Hi All! I'm coming close to purchasing a Mini and the Sirius option is the last thing for me to decide on. I HAVE TO HAVE SIRIUS...PERIOD! But I have a hard time paying $500 for "Sirius" and paying $400 for installation. Doesn't seem worth $900 to me. SO, I know what I need to purchase, but I have these "INSTALLATION" questions that I need answered. I h ope you all can help me out:

Are any wires seen inside OR outside the the car?

How many wires are there? I am under the assumption that you have the receiver (in the boot) with one wire going into the headunit and one wire going into the antenna.

Where is the wiring routed?


Does the wire get stored up into the headliner?

Are any holes needed to be drilled through the roof into the antenna sitting on the roof? Or is there already a hole from the antenna already up there?

Are there major size differences between the OEM antenna and the Mini Sirius antenna?

Hope these aren't TOO stupid of questions. Hope you guys can help. THANKS

 

Firstly I think (I HOPE!) you've got the wrong prices for the OEM sirius. Total price for parts and installtion should be about $600.

Secondly you have to really think about your choice on the OEM unit. It does not have any of the advanced features of current aftermarket units that cost only $50. Its sound quality is much worse. It won't even remember its settings for artist info or scrolling. On the flip side, it is of course fully integrated with the stock system and the steering wheel controls, and it uses no new wires. Even though I own one, I do not think it is worth its price for most people. I was only willing to pay for it because I've had sirius for years and knew it was worth that much money to me, and I wanted to have a fully integrated stock system.

The better choice is to get the $40 AUX input from MINI (very easy to install yourself, or dealers charge I think another $60 to install it for you). That gives you a headphone jack where you can plug in an ipod or plug & play satellite radio. Add to that a nice unit like the Sirius Starmate and you will have a great system with tons of features and great sound. It is not hard at all to hide all the wires. The satellite antenna is much smaller than the OEM antenna and can be installed in a number of places, again with some simple wiring runs and you can keep everything hidden.
I have a page with a little more info on satellite installs: http://www.jwardell.com/info/satradio.html

It's a choice but not a hard one given the price differences.

 

Duck,

As long as you haven't purchased a convertible, the OEM install instruction look pretty straight forward. The OEM instructions can be found on MotoringFile. Here is the link. If you "must have" Sirius than that is the way to go. If it's only satellite radio you need, then an XM Direct with a Blitzsafe adapter is a more economical (~$150-170) choice and you will still have control form the head unit and MFSW.

Jwardell's advice above is probably the least expensive option although, as he points out, you will loose the integration features and will have wires showing.

Motor On,

Phil

 

Seeing wires is NOT an option. And I do not want to clutter up the cockpit with more gadgets. I currently have a Pontiac Grand Prix and an S50. Even though the S50 setup is placed on my AC vents, wires are all over the place. It looks ridiculous. The only thing that I would miss by using my S50 is that I can record at anytime. So if I have the Sirius hardwired into the headunit and what not, the artist, song, and station still scrolls through the ltitle screen, right?

Here are the components that I was going to purchase and was under the impression that this was all I Needed:

1) the Sirius Satellite Receiver (found for $220),
2) Sirius Satellite Radio Install Kit (found for $35),
3) the Sirius Satellite Radio Antenna (found for $70).

As far as I know this is it. Is that correct? But then you mention the Blitz thingy...what does that do and is it necessary if I purchased all of the above?

Thanks guys!

 

The OEM install guide list these parts:


The blitzsafe adapter is only needed to install XM Direct. Not required if you go with the OEM Sirius solution.

edit - Fixed typos in red

 

You can easily add an aftermarket receiver without any showing wires. Everything can be hidden inside the dash.

 

Those part numbers help a lot. Thanks.

Though I'm wondering...what's this:

Sirius Radio 84 11 150 535...hmmmm

 

84 11 0 150 535 (left out a 0 by mistake) is the Mini part number for the Sirius Tuner. It lists for $233.75 at Morristown Mini. The installation kit is $38.25 and the Antenna for $76.50 (05-06 model year). Please note that the part number I quoted above is for the 04 and earlier model years. The part number for the antenna for 05-06 model years is 84 11 0 393 780.

Morristown doesn't list the H/K extension cable on their website, but I'm sure they could get it for you.

So total, your parts should run about $350 + the cost of the extension cable.

 

And Mini wants to charge $500 for parts + $400 for install? Hmmm

 

I dont mean to slam your thread, but I just ordered the Sirius set-up from Classic MINI. I have used 4 different transportable units in the past couple of years, and I'm getting tired of all them. I have hidden all of the wires through the car, by using creative measures. The AUX input doesn't work anymore with the one I am using now. My options were to buy a new receiver, use a ground loop (no guarantees it would fix my issue and would use more wires) or buy OEM. Looking forward to installing the real MINI unit without having to trace wire connections while going down the road.

