Very true on the subjectivity. For instance, as a former BMW owner who has driven both the Audi and the Bimmer, I can't believe anyone would ever choose an Audi A6 over a BMW 5. You have exactly the opposite point of view. We could each come up with empirical reasoning to support our positions, but it's mostly subjective at the end of the day.
The one thing we can agree on is we both abandoned our respective German biases in favor of the M. That probably says it all.
I don't think I'll be back to BMW until the iDrive is either gone or perfected; and the interior of the 5s gets a major upgrade.
"Audi, BMW and Mercedes may not be THE leaders TODAY -- I believe they have the capacity (in every meaning of that word) to be the leaders, however."
We'll see. I think its like the first crack in the dam. The RL and M are leaking through, and as the Germans scramble to fix the leaks, others will start appearing, until the whole thing comes down. Nissan made 2.5 billion dollars in profits this QUARTER. Another 500 million or so, and they'll be making Toyota money. Combine the R&D budget that kind of cash would allow for with Nissan's ability to make cars that Toyota either cant or wont make, and the two of them could rule the world. By the way, how's Mercedes doing lately
Ok folks, help me out here. I know this was discussed in the early stages of this forum. My dealer just called and said that I can essentially take delivery of an M35x black/black with journey, tech, and MES, but with XM radio instead of the Sirius, which I ordered. The expected arrival date of the model with XM is May 19 (about 5 weeks -at least- earlier than my originally ordered model). The originally ordered model is due end of June/early July.. Also, this new one will have a full size spare. Orignially I ordered the Sirius radio due to a quick side by side comparison of both brochures and the Sirius seemed to have more selections than XM.
So, my question to all of you is whether to stick with the original Sirius satelite radio order or go with XM? Your input is appreciated. What is the view of current owners using either XM or Sirius?
First off, let me just say to Pat, our host, that if this is in any way an impermissable post: I am sorry. I do not think that activating a "Reverse Camera" while in Drive, is illegal per se, but I'm no legal expert, so I figured I'd just throw it out there and see if it floats [as I am no stranger to having posts removed ] because I know many of us have expressed interest in utilizing this feature in this way.
I have not had the chance to test this out, as my car is at the dealer getting the splashguards, spoiler, and tints applied today, but maybe a few of you adventurous types will give it a go and get back to us.
This is courtesy of someone by the name of "EdH1":
"I’m working on a better way to get the reverse camera up, but here is one option that does work while in Drive. There are some other items here too that are pretty neat – Additional phone settings, speaker test, mic test, etc . I would recommend you look, but don’t change anything unless you know what you are doing.
First, get in the config / diagnosis mode:
1) Start Car 2) Turn off audio 3) Hold down “Settings” button, then rotate the volume knob until the Configuration/Diagnosis screen comes up
Now You can navigate to the Reverse camera adjustment in the menu system. This will put the cam up while the car is in Drive (not sure if it cuts off at a certain speed). Be careful not to hit any buttons or you will adjust your backup line overlays. Use the back button when you are done to exit out."
Good luck, try not to royally screw up your car's computer, and again, apologies if this violates forum rules.
I had the choice of either taking the car immediately with XM, or ordering it with Sirius (my preference) and waiting 90-110 days...I took it immediately (9 days ago).
After now having experienced both, I still prefer Sirius. It has more stations per genre and the comedy stations are MUCH better...XM's seem to be far more family oreinted (cheesy). Not to mention that Sirius has the NFL and college ball (if I remember correctly). XM, in general, is more family oriented with most every station bleeping the curses or racier terms from songs. Kind of annoying.
All in all, if it becomes an "issue" I can always have Sirius installed, but thus far, I think I can manage without it. If you can wait, and it's going to be something that bothers you if you take the XM, then definitely wait. If you are like me, and just can't wait to play with your new toy, then it won't matter (for a while any way.)
I'll let you know if in 81-101 days I wish I had waited for Sirius.
In any case, good luck...you are going to love this car.
thanks for the feedback. The sports selections is one of the main reasons that drove me to my decision. The brochure was packed with sports channels on Sirius, but very little on XM.
I'm going to think about and hopefully weight other inputs from the forum. I do want to get it sooner rather than later, but we're talking about one month, or so, in the whole scheme of things. Luckily I have until around May 19 to make a decision, unless someone just buys what is coming in and makes the decision for me.
Has anyone here had experience with the new Palm Treo 650 in an M-car? I'm tempted ... one less piece of hardware to lug around ... but I want the best compatibility I can get. The local Spring store said they've had problems with bluetooth in Acura but not in BMW, Toyota, and of course Lexus. They've not sold one to an Infiniti owner yet ... at least as far as they know. Yes, they have a 14 day return policy but I'm technologically challenged and might not realize I'm missing something for a month. Any input is appreciated. I don't have to make a decision until the 15th of this month. Bart
This is a subject that’s had much heated debate. I have 4 XM subscriptions in my family and listen to Sirius extensively in rental cars. I think they’re both excellent, but greatly prefer XM. You’ll find lots of folks on both sides of this question, but I really love my XM as do about 4 million others.
They’ve both published info about the size of their playlists and music library and there’s no question that XM has much deeper playlists and is therefore more likely to keep surprising with hidden treasures. That’s my experience. As far as the number of music channels, XM has 67, Sirius has 65, and XM has more channels in the genres that I listen to. Personally, I also prefer XM’s comedy, but of course it’s all very subjective.
