yikes

hi

for you guys who have installed the mcsII comand, why is it neccessary to install an after market gps antenna under the dash? i guess what im asking is....why cant you put or use the antenna where ever the oem factory location is? is it too difficult to do?

thanks

Diesel Benz

Which car model? The OEM roof antenna could be easy to install, but it could be difficult too. Anything is possible but if a retrofit guide suggests to use an antenna at the instrument cluster area, the OEM antenna would likely be too difficult/costly for an average workshop to install.

yikes

hi

actually every retrofit post ive seen has involved this gps antenna under dash or somewhere other than where factory would put it.
im interested mainly in the 07 c280

thanks

acr2001

The stock GPS antenna for the W203 would be located on the rear windshield. They (the factory) put it on the left or right side (I forget) up where the rear windshield goes behind the headliner so that it is hidden. To do this you would have to run the wire across the headliner to one of the front pillars, down the pillar and into the dash. This is NOT an easy task. It is much easier to install the antenna behind the instrument cluster. The signal strength you can expect with it mounted there is pretty close to identical. I'm just full of information for you today!!!

yikes

that you are thanks...

not too long ago i was looking into a oem phone kit and wanted some info to make sure parts number matched. well the guy told me.....that he wouldnt do that and for me to do my own research. now i had every intentions on buying the kit from him if the parts numbers match...i personally could cares less otherwise. anyway what im trying to say is i appreciate all the info you have given me in the last few days...

acr2001

Sure!

On the phone kit issue, you are likely to have some serious problems with that because you have an 07. From what I know they removed the double center console (the portion that used to house the phone / bluetooth module. They also removed the prewiring, the antenna, and I'm not sure, but possibly the microphone array under the rear view mirror. Without those things I think it would be quite a project to get the factory phone system installed.

yikes

here invoice says phone ready or something like that. the double console does exist on her car. so i think shes lucked out on that. im not sure abotu the rest of the stuff you mentioned...but i hope phone ready means just that...

thanks

acr2001

If it has the double console and says ready for phone then never mind what I said - it should be good to go. That makes no sense to me though, as all of the 2007 c classes I have been in had none of that because it was removed as a cost cutting measure. Actually, I'm sure it was still available as an option just no longer standard, maybe the car was ordered with that option. I wonder how much extra it added to the cost?

yikes

once my wife gets her car back from service....ill take a look at her sticker. shes left it in her glove box and been there ever since. the one thing im 100% positive about is seeing that it said something like phone ready on the sticker.

yikes

im looking at her sticker and her pre wired phone/UHI is bundled with something called optional equipment and value added packages. 320 entertainment package: cd changer, h/k 320 watt, 12 speakers, logic 7, sirius, and the UHI/phone pre wiring. the charge was $1,460.00.