Sirius XM Radios Q1 2009

I’ve installed several factory receivers in “Sirius-ready” vehicles – BMW, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. Truly, the most difficult part of the task is getting to the wiring harness. On many vehicles, especially SUV’s, the receiver tends to be mounted in the trunk behind an easily-removable panel. Lexus (and I’d assume Toyota, too) tend to be the worst as it goes in the center console behind the radio. Before you write-off the job as being too difficult, research on the Internet to see what advice those familiar with your car can give.

Even if you do have to pull trim off the center console and remove the factory radio, you don’t have to do any “wiring”. Once you gain access to the install location, the rest is usually very easy - one or two plug-in connections on the wiring harness plus the antenna and you’re ready to go. Note that some vehicles (often Mercedes) must have the computer system “coded” to recognize the new device and that requires a dealer visit (or someone with the very expensive tools to do it).

There are some aftermarket Sirius and XM receivers for popular makes and models, but often, you can find the OEM factory unit on places like eBay for a reasonable price. I bought a Sirius unit on eBay for about $90 to replace the XM receiver that cam in my wife’s new Murano. Although Nissan now sells XM, they used to offer Sirius and on most cars, the connection is identical. It will save me money in the long run since I can “stack” the Sirius unit on my existing account for $7/mo instead of getting a new $13/mo XM account. Also, she didn’t like XM as much as Sirius (probably just a matter of familiarity with the channels and DJ’s).

Paying for installs is a complete rip off. With a little patience and the right wrench you can do anything. It took me about 2 hours to fully install both XM and Sirius plug and play receivers in my Mountaineer, installing the dual Aux In adaptor (FM modulation sucks) , and making it look as clean as possible. I can't imagine what the jamokes at Best Buy would have charged and what it would have looked like. I know the goofballs at Circuit City wanted $20 to install my radar detector two years ago. Suction the damn thing to the windshield and plug it in, my jaw about hit the floor when they guy tried to push the installation on me.

Now I am in a unique situation, the headunit in my Aviator is satellite ready, I want to keep both XM and Sirius in my truck, I could careless about dual receivers, I've been using two receivers for XM and Sirius for years, I can live with it, but instead of going plug and play on both, I want XM integrated into the headunit and use my Sirius Starmate 4 connected via aux in. There's a very reputable local car audio shop around here and they only charge $10 for installation, that's on anything, car audio, car video, anti theft and so on. I could have had Sirius installed already, but I don't want Sirius integrated in, the shop can't find the Terk Ford XM adaptor locally, and I never got around to order it online yet, but if I order in, they will install it, for $10. It will be just like if it rolled off the assembly with XM built in. For $10 I'll pay for the installation but Sirius, I'm doing myself.