Decided to buy but......................
 

Test drove the 8 today,and with the gas and oil negatives aside decided I'am in.Except for the base radio which is not what I like and there in is the hold back.It would seem that to replace the radio with a good aftermarket would be a real pain for one,heres the problem;was told that if I replaced the radio say bye-bye to the waranty.Never heard of anything like that so what the heck to do???????

Who told you that the sales guy. They are stupid. I have never heard of this with anybody here on the forum.

That a crock of BS. Warranty is good, except for the radio you pulled out.

The parts manager said that it was a intergrated system thus the voided waranty,even so how the heck would you up grade the sound system anyway??Other then that loved the car,any with the s plan plus 3000 dollar rebate and the 500 dollar cupond no doc fee it might get off the ground.

honestly--all that needs to be upgraded on the base system is your speakers. Maybe add a sub/amp setup--but for everyday use a simple speaker change will suffice--unless you are lookin for competition level sound.

I added a single Kicker 10" woofer and an Orion 200w amp to the base stereo system. Sounds great! About $200 worth of mods. Installed myself.

why do people keep thinking that oil is an issue?

The parts manager is full of dung. Sure, change the stereo and you have no more stereo warranty (just like if you change the tires and you have no more tire warranty). But if you keep the old radio/tires and replace it/them right before taking it in for warranty work, who's gonna know? :D

If you don't feel up to it, I'm sure there are stereo dealers in the area who will install for you. (Of course this depends on where you live.)

haha, i agree.

when it doesn't use oil, then it's an issue :D

Lets change things around a bit.

If you make changes to all your radio presets, then your engine died, I'd be willing to bet whoever you spoke with would also claim your warrantee would be voided.

In reality, a radio swap isn't going to void anything besides your stereo system.

Actually I have heard of a couple times where dealers denied claims on electrical issues because of aftermarket stereo systems. Overall though you're going to be fine but you may want to find yourself another Mazda dealer to buy from because these guys sound a little uptight.

Yeah, if you fuck with your system, then suddenly your turn signals don't work, or something like that, then you're going to have to pay for it. But I don't see any way to connect your stereo with your powertrain.

lol if you can connect your stereo with your powertrain...damn man you are GOOD:p

My car audio shop offered to build a new console face that would include a new audio head unit. Everything above the climate controls would be new and be painted and plastic matched. Cost was about $1,000, not including the new radio head unit. I like to keep the look of the dash stock even though it would be great to have a new head unit. But, that's just an option.

What I DID do was replace the front stock speakers (I did not get the Bose system) with Boston Acoustics 6.5" components. The stock were 5x7s but the shop built lexan plates to mount the new BAs. Then I added a 10" JL sub in the trunk and powered all speakers with an Alpine 500W 4channel amp (also mounted in the trunk). They also built a cover that velcro mounts on top of the amp so I can still use the trunk space. See attached pics (my first attempt at uploading pics, hope it works!).

This set-up sounds wonderful and 1000% better than what was running stock.

very well done,
if you just could have made the sub look like your spare tire kit it would be perfect.

little jealous
beers

Thanks for the advise on upgarding the speakers,and adding a sub woofer.I called the mazda dealer today about the waranty issue and what the said today is if the new system affected any electrical system then it would void it.