 

Good choice - mine works great... not as fancy as more modern aftermarket solutions, but hey it's a RADIO how fancy does it need to be? The only truly annoying factor is that it does not remember to leave scroll mode on, so each time you start the car, you have to hold down the INF button for 3 seconds to enable scroll mode.

Of course, if you don't care about seeing the full name of the artist and song that's playing, then you own't care about scroll mode.

 

Installed my own factory Sirius just after getting my '05 MCS. Installation was pretty easy; I like the lack of clutter and the sound quality on the H/K.

Although you can get the headunit to display artist and song titles by repeatedly pressing the info button I"ve never been happy that it won't scroll through (all) that info like the RDS on FM stations.

 

I installed the OEM kit on my 04 Cooper. Relatively easy, took about 45 minutes to install, all parts i think were around $400.

 

What do you mean, Fuego? If you hold down the INF button for 3 seconds to turn on scroll mode, it scrolls through "all" the info for the artist name and track title, after you hit INF again for each.

Or were you trying to say that you don't like the fact it doesn't do that automatically?

 

The above is true, and I do like being able to look up artist and title when I hear something new that I like. I just wish it would "automatically" cycle through the information the same way the h/u does when an FM station broadcasts the RDS feed.

Its not that big of a deal, but would be a nice to have - kinda like ID3 tags on the OEM iPod adapter.

 

Wow I feel like a rich guy with an integrated Sirius Satelite Radio as well as listening to it through H/K. I'm glad I sprang for it.

Installation wasn't too bad. The ant. took the longest amount of time, as half the interior needed to be R&R.

Thanks for the help folks.

 

I'm new to the Mini world (Cooper S convertible) and was pretty disappointed to find out I couldn't do a factory Sirius install.

Is this mostly due to the antenna, or is there another reason it can't be done? As far as I know, the CD changer port is there, I don't know about mounting points etc.

If that's not possible, is there a better answer than a plug and play?

 

I believe that the only reason the dealer won't do it is the antenna issue. MINI does not sell an antenna for the convertible with a Sirius antenna.

It may be possible to get all the MINI factory parts for the Sirius install and an aftermarket antenna. If you don't have NAV, you should be able to mount the aftermarket Sirius antenna under the FM antenna base as I have done with an XM antenna.

Unless you're set on Sirius, XM seems to be a more cost effective form of XM of satellite radio. Here is a link to install instructions for an XM radio. If you do go the Sirius route, you should be able to use the Antenna install part of the instructions.

Phil

 

Yes, it's mostly about the antenna, although I believe there is also less space in the boot of a convertible to install the receiver in the side pockets too. I am not completely sure since i have a hardtop.That's what I have done. I have the OEM SIRIUS receiver with an aftermarket (Terk) SIRIUS antanna. Even if you do have Nav (as I do), you can still use the OEM SIRIUS reciever... it all comes back to where to put the antenna (and which antenna to use!).

 

So in theory I could install the OEM Sirius and that receiver has a standard Sirius antenna jack I can go aftermarket with?

Interesting.

I am pretty much locked on Sirius, as I have 3 receivers already, I'd use the plug and play one, but it sure would be nice to have control through the head unit instead.

 

The OEM SIRIUS receiver has an older "dual input" antenna design... but a good antenna company (like Terk) will offer an adapter to go from dual input to single input. Look at the following most I made late last year for the part numbers & prices of what I bought:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...45&postcount=6

 

I talked to the service guy at my dealer today and he indicated that very soon there will be a factory Sirius antenna for Convertibles. It was supposed to be q1 but didn't make it yet.

Anybody confirm that before I go the Terk route? Thanks for the posts on that by the way!

 

You're absolutely right. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't have Sirius with NAV. I only meant that there is probably not room to hide the Sirius antenna inside the base of the FM antenna since the NAV antenna would be there.

Also, someone please correct me if am wrong, since Mini doesn't sell an antenna with both NAV and Sirius for the hard top, they probably won't sell one for the convertible. Therefore, if you have NAV, you will need to go with an aftermarket antenna.

Phil

 

We were told $800 for the Sirius radio option.

It looks like I have my first project. Keeping it clean and OEM is high on my list.

This is my first European car I spent my time playing with F250s and a 2500HD. They are straight foward with the metric nuts and bolts. Are there special tools that I would need to this job.

I am going to keep reading on.

Rick

 

Get yourself a set of torx drivers. Most of the screws in the MINI have torx heads.