New CM to be deliver as soon as next week and does not include Satellite which has been replaced by Bluetooth as a standard feature. Satellite radio is now a $250.00 option or included with the technology package which I do not have. My dealer wants to charge me $375.00 to install this when the car arrives. Does anyone know if this is something simple to install or if I will need the dealer to do this?
Thank you for your help.

- Chris

 

I don't know if this is something simple or not, but you can get satellite radio for much cheaper as a kit from Walmart or best buy. They may already have in your vehicle and tell you that they installed it when it arrived, just to charge you that much more.

 

I think the dealer thought it was included until I pointed out that it was not on the cars build sheet. If the aftermarket unit would plug into the Mini setup and work like factory I would go that way. I will research and see what I can come up with. Thank you for the suggestion.
If anyone else has any experience with doing this add on please let me know.

Thanks

 

I hope you find exactly that. I know you won't want any wires running through your new MINI. Good luck.

 

There's a guy advertising here that will do a satellite package for $29.95. I had no idea there were so many country stations in the USSR.

 

Love the sat. radio but... almost wish it did not come with car, after having in mini wanted to get for house and found out that you have to pay for separate subscription per head unit. Almost $300 a year for radio in car and house is a bit much, if you just buy the portable unit you can take anywhere and only pay one fee. Myself it would be a bummer to have a portable unit since we have gotten used to using the steering wheel controls to operate xm, might seem stupid but try to imagine paying for a different cable/internet subscription for every TV or computer in your house.

 

my 2012 cms all4 came with the sirius satellite radio as stock, including a free 1 year subscription

the sound quality sucks, it is very compressed, it is about like listening to AM radio, i will not be renewing the subscription after the free year

i have heard that the xm satellite receivers have better sound quality, but i do not know that from personal experience

and before you all jump on me, i know that sirius and xm are the same company, but they still use different satellites as before they merged

as the satellites are replaced the 2 services will merge and a whole lot of receivers will become obsolete

i listen to HD FM or play cds

scott

 

I waited an extra few weeks for a 2013 in part because satellite radio is a dinosaur. Unless you're looking for someone specific like Howard Stern or Opie & Anthony, I feel like I can get a better mix of programming off my iPhone through the Tunein app and a few well-curated Pandora channels.

 

Scott is right. The sound is terrible. I own an XM receiver and he quality is by far and away superior to the in dash receiver. The crazy part is the XM receiver I have is 7 YEARS OLD!!!. You would think the advancements in technology would have allowed for them to make my XM receiver obsolete.

I am going to do the same thing after the year free subscription is up. I'll just let it expire and re-activate my XM receiver. There is always a chance SiriusXM may stop servicing these older models (or XM only models) but that is a few years off. Sirius and XM must still operate as separate companies for another few years by law.

 

Got the XM/Sirius unit that came with my 2011 CM along with the HK sound system and it sounds/perfroms flawlessly! Will be getting the same set-up in the Paceman when I order it....

 

I have had Sirius in an Audi and another that I have moved from car to car for many years. The sound quality on both has been excellent. It sounds like that may not be the case with the Countryman unit but I will look to add it anyway and decide for myself.

The original question was regarding adding the factory module myself since my incoming Mini CM did not include it. That question still stands but if one of you that doesn't like their's wants to remove it and sell it to me along with being able to tell me how to install it that would be great.
Thanks

 

My 2012 Countryman and my 2010 Jeep both came with a year of Sirius. Jeep has expired and we don't miss it. Especially since we get mail about twice a month *begging* us to come back.

When the current year is up I won't be renewing. I find much better programming through Pandora, Wunder, and Rdio. I even find the football games I want to hear without all those annoying Sirius commercials.

Good luck on getting Sirius installed, and I hope you don't have to pay a lot. I mean that sincerely. Sirius can be cool, and I have enjoyed it in the past. It just doesn't hold the same value that it once did--before I could find similar programming on my phone.

The HK stereo is awesome, and it makes anything sound good.

 

Chili, when you mentioned football games, did you mean nfl? If yes, where were you able to get those? Thanks!

 

a couple hours ago, i was reading a post in this thread when a friend stopped by ... asked what i was reading

i told him about sirius vs xm

he told me he has a portable xm receiver

we just got in from doing A-B testing of HD-FM vs CD vs Sirius vs XM (plugged in to my aux port)

the XM audio is far superior to the Sirius audio, it is on par with the HD-FM and CD ... we did not listen to any "talk channels" only music

the Sirius is on par with the AM radio, maybe a little better than the AM music, but not much

before i renew Sirius, i would buy an XM receiver for the Aux port

scott

 

I use TuneIn and Wunder Radio apps on my phone. Listened to the Seahawks here in DC. Listened to the 49ers last night in bed. Clear and uninterrupted. So cool sometimes to just lay in the dark and listen to games.

I just enter the search parameters in the "radio" apps and it comes up with stations.

 

I've had XM and SiriusXM receivers and they both had a compressed, tin can sound quality. I think I'd rather listen to static. Not impressed.

 

To answer the guys original question, I also order a 13 CM but with the Sirius built in. The 12 CM had you pay $250 for the load floor and included Sirius , now they are flipped. If you buy the Sirius option, you get 1 year free subsciption from Sirius. I currently have XM which cost about $16/mo so it works out the same. Based on the salesman (which has been suspect on other stuff) the dealer can activate the Sirius feature , I would try and work him over since they were pretty clueless on how the whole thing with the Sirius was going to be handled on the 2013 cars.

I like listening to talk radio and sports so the sound does not matter that much but can not imagine how much data time I would burn if I listened to the radio in the car on my iphone. I currently have it as a portable unit which I hate, sound sucks (FM signal) and the antenna wires are always in the way.

 

I use my SiriusXM radio to listen to politics and news. Music comes from tunein radio or my iPod, so crystal clear sound is not a high priority for me.

 

XM broadcasts certain music channels with a much wider bandwidth than the same stations on Sirius.
I have XM in my other car and Sirius in the MINI. The difference in audio quality is significant.

 

exactly what i found doing A - B listening using a friends portable XM receiver pluged into my cms all4 AUX port vs the built-in Sirius receiver

scott