You can check out their programming guides and judge for yourself at: XM and Sirius I believe you might also be able to get free online trials to help with this choice.
Regarding sports they each have a good number of college football games, XM has all MLB games, and Sirius has the NFL.
One more point to note is that XM has recently signed a long term deal with Nissan/Infiniti to be their exclusive supplier of digital services via their radio receivers. IMO, that’s why we see so many more Ms shipping with XM. The first service will probably be a live feed of digital traffic info to the NAV system, providing auto routing based on traffic conditions. Other digital services are rumored to include music purchasing and wireless operating system upgrades. Any of these may or may not be upgradeable for existing Ms.
Took the car over to Tustin Infiniti and low and behold they heard the clanging sound. Initial diagnosis was that it was caused by the Exhaust Heat Shield contracting and no it is not normal - I was the first customer who they knew who had this problem with any Infiniti. Set up an appointment on Thursday to have them resolve the problem - I'll post back on Friday with the results. The car repeated the noise three more times while we were setting up the appointment.
I put the tech in the rear seat and he heard the squeaking - probably coming from the moonroof frame between the headliner and top of the car above the rear seat. If you just slide the moonroof back you'll also hear a similar sound as the moonroof slides back on its frame.
They will take the headliner down on Thursday and see if they can isolate and fix the problem. Again this wouldn't be a problem except that the car is so solid and quiet inside.
The issue is whether or not it is illegal. I don't know that it is so let's see how it goes.
OTOH, it seems dangerous and I don't understand why people insist on building in driver distractions - not just these things we talk about, but the eating, the make-up, the cellphones, etc. - with so much at stake.
Spoke with the sales manager and his assistant at Tustin Infiniti today - both said the car is selling like hotcakes - especially the M35. No need to lie to me because I had already given them my money a few weeks back. They confirmed what I had been preaching - that Infiniti sent over way too many M45s in relationship to M35s. Their sales would have been even better with a better product mix i.e. more M35 non-sports.
I have not read much about the perceived driving differences between the "Sport" and "Luxury" package with the same engine.
If both are equipped with Technology and Journey, I think Sport adds:
Sport steering wheel. Sport tuned suspension 19 inch wheels / tires. Sport seats (front and back) Aluminum accents (pedals, trim) Rear active steer And, and about $2800
Has anybody driven a sport and non-sport back to back and what was your opinion?
Check out CARGO magazine for a blow by blow comparison of XM vs Sirius -- if you want the Cliff Notes -- they say Sirius is the one.
The Reverse Camera Dilemma? -- my guess is that it is similar to a rearview mirror and would not be illegal like the DVD in driver's line of sight.
Finally, a friend of mine has XM his wife Sirius (one is a GM car, so it HAD to have XM) -- he claims to prefer Sirius; his wife says they are not the same, but that the differences do not mean she would NOT get a car just 'cause it had only XM.
Sounds like Sirius may be anecdotally the favorite. XM does have more subscribers and XM and Sirius now charge the same.
I ordered Sirius, my wife ordered Sirius -- this should be only taken as two votes, because we were influenced by our friends who have both.
To me there was a lot of difference. The sport had much much much more road feel (or something). If felt like a constant uniform bouncing thru the steering wheel. I want to drive another sport model before I make my decision because maybe something was wrong with the tires. The bouncing just seemed "to uniform" to be all from the road so maybe the tires were "out of round" or something. The air pressure showed OK.
The non-sport was much smoother.
I still like the looks of the sport model better...I like the style/look of the 19" wheels (although the same style would look good in 18" IMO) and I like the aluminum trim better than the wood. I am not a big fan of the wheel (style) on the regular M35.
So...I will drive another sport model...and then try to decide between the M35, M35 Sport and the Acura RL.
Just got back from a 600 mile weekend jaunt in my M35. Trip was a combination of freeways and a few small towns. I averaged 24.9 for the entire trip while driving 70/80mph on the open road. 2100 miles on the car now and it feels better every day. No squeaks or rattles either.
I just bought a M35x today and prior to the sale spent time with a very talented salesperson who was very knowledgeable about the bluetooth feature.
I as well have a Palm Treo 650 and we were able to make a quick connection to the car from the phone. We didn't have time to attempt to make an outside call with the 650. I pick up the car on Thurs and hope to spend a few hours on some of the tech features. I will let you know how I make out.
The car is awesome and I spent about 6 weeks researching and testing all the major imports in this class. Nothing came close. I'm lucky I made the right choice.
I'm in NY. It gets surprisingly hot here in July/August, especially with the perpetual "Smog Dome" or whatever it's called hovering over us, but I would imagine that, yeah, N.C. is going to be bleeding hot come July.
Your call. If you merely prefer black, then consider the Umbria or the Diamond Graphite; one of those would be my second choice....if you put a GUN to my head! lol.
XM is definitely the way to go if you listen to music! My wife has XM in her Audi Cab and I just got Sirius in my A6 3.2. The constant repeating of musical selections on stations such as Broadway, Classical Pops, and even Pure Jazz, makes ownership of Sirius, after the first few weeks, a most unpleasant experience. It reminds me of the "Top 40" stations I used to listen to as a child.
Anyone with an '05 Audi A6 on this Board who would like to trade for the Sirius receiver, let me know and I'll pay the postage and handling for both units!!
I've driven both back-to-back. For "pedestrian" driving, there's little difference between the two. There is, of course, more road noise in the Sport because of the more aggressive, shorter sidewall tires. When the road gets curvy, however, the difference is quite noticeable.
