Hey all! I'm an old Mercedes guy who has returned after making the mistake of buying a BMW. I strayed from the path and ended up buying a 530i (E60) and it was the biggest piece of garbage that I have ever driven. Just this past weekend I made an impulsive move: ditched the junk BMW and picked up a new 2011 C300 4MATIC Sport Sedan on lease.

I didn't go all out with the options, as much as I wanted to. They had the exact color I was looking for (black exterior with black/grey interior) on the lot, and it had the only feature that I absolutely demanded which was iPod connectivity. I didn't want to have to wait for them to get in the exact configuration I wanted because the BMW was a piece of trash and absolutely needed to go. Afterward I decided I really would have liked the Sirius/XM option.

When re-registering my owner's account on mbusa, I asked the rep I was speaking with about getting the Sirius/XM option installed. She said she wasn't sure, and she put me on hold to check. She came back a few minutes later and said that it would be possible to do on my car, but the dealer would have to install some prewiring kit (which I believe is the terminology she used).

I called up the service advisor at my dealership and he wasn't sure about it either. I told him what the rep from Mercedes said, so he checked with his techs and came back with a mixed result: one guy said yes, the other guy said it couldn't be done. After researching it further, he said he found that it was not possible with my car but with "older models" it was something they could do.

I called back Mercedes to try to get clarification and spoke with a different rep. That rep put me on hold, came back, and said that it can't be done.

So I'm curious: is that accurate? It seems weird that they can't install the module for it and activate it on the car. I imagine it's also possible that the antenna would need to be replaced but that ought to be doable too. I thought that maybe it had something to do with the car being a lease, but the more I thought about it that didn't make sense either.

I'm reminded of a similar situation that I dealt with on my last Mercedes. I had a C230K Coupe with the standard audio system. I was told repeatedly that it was not possible to install the COMAND system on it. With a little help from the Internet and eBay, I found a suitable COMAND unit and installed it myself. The dealership techs were apparently impressed enough that they reprogrammed the car for me to activate the features at no charge.

It seems like the dealerships are quick to say something's not possible, so I'm not sure if this is another one of those cases. Any suggestions on how I can get a straight answer? Thanks!

 

Not sure if it can be done or not. However, you have another option. Since you insisted on having iPod connectivity, I am assuming you have an iPhone. If you do, have you consider getting Sirius/XM on your iPhone?

http://www.siriusxm.com/oniphone/ind...m_campaign=APP

I am not associated with SiriusXM. Just making a suggestion...

 

Of course its possible. Just at what length/cost would you be willing to go to do it. The antenna definitely has the be changed from the plastic black am/fm antenna to the gloss black am/fm/sirius antenna. Aside from that I imagine you would have to remove the comand system and attach the new wiring to the ports in the back and then reflash the audio 20 system with new firmware telling it that it has sirius option installed.

That is, unless there are two different audio 20 systems, one for sirius enabled cars and one without it. But I highly doubt that, probably just an extra harness along with the antenna. Worst comes to worst you buy an audio 20 system that already has sirius enabled.

But I think this should actually be a relatively task, you could probabyl even do most, if not all of it yourself, besides for the programming. I agree that most of the time it seems like people just give the easy answer of "no" even when they don't know. I hate that, if you don't know or if you're too lazy to figure it out and do it, then don't tell me that. Just tell me you don't know and to ask someone else or refer me elsewhere...

 

Thanks for the input so far, guys.

Regarding cost, that was something I was concerned about. I was figuring it'd be either stupidly cheap and simple, or ridiculously expensive and complicated. I had a similar problem with my POS BMW, but with that car, installing satellite radio after the fact should have been cheap if I had gotten my E60 model three months later than I did. Instead, it was going to cost me (no joke) about $11,000 between parts and labor, and that's if the dealership was even willing to put in the hours required to do the work. heh. Needless to say, I respectfully declined. I love my Sirius/XM, but not that much!

Realistically I'm thinking I'd be willing to spend up to around $1k to get the option retrofit. Especially now with C300S 6MT's suggestion in mind, if it's that simple, I'd be willing to try that option as a plan B before pursuing an aftermarket option. I know the aftermarket units are very good and have really slimmed down in size, but it's still a bunch of extra crap that I need to find a spot for inside the car. What can I say? I'm a stickler for seamless integration of these sorts of systems.

 

By the way, I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-...o#ht_762wt_988

But I have no idea if that's what I need. And as you mentioned, the antenna is another likely complication.

 

I subscribed to StarTekInfo for the day hoping to find some documnts or bulletins that help but so far I haven't found anything useful. :\

EDIT: Actually, maybe I found something. I downloaded a telematics component list that said it included the W204. It doesn't have a specific section for the W204 but all of the vehicles seem to use the same part numbers for the "SDARS Satellite Radio - Gen3" which also says "Any receiver can be selected based on availability." So I'm assuming it uses the same Sirius module regardless of the head unit in the vehicle?

Part numbers shown:
A211 870 33 89
A211 870 67 90