are quite a few who
run 500w in their own personal vehicles.