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Volvo V70 Audio & Entertainment Questions

cheapskate7cheapskate7 Member Posts: 25
edited March 2014 in Volvo
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.
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Comments

  • volvomaxvolvomax Member Posts: 5,238
    The prewire kit only allows for the future installation of Volvo's own Sirius headunit.
    This unit won't be available until sometime after the first of the year. So far no one is willing to say exactly when.
  • negativenegative Member Posts: 107
    I was told by someone at Volvo's customer service line (who checked with a supervisor while I held) that once the Sirius equipment is available, the head unit (the equipment in the dash) won't have to be changed. The Sirius tuner will go in the trunk, and the current equipment will be able to switch to it once it's installed. He didn't say where the Sirius box will go in the wagons, and I didn't ask.
  • bpwrightwvbpwrightwv Member Posts: 17
    according to the news release at Sirius, your radio head unit will be Sirius ready, meaning it will display song titles, etc etc, but you will still need a tuner and the car will be pre-wired to allow for easy install of the tuner by the dealer.

    Sirius and XM are not interchangeable.

     

    http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Cache- dPage&c=PresReleAsset&cid=1097008932882
  • blueovalnutblueovalnut Member Posts: 7
    I have a V70 2.5T on order and had inquired about the satellite equipment.

    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
  • blueovalnutblueovalnut Member Posts: 7
    I have a little more info now.

    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
  • volvonewbie1volvonewbie1 Member Posts: 1
    Blueovalnut --

    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.
  • blueovalnutblueovalnut Member Posts: 7
    Nube-

    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
  • drewxcdrewxc Member Posts: 2
    My local dealer says satellite radio cannot be amortized in lease, so you basically pay for installation and radio and then give it back to volvo after 3 years --- doesn't sound right!

    Anyone else get a different story?
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    That's sound right if it isn't a Volvo accessory. IIRC, the Edmunds' test Caravan they had a couple of years back didn't allow for any residual on the dealer installed entertainment system - a Chrysler accessory.
  • volvomaxvolvomax Member Posts: 5,238
    Any dealer installed item can't be residualized.
  • blueovalnutblueovalnut Member Posts: 7
    The previous few posts are correct.

    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
  • volvomaxvolvomax Member Posts: 5,238
    Actually, they will amoritize the factory NAV system. However, they will deduct 2 points off the residual for having it.
    Generally, when we lease a NAV equipped car we send the lease to a bank.
  • blueovalnutblueovalnut Member Posts: 7
    I don't have any reason to disbelieve what volvomax said, so I am not challenging the validity of the statement.

    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
  • volvomaxvolvomax Member Posts: 5,238
    Your dealer was wrong.
  • cligoziocligozio Member Posts: 1
    I just purchased a 2006 V70 2.4 with the satellite radio prep. Does anyone know if the sirius receiver is a DIY installation? I thought that I read somewhere that the volvo head unit needs to be reprogrammed to recognize the satellite radio. Also, does the sirius radio accessory package include an antenna? Does it need to be wired?

    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.
  • spsimsspsims Member Posts: 5
    I have the Sirius in my XC70. I suppose it could be a DIY, there are instructions with the kit on how/where to install it. I had the dealer do it. The car does have to be programmed to recognize the satellite radio so the dealer will be involved somewhere along the line. You'll end up with SAT1 SAT2 and SAT3 in addition to AM1, AM2, FM1, FM2, FM3. The supplied antenna is big and ugly and doesn't seem to work as well as the mag mount antenna that came with portable Sirius player - but that could be the receiver itself and not the antenna.

    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?
  • spsimsspsims Member Posts: 5
    Just noticed I could get a display of Title, Artist, etc. by pressing the RND button. It cycles the SAT display around and is very useful when trying to find the right football game on a Sunday afternoon.

    Still wish it would scroll, but at least I can get the information.
  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372
    As part of theforums reorganization, we've split the XC70 discussions out into their own group. Those new discussions can be found at the main Volvo XC70 Group page.

    I've renamed this discussion to reflect that fact that it will now deal exclusively with audio/entertainment questions for the V70.
This discussion has been closed.

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