Help with stereo..
 

bran new the forums, and i have a question for you guys..

i recently bought a 2006 mazda3, and at the time of purchase was told that it was possible to hook up an mp3 player to the factory stereo. Well today im being told mazda does not have such a cable, nor does our local mazda car audio guys in town. Mazda tells me the 2007 models can do this, but not the 2006's..

I want to hook up my Creative Zen Vision:M (just a plain headphone jack like an ipod would use) to the car but can't apparently. I have sat & media buttons on the dash, both do nothing (i didn't take the Sat radio at the time of purchase)

anyone have any sugguestions?

RE: Help with stereo..
 

You've fallen prey to a pretty common problem, notibly that your salesman doesn't actually know the product that he's selling. If you want to be confrontational you could go to them and argue that you were told that the car was mp3 capable, and that that was a selling point for you.

If you don't want to bother with the run around at the dealership then just check out THIS thread. There are multiple audio input options for the Mz3 ranging from simple inputs to full ipod integration. I personally have the auxmod basic which works perfectly with my car. My wife also has a vision:M. ;)

Also check the FS sections on some of the mazda forums. HERE's a FS thread on the msprotege forum for a PIE adapter.

Let me know if I can help you out any more.

RE: Help with stereo..
 

so you'd recommend i go bitch or just get a auxmod basic? :)

how's the installation on one of these?

RE: Help with stereo..
 

I doubt that complaining to the dealer is gonna help much. If you don't have something in writing, it turns into a case of "he said". Yeah, just look into one of the other ways to integrate your mp3 player.

RE: Help with stereo..
 

I called my original sales guy yesterday and he's "looking into a solution" for me.. said he'd get back to me asap. I thought it was kind of funny though, he completely admitted & agreed that we had talked about this, and he said he remembers talking to his "audio guy" and he said it could be done, so he apologized for it.

so who knows. i ordered the auxmod basic yesterday regardless, looks like a quick 10minute installation too..

thanks guys.

RE: Help with stereo..
 

Sounds like he made an honest mistake (between 06 and 07) and is willing to admit it. That's rare!

RE: Help with stereo..
 

It took me less than 5 minutes to remove the dash/center console panels/HU. Took me about 10 minutes to decide where I wanted to cable to come out of and run it. I just ran it a couple of different places and saw which I liked better. It plugs right into the TAPE/MD slot. make sure it's seated correctly and then push the included foam tape against the back of the HU to hold it in place. The connector won't click when it goes in place, so don't keep pushing it expecting it to say "Okay, I'm in". A couple of people have broken them while doing that.

The dealer will probably tell you that there's nothing they can do to give you the '07 ACI. I don't know if anyone's actually tested the ACI with an older HU, but beyond that you'd need a whole new center console to get the plugs in the bin. If they really feel like helping you out then see if they'll cover the cost of your AuxMod by giving you a free mazda accessory of the same price.

If they do somehow provide you with something then you can always sell the AuxMod as they drop out of production every couple of months due to difficulties in sourcing the connectors from the manufacturers.