[SDGuy]

I installed the Sirius kit today in my FX. Took 4 hours taking my time. Works fine. I have a few operating questions/ comments and will post in another thread.

Permission to gripe please....
<gripe>
Engineering wise, the satellite prewire had to be a very distant afterthought. If Nissan contracted with Clarion, they must have asked for the most convoluted design possible. There should have been a slide in, docking arrangement for the tuner unit in the cargo area. Plug and play. Same for an antenna module.

Instead, they make you tear apart the entire cargo area in order to plug in the tuner box. Although there is a prewired harness, the cable is too short and the plug is different than the tuner's receptacle - so you have to use a special jumper cable. The tuner has no mounting points so they have you make a 3 layer sandwich of velcro strips to mount it behind the center arm rest of the rear seat. Totally shabby. The antenna is supposed to be mounted into one of the roof rails which would make it asymmetric and it would look awful. I decided to mount the antenna midline at the rear, but it is a very tight fit because the cargo door articulates within a couple of millimeters or the rear roofline at the center point. This makes installing the tail/coax leads of the antenna very difficult and subject to rubbing. So I guess that is why they came up with the absurd roof rail scheme.

All in all - not a triumph for Nissan. I pity the folks at the port of entry who have to do these installs for "factory" satellite.

For those contemplating installing the satellite kit, be sure to familiarize yourself with the instructions first - see http://secure.grubbs.com/satfxinstall.pdf
</gripe>

 

[bradical]

he he... i just did this install and i know what you mean. then i realized that its a great way for the dealer to SCAM you out of 400 extra bucks or so

when i asked my dealer about the install, they told me that its very complicated and blah blah blah... and that it costs 400 bucks to install becuase of all of the work they need to do.

in reality, they can probably do these installs in about 45 minutes tops and then bill you for 4 to 5 hours time.

 

[SDGuy]

I'm enjoying the Sirius very much. I guess my point was not that it was so hard - just that it was stupidly engineered. I hope Nissan switches to the newer multi-vendor Sirius tuner just announced. This will be a two part docking affair with the tuner separate from the cable connector/translator (bus compatibility) unit. Nissan should also find a factory-sanctioned stealth antenna location that doesn't require disassembling the roof rack. The rear spoiler/cargo lid would be a great plug-in antenna location.

 

[bradical]

yeah...i thought the install was kind of fun since you got to check out all of the internal goodies in the back of the car. it is more work than it needs to be though.

 

[OIIIIIIO]

I was thinking about it, although, I would prolly use it more in my Jeep while offroading in the mountians (where I cant pick up a radio station). This thread made me think I'd rather have a portable unit that will allow more tunes.

http://www.infinitifx.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1535