Ok, consider me technologically challenged! With that said, the dealer I bought my M3 from mentioned the Sirius hookup to the stock system. He says there is a wire you plug into to use the sat radio.

I understand the satallite button on the dash to change to Sirus. But, that is all I understand. Do you purchase a Sirius radio from any store, and purchase a simple basic car kit that plugs the radio into the wire supplied in the back of the car stereo? Then hit the Sat button on your dash, and control your sat radio through the Sirius radio you purchased? The car stereo controls do not control stations does it? Other than volume I'm assuming.

I contacted Crutchfield and they had no current info on the '06 M3's and stated I either need this setup, or if the car stereo controls the sat service, then I need to go to Mazda directly for the Siruis tuner which is nothing more than a near $400 black box!

So which is it???

 

There is a integrated Sirius that Mazda sells. Now bear in mind it runs $305. Many people who've wanted sirius kinda want to use it outside their car, so they purchase a separate sirius tuner and run it in via one of the many aux input methods. That way they can take it inside and plug it up to the stereo at home too.

If you get the integrated mazda sirius, then it plugs into the empty plug on the back of the HU. You control all of the stations from the HU controls, and you get text display of the stations on the LCD (you have to manually scroll through them though).

Check this website and scroll down to item 000081K02A/G01A. If you only plan on using it in the car then the OEM's probably fine for you.

 

Thanks, this clears things up for me then. The Crutchfield rep seemed to lean towards that idea that I needed to go to Mazda to get the Sirius unit for the car. As of yet they said they do not sell an integrated unit for my car. It would certainly be cheaper than the dealership if they did sell one I would assume. I rarely listen to radio outside the car anyways and think I'd rather have a permanent unit installed in the car.

 

Yeah, I don't know that cruthfield (or any non-mazda place) would be selling the sirius kit for a specific car. Install shouldn't be too hard for you if you don't mind pulling off some panels and running wires. It should get all the power simply from plugging into the HU. The OEM wiring method has the antenna sitting on the left side of the trunk (for 4-doors) and I'm not sure where for 5 doors.

some of the people at the mazda3forums have added it, and then purchased a functional sharkfin antenna from here. what they did then was cut a small hole in the roof by the base of the antenna mount to run the sirius cable up, and then stuck the sirius antenna to the roof. The sharkfin has an antenna built into the underside, and it screws into the OEM mount. Then they just stuck in on the roof over the OEM mount, and the sirius. Viola! sirius with no visible antenna.

Personally I only like the sharkfins on the sedans, but to each their own. here's a pic of the sharkfin (with sirius antenna) on a hatch.



And here's a fin on the sedan

 

those sharkfin antennas are sick as hell looking... i've come across them before but have yet to purchase one.

 

Well I started to order the sirius sat. unit from Wayne Mazda but I wanted to have the I pod availible.Guess what theres a I pod intergration unit avilible for $116.00 and a switch box unit for $108.
some dealers say its one or the other..Wayne mazda says you need both, Although its not on his website!
they alsostate the installition kit for the sirius is included with the factoy unit when I spoke to him on the phone he says its extra!I called Mazda Motors of America in Irvine Ca.I talked to one of there reps on the phone.First they said you cant have both and then they said you need both! Mazda doesnt even know what you need!Im totally frustrated with Mazda.I also have two problems with the car in only 2,000 miles.I wondered if I should have bought another Honda?Certainly you can have sirius and a Ipod with them..Funny if I had bought the sat. radio with the car I wonder if the salesman would have told me that you cant have both? and you need a extra adapter? Ha IDONT THINK SO!I AM REALLY NOT HAPPY WITH MAZDA RIGHT NOW! I will probably sell this in a year.Owning a new car sucks

 

Ronnie, just so you know pretty much no dealerships have any idea what they´re talking about. Lucky for you I´m somewhat obsessed on this topic so I can help you out.

First to clarify the different parts for you there are:

-OEM ipod adapter
-OEM sirius
-switchbox (more on that later)
-ACI (Auxiliary Console Input a.k.a. the input in the armrest of the ´07 model)

Now to clarify what you need, and what is and is not compatible.

The OEM sirius and OEM ipod adapter use the same plug on the back of the HU and ARE NOT compatible with each other. The switchbox plugs into the same port used by the sirius/ipod adapter and provides two inputs for devices. One input works only with the ACI, and the other will work for anything else that uses that plug (ipod adapter, sirius, phatbox, etc.) So in your situation you could have: ACI/ipod adapter, or ACI/sirius. both obviously require you to get the switchbox for about $113.

There is another method available (we´ll just call it the AXXESS module) which connects to the HU using the TAPE/MD slot on the bottom of the stereo instead of the port on the back of the stereo used by the OEM sirius/ipod. This method also displays info on the LCD (which the OEM doesn´t) and comes in multiple different versions with either a 3.5mm input, or XM radio (which also displays on the HU). So using this method you could buy the OEM sirius and then use the AXXESS for ipod. Infact you´re getting more out of since you have the potential to have sat radio, ipod integration, and a 3.5mm input. For more details on the AXXESS module check out the link in the Audio input thread at the top of the forum.

On the other hand if you have a ´07 and you´re happy with just plugging your ipod in through the headphone jack and using the ipod to control everything then you can just get the sirius and the adapter box. It just depends on what you want.

Hope that helps.

 

Ronnie, didn't I tell ya' icspots was the man to ask this question to?