Howdy,
I'm going to be getting a 2004 Mini. I was wondering if anyone knew if the stock CD-Stereo unit came XM ready. I've been looking at the Delphi XM radio stuff for the Car and I like them, if I went with that route I'd like to get it to work with the stearing wheel controls, is that possible? I've been looking at the SkiFi, and the Roady as options, whats the pros and cons over these systems in a mini?

Thanks,
Dd.

 

>>Howdy,
>>I'm going to be getting a 2004 Mini. I was wondering if anyone knew if the stock CD-Stereo unit came XM ready. I've been looking at the Delphi XM radio stuff for the Car and I like them, if I went with that route I'd like to get it to work with the stearing wheel controls, is that possible? I've been looking at the SkiFi, and the Roady as options, whats the pros and cons over these systems in a mini?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Dd.

Not sure about the stock system but the HK system is Sirus ready. XM is not availabe from the dealer.

Chuck

 

Ok thanks, I just chcecked out the Blitzsafe (?) website and they said they have a component for XM to work with Minis. Does anyone have this already or know if they're selling it yet?

Thanks Again,

Dd.

 

I'm in the same situation you are and I emailed Chirs at Blitsafe and he said the device is coming soon and it will be fuly integrated just like the MINI Sirius radio would be.

 

Ahh well I guess I will have to wait a bit. My car doesn't come until the end of the month anyway. However, I'm assuming that I could buy what I need for the car now, then when the blitzsafe kit comes out swap it :smile:

 

I was just over at MINI of Sterling this morning. They have a MINI on the lot with XM fully integrated into the car. This is NOT a SkiFy or Roady. They put a tuner in (I didn't get to see which one) and have it connected directly to the HU like the MINI Sirius system.

Like the MINI Sirius system, you DO have steering wheel control of the XM as well as the stream and Song/Artist display ON the HU.

YES I AM POSITIVE it is an XM system. I specifically asked Keith about it. He says that an XM engineer was at the dealership a few weeks ago and they experimented. They are just as shocked that it works, and works just as well as the Sirius....

Obviously this was not a "MINI Sanctioned" install, to get more information you probably need to talk to MINI of Sterling directly (as opposed to your local MINI dealer) or somebody at XM Corporate who is familiar with what they did out at Sterling....

_________________

 

Ahh thats great news, I will have to talk to Keith about it when I check up on my car next. I've ordered mine from there, so I would imagine its a "dealer" install, like they were doing with there umm... whatchmacallit, oh yea performance kits. So now I can just get them to put it in for me when my car comes! :smile: Assuming they know how to do that now.

Thanks Again,
Dd.

 

why not just get the sirius package right from MINI? Sirius kicks *** and its all warrented? I had the satalite tuner crash and really screw up my dash, radio, turn signal and a/c and it was all warrenty.

Plus from what i understand sirius is about 2 bucks more amonth with way less commercials.

To each his own i guess.

 

I haven't given Sirus much thought because I don't see the displays for it like XM and what I'm interested in is mostly the music anyway. I know on the XM Website you can get previews of there Channels. Can you do that on the Sirus website too?

 

Well, I have XM in my other car and my wife's car and I don't want to have to get used to a new service. Also, I get a discount for more than one subscription. The second is $6.95. Alos, the Sirius is $500 plus install. My dealer wants $900 for the whole deal and most are around $800 or more. It is somewhat time consuming to remove the panels and install the radio but if I can send $150-200 for the XM parts and a few hours of my time one Saturday, it is well worth it to save $700 bucks.

 

Yes you can get a preview of the Sirius channels on their website.

The main reason I got an aftermarket Sirius system is becuase I could do so for $300 less than what MINI wanted to put it in a non-HK vehicle (and I have HK) plus MINI hasn't officially released a version for Nav equiped vehicles (which mine is).

 

I ran across this on bridger.us/mini (thanks again Gabe- top notch info!)

Does anyone have an idea what the cost for the Blitzsafe adaptor + XM Commander will be? I'd sure like to have my new MCS be fully incregrated (instead of having a silly box mounted on the dash or console). This uses the factory headunit as a display, allows you to use the presets and steering-wheel controls :smile: The only thing I DON'T think it does is memo (like the sony units).

But if it's going to be $400-$500, no thanks... I like things integreated and clean in a car, not a wire/button fest. I recall my Pontiac Bonneville SSE and remember the buttons, or (worse) my dads old 1989 Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo, eeeeeks.

This is truly a "plug and play" option IMHO!

http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t...sc&start=0

Caio,

-Matt

 

>>Does anyone have an idea what the cost for the Blitzsafe adaptor + XM Commander will be?>>
>>-Matt
_____________________-
Shouldn't cost more than $100. Check out the xmfan website.

 

This is very interesting. I have an 03 MCS with HK no changer. Please continue this discussion as I would like to have xm too. However, it sounds like my nav system disqualifies me from using this blitzsafe. Is this right?

_________________

 

Silver

Hang tight. I have NAV and bought the MINI Sirius system and it works fine. The only reason MINI does not offer Sirius on NAV vehicles is because they did not develop a combination NAV/ Sirius antenna for the roof since the installation rate of NAV vehicles is low.