It was almost a toss-up in the decision between the two, but after a second trial, I've decided I will go for the M45 Sport if I ever get one. I tend to prefer sport a little more than luxury. That, and the fact that I really don't care for the Luxury wheels at all; chrome or otherwise. And the money they would charge me just to get some Sport wheels for the Luxury model, I might as well get the Sport.
--------------------- Quote 1 -XM is definitely the way to go if you listen to music! My wife has XM in her Audi Cab and I just got Sirius in my A6 3.2. The constant repeating of musical selections on stations such as Broadway, Classical Pops, and even Pure Jazz, makes ownership of Sirius, after the first few weeks, a most unpleasant experience. It reminds me of the "Top 40" stations I used to listen to as a child.
Anyone with an '05 Audi A6 on this Board who would like to trade for the Sirius receiver, let me know and I'll pay the postage and handling for both units!!
---------------------
--------------------- Quote 2 Another corner heard from -- the other person's grass is always greener? ---------------------
No, I don't think so.
His post is EXACTLY what I was talking about, when I said that XM's playlists are much deeper. You'll never hear a complaint like that re. most XM stations. His sentiments are what I've felt listening to sirius, and never what I've felt listening to XM.
Those thoughts were very much like the complaints of a great many sirius subscribers on a number of threads at a sirius forum, not long ago. OTOH, XM has well over ninety percent user satisfaction.
Thanks for your feedback re: the Palm Treo 650; I'm anxious to hear more.
Anyone here have access to Verizon's V CAST wireless? Any comments on performance? In my wanderings yesterday I came across the Verizon VZ6600 which has more features than the Treo 650 and (allegedly) will have "instant" internet access and streaming video capability as soon as their V Cast wireless system is up and running here in Tucson (they claim to have the entire US covered by the end of '05). It is working in some major markets around the US (eg, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia) and when driving in those locations the performance is supposed to be stunning. I'm intrigued by this technology because we live in a low density enclave with too few homes to make it worthwhile for the cable company to bring in cable ... so everything we do is on snail-speed phone lines. If this V CAST system is really all it's cracked up to be I'll likely be changing all of my services to Verizon and that would certainly tip the balance toward the VZ 6600. Thoughts? Advice? Experience? Barton
Bart: If you dig a little at Infiniti's site, you will find a list of supported bluetooth phones. I was skeptical of the V710 from Verizon given their crippling of some features, but it was on the list at Infiniti. It works fine for what I want it to do. If the Treo 650 is on the list, I would bet it would work.
Try to test it in every way you could conceive of using it during the 14 day trial.
P.S. Just saw your last post. If you go with Verizon, check to see what bluetooth features are enabled (and how much you will have to pay to use their other services). They like their various subscriptions.
Mine is definitiely related to the moonroof. In the tilt-up position, the sound goes away. If I push upwards on the roof with the roof closed, the sound is diminished (as it is with the sliding cover closed).
Doc: The Treo isn't on their list, so I wrote Infiniti and inquired into compatibility yesterday. I just received this response from them this morning ... clearly calls for more research. Bart
The Treo 650 is not currently listed as an Infiniti recommended cell phone. Infiniti will continually evaluate existing and newly released Bluetooth® phones to help ensure quality operation and compatibility. There are no Sprint products compatible with Bluetooth® technology. Also, current Blackberry products listed as an Infiniti recommended cell phones are models 7100t and 7290. Bart
At this moment, neither my wife nor I have any sat radio. She ordered Sirius in her new BMW -- to be picked up hopefully this week. I ordered an M35X with Sirius based on our friends review -- they have one car with each -- and the positive comments in CARGO magazine (they gave the nod to Sirius).
XM has raised its price to match Sirius. That argument is gone.
The playlist and "depth" have been recently upgraded at Sirius.
OTOH XM has a deeper customer base -- but part of that is because of GM.
I personally don't care one way or another about Howard, but he will be, so the Sirius exec's "wisdom" goes, a magnet for more content.
I have no basis other than as stated for making my choice.
Even after re-reading the endorsement of CARGO magazine, I am positive of ONLY one thing -- there are more similarities than differences. Check out the "analysis" in CARGO -- don't go by me or my friends.
The Audi dealer says that for a while (2004) more cars were delivered with XM than Sirius -- but that is primarily due to the fact that the Audi "buyer" at the dealership had recently come from Cadillac -- and that all he could order was XM, so he kept it up. Recently (2005) my Audi dealer claims that the CUSTOMERS have been asking for Sirius when they special order cars.
One final note: my wife ordered a 2005 from BMW 7 weeks ago -- BMW ONLY supports Sirius; couple this fact with the endorsement by CARGO and our friends (who have one car with each flavor) and the fact that if I ordered my M35X with Sirius we could get a family discount and perhaps you will give me a pass for the way I arrived at my decision to go with Sirius.
Frankly, until my Audi dealer told me that the buyer ordered cars with XM and the customers wanted Sirius, I could've flipped a coin.
The people I know who have Sat Radio love it -- XM or Sirius -- seriously!
To see the differences between XM and Sirius one need only visit the respective sites of each and sign up for a free three day test drive [online] (Mark, this should be right up your alley)! Listen to the "Broadway" channels of each. If you can still bear to listen to Sirius Broadway after 3 days, then you must surely have a stronger constitution than do I!!
