06 Mazda 2 Sakata Radio Not working.

[KingJ]

Hi,

I am the proud owner of this brilliant little car (the Mazda 2 Sakata 1.4 ). I abosutley love it, I love it so much it gets a clean and hoover literally every weekend!

I just have the one problem with it, and that's the radio. I bought the Car in January from a very good friends friend (who we met at his weedding) He bought the Car brand new in 2006 and has looked after it since. Anyway - to cut a long story short. We bought the Car from him in January and got a phone call the day before we bought the car, we had the previous own on the phone explaining that the Radio was shot, he found a replacment unit (referbished job) on Ebay at $500 (plus shipping), and would we mind ? WE said Yes... anyway he knocked the 300quid off the price for this radio replacement.

Having said Ohh a radio doesn't matter, it does! this is the car that i learnt to drive in, and passed my test last week and want to drive arround listerning to my iPod, but can't as the radio is broken :'(


I tought that I could buy a radio and put it in, so bought a Radio from Halfords: They then had a look for me about fitting the radio, and said that if i wanted a radio fitting I would need to have the whole centre panel removed and replaced. They had a look in their cataglouge, and there was one for the car (according to their guide it would fit). but on comparing the one they had to the one that I have already in there car its not the same?

I was thinking about what they said, and thought, well a New panal new is 500 from my Mazda garage, their must be an alterneitive to this. When I had the MOT done a few weeks I asked them to have a look at the eletrics and their isn't anything obvious that is wrong with the car. Therfore If anyone here can come up with a solution then I would be forever grateful.

Does anyone else's constantly have the problem of the seat belt light flashing when they turn the engine off... I am sure that this has what caused my battery to go flat. It shouldn't go flat after a week should it ?


I enclose some pictures of my pride and joy about my Radio.

Edit: I rang the Mazda Garage, and they said that the whole unit needed replacing, at 900 + fitting! So i thought that I would ask a second opinion.




Thank you


John

 

[chuyler1]

We're mostly U.S. guys on this forum. We only recently got the Mazda2 in the U.S. Most of the new Mazdas require a dash kit to install an aftermarket radio. The dash kit replaces part of the plastic panel of the center console along with any buttons like the hazzard flasher that were attached to the original. The kits range from $15 to $200 depending on the vehicle and how much electronics have to be duplicated on the new panel. The dash kit will leave you with what they call a DIN opening. It is specific dimensions to accept any aftermarket radio. A new radio can cost anywhere from $100-400 depending on the features you want (iPod compatibility, HD Radio, etc). So all told, it could cost anywhere from $215 to $600 in parts. Installation will cost extra.

If I did my calculations from to $, it looks like you are getting ripped off. I would never pay $1,400 US just to get music in my car. There must be a specialty car audio shop near you that could give you a better estimate.