Best add-on satellite and navigation (rental, vehicle, GPS, windshield)

[djw]

My little red ZOOM ZOOM is almost mine. Three more payments and my 2003 Mazda 6 is all mine.
It's in great mechanical condition, has new tires and breaks and gets great gas mileage so I don't really need to put any money in it. There's a few dings I want to get taken care of, but mostly I'd like to "upgrade" the accessories. It has factory installed AM/FM CD player right now.

I'd like to get Satellite radio, a navigation system, and something that allows me to use my cell phone through the car's audio system.

I don't even know where to begin looking for those things and whether they can be "installed" or if they would just be suction-cupped to the windshield and plugged into the ciggy lighter. I'd prefer "installed".

Any thoughts?
TIA!

[Bummer]

Interesting question, djw.

It sure sounds like you are planning to hang on to your vehicle for many years so I would suggest a permanent installation of the best system you can afford. Both of my vehicles have SIRIUS Satellite systems built in (mainly for convenience and security reasons) . . . definitely, a great investment.

Good Luck

[M3 Mitch]

I'm pretty old school about all this - and have multiple cars, so would prefer a GPS that I can put on the windshield like a radar detector, so I can take it from car to car, and easily replace it if it fails or goes obsolete. This also puts it more in your line of sight, so you are not looking down at the middle of the dash when looking at it's map. Even if you have only one car, you may use rental cars from time to time, no?

On the satellite radio, given that Sirius and XM are merging, I wonder how long one of them will be around. And I don't know which one is getting the boot. I'm pretty sure that decision has not been made yet.

That said, the guys at Crutchfield are uber-knowledgable (they knew what speakers would drop right in the doors of my 1982 Scirocco, and I called them last year on that - and the speakers they sent did indeed go in in 5 minutes with just the Phillips screwdriver on my Swiss Army knife - just as they said - sweet!)

Give them a call, I would suggest getting a unit that will plug in without any wiring modifications, or at most by using an adapter cable that they will sell you for cheap or throw in for free - if the factory radio still works suggest keeping it.

That way if you are going to sell the car some day to an A-R old git like me, who would prefer the 100% factory look to the dash, you can restore the original radio to it's original place, keeping your upgrade setup yourself or selling it separately. Likewise if the car is ever totaled in a wreck, you can probably abscond with the high-zoot radio/XM/Sirius/GPS unit.

[Bummer]

Good points, M3 Mitch . . . especially the "keep the factory radio" portion.

As for SIRIUS vs XM . . . you're right, no one seems to know now.

[studedude]

Mitch is right about Crutchfield. They have supplied radios for three of my vehicles and have been right on with equipment and instruction.

[djw]

Thanks both!
Hadn't thought of the Sat radio thing - figured they'd just offer more cross-channel options.

And yes, Bummer, I do plan to keep the car for as long as it's not costing me money! I'm about to encounter a signifcant career and locale change (hence the Nav system) and just wanted to spruce up the car so I'd feel like it was new.

Any info/thoughts on the cell phone thru the radio speakers?

[studedude]

Ask crutchfield

[djw]

I'm liking the Crutchfield! Thanks for pointing the way.

In case anyone is interested - I opted to wait for the satellite since the combined Sirius XM receiver doesn't exist yet.

And I found the "no longer produced" yet still supported Garmin Nuvi 660 for less than $300 that will broadcast turns and blue tooth enabled phone calls through the FM radio without any hard-wiring. I'll take my chances on the map updates, for that price it's worth the gamble!

Cheers!