I have spent substantial time researching the Bluetooth issue and I am now fairly confused as to which way to go. I am a longtime Verizon customer and I have had very few complaints, other than the limited and lame selection of phones offered. I now know, as others have mentioned on this forum, that Verizon has disabled nearly all of the Bluetooth functionality of its only Bluetooth phone, the bulky V710. Basically it can only sync with a Bluetooth earpiece, and, apparently, the M's bluetooth phone setup. I guess that's fine for most, and maybe even for me. I do think that some of the major pros of Bluetooth include wiereless transfer of address books, dayta, etc., and use of hte phone as a modem My bigger concern is Verizon's behavior in advertising the hell out of the V710 as a Bluetooth phone, then disabling most of its features for purely profit-motivated reasons.
After 10 years with Verizon, I think I'm headed to Cingular and a Motorola Razr. I'd love to hear any feedback anone has on Cingular and Motorola. I'm in metro Detroit.
I said good-bye to Verizon last night, now with Cincinnati Bell (AT&T GSM fraternal twin, as far as I can tell) -- got the V505 phone for the M35X and the Sony Ericson T637 for the BMW X3.
My wife gets the X3 on Thursday -- I don't get the M35X for probably at least 60 - 80 days. We'll see.
Everyone (whatever that means) raves about the T637.
Everyone has different tastes -- Broadway would be lost on me and 3 days worth of Broadway would probably drive me crazy.
I do like Classical, Jazz and what used to be called progressive rock -- and I can even tolerate "all the hits all the time" Opera (well, Verdi, at least). Acoustic guitar and woodwinds and some of the "Hearts of Space" are also to my liking.
I hope there is SOMETHING that Sirius does right -- we've already ordered the cars, BMW ONLY offers Sirius, so unless I thought it outright sucked, I would say that we're serious about Sirius.
I hope, as the CARGO review concluded that they are more alike than different -- 'cause we basically can't go back.
I agree with you about Verizon's "Business Model". I eventually "settled" on the V710 because of the following:
1) I only use my cell phone as a phone. I have never yet had the need for a PDA, and I think the idea of a low-res digital camera packaged with a phone is absurd (technology for the sake of technology alone--and weak technology at that). 2) I didn't want to wait five months to switch carriers. 3) I have been happy with Verizon's coverage. 4) It mostly works with the M (with the exception of the phone book transfer)
But as you know, I am shocked at the way Verizon is treating some of their best customers.
You may be surprised, but I believe the dial-up-networking (DUN) profile is enabled for the V710.
Take a close look at the RAZR; I really liked the pics of it, but when I saw it up close and personal, it looked kind of cheap. I thought Cingular's version of Motorola's 5-something (with bluetooth) looked and felt much better (as in durability) up close.
Well Mark, then listen to "Classical Pops" for 3 days and let me know how many times you hear Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody or the Mephisto Waltz. Used Broadway only by way of example.
What do you think of T-mobile? They are the only carrier that comes even close to Verizon in terms of customer satisfaction. Cingular and Sprint are bottom of the barrel, with a disturbingly large number of network problems, billing errors, etc.
================== markcincinnati wrote: my wife ordered a 2005 from BMW 7 weeks ago -- BMW ONLY supports Sirius; couple this fact with the endorsement by CARGO and our friends (who have one car with each flavor) and the fact that if I ordered my M35X with Sirius we could get a family discount and perhaps you will give me a pass for the way I arrived at my decision to go with Sirius. ==================
Mark
If I were making the decision and the following were true 1) Significant family plan savings (since we already had one brand) 2) The only magazine I read preferred sirius 3) My trusted friends (whose musical tastes were similar to mine) recommended sirius 4) A few other folks I don't know from Adam recommended XM
It seems darned sure that I would go with sirius as well.
================== markcincinnati wrote: The people I know who have Sat Radio love it -- XM or Sirius -- seriously! ================== That's also a point with which I can completely agree.
[One side note related to a comment above, which is no longer relevant to you but may be useful to some other folks.
XM direct is a third party XM receiver which has full support for BMW satellite ready head units. It can be quickly installed by your BMW dealer, and is indistinguishable from the sirius unit in operation, screen display, preset integration and steering wheel controls. The ONLY differences are (as of when I bought my daughter one for her mini):
- 1 It was half the price (as installed by the mini dealer), then 499 vs 999 - 2 It had 18 rather than 12 presets - 3 It had a much smaller antenna and installation was faster. - 4 The (hidden) receiver itself was smaller than the sirius unit - 5 It plays XM rather sirius ]
In any case I'm very sure you'll love your satellite radio. Enjoy
Thanks for the encouragement. We paid $75 for Sirius prep from BMW and $375 for Sirius from the dealer as a BMW accessory (part of the negotiated price of my wife's new BMW X3).
You know me, if I have any issues with the Sat Radio, you will hear it here from my fingertips.
I just can't comment and while I do believe "the edmunds" faithful and regular, my personal friends are also to be believed and I have found CARGO magazine to be one of the best magazines "about stuff that we Americans can purchase" I've seen.
For all I know the CARGO write up was a prelude to advertising bucks for CARGO from Sirius. I just doubt it.
Nothing against "our" opinions and experiences here -- the folks that write about this stuff for a living (they get paid to write this stuff, that is) would seem to be at least as well qualified as "we" are. Furthermore, they don't have to defend a purhcahse they made since they usually get to "test drive" the "stuff" and keep the stuff for a time for free (no skin perhaps makes for a more dispassionate and non-defensive approach to product and service recommendations).
