Just brought home our new non-nav 2006 Civic Hybrid. The radio says xm ready but can't seem to get it to work. How do you turn on the xm radio? Pushing the button does nothing.

 

You don't. XM ready does not mean available. On the Hybrid the option is about $900 for the component and installation. All the other Civic they just punch in a code and it's activated. It already comes with the component installed.

 

Is it possible to buy the component after market? Can I install it myself? Has anyone looked into this?

 

There are a number of places to buy the parts:

http://www.collegehillshonda.com/civ...lectronics.htm

It looks complicated to install. Check out the installation PDF on the same page. I think most are simply going to purchase a Roady or something and plug it into the Aux jack.

 

AZmerf: Thanks for all the info. My wife is very dissapointed to have found out that every 06 civic has XM radio installed but the Hybrid version. 900.00 is a lot of money. I guess we'll get a portable model and velcro it to the area in front of the shifter. By the way I read the directions for the install and you're correct in that it's a complicated install. Oh well....

 

It is totally stupid for us to have to pay $900 just for the priviledge of spending $13 a month for radio. My own personal opinion was because the Hybrids were built in Japan, there was a logistical error in getting the units over there for installation before the car was built. At least they should say something like, as someone already suggested, "XM compatible" to be more clear.

 

I don't believe that makes any sense.

Here's a thought. If the sales materials and owner manuals for the HCH and the other Civic models say the same thing about the "XM Ready" radio, but the HCH requires $900 more to make it really ready, do we have a case for a class action suit against Honda for deceptive advertising?

 

Just to clarify, only the Civic coupe (2 door) comes with XM built in. All the other models are XM Ready.

 

I finally came to the realization that spending THAT kind of $$$ was absurd, when I currently own a Roady which works fine. I've had my Roady sitting in the center console cupholder area, with wires running everywhere and the antenna sitting on the passenger seat (getting very poor reception!).

Today, I decided to do the REAL installation. I quickly decided that the magnet mount antenna would NOT be going on the roof. There's just no way to get the wire into the car neatly. Sooooooo.... I mounted it on the rear deck under the back glass. Strung the wire under the trim, then down the rear seat back, down to the rear door sill, up to the front and under the glove box and on into my new mount area for the Roady...
The Roady was tricky to mount with a "professional" look. I built a brushed aluminum bracket and mounted the device to the bracket with two screws (hidden from rear). The top of the bracket mounts to the top of the center console storage bin... just behind the shift lever... using double sided foam tape. It's right next to the power and the AUX, so it's really simple to get the wires there cleanly.

Looks great, and the reception is perfect. There's still access to the storage area, so I didn't even lose that space! Incidentally, I mounted the antenna to the back of the deck with a little bit of the double sided tape, as the magnet doesn't do anything (the deck is plastic!). The tucked-in wiring would have prevented the antenna from moving around, but the tape just keeps it secured.

Net result is that I now have XM working with a good looking installation... for no cost (just my existing Roady). The volume control is integrated (works off the steering wheel controls)... but obviously, it's not integrated with the NAVI for changing XM channels. I need to press the buttons on the Roady for that... but they're really easy to reach (with hand resting on the parking brake).

If anyone needs to see photos, let me know and I'll take 'em and post 'em.

 

Thanks for reminding me that I could mount the antenna to the rear deck. I did that in my 99 Maxima and received decent reception. How does your Roady sound broadcasting over FM? Is there static? While an auxillary tuner, like yours works, I still think it's ludicrous that we have to play these games and compromises by using FM. I'm sure the signal is compressed too.