I just bought a 2006 Prius which has the satellite radio button below the navigation screen. The Toyota site shows that factory XM will be available in April. The dealer let me buy the XM when I bought the car last week but now cannot give me a delivery date. Does anyone have any firm info on when it will be available? Thanks!
I am hoping for an integrate Sirius unit. I have a lifetime sub but its sitting in a box waiting. I wouldn't mind if it could do both XM and Sirius. then I could get baseball and football.
I was going to wait to have the official Toyota-installed XM, but I had a ~1000 mile round trip road trip last weekend, and was really hoping to have it installed by then (this was back when Toyota estimated that it would be available in March). Instead, I purchased a factory Toyota XM kit from MetroTPN.com and had it installed by an audio/alarm guy who works for various Toyota dealers that are nearby. The only visible piece of hardware is the antennae (receiver?). This 2"x 2"x 3/4" square black thing on the roof of my car, just above the rear windshield on the passenger side. It is integrated into the touch screen, and you can also use the steering wheel functions to scroll thru your preset selections. You get 3 Satellite modes, Sat 1, Sat 2, and Sat 3, each with 6 presets. You guys will LOVE it! Hopefully by the time Toyota officially begins installing the systems, they'll have figured out how to avoid the 10-character limitation for song titles and artists, which is only a minor annoyance but should be avoidable.
I just installed the Vais Tech SLX for XM Radio. http://priuschat.com/Vais-Tech-SoundLinQ-S...led-t17555.html
I installed the XM kit that I got from MetroTPN last year myself, and I have to say that the process is not that bad...it took me about 3 hours, and there is a lot of panels that you have to pop off to get to the radio, but if you have patience then basically anyone can do it by consulting a guide (try searching this site or MetroTPN for ideas). You can get the radio itself for around $250, and I see no reason for it to cost an additional $350 to be installed - any stereo installation place should be able to do it.
I bought the same radio kit, but paid $200 to have it installed by a Toyota audio/alarm guy vs the quotes of $300-400 I was getting from other audio places. I'm not the least bit handy, and quite fearful of even the most minor taking apart of anything in or on the car, so that money paid was for my peace of mind that it was being done correctly and I wouldn't have to see a portion of my car removed. Took him ~45 minutes to do.
The Vais Tech does Not have a 10 character limit. I think it has a 16 maybe 18-character limit. As far as the radio goes, it acts the exact same, as the Toyota except Sat 3 is an Aux in.