Volvo V70 Audio & Entertainment Questions
cheapskate7
Member Posts: 25
Considering '05 v70 purchase but unable to get informed info from dealer and volvoamerica not responding to e-mail regarding satellite radio supposedly available in '05 volvos.
Does the added option of a SIRIUS prep allow immediate reception of their broadcasting following ordering a subscription with them or does the dealer [or someone] need to do an additional installation of equipment? How does this new car option differ from 'plug and play' systems installed at a local Circuit City [or does it]? Does a 'SIRIUS prep' allow an XM installation instead?
Perhaps volvomax or other informed contributors to this forum might respond.
Does the added option of a SIRIUS prep allow immediate reception of their broadcasting following ordering a subscription with them or does the dealer [or someone] need to do an additional installation of equipment? How does this new car option differ from 'plug and play' systems installed at a local Circuit City [or does it]? Does a 'SIRIUS prep' allow an XM installation instead?
Perhaps volvomax or other informed contributors to this forum might respond.
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Comments
This unit won't be available until sometime after the first of the year. So far no one is willing to say exactly when.
Sirius and XM are not interchangeable.
http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Cache- dPage&c=PresReleAsset&cid=1097008932882
Last month the parts manager called and advised me that the antenna and receiver/decoder are now in-stock. He went on to tell me that since I selected the satellite pre-wiring option that I would save quite a bit of money on the parts and installation cost. It would be only $900!
They must be out of their minds. I did not opt for the $1200 optional stereo because the sound quality of the base stereo was suprisingly good and the extra 5 disk capacity was not worth the marginal improvement in sound quality and $1200. I thought that the satellite radio would be our salvation, but not at $900. Now I am down to an iPod auxillary input or a Phatbox digital music server. Pretty frustrating.
I did stop by a local large car stereo shop chain store last Friday. Because the MY05 headunit is a new design there are no aftermarket satellite kits yet that use the headunit.
If anyone has anyother info regarding the installation of the Volvo system I would love to hear about it.
:mad:
Thanx,
Steve
Yesterday I spoke with 6 different Volvo dealers in the Puget Sound area (Western Washington). I didn't realize that there were that many. Here's what the dealers told me by city, all prices include parts and installation unless otherwise noted, but not sales tax:
Volvo of Tacoma (Fife) - $900
Seattle Volvo - $900
Barrier Southcenter - $825
Barrier Bellevue - not available yet, check back in 2 or 3 months!
Volvo of Lynnwood - $841.33
Topping Volvo (Olympia) - $715
Ravenna Volvo (Seattle) - $600 parts plus 1.5hrs. labor = $738, however they will be having a 15% parts discount in May and possibly the same discount in service for the installation. Assuming that it will be parts only that would be $642.
Also of note, if you prepay 11 months of service, Volvo will reimburse you for the full amount and Sirius will give you an additional 2 months of service (13 total) for free. The 11 month commitment is about $143. The promotional 11 month reimbursement does require that a Volvo dealer install the parts. Also, Ravenna advised that simply installing the equipment does not allow it to work. There is a software download that must be performed for the head unit to operate the receiver/decoder.
All of the dealers except for one quoted 1.5hrs labor, one quoted 2hrs. All of them said that parts are available and could be in within 2-3 days. Ravenna confirmed with the national service hotline that installations are well under way and that there have been no consistent problems reported. Not sure what Barrier Bellevue is smoking though.
If I decide to add Sirius to my car I may take it up to Ravenna unless I can get Volvo of Tacoma to give me a better price than they have currently offered. $642 is still a lot of money for something that will have a monthly cost associated with it in the future and also in comparison to other auto manufactures that typically charge $200-400 for their XM and Sirius systems. If the cost of the parts and installation can be amortized into the lease we will probably do it.
Sorry for the rambling, there just seems to be a derth of information on this subject anywhere on the web.
:confuse:
Steve
Many thanks for this info. I've just ordered an '05 V70 R that happens to have w/it the Sirius prep and was searching around online trying to get a feel for the cost of the Sirius receiver & installation. I had read about the promotional free pre-paid satellite service on the Sirius site.
BTW, I attended the NY Intl Auto Show a few weeks ago. The Volvos there were showing iPod connectivity - a cable in the storage bin between the front seats. The Volvo factory people said that a kit will be made to dealers this June to retrofit '05 Volvos. I'll probably wait to see if that becomes available.
You're welcome, I figured there had to be other people that were interested and were also having difficulty finding info.
I hadn't heard about the iPod connector. I have seen it on many other vehicles though. That may be the answer for my wife and I. I have a Creative Nomad hard drive MP3 player and have been searching for a way to connect it to my company car, with some success actually. However, instead of getting the costly satellite radio or a CD changer, I could just let my wife use it in her car. Hmmm, doesn't resolve my problem however. Maybe I could get the satellite radio (XM for me) in my company car instead of in her car...
Anyway, I hope that everything works out and I envy your choice of the R!
Steve
Anyone else get a different story?
Volvo (technically Cab West LLC, Volvo's leasing company) will not amortize anything other than the factory installed options with one exception. The exception is that they won't even amortize the factory navigation system. It is considered an accessory even though it is factory installed. Therefore, if you get a car with the nav system you have to pay for the entire cost ($2K +?) over the course of the lease. I am really glad that we didn't order it because they didn't mention anything of the sort at the time of ordering when we were considering it!
Steve
Generally, when we lease a NAV equipped car we send the lease to a bank.
However, our dealer told us flat out that the entire cost of the nav system would have to be paid during the term of the lease and that it did not effect the residual percentage.
It may be different in different regions, who knows. I would think that it would increase the residual. It should not make the vehicle less valuable or attractive to anyone. Most people would like it and there would be some people who didn't care, but I can't imagine someone not purchasing a vehicle because it was there.
Steve
I would prefer to go with XM, if it would integrate with the volvo radio, but I am not sure that will ever be an option.
The Sat receiver goes under the panel behind the left rear seat (in front of the spare tire) and is connected to the radio head unit via a fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable is the "Satellite Radio Prep" you see on the sticker.
FWIW, the integration is nice, but I would REALLY like to see a scrolling display of the song title and artist. All I get is the channel name, "Big 80s", "Starlite", etc. You can change this display, but you only get ONE of the three choices, Artist, Title with Artist for 10 seconds at the beginning of the song, or Channel name. I figure if the RDS data from an FM station can scroll, why not the satellite radio?
Still wish it would scroll, but at least I can get the information.
I've renamed this discussion to reflect that fact that it will now deal exclusively with audio/entertainment questions for the V70.