I simply bought an aftermarket NAV antenna, placed it under the dash and replaced the shark fin with the MINI Sirius antenna. No problems whatsoever.

I dislike Sirius very much and will be replacing my MINI Sirius system with the Blitsafe XM system. I have XM in my other car and LOVE it. I'll have to put everything back to stock (shark fin antenna) and use the small antenna that comes with the kit. I'm still trying to figure out where i'm going to put the antenna since I don't like "chop shop" looking work.

More to come....

 

I'm kinda curious MINIdean, why the dislike of Sirius? I love it. I should prolly qualifiy that by saying that i've never heard xm. But from my comparison shopping I still prefer sirius. I'm interested in the opposite opinion.

 

I've had both... I prefered Sirius in what it offers (play by play NHL, NBA, and some MLB) and more commerica lfree chanels

But I have XM in the mini because I didnt want to pay MINIs outrageous price for Sirius and when going aftermarket, the Delphi unit looks the best in a MINI by FAR

That said, XM is great - Sirius is just better for play-by-play.

Nothing beats however, last Thursday on MTV-Radion the segment on "White men who rap" where they featured vanilla ice, 3rd base, marky mark...

 

Sirius just isn't for me. Don't get me wrong, there are good things to Sirius, but it wasn't satisfying me like XM does in my other car. I removed my Sirius system from my MINI this past weekend and installed the XM Direct with the NEW Blitzsafe interface that allows EVERYTHING to be displayed on the MINI head unit. I have both the H/K system and navigation on my MINI.

The installation went flawless and works perfect! First I ripped out my accessory MINI Sirius system and aftermarket navigation antenna I installed (since the MINI Sirius system is "not compatible" with navigation equipped MINI's, I had to replace my factory nav antenna with the Sirius antenna and put the aftermarket antenna under the dash) back in May. I have some posts and links to that install here somewhere, I'm just too lazy to look for them right now.

I drilled a small hole on my factory navigation antenna (I had to drill through the plastic and aluminum housing to make this work) that is on the roof and ran the new antenna wire through it and down into the vehicle. I mounted the XM antenna just behind the navigation antenna. The XM antenna is just small enough to clear the back hatch when openend.

I mounted the XM tuner on my existing Sirius bracket (after removing the Sirius tuner of course) and laid the Blitzsafe box next to it. I'll take some pictures and post them sometime this week.

The system works just like the Sirius system except for a few things. There is no scrolling of the channel name, artist or title if there are more characters to read (no big deal to me) and, I find it funny that when you press the mode button to get to XM radio, it first says "Sirius" on the display, then the channel number and then XM radio. Must be something to do with the software in the radio?

I'm very very happy with my purchase. Thank you Blitsafe and XM direct! The best part is that the entire kit was only $299 with free shipping from Radios and More . The Blitzsafe interface, XM tuner and antenna are sooo small that you can install them almost anywhere in a MINI.

Anyone looking to buy a used MINI Sirius receiver and antenna?


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Stewy was born on 2/20/03, Current Status: I picked him up today, 4-1-03!! MCS, DS/BL, Prem, Sport, Cold, Harman Kardon, Nav, PDC, Rain Sensing Wipers/Auto-Dimming Mirror, Black Panther Leather with Anthracite trim!

 

please link to item that allowed info to be displayed on MINI HU for XM

 

Check these links out:

From MINI2.com

From XMFan.com

I can tell you, my display on my MINI shows it all. Channel, Channel Name, Artist and Song Title PLUS you get 18 presets to store you XM channels!

 

I just got my Mini and before I took delivery of my car I found out the dealer actually offers an XM Kit. (Mini of Sterling) So it looks pretty nice in my new car and everything and it works with the wheel controls and stuff. Although it does come up and say Sirrus first off but other than that is pretty nice.

 

Ddraig:

Sounds like you got the XM Direct kit. I love it. It is interesting that it says Sirius first. Oh well!

Where did your dealer mount your antenna?

 

This kit looks great, $300 w/antenna isn't too steep. I'm all about a clean and simple install!

Anyways, on the radios & more site it gives this kit a "5 wrench" install? It sounds like it was simple to install, no? Does it require any special tools or interfacing with
the Minis electronics? If it's just a plug n,play thing in the boot, plus a mounting of the antenna, I'm not too worried about it!

cheers, -Matt

 

Matt

This is VERY easy to install. Plug and play. The only thing you'll have to do is mount the small tuner box and find a place on the roof for the antenna. Since I have nav, I just routed the antenna wire through the back of my shark fin. Very simple to do. For non nav cars, it may take some imagination, but try to mount it on the roof.

As for the tuner box, I just modified my existing MINI Sirius bracket to mount it on, but it is small enough you can probably "stuff" it somewhere.

Good luck!

 

MINIDean,

Would you happen to have a picture of the MINI OEM Sirius ANtenna and it's leads and connectors? I am wondering if I could use one to serve the XMDirect or Skylink to have a totally stock looking install?