Oooh there she is!

Well first step is to take the radio out...best buy wanted to charge me $50 bucks to do it and I said screw that and went to the dealer where they did it for free!!

Radio fully removed with the Metra 9003 wiring harness

I tapped into the 75X with my accesory wire from the harness and off the headunit and then ran a power wire from the 30 terminal to the yellow wire on the harness and headunit.

here is the screen installed

There is no dash kit for the car so I had to cut out part of the rear cage so all of the wires would fit...You also have to modify the trim ring that pioneer provides with the unit by cutting down each side about a cm or 2.

I also used cardboard to hold the unit in place...I just tucked it on all 4 sides and it holds it in great!

Here is a night view with no trim ring(notice the cardboard)

Back side of the sub setup...yes I use a capacitor flame me!

Front shot

My overall impressions of the D3 is all I can say is WOW!!! This thing freaking rocks! If you have an ipod get the interface as it is by far the best one out there no doubt. It's pretty much like having your ipod on the screen. The color changing capability is also wicked! You can custom make your own color or just choose a preset one. The navigation is great...It took a bit to get used to but I'm already loving the points of interest. I moutned the antenna on the rear deck lid and it gets a great signal. You do have to have the disc in for planning your route but you can take it out after if you want to watch a dvd or pop in a cd...with the ipod though your golden as you can still see which song your switching to with the navigation map still on the screen. You will be driving along listening to ur song and ur song will tone down on volume and the voice will tell you turn left turn right etc...then your music will start playin again. The monsoon speakers actually sound incredible with this headunit...I had infinity references that were amped in my last car and they are very close as far as sound quality. I highly highly reccomend this to anybody as it is an incredible unit with all of the right features for a reasonable price!!!

Ipod Interface Screen Shots the other cool thing is it allows you to choose if you want to operate the Ipod through the ipod or through the screen!!!

Also to bypass the unit which I did follow this example and ground the mute wire and the parking brake wire and your golden.

nice job on the install... Great thorough pics to go with it, that will surely help a few people with their D3 install....

I already have my first complaint of the new D3 unit though...

it sits uneven!! The left side of the unit is wider than the right because of the rotary knobs (which is nice, but not worth an asymetrical unit to me).

Just an obvious observation that stuck out when i saw it installed in a car for the first time, everything else looks bad-ass about the unit

You know what...I noticed that too!!! I just kind of put it out of my head and will act like I don't notice it!

great writeup and pics! I can't wait until mine gets here wednesday, although I probably won't be able to install it till the end of the week

do me a favor and load some the of the vw backgrounds i made in the gallery on the last page. take some pics and let me see what i have to look forard to.

I would but I have no clue how to do all of that!!

hey what about the one dvd situation, how are you dealing with that? is it even noticeable with the ipod hookup or what?

EDIT: forgot to mention, your install looks great! my amps and sub look that messy as well though

With the Ipod hookup the dvd situation doesnt even matter at all!!

hey what about the one dvd situation, how are you dealing with that? is it even noticeable with the ipod hookup or what?

 

EDIT: forgot to mention, your install looks great! my amps and sub look that messy as well though

My advice. Zipties. They work wonders at cleaning up wires.

Where did you have it installed from? Best Buy? how much did they charge you?

Did you add bluetooth or sirius radio?

Where did you have it installed from? Best Buy? how much did they charge you?

 

Did you add bluetooth or sirius radio?

Umm my guess from reading would be that he did it himself.

I did it myself...I did not add bluetooth or sirius yet...

hey what about the one dvd situation, how are you dealing with that? is it even noticeable with the ipod hookup or what?

 

EDIT: forgot to mention, your install looks great! my amps and sub look that messy as well though

 

My advice. Zipties. They work wonders at cleaning up wires.

Z..zzz..zip..ppp.. zupties? zip tieds? what is this word you speak of? do they involve more work? lol

great job...looks very pro.

How long did it take you?

Only after reading your review, I got aware of the fact that you can't use the navigation without the Nav. DVD. Is that correct?

Doesn't that make the navigation slower or something?

I did it myself...I did not add bluetooth or sirius yet...

looks great!

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE! \m/

The nav is actually very fast and yes you have to have the dvd in...but you can take it out and it will store your route.

So lets say if I'm going from Point A to Point B using the navigation, and i decide to listen to my MP3 CD, can I take the nav dvd out and put my cd in and will it still store my route and current area map? or will it just not show anything? What about POI...are they stored in the nav memory, or do they run from dvd as well?

The nav is actually very fast and yes you have to have the dvd in...but you can take it out and it will store your route.

Your exactly right...you put in the dvd enter your destination, then it loads up the route...then you pop the dvd out and put in ur mp3 cd. POI are stored on the dvd as well!

I guess thats not too bad.

I think over the period of 1 year or so...putting the dvd in and taking it out over and over will scratch up the dvd.

I guess i better burn a copy of the dvd just in case.

Your exactly right...you put in the dvd enter your destination, then it loads up the route...then you pop the dvd out and put in ur mp3 cd. POI are stored on the dvd as well!

It seems many people are misinformed on DVD navi. The DVD is only accessed when you input an adress or search through POI's. After you chose a destination, it stores the instructions/route in its Flash based memory. You can then take out the DVD if you choose, or leave it. IF you take it out, you have about a 10 mile radius outside of the already mapped out destination before it request to place the DVD back in.

nice install

thanks for the info.

Will it inform me before the 10 mile radius is about to end, or will it just show blank map?

I guess I just have to use the ipod all the time.

It seems many people are misinformed on DVD navi. The DVD is only accessed when you input an adress or search through POI's. After you chose a destination, it stores the instructions/route in its Flash based memory. You can then take out the DVD if you choose, or leave it. IF you take it out, you have about a 10 mile radius outside of the already mapped out destination before it request to place the DVD back in.

Do you think one of those CD skinz will work to protect the DVD? Or will it get caught in the cd loader?

yes I use a capacitor flame me!

Great pictures, am I correct in noticing that some of the icons on the display also change to match the selected illumination color?

And why would you get flamed for using a capacitor?

Yes you can change the icons to match the illumination or make your own!! Alot of people always say capacitors do more bad then good!