I love XM Radio! I have been a subscriber since 2001 and I will never own a car without it. In my '89 SPG and my '91 9000, I used the Pioneer IPBus-based XM receiver. This was a box mounted in the trunk that mated to a XM Ready head unit via the Pioneer IPBus cable.

In Spring 2005, I bought a lemon on eBay. A '97 9000 CS. Before finding out about the disastrous water leak it had, I installed a new stereo and XM Radio. This time I went with a Delphi SkyFi2 receiver. This system mounted the small receiver in a cradle on the dash and pushed it's signal through an in-line FM Modulator on the head unit's antenna. Surprisingly, it worked extremely well and the sound quality was awesome. I know that many people do not like the FM Modulators for this application, but I am here to say that they do work without signal loss.

I recently bought a 1999 Saab 9-5 Sedan and once again needed an XM solution. This time, I wanted a clean install without any protrusions on the dash and no exposed wiring. That being said, the Delphi system was out. I found out about Saab's XM offering for the 9-5 while researching different radios on-line. It seems that Saab outsourced the design and construction of an XM faceplate bezel to a company called Pro-Fit. Pro-Fit made the bezel that Saab sells in their XM Radio kit....and that is where your extra $100 goes.

You see, the Saab XM Radio is really a Terk XM Commander.

This is the image from SaabCatalog.com of the XM Radio for $279.

This is the Terk XM Commander that sells at Circuit City for $169.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find Pro-Fit's Saab bezel anywhere except Saab. Pro-Fit will not sell you one directly. So I paid the $279 at my local Saab dealer. They recommended factory installation and noted that the radio would not be guaranteed if I installed it myself. Too bad...I'm not paying $500 (approximate) for a factory install. And now you don't have to either! With some patience, you can install the Saab kit cleanly in your 9-5 too!