A coworker of mine and I started talking after I mentioned that I eventually wanted to get the upgraded pioneer radio from scion that would allow me to connect my ipod to it.

He then asked how much it cost, and I said $260 for the upgrade. He asked me if it was an upgrade, or a replacement.

Now here is my question. The $260 that the dealers want to charge, is that to give me the upgraded radio and they let me keep my stock radio (to sell as I choose) or is it $260 plus having to give the stock radio back?

 

You don't keep the stock radio. But the charge is mostly b/c they install a new jack in the center console for the iPod. The headunit might even be the same one for both.

 

Dude just buy a deck with aux in

 

no, because I actually want the ipod controls ON THE RADIO.

Is there a way to get the people to install the jack in my glove box so I don't even have to look at the ipod?

 

edit. double post.

 

You won't have to look at it, it's inside the center console... under the armrest.

 

The $260 is the difference in price between the two head units, not the actual cost of the upgrade - so think of the 'upgrade' being the old head unit plus $260...

 

When most Scions arrive, they have no stereo at all. If you pay the extra $260, they install the nicer of the two choices, along with the center-console outlet. Otherwise, they install the cheaper of the two. They are 2 entirely separate (though similar) units, and either way you go, you only get one of them.

However, for what it's worth, looking back, I can't say I would spring for the ipod if I had it to do over again. While it is nice, the HU interface is severely crippled, compared to the native interface of the ipod. The killer is that you only see and scroll one line at a time, so if you're trying to get to a group/album/song towards the end of the alphabet, you have to keep turning the dial for a really, really long time to get there (where you can do it in a second on the ipod, since the scroll speed accellerates).
Also, the main menu on the HU only offers Playlists, Artist, Album and Song- neglecting Podcast, Genre and Composer, which just happen to be the options I use most of the time.
All things being equal, I'd say you're probably better off holding out for the Harmon-Kardon Drive+Play solution when it arrives....

 

I agree the ipod HU is crippled. I didn't catch that there was no podcast directory in it's list. One way I found to circumvent this problem is to create a smart playlist with the genre set to "podcast". While not as good as the true podcast directory it makes it easier to get to than scrolling through the artist name until I find the podcast of my choice.