I just recently called my local Lexus dealer, and was quoted 700 dollars to install satellite radio in my GS430. I was advised that the GS line was factory ready for satellite for both Sirius, and XM.

I had 2 questions about satellite:

Is that 700 dollar quote fair/worth it ?

Which service would you pick, and why ?

Anything other pieces of information would work also.

Thanks

 

I prefer XM.

I have XM in my GS300 and Sirius in My RRS. The pricing and quality are similar, so you need to base your decision of programming content. Which programming is preferable depends on your taste, so go to the websites and sample the various channels each has availalbe.

Cost is not the same at all dealerships, so call around and check. I remember paying about $550.

 

You can find installers who will do it for less but, in my experience, the Lexus dealers tend to do a good job and it is probably worth it for the convenience of having it done at the dealer.

There seems to be about an equal number of people who like one service over the other. You can do an internet search of XM vs Sirius and find some comparisons between the two. They seem to be fairly similar overall. The major sports associations can only be found on one or the other, though, so if you have a favorite sport you may choose your provider on this basis. One of Sirius' big claim to fame is Howard Stern so you may want Sirius if you are a Stern fan. I'm choosing Sirius because they have more National Public Radio stations and I like to listen to the news while I drive.

Good luck with your decision.

 

They are both pretty much the same... and both sound horrible on the ML sound system. I have XM and find myself just listening to CD's or DVD-A's because XM just sounds so bad.

 

My XM actually sounds as good or better than FM. Whatever you decide on, make sure you have them install the antenna on or under the package tray.

 

I installed theLexus LX Sirius radio kit on my 06 GX recently and I think the sound is at CD quality. I happen to like the programming on Sirius better. As for Howard Stern on Sirius, I could care less if he went back to am radio, or better yet, off the air permanently.

 

As others have said, take a look at the content of both and make a decision based on your programming interests. I have XM and I like it very much, and it sounds very good to excellent on my standard GS audio system.

My only disappointment with XM is they lost the NASCAR channel to Sirius beginning in 2007.

For the money, I think it's an excellent value. Once you have satellite radio, I doubt you'll ever go back to broadcast radio.

 

I have had XM for nearly 4 years now, love it and the Sound quality is great.

 

What do you mean antenna? Do they stick a huge antenna on the car like in the 80s and 90s??? Plese tell me this is not the case? Im considering Sirius but if theres an antenna that will need to be placed on the vehicle, then I will not do it..someone please advise...thx

 

They can mount the antenna under the rear shelf so you won't see it at all.

 

I'm an XM fan. It's largely a matter of taste. It should be mentioned that XM has professional baseball and Sirius has professional football. Both have some college conferences.

Sirius has Howard Stern and XM has a bunch of smaller names. There's plenty to listen to on either one, and both are vastly superior to commercial AM/FM. I'm not a mainstream listener and listen to old-time radio and the folk music channel a lot.

 

I had XM in my Acura TL, and I thought the sound quality sucked. It just sounded muffled, not very crisp or clean sounding. I think that is because the compress the "digital" signal so much, they lose quality. They need to cut out about half of those token shi*t channels and free up some bandwidth to make the good channels sound better.

This time around I am trying Sirius....because of Howard Stern. I am a fan of the show.

 

The sound quality for music is just so-so. I do like the ability to listen to CNBC, Bloomberg market news and CNN. If you are a Howard Stern fan, you gotta go with Sirius. Also, Sirius has the NFL games, XM has MLB.

I find the delay when you change XM channels to be very annoying and uncharacteristic of Lexus attention to detail. Also the song title display only shows 9 characters...another instance of lame attention to detail. I am very disappointed in the audio system. I was warned about the factory satellite radio quirks in a thread here in 3rd gen GS forum.... but went ahead and had an XM receiver installed. Also, look around and ask about the placement of the antenna. Lexus chose not to provide factory installed wiring or antenna.....pretty lame considering you can get it with a Nissan Maxima.

I have the standard audio system, but I can't imagine the satellite receiver being any better with the ML system.

 

The XM Satellite Radio in my 2005 TL w/ Navigation sounds just fine. I really think Lexus should offer XM as a factory-installed option.

 

$700 + monthly fees for radio? Er, no thanks. Especially sound music quality that is definitely worse than CDs.

Just curious, do you guys have satelite radio more for news/sports/talk or more for music?