cardas golden reference sound signature

Digital-desire, I can appreciate your desire to maximize performance of any system. But in car audio, I think rather than invest in expensive cables that maybe cable isolation would be a more rewarding investment. With the exposure a car and road present to an audio system, isolation from EMI and RFI pollution would be a place to invest first. Power system feedback from the alternator can't be good for the audio signal, even though the battery should serve as a buffer, I believe that some "noise" gets through especially at speed and even more at night with headlights on and requiring the charging system to work even harder. Do you have an auxiliary battery with isolator dedicated to the audio system only? If you do try disconnecting the charging feed sometime and run on the charge of the battery sometime and listen for any changes.
Just a suggestion.
Theo

"I have a pretty decent Focal Utopia 3 Ways with Focal Crossblock No 7.

I understand car hifi will never be as good as home hifi but as I travel about 600 miles weekly I am willing to spend at about half the price of the cardas golden reference."

I get the fact that you want good sound in the car, but unless you set your car up with a complete system that will equal something you have in a home, money spent on an expensive cable will be wasted. I know that the acoustics in a car are not very good, but that's not even the real issue. Car audio components, even very good ones, won't sound good enough and have enough resolution, to hear any positive difference an expensive cable will make.

If you don't believe me, its easy enough to test. Go get some car stereo equipment that you can return from a place like Best Buy and a 12v battery charger and put it next to whatever you have in your house. After a few minutes, you'll see that its not worth getting involved with.

I have a pretty decent Focal Utopia 3 Ways with Focal Crossblock No 7.

I understand car hifi will never be as good as home hifi but as I travel about 600 miles weekly I am willing to spend at about half the price of the cardas golden reference.

Audiophile Nervosa anyone????

I have to agree. What kind of components would you have in your car that would warrant a cable purchase of even half or quarter the price of the GR?

I think considering the environment of a car moving down the road and producing road noise that expensive cables would never fully yield their potential. Just my opinion of course.
With that in mind I think buying a bulk cable from AudioQuest or similar would deliver a level of performance to the appreciable capability.