davehane
07-21-2009, 11:18 PM
I just bought an '07 A6. It came with NAV but no SAT. So I bought an XM receiver and took it to my local Audi dealer for what I hoped would be a quick and painless installation. They quoted $150 over the phone. That’s when the fun started.
First they told me that because the NAV was dealer installed, they'd have to "splice" the receiver's output into the fiber optics (est. $600 P&L). Then they'd have to rip out the Sirius antenna and install an XM antenna (which required painting, P&L, etc). This was another ungodly amount of money. After thinking about it I'm guessing what these fine fellows wanted was to sell and install a new Sirius module, for the low, low price of around $1300. So much for painless.
Through some research on this site, I've been able to figure out that I only need a splitter to allow the XM receiver to work with the factory installed antenna (not sure where the splitter installs yet). So that suggests that the antenna problem is solved.
Can anyone comment on the dealer's other claim? Does installing a SAT receiver when the NAV system is not factory installed really require splicing fiber cables? Everything I've read on this and other forums suggests the installation is pretty much plug-and-play.
I would really, really like to get this to work myself and then pay a return visit to the rep that tried to sell me that bill of goods. Or better yet, get the dealer to do it for no cost when I show them how they weren't straight with me.
First they told me that because the NAV was dealer installed, they'd have to "splice" the receiver's output into the fiber optics (est. $600 P&L). Then they'd have to rip out the Sirius antenna and install an XM antenna (which required painting, P&L, etc). This was another ungodly amount of money. After thinking about it I'm guessing what these fine fellows wanted was to sell and install a new Sirius module, for the low, low price of around $1300. So much for painless.
Through some research on this site, I've been able to figure out that I only need a splitter to allow the XM receiver to work with the factory installed antenna (not sure where the splitter installs yet). So that suggests that the antenna problem is solved.
Can anyone comment on the dealer's other claim? Does installing a SAT receiver when the NAV system is not factory installed really require splicing fiber cables? Everything I've read on this and other forums suggests the installation is pretty much plug-and-play.
I would really, really like to get this to work myself and then pay a return visit to the rep that tried to sell me that bill of goods. Or better yet, get the dealer to do it for no cost when I show them how they weren't straight with me.