I'll muddle through and if it really is bad, I'll just cancel it altogether -- I have a huge selection of CD's and a small selection of DVD-Audio and DTS CD's from which to choose to while away the hours behind the wheel.
And there's always insert talk show host's name here to listen to -- after all we're in a Red State (no shortage of conservative talk shows). And we even have Al Franken here in conservative German Zinzinnati.
Mark--I'd like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly from you on your new V505. I need to make my move soon here and I'm down to a Razr, V551 (which is essentially the 505), and the T637 you mentioned.
As badly as I would like to get a "smartphone", I just don' t think that the technology and form factor is there yet. I guess I'll go separate cell & pda for a while longer.
============== markcincinnati wrote: For all I know the CARGO write up was a prelude to advertising bucks for CARGO from Sirius. I just doubt it.
Nothing against "our" opinions and experiences here -- the folks that write about this stuff for a living (they get paid to write this stuff, that is) would seem to be at least as well qualified as "we" are. Furthermore, they don't have to defend a purhcase they made since they usually get to "test drive" the "stuff" and keep the stuff for a time for free (no skin perhaps makes for a more dispassionate and non-defensive approach to product and service recommendations). ==============
Like you, I'd tend to assume their sincerity until proven otherwise. And as I said, I'd make exactly the same decision in your situation. Regarding their opinion in the comparison: IMO it just comes down to one's very subjective taste in music, so I view their opinion here as simply one more honest vote among many.
(Re. price and for the benefit of the home audience: Most of XM's hardware pricing has come down greatly in the last year as well, but I haven't had an opportunity to check recent prices on XM direct.)
============== markcincinnati wrote: I'll muddle through and if it really is bad, I'll just cancel it altogether -- I have a huge selection of CD's and a small selection of DVD-Audio and DTS CD's from which to choose to while away the hours behind the wheel.
And there's always insert talk show host's name here to listen to -- after all we're in a Red State (no shortage of conservative talk shows). And we even have Al Franken here in conservative German Zinzinnati. ==============
I'm almost certain that you'll love it and wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.
Well, from all of my research it seems all of the major carriers have lousy customer service, with T-Mobile getting slightly better props in that dept. than the others. Verizon is vaunted as best overall call quality, such as fewest dropped calls, best reception, etc. Cingular supposedly has horrible customer service but an enormous network and a good selection of phones. T-Mobile has the smallest network of any of them, and here in Michigan it seems there are many areas outside of the major population centers of Detroit and Grand Rapids that don't get any T-Mobile service at all. Even though I live in the Detroit area, I am outstate fairly often and my phone needs to work out there. Also, besides the Moto A630, I'm not impressed with the T-Mobile phones. Finally, Verizon and Sprint offer "halftooth", meaning most of the Bluetooth functions in their equipped phones are disabled. I have never considered Sprint to be an option.
Despite the awful customer service, I am likely going to take the leap from Verizon to Cingular. I want full Bluetooth and a large network. Cingular seems to be the only carrier offering that combo. Hopefully, I won't need much customer service--I can count on 5 fingers how many times I've called customer service at Verizon over the past 10 years. Maybe I'm crazy for thinking of making a switch.
Just ordered M45 blue sport model. Not sure if I should add pin stripe or not....any thoughts? Will it make the car less "sporty" or "classy"? Do most expensive cars have a pin stripe? Thanks!
I wonder what else will I be missing if I get Verizon. Other than the ability to sync my phone's address book with the car's address book, what other imprtant functions that people normally use often are disabled with Verizon? I think that if the address book is the only one real function, then I may be willing to give it up for the far superior coverage Verizon provides. Thanks.
I used to have a Sony Ericsson T616 and the bluetooth quality on the M was sub par. I recently switched to the Motorola Razr and it was a big improvement. (Not perfect but definitely a lot better)
Anyway, I just scratched my 4-week old M45 on the bumper (also slightly cracked the red plastic cover on the tail light). Fixing the bumper (not replacing) will costs me $375. The shock is that there is no way to just replace the red plastic cover on the tail light - the whole light has to be replaced and it will cost over $300!!!
My dealer quoted me 6.5% for a 39 month lease 12K/year. If I am doing it correctly, that looks like .002708 for money factor on a M45sport. Is he trying to take me for a ride? I am close to ordering a car from them, but if they are trying to work me this late in the game I want to know. I negotiated what I think is a good price, but now this....
My Umbria Grey came with a cool tan and blue very thin pinstripe. I wouldn't have ordered it, but it looks nice. Understated, befitting a classy design.
I snooped around the local Infiniti dealership (yes the Lexus fan had to do it), after checking out the "smallish" trunk with full size spare and the 5-speed not, 6 speed tranny as it's competitors. I noticed a very nice pin stripping on a black on black M45. It was silver and actually had a very small Infiniti logo as part of it, a nice and unique touch. :P
Comments
The one thing we can agree on is we both abandoned our respective German biases in favor of the M. That probably says it all.
I don't think I'll be back to BMW until the iDrive is either gone or perfected; and the interior of the 5s gets a major upgrade.
We'll see.
So, my question to all of you is whether to stick with the original Sirius satelite radio order or go with XM? Your input is appreciated. What is the view of current owners using either XM or Sirius?
I have not had the chance to test this out, as my car is at the dealer getting the splashguards, spoiler, and tints applied today, but maybe a few of you adventurous types will give it a go and get back to us.
