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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?
---------------------
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.
==================
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---