$430 to add Sirius????- Satellite radio question for new veh purchase

[4dollargas]

Quick question... I'm almost certain I will be buying an M3 around Labor Day, and almost chocked when I saw MSRP of Sirius add on listed @ $430 ( US ). Besides warranty reasons are their any good reasons to pay that much when you can get a top of the line reciever for less than half of that? Also, if one was going non dealer for the sat radio... is it an issue to go with XM instead of Sirius or is the factory stock radio incompatible with XM?

Thanks

 

[Galvatron]

You can find it online for around $250. I'm installing mine tomorrow. I'd much prefer to have it integrated with the stereo and be able to use steering wheel controls than have an extra unit hanging off, especially if you'd use FM modulation which sounds like ass. If you do go with the non OEM unit, at least hardwire it.

Edit: here's where I ordered mine.

 

[_jp]

factory radio is sirrus only, thru the dealer charging 400ish for a sat module. and in about six mos i wont matter since they are merging. fcc and the fed govt are in the final approval stages now. you can add the fm modulated xm aftermarket to any radio.

ive cleanly installed lots of aftermarket sat units in ever car ive owned. the great thing is ive got one face plate and two docs.

i bought a dock kit off amazon and one face plate with dock kit. that way when i drive the mazda 3i during the week for mpg i can have sat. on the weekend when i drive the ms3 i can just transfer the face to the dock and be done. when my xm in the jeep expires im putting a dock in there too. one subscription and each ride has the same sat.

129 or less for the sport5 and its got a real nice backlit screen, can dim it at nite, pause, rewind, store and recall. yeah you can use the steering wheel but its a self install item and a few hundred less which translates into a bunch of cash.

 

[4dollargas]

Thanks for the info on finding the reciever non dealer...though they are out of stock... Also, glad to hear about the merger as I was leaning to going non stock XM strictly for the MLB broadcasts though I did like Sirius's core content more--esp Howard. Looks like if the website is still on backorder, I'll just go with dealer install and let it be under factory waranty and in theory have MLB for the 2009 season with the same reciever. I have also decided to postpone purchasing until after the State Fair comes here to Dallas ( late Sept ) and actually have a chance to physically see the 2009 and climb in and out of it to see if I want to go with an '09 or grab a remaining '08.5...Plus it will give me an opportunity too see all the other cars for 2009 in the same price range under one roof.

http://www.bigtex.com/autoshow/aboutshow/demographics/

 

[redspeed3tk]

i did the math by the payments and the couple dollars a month wasn't worth having something stuck on my windshield of a brand new car ha...and i like how clean and integrated it is...yes price sucks but hackin wires on a new car isnt my thing

 

[jred321]

my install. very simple. using FM modulation still but could easily run a wire back to the aux in. also didn't bother to hardwire the power because it is a new car and it's easy to run the wire right up to that power source above the ash tray (though again could easily run back to the glove box). the whole center of the 3 just pops out making any install like this super easy to do and to hide wires. they don't make the unit any more as i've had it for a few years but i'm sure you could find it on ebay for cheap (it was cheap to begin with). it's the only one i've seen that would at first glance fit right in the ash tray, there are others that might be close. just giving ideas for options other than sticking a big ugly thing to the windshield

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=128337

 

[ehidle]

I would recommend against adding Sirius. Post-merger, Sirius is eventually going to be shut down. The two hardware platforms are completely incompatible, and because so many industries depend on XM's satellite data services, it's pretty obvious which one will stick around.

 

[jred321]

a few points. 1 is i believe officially sirius bought xm. 2 is sirius' CEO is going to be the head of the combined company. my company went through a merger a few years ago. the smaller company officially bought the larger company. the company is officially headquartered at the smaller's old headquarters. we did keep their CEO but he actually came from our company before going there. guess whose name and products are no longer around? it's not the smaller company. 3 is that, in order for the merger to be approved, they had to agree that they would allow content from one provider on the other's hardware (i think it starts at $5/month extra for the additional content), and all hardware is capable of doing that. maybe they'll phase out one hardware type but for a pretty long amount of time they'll have to have both hardware systems running, both because of the number of subscribers already on both service (can't just say to millions of people sorry see ya later as a new company), what they had to agree to for the merger, as well as things like sirius' lifetime subscriptions that they sold.

what i'd do is wait a little bit for any new hardware to see if manufacturers come out with units that receive both formats natively. hardware development for both has been relatively stagnant while the merger was in flux so i'd say hang on a little longer to see what happens now

 

[bnoon]

My dealer has the cheapest price I've seen (one place matched it on the internet) on the main unit. For Part number 0000-81-z25 (Jan 1 2008 or newer prod date) it's $230, dealer is ramsey mazda in Urbandale, Iowa (it's where I bought my MS3). Install kit 0000-81-L05 is cheaper online by 20 bux at mazdagear dot com though = $70.20, so depending on shipping I may order the install kit online. I'm going to order both right now.

 

[ghettoracingkid]

I would recommend against adding Sirius. Post-merger, Sirius is eventually going to be shut down. The two hardware platforms are completely incompatible, and because so many industries depend on XM's satellite data services, it's pretty obvious which one will stick around.

I agree and what not.

I wanted to add sat radio to the 6 the wife and I have but the radio compatiablity in the near future is shaky. while youll still get tunes it might be limited.

 

[Galvatron]

Thats just silly. Read about the merge. Part of the terms were that both services will stay operational.

 

[ghettoracingkid]

I have read the terms;

the radios will still work but over the next few months with the merger there are goign to be ala carte programs and other options that mightn ot be avalaiable on older radios.



Im waiting to see how it all works out becuase im a O&A fan and I want to see if the old siruis radio in the car will get the channels on the "new" service

 

[ehidle]

Thats just silly. Read about the merge. Part of the terms were that both services will stay operational.

That's certainly news to me. The original M&A documents I read had a 12-month expiration date for the Sirius hardware, at which point the system would be transitioned to third-party carriers.

They are very careful with their words. "We guarantee that no SIRIUS radio will become obsolete as a result of the merger" does not mean that the new company will continue to offer programming on them indefinitely. There are many things that could happen to "change customer experience" with SIRIUS, such as selling the SIRIUS network to a third party, reducing the programming available on SIRIUS to encourage users to switch hardware, or issuing a statement to the effect of "due to current market conditions, consumer feedback and requests, and responsibility to our shareholders and the environment, the SIRIUS network will be phased out over the next 12 months. Current users of SIRIUS will be given a promotional coupon to use toward XM service..." and so on...

From a business and technological standpoint, it would be absolutely insane to keep both networks running for one second longer than they absolutely had to. Therefore, they will not.

 

[jred321]

i agree that running two of essentially the same networks won't happen, but i view it as being more like the sprint/nextel merger which, i believe, still has both networks running for the most part years later. i don't think it will be like HD DVD where over the course of a few months it totally went away. neither company can afford to piss off their customers that badly and risk turning that many people off to the service

 

[52wingman]

my understanding of it is, neither company could obtain enough subscribers to survive on their own. they merged to consolodate costs, and redundent stations will go away

I'm sure it will be based on a profitability standpoint which stations go and which ones stay.