This is courtesy of someone by the name of "EdH1":
"I’m working on a better way to get the reverse camera up, but here is one option that does work while in Drive. There are some other items here too that are pretty neat – Additional phone settings, speaker test, mic test, etc . I would recommend you look, but don’t change anything unless you know what you are doing.
First, get in the config / diagnosis mode:
1) Start Car
2) Turn off audio
3) Hold down “Settings” button, then rotate the volume knob until the Configuration/Diagnosis screen comes up
Now You can navigate to the Reverse camera adjustment in the menu system. This will put the cam up while the car is in Drive (not sure if it cuts off at a certain speed). Be careful not to hit any buttons or you will adjust your backup line overlays. Use the back button when you are done to exit out."
Good luck, try not to royally screw up your car's computer, and again, apologies if this violates forum rules.
After now having experienced both, I still prefer Sirius. It has more stations per genre and the comedy stations are MUCH better...XM's seem to be far more family oreinted (cheesy). Not to mention that Sirius has the NFL and college ball (if I remember correctly). XM, in general, is more family oriented with most every station bleeping the curses or racier terms from songs. Kind of annoying.
All in all, if it becomes an "issue" I can always have Sirius installed, but thus far, I think I can manage without it. If you can wait, and it's going to be something that bothers you if you take the XM, then definitely wait. If you are like me, and just can't wait to play with your new toy, then it won't matter (for a while any way.)
I'll let you know if in 81-101 days I wish I had waited for Sirius.
In any case, good luck...you are going to love this car.
I'm going to think about and hopefully weight other inputs from the forum. I do want to get it sooner rather than later, but we're talking about one month, or so, in the whole scheme of things. Luckily I have until around May 19 to make a decision, unless someone just buys what is coming in and makes the decision for me.
Of course there's a little matter of $10,000 difference to overcome.
They’ve both published info about the size of their playlists and music library and there’s no question that XM has much deeper playlists and is therefore more likely to keep surprising with hidden treasures. That’s my experience. As far as the number of music channels, XM has 67, Sirius has 65, and XM has more channels in the genres that I listen to. Personally, I also prefer XM’s comedy, but of course it’s all very subjective.
You can check out their programming guides and judge for yourself at: XM and Sirius
I believe you might also be able to get free online trials to help with this choice.
Regarding sports they each have a good number of college football games, XM has all MLB games, and Sirius has the NFL.
One more point to note is that XM has recently signed a long term deal with Nissan/Infiniti to be their exclusive supplier of digital services via their radio receivers. IMO, that’s why we see so many more Ms shipping with XM. The first service will probably be a live feed of digital traffic info to the NAV system, providing auto routing based on traffic conditions. Other digital services are rumored to include music purchasing and wireless operating system upgrades. Any of these may or may not be upgradeable for existing Ms.
Pete
They will take the headliner down on Thursday and see if they can isolate and fix the problem. Again this wouldn't be a problem except that the car is so solid and quiet inside.
OTOH, it seems dangerous and I don't understand why people insist on building in driver distractions - not just these things we talk about, but the eating, the make-up, the cellphones, etc. - with so much at stake.
/soap box
Wonder what the April sales figures will be like.
If both are equipped with Technology and Journey, I think Sport adds:
Sport steering wheel.
Sport tuned suspension
19 inch wheels / tires.
Sport seats (front and back)
Aluminum accents (pedals, trim)
Rear active steer
And, and about $2800
Has anybody driven a sport and non-sport back to back and what was your opinion?
The Reverse Camera Dilemma? -- my guess is that it is similar to a rearview mirror and would not be illegal like the DVD in driver's line of sight.
Finally, a friend of mine has XM his wife Sirius (one is a GM car, so it HAD to have XM) -- he claims to prefer Sirius; his wife says they are not the same, but that the differences do not mean she would NOT get a car just 'cause it had only XM.
Sounds like Sirius may be anecdotally the favorite. XM does have more subscribers and XM and Sirius now charge the same.
I ordered Sirius, my wife ordered Sirius -- this should be only taken as two votes, because we were influenced by our friends who have both.
Drive it like you live.
To me there was a lot of difference. The sport had much much much more road feel (or something). If felt like a constant uniform bouncing thru the steering wheel. I want to drive another sport model before I make my decision because maybe something was wrong with the tires. The bouncing just seemed "to uniform" to be all from the road so maybe the tires were "out of round" or something. The air pressure showed OK.
The non-sport was much smoother.
I still like the looks of the sport model better...I like the style/look of the 19" wheels (although the same style would look good in 18" IMO) and I like the aluminum trim better than the wood. I am not a big fan of the wheel (style) on the regular M35.
So...I will drive another sport model...and then try to decide between the M35, M35 Sport and the Acura RL.
I as well have a Palm Treo 650 and we were able to make a quick connection to the car from the phone. We didn't have time to attempt to make an outside call with the 650. I pick up the car on Thurs and hope to spend a few hours on some of the tech features. I will let you know how I make out.
The car is awesome and I spent about 6 weeks researching and testing all the major imports in this class. Nothing came close. I'm lucky I made the right choice.
Your call. If you merely prefer black, then consider the Umbria or the Diamond Graphite; one of those would be my second choice....if you put a GUN to my head! lol.
Anyone with an '05 Audi A6 on this Board who would like to trade for the Sirius receiver, let me know and I'll pay the postage and handling for both units!!
IMHO.
