Lenscap

I couldn't agree more. When I was at the Taste of Lexus event last fall I stayed and attended the media presentation given by a few Lexus folks from California. The tech guy was nice but the training guy giving the presentation was arrogant and cocky. Someone pointed out to him that a Civic at $20,000 has XM from the factory while the IS does not. His response to the guy was to go buy a Civic.

Ichigo

Holy crap thats a lot. Is that the Orange County special? Does that amount include your own satellite too?

Langdell

Thanks for that info., saske! The $500 does sound more reasonable than the $1155 quote. Did you notice any real improvement in sound quality? (And, if so, was your SkiFi the original SkiFi or the SkyFi2?)

I'm O.K with the look of the SkiFi2 because I keep everything but the antenna and its wire totally concealed in the center armrest console. Then the antenna wire runs under the front lip of the armrest lid, gets tucked under a floormat and up under and beside the rear passenger seat. What little of the antenna wire is not concealed blends in with my black interior, so it's pretty unnoticeable. (Integrated controls would be nice, but not essential to me as I usually just set-and-forget one station for most drives.) I will probably save my money unless I know the installed XM would sound significantly better.

tonyscv

Some other SoCal prices:

Lexus Santa Monica quoted $796 plus tax
Lexus of Valencia quoted $685 plus tax
Longo Lexus (El Monte) - Said they didn't have them out yet (lol)
Lexus of Woodland Hills - $569 plus tax

Kermee

iTrader: (1)

I'm keeping my SkyFi2 setup also. I have a ground-loop isolator and listen to XM 110/113 frequently and have a non-ML system. I doubt the sound-quality gain in going OEM with the tuner would be that much better. I use to have a Pioneer XM unit in my other vehicle which was fitted with Xtant amps, Diamond S600s'es all around and a 12" Rockford Fosgate sub and while XM sounds good, there are limits:

1. I highly doubt the sound-quality of XM would greatly increase going OEM from a properly installed SkyFi2 or any other decent external XM tuner with a ground-loop isolator.
2. Artist/Title limitation on the NAV screen that has been documented.
3. Unable to skip/RW/FF songs (which I don't blame any OEM tuner manufacturer because no one has made one capable for it yet) so I can't blame Lexus or the tuner OEM.

I'm not too picky about having my XM tuner look "aftermarket" but I tore apart my center-console and hid all the wires thanks to the instructions on the hardware NAV hack.



Cheers,
Kermee

Convinced

I will need to get Sirius installed. Once I get my car, I will laugh in the dealer's face if they try to charge more than 695. That's how much it is if you order it with the car, and it's currently dealer installed.

How much are they charging if you buy the parts in advance?

lexuslover

i got sirius on the GS when it was released. bought the parts directly from sewell lexus for about $300, and lexus carlsbad did mine for $180. so total cost < $480. (i called around also before buying from sewell and some were asking like $900-$1200.)

although after i saw the install i was thinking it would have not been that bad to do it on my own, even though i am not a big DIY'er. the tuner is strapped in below in a lower trunk compartment and then the wire was fed thru a small hole directly above and the antenna is placed on the rear shelf. anyway, you can decide if you are willing to do it yourself once you buy the parts from sewell and review the instructions. good luck!

Bichon

Is that the antenna on the right? I thought 'best practice' was to install the antenna as far to the left as possible, to minimize the effect of overhanging trees.

MR LEX

I too ordered the XM install kit from Sewell Lexus for $300. My dealer wanted $400 plus tax for the install, which took me about 90 minutes to complete. The hardest part was trying to decide on the antenna location. I finally decided to mount it inside on the rear shelf behind the brake light. I'll post some pictures of the install.

Lex

ecr527

Another thing everyone has to remember is that if you already have Skyfi, Roady, or whatever, you'll have to pay XM every month for an additional receiver. (another thing that has me thinking if I should actually buy the OEM receiver.

Foxberry

Not true. You can choose to have the two active receivers, but you don't HAVE to. You just call XM and transfer the radio ID on your account from the Skyfi or Roady to the OEM receiver (which is exactly what I did).

Langdell

Of course, you can always cancel the non-OEM receiver if you don't care about listening to XM outside the car. And for the extra $6.99/mo., you can have a total of 5 radios on your account. I first got a Roady2 and subscribed to XM just a few weeks ago--confession: it was a new toy to play with to tide me over while waiting for my IS350--and I'm already hooked on having a continuous stream of commercial-free music.

Now I have gone crazy filling up my account with receivers. I got the SkiFi2 as a sound upgrade for the car and upgraded my service to the family plan so I could use the Roady2 to listen to at home without the hassle of moving a receiver back and forth from the car. (I am really an analogue/vinyl diehard for serious music listening at home. If I could, I would listen to vinyl in the car. But I can live with digital XM when the music is just background for other activities at home and I love having it in the car so I can have my commercial-free tunes without the boredom of always listening to the same 6 CD's that will have semi-permanent residence in my changer.) Then I got my girlfriend a Roady XT for use in her car since the service for it would be free under my plan. And now a friend tells me he has an unused SkiFi that he is willing to give me. I'm still trying to figure out where to make use of it, but I will!