stanatl

That's interesting. They put the antenna on the side of the trunk hood. I've seen other installations where it was installed in the middle on the back of the trunk hood by the rear window.

Any reason why they put it there?

ffitzgerald

The installer who had been trained at the Lexus school said:

--It had to be clear of the back window with the embedded antenna and defrost for the best signal.

--It was close to the tunner which is mounted in the trunk lid above the trim piece.

--It was placed to avoid the trunk lid bracing.

--They don't have to drill holes to get the antenna wire into the trunk/tunner. The trunk is prewired for the tunner in this location.

While this is not the best looking antenna/position, it functions very well. In 6 months of use I have had no dropouts. We are far enough from Chicago that we are receiving from the satellite rather than the repeaters. The only time I lose the signal is under big steel gas station canopies.

tc04ls

I had my XM Radio installed at delivery. My dealer placed the antenna at the front edge of the trunk lid, in the center, just below the center stop light. To my eyes, it looks fine and well integrated.
I would highly recommed the XM Radio. After having my LS for about 5,000 miles, I find I listen to XM about 90% of the time. The sound quality is as good as CD's and the variety of channels available should suit anyone's taste.
It is extremely well integrated into the head unit, with three seperate banks of six stations each, similar to FM1 and FM2, except they are SAT1, SAT2 and SAT3. They can be accessed by the AM/SAT button on the audio control panel or through voice activation via "Sattelite Radio One", "Sattelite Radio Two", or "Sattelite Radio Three".
I do find that I have occassional drop outs, usually when the car is headed due South. My guess is that the roof of the car shields the antenna in this orientation. But the problem is minimal. I probably get about 30 seconds of drop outs for every hour of listening.

GS Doug

Hey, tc041s, would you mind posting a picture of your antenna installation? Thanks.

GS Doug

Well, just got the factory satellite radio installed in my new LS. The setup was an anniversary gift from my girlfriend. I'm including some pictures of the new system. I have to say that I like it so far, although I've only had it installed for a few hours. I do wish there was an integrated antenna, but the dealer did a nice job with the installation.

GS Doug

Here is another picture.

GS Doug

One more.

GS Doug

And one last picture. I have yet to figure out how to display the complete text info for the artist name and song title.

clambros

In answer to the 10 character display issue .... Bummer huh ?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Mr. Lambros,

Thank you for contacting Lexus Customer Satisfaction regarding your 2004 LS 430. I have researched information on the characters displayed on your XM Satellite Radio. When viewing the text of the dealer-installed optional Lexus XM Satellite Radio, up to 10 characters each of the song title and artist name can be displayed. Also, the displayed title and name fields do not have the ability to scroll. The Lexus system differs from after-market XM Satellite Radio equipment, which has 16 characters that can be displayed for each field.

If you have any further concerns, you can also reach the Lexus Customer Satisfaction Department at 1-800-255-3987, Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time.

Sincerely,
Lizette Ezrre
Customer Satisfaction Representative

GS Doug

That sucks. How hard would it be to fill up the rest of that box with text, and why would they limit the display to a paltry 10 characters? It seems like it should be a simple fix.

AggieLS

Would certainly seem so for techno wizards. What kind of pricing did the dealer charge you for adding it? I'm interested in XM since I live in a rural area and the reception is ok at best here are regular radio on my '04 LS Custom?

GS Doug

As I said earlier, it was a gift, but I believe is was about $700 including labor.

quietcool

I did some researching and may have found the aftermarket option related to by Lexus customers service reply to a fellow member.
The LEXXMv3 support 16-text characters and it also has an auxiliary audio input for my Pod..
Has anyone installed this in their car? The radio displays on the manual looks similar to those shown on here..

Quiet!

bmacpherso

My friend is a lexus master-tech and said the LEXXM is the way to go. I bought a 2005 LS430 and the dealer told me there was a way to install the satellite radio without any of the goofy looking antennas on the outside of the car. I have to admit, I like the look of my car too much to ruin it with a satellite antenna on the trunk.

Another thing i'm surprised with is the inability of the cd player to recognize mp3's. My wife just got an infiniti m45 and the cd player recognizes mp3s. Why is it lexus is always so far behind with this type of technology? That being said I'm still a lexus customer after owning a 1990 LS400, 1991 LS400, 1998 LS400 and my current 2005 LS430. I guess I'm supporting their lack of technology.

SDLS430

Anyone use the viastech XM radio option? I'm think about going this route since you can also add a IPOD input. If so does it use the dealer installed presets so it functions like the dealer version?

Sam