LIY
It was almost a toss-up in the decision between the two, but after a second trial, I've decided I will go for the M45 Sport if I ever get one. I tend to prefer sport a little more than luxury. That, and the fact that I really don't care for the Luxury wheels at all; chrome or otherwise. And the money they would charge me just to get some Sport wheels for the Luxury model, I might as well get the Sport.
Quote 1
-XM is definitely the way to go if you listen to music! My wife has XM in her Audi Cab and I just got Sirius in my A6 3.2. The constant repeating of musical selections on stations such as Broadway, Classical Pops, and even Pure Jazz, makes ownership of Sirius, after the first few weeks, a most unpleasant experience. It reminds me of the "Top 40" stations I used to listen to as a child.
Anyone with an '05 Audi A6 on this Board who would like to trade for the Sirius receiver, let me know and I'll pay the postage and handling for both units!!
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Quote 2
Another corner heard from -- the other person's grass is always greener?
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No, I don't think so.
His post is EXACTLY what I was talking about, when I said that XM's playlists are much deeper. You'll never hear a complaint like that re. most XM stations. His sentiments are what I've felt listening to sirius, and never what I've felt listening to XM.
Those thoughts were very much like the complaints of a great many sirius subscribers on a number of threads at a sirius forum, not long ago. OTOH, XM has well over ninety percent user satisfaction.
Pete
Anyone here have access to Verizon's V CAST wireless? Any comments on performance? In my wanderings yesterday I came across the Verizon VZ6600 which has more features than the Treo 650 and (allegedly) will have "instant" internet access and streaming video capability as soon as their V Cast wireless system is up and running here in Tucson (they claim to have the entire US covered by the end of '05). It is working in some major markets around the US (eg, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia) and when driving in those locations the performance is supposed to be stunning. I'm intrigued by this technology because we live in a low density enclave with too few homes to make it worthwhile for the cable company to bring in cable ... so everything we do is on snail-speed phone lines. If this V CAST system is really all it's cracked up to be I'll likely be changing all of my services to Verizon and that would certainly tip the balance toward the VZ 6600. Thoughts? Advice? Experience? Barton
Try to test it in every way you could conceive of using it during the 14 day trial.
P.S. Just saw your last post. If you go with Verizon, check to see what bluetooth features are enabled (and how much you will have to pay to use their other services). They like their various subscriptions.
The Treo 650 is not currently listed as an Infiniti recommended cell
phone. Infiniti will continually evaluate existing and newly released
Bluetooth® phones to help ensure quality operation and compatibility.
There are no Sprint products compatible with Bluetooth® technology. Also,
current Blackberry products listed as an Infiniti recommended cell
phones are models 7100t and 7290. Bart
XM has raised its price to match Sirius. That argument is gone.
The playlist and "depth" have been recently upgraded at Sirius.
OTOH XM has a deeper customer base -- but part of that is because of GM.
I personally don't care one way or another about Howard, but he will be, so the Sirius exec's "wisdom" goes, a magnet for more content.
I have no basis other than as stated for making my choice.
Even after re-reading the endorsement of CARGO magazine, I am positive of ONLY one thing -- there are more similarities than differences. Check out the "analysis" in CARGO -- don't go by me or my friends.
The Audi dealer says that for a while (2004) more cars were delivered with XM than Sirius -- but that is primarily due to the fact that the Audi "buyer" at the dealership had recently come from Cadillac -- and that all he could order was XM, so he kept it up. Recently (2005) my Audi dealer claims that the CUSTOMERS have been asking for Sirius when they special order cars.
One final note: my wife ordered a 2005 from BMW 7 weeks ago -- BMW ONLY supports Sirius; couple this fact with the endorsement by CARGO and our friends (who have one car with each flavor) and the fact that if I ordered my M35X with Sirius we could get a family discount and perhaps you will give me a pass for the way I arrived at my decision to go with Sirius.
Frankly, until my Audi dealer told me that the buyer ordered cars with XM and the customers wanted Sirius, I could've flipped a coin.
The people I know who have Sat Radio love it -- XM or Sirius -- seriously!
LIY
After 10 years with Verizon, I think I'm headed to Cingular and a Motorola Razr. I'd love to hear any feedback anone has on Cingular and Motorola. I'm in metro Detroit.
My wife gets the X3 on Thursday -- I don't get the M35X for probably at least 60 - 80 days. We'll see.
Everyone (whatever that means) raves about the T637.
I do like Classical, Jazz and what used to be called progressive rock -- and I can even tolerate "all the hits all the time" Opera (well, Verdi, at least). Acoustic guitar and woodwinds and some of the "Hearts of Space" are also to my liking.
I hope there is SOMETHING that Sirius does right -- we've already ordered the cars, BMW ONLY offers Sirius, so unless I thought it outright sucked, I would say that we're serious about Sirius.
I hope, as the CARGO review concluded that they are more alike than different -- 'cause we basically can't go back.
1) I only use my cell phone as a phone. I have never yet had the need for a PDA, and I think the idea of a low-res digital camera packaged with a phone is absurd (technology for the sake of technology alone--and weak technology at that).
2) I didn't want to wait five months to switch carriers.
3) I have been happy with Verizon's coverage.
4) It mostly works with the M (with the exception of the phone book transfer)
But as you know, I am shocked at the way Verizon is treating some of their best customers.
You may be surprised, but I believe the dial-up-networking (DUN) profile is enabled for the V710.
