Poll of the Day > XM radio questions

(+) Yeah! (+)

From what I'm reading on the Internet you can't just get an integrated into the system XM radio on my Mazda3 if you don't get a luxury package and it comes with it to begin. It doesn't look like adding it is something dealerships do. Does anyone have experience with those plug and play radios with a second screen you can buy? Do they work okay?

Feel free to talk about how much you hate XM radio too if you want.

I have a plug-and-play Sirius/XM radio and it works great. The only drawback is that you have more wires and shit to deal with, but you can get a plug-and-play "installed" if you want to spend that money. Most car audio places will run the antenna up under your roof and hide it away, making it come down the windshield pillar, and run the power cord up behind the dash to come out the top of the dash. You can have it done so it docks in the windshield like normal, or they can actually put the dock in the dash somewhere. I've seen it done both ways and it looks a lot cleaner, but I haven't bothered to do it myself.
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Far-Queue posted...

I have a plug-and-play Sirius/XM radio and it works great. The only drawback is that you have more wires and shit to deal with, but you can get a plug-and-play "installed" if you want to spend that money. Most car audio places will run the antenna up under your roof and hide it away, making it come down the windshield pillar, and run the power cord up behind the dash to come out the top of the dash. You can have it done so it docks in the windshield like normal, or they can actually put the dock in the dash somewhere. I've seen it done both ways and it looks a lot cleaner, but I haven't bothered to do it myself.

Where did you put the antenna in your car?

I ran it up the pillar but just used tape instead of trying to install it, but I don't care what it looks like. So it's just taped along my pillar, then runs loose and it's tucked behind the "oh-shit' handles, out my rear door and sits on the roof.

I might get it professionally installed, though. This has never been a problem before as no one ever goes in my back seat, but now I have kids and they're constantly in and out of the back and the wire is sort of a nuisance.
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It's just the magnet antenna it comes with, nothing fancy. Sticks to the roof.
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How's the reception? Does it keep signal well?

Signal is awesome. You can drive 100s of miles with no interruption. Sometimes, when you pass under a bridge or there are a lot of tall buildings or trees around you can get some crummy reception, but in my experience this doesn't happen often. If you work in a city with a lot of tall buildings it might be an issue. Not sure. I do remember running into some bad signals in Manhattan, but I live near Boston and never had the issue there.
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Thanks. I bought one this morning and it looks like shit inside my car with the wires because I'm garbage at cable management but it works! I'm excited.

If you're going with Sirius you should be able to get 30 for 6 months every time it comes up but you have to call and renegotiate every time.
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DrPrimemaster posted...

If you're going with Sirius you should be able to get 30 for 6 months every time it comes up but you have to call and renegotiate every time.

Oops. I've already paid for a year.

SkynyrdRocker posted...

DrPrimemaster posted...

If you're going with Sirius you should be able to get 30 for 6 months every time it comes up but you have to call and renegotiate every time.

Oops. I've already paid for a year.

What did you pay?
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DrPrimemaster posted...

SkynyrdRocker posted...

DrPrimemaster posted...

If you're going with Sirius you should be able to get 30 for 6 months every time it comes up but you have to call and renegotiate every time.

Oops. I've already paid for a year.

What did you pay?

Much more than $60

my mitsubish gallant has sirius built in

we've never paid for it in any way, and we get service, so i'm thinking the person i bought the car off of just...doesn't know that they're still getting billed for it
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helIy posted...

my mitsubish gallant has sirius built in

we've never paid for it in any way, and we get service, so i'm thinking the person i bought the car off of just...doesn't know that they're still getting billed for it

lol

helIy posted...

my mitsubish gallant has sirius built in

we've never paid for it in any way, and we get service, so i'm thinking the person i bought the car off of just...doesn't know that they're still getting billed for it

I work for a used car dealership and this happens a LOT.
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SkynyrdRocker posted...

DrPrimemaster posted...

SkynyrdRocker posted...

DrPrimemaster posted...

If you're going with Sirius you should be able to get 30 for 6 months every time it comes up but you have to call and renegotiate every time.

Oops. I've already paid for a year.

What did you pay?

Much more than $60

Damn, theyre so slimy with that stuff. You should actually go find one of those new customer discount codes and complain that you got ripped off and want to cancel any renewals. You may not get money back but you can get your next sub really low.
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Definitely put the screen in a bad spot. Way too much sun glare on it.