The CD player in Mr. S’s car is shot. No display, so can’t tune the radio or surf CDs very well, and the CD buttons don’t work very well anymore either. This stinks because Mr. S is quite the music lover and spends 40 minutes in the car every day commuting to work.
I’m thinking about getting him some kind of satellite radio gizmo for Christmas. However, I’m not going to install or hardwire anything into a car that’s approaching 200K miles. Am I reading the information correctly to mean that you can get satellite radio gadgets for your car that are self-contained, speaker(s) and all? Just plug it into the cig lighter, Velcro it to the dash, and you’re good to go? Or am I missing something?
If I’m not insane (and mods, this is IMHO territory, so feel free to move the thread if it goes in this direction), I’d love to get some recommendations. Mr. S is not a gadgety type, so simple is better.
Mine, an XM Roady2 (I think about $50 right now), can play though the FM radio of the car. It broadcasts a localized FM signal on a particular station (which you can control). You tune the car’s radio in to that station and hear the music.
If, with the broken display, you could find one station that worked (so you didn’t have to turn it back and forth), this might be a good solution for you.
Its not a big deal to put in or remove a car stereo. Just think how fast those kids can do it. A stereo place might be able to install it for free and you can remove it yourself if you want to move it to another car.
If you don’t like that option, there is still plenty of options available. There are small, portable units that can broadcast to an unused FM frequency to the stereo already there.
Yeah, I did think about that, but it would also be neat to take it with us in the van, which is our “traveling in comfort” vehicle. The van’s CD player works fine, but sometimes you just want random tunes, and broadcast radio around here SUCKS.
Thanks guys – now I have something to check into the next time I get to the Big City without hubby in tow.
200,000 miles doesn’t always have to be the end of the line. Most Hondas, Toyotas, and Nissans are good until they rust out and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Chevy that made it to 250,000.
True – the van (a 1993 Dodge Caravan) is at something like 206K and still going gangbusters. But the car is a 4-cylinder 1995 Ford (Found On Road Dead, Fix Or Repair Daily) Aspire; the tiny engine is still running OK but the car’s kind of a piece of shit too. If hardwired were the only option, I’d consider it more strongly, but since there are others, I’ll probably go that way.
Both XM and Sirius have available receivers with an FM transmitter built in. So don’t worry about getting the signal to the radio, decide what programming you want and whether you like the hardware.