Take a close look at the RAZR; I really liked the pics of it, but when I saw it up close and personal, it looked kind of cheap. I thought Cingular's version of Motorola's 5-something (with bluetooth) looked and felt much better (as in durability) up close.
LIY
markcincinnati wrote:
my wife ordered a 2005 from BMW 7 weeks ago -- BMW ONLY supports Sirius; couple this fact with the endorsement by CARGO and our friends (who have one car with each flavor) and the fact that if I ordered my M35X with Sirius we could get a family discount and perhaps you will give me a pass for the way I arrived at my decision to go with Sirius.
==================
Mark
If I were making the decision and the following were true
1) Significant family plan savings (since we already had one brand)
2) The only magazine I read preferred sirius
3) My trusted friends (whose musical tastes were similar to mine) recommended sirius
4) A few other folks I don't know from Adam recommended XM
It seems darned sure that I would go with sirius as well.
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markcincinnati wrote:
The people I know who have Sat Radio love it -- XM or Sirius -- seriously!
==================
That's also a point with which I can completely agree.
[One side note related to a comment above, which is no longer relevant to you but may be useful to some other folks.
XM direct is a third party XM receiver which has full support for BMW satellite ready head units. It can be quickly installed by your BMW dealer, and is indistinguishable from the sirius unit in operation, screen display, preset integration and steering wheel controls. The ONLY differences are (as of when I bought my daughter one for her mini):
- 1 It was half the price (as installed by the mini dealer), then 499 vs 999
- 2 It had 18 rather than 12 presets
- 3 It had a much smaller antenna and installation was faster.
- 4 The (hidden) receiver itself was smaller than the sirius unit
- 5 It plays XM rather sirius ]
In any case I'm very sure you'll love your satellite radio. Enjoy
Pete
You know me, if I have any issues with the Sat Radio, you will hear it here from my fingertips.
I just can't comment and while I do believe "the edmunds" faithful and regular, my personal friends are also to be believed and I have found CARGO magazine to be one of the best magazines "about stuff that we Americans can purchase" I've seen.
For all I know the CARGO write up was a prelude to advertising bucks for CARGO from Sirius. I just doubt it.
Nothing against "our" opinions and experiences here -- the folks that write about this stuff for a living (they get paid to write this stuff, that is) would seem to be at least as well qualified as "we" are. Furthermore, they don't have to defend a purhcahse they made since they usually get to "test drive" the "stuff" and keep the stuff for a time for free (no skin perhaps makes for a more dispassionate and non-defensive approach to product and service recommendations).
I'll muddle through and if it really is bad, I'll just cancel it altogether -- I have a huge selection of CD's and a small selection of DVD-Audio and DTS CD's from which to choose to while away the hours behind the wheel.
And there's always insert talk show host's name here to listen to -- after all we're in a Red State (no shortage of conservative talk shows). And we even have Al Franken here in conservative German Zinzinnati.
I'll be fine.
As badly as I would like to get a "smartphone", I just don' t think that the technology and form factor is there yet. I guess I'll go separate cell & pda for a while longer.
markcincinnati wrote:
For all I know the CARGO write up was a prelude to advertising bucks for CARGO from Sirius. I just doubt it.
Nothing against "our" opinions and experiences here -- the folks that write about this stuff for a living (they get paid to write this stuff, that is) would seem to be at least as well qualified as "we" are. Furthermore, they don't have to defend a purhcase they made since they usually get to "test drive" the "stuff" and keep the stuff for a time for free (no skin perhaps makes for a more dispassionate and non-defensive approach to product and service recommendations).
==============
Like you, I'd tend to assume their sincerity until proven otherwise. And as I said, I'd make exactly the same decision in your situation. Regarding their opinion in the comparison: IMO it just comes down to one's very subjective taste in music, so I view their opinion here as simply one more honest vote among many.
(Re. price and for the benefit of the home audience: Most of XM's hardware pricing has come down greatly in the last year as well, but I haven't had an opportunity to check recent prices on XM direct.)
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markcincinnati wrote:
I'll muddle through and if it really is bad, I'll just cancel it altogether -- I have a huge selection of CD's and a small selection of DVD-Audio and DTS CD's from which to choose to while away the hours behind the wheel.
And there's always insert talk show host's name here to listen to -- after all we're in a Red State (no shortage of conservative talk shows). And we even have Al Franken here in conservative German Zinzinnati.
==============
I'm almost certain that you'll love it and wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.
Pete
Despite the awful customer service, I am likely going to take the leap from Verizon to Cingular. I want full Bluetooth and a large network. Cingular seems to be the only carrier offering that combo. Hopefully, I won't need much customer service--I can count on 5 fingers how many times I've called customer service at Verizon over the past 10 years. Maybe I'm crazy for thinking of making a switch.
Thanks!
Thanks.
I used to have a Sony Ericsson T616 and the bluetooth quality on the M was sub par. I recently switched to the Motorola Razr and it was a big improvement. (Not perfect but definitely a lot better)
Anyway, I just scratched my 4-week old M45 on the bumper (also slightly cracked the red plastic cover on the tail light). Fixing the bumper (not replacing) will costs me $375. The shock is that there is no way to just replace the red plastic cover on the tail light - the whole light has to be replaced and it will cost over $300!!!
Ouch!!
Sticker 49960
sold@ 47000 even
Usual lease terms...
15k miles
39 mth.
.00175
58%
First month, one month security, bank fee+MV fees.
0 cap cost
$631 month
Please advise.
fast---