Sorry it’s taken so long to finish this write-up. I’ve had a lot of questions over the last week, this should answer most of them.
I’ll start with a review of the Pioneer AVIC-D3.
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Crutchfield is selling them for $999, but there’s a promo code for 15% off if you buy 3 Pioneer items >$49.99. They’re also giving away a free rearview camera. I got the D3, dash kit, wiring harness, camera, Bluetooth, Sirius, and iPod cable for ~$1,100. Retail MSRP is close to $1,600. Best part is that it’s all under warranty still.
The Nav unit works great, looks great, and sounds great. I’m still shocked how much better the stock speakers sound with a new head unit. My iPod sounds great, Sirius sounds pretty good, and the FM reception is excellent. I can tune in stations I didn’t know existed until now. The audio controls are pretty good, 3 band parametric EQ, source level adjustment, high pass filter, etc.
The maps are pretty up-to-date. I work on a military base and the D3 maps have more of the side-streets than either Google or Mapquest maps. I haven’t found anything missing around town yet. The routing is easy to do, address searches are intuitive, POI searches are a piece of cake. I haven’t used the POI database much, so I can’t comment much about that. The D3 uses an onboard gyroscope to help determine acceleration, speed, vehicle turns, etc. I’ve had mine installed for 300+ miles and it’s still in ‘learning mode’, so it should continue to increase in positional accuracy. It’s already pretty good, most of the time it’s within 50 ft. I really like the day/night mode. Turn on the headlights and the screen will dim. All A/V screens dim, and the map screen changes from tan to dark grey. You can also adjust how much the screens dim at night.
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The voice guidance is clear and easy to understand, and will give you prompts ~0.5 miles before a turn, and then again immediately before a turn. Directions are very easy to follow.
The iPod interface is excellent.
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I ran the iPod cable under the gearshift console and into the storage box/armrest. I leave my iPod in there 24/7 since the D3 will charge the iPod battery. I’ve got an iPod mini, filled with 4 GB of music, and it’s still pretty easy to sort through the list and pick out a specific song, or artist.
The Sirius interface is the polar opposite of the iPod.
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I think it’s absolutely horrible and I’d be embarrassed to sell such a sub-par unit if I were Pioneer. You get one line of text that shows maybe 12 characters, though it does scroll. What really pisses me off is the preset display [picture 30b]. The preset buttons always say ‘Preset 1, Preset 2, etc.’, regardless of whether you save a channel there or not. I’ve filled my preset list, but you’d never know it by looking at the screen. To be fair, you had to remember the stock preset buttons also, but the stock radio didn’t have a fancy display like the D3. I’m seriously considering switching to XM.
On that note, I may as well give my opinions on XM vs. Sirius, since I’ve used both. I listen to classic rock, some hard rock, and country. I have XM in a Honda Prelude with a good aftermarket system, and Sirius in the MS3 with stock speakers and no sub. I think Sirius wins for sound quality and rock variety, though XM’s country options are marginally better. It’s a tough call, but Radio Margaritaville helped sway me to Sirius for this install.
Back to the D3. The Bluetooth interface is also easy to use.
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I’m using the BTB200 and I’ve only used it with a Verizon LG VX8300. The phone DOES autoconnect (does NOT w/ BTB100). I can still only transfer my contacts one at a time, no batch transfer (same as BTB100). If you try multiple contacts, it'll drop the connection. Other than that, it works great. No echo at all so far, listeners on the other end have never complained, and it comes through the car speakers loud and clear. I’ve got the mic on the dash near the instrument panel, but it picks up the passenger’s voice just fine. Incoming calls can be set to auto-answer or not, and will automatically mute the music. After an incoming call is complete, the music source will come back on.
Last but not least, the rearview camera.
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This was a $250 value given away for free by Crutchfield. I absolutely love that company. I mounted it at the top of the rear window, on the inside of the car. I can’t see the bumper, but I can see objects at bumper-height ~18” behind the car. This should make parallel parking a lot easier. I’m really impressed by the wide angle. I saw a person walking behind me in a parking lot in the camera before any of my mirrors, or even looking over my shoulder. The clarity isn’t going to blow you away, but it’s more than adequate for a rearview camera.
I used Crutchfield’s metra dash kit to make a double-din kit for the D3. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures, but it’s pretty easy to imagine. I cut the top of the pocket out of the dash kit, and left the bottom as a shelf. Since this kit has no mounting brackets for the double-din unit, I let the D3 sit on the bottom shelf and securely taped it in place. I originally intended to use a metal pipe strap, but I didn’t have anything big enough. The tape was supposed to be temporary, but it seems to hold really well, I may just leave it. I also had to cut up the D3 trim piece to fit into the opening. The hardest part of the install was stuffing all the wires behind the unit. The trick is to shove as many of them into the small holes and openings at the back of the cavity, particularly the factory wiring harness and plug. The two mounting screws seem to hold it in pretty well, if it were a loose fit, the D3 would tell me ‘excessive vibration’, instead it says the install position is ok. In some of the pictures above, you can see rough patches of the dash kit where I cut the pocket. I’m planning to either wet sand the sides and try to smooth them out, or use a flat black paint to make it look more uniform. Other than that, you’d never know this wasn’t a double-DIN kit.
I ran a new power cable to the head unit. I connected all of my components to the same power lead, and the combined rating was 15A. The stock radio is fused at 7.5A, so I would HIGHLY recommend a new power lead if you go this route (the D3 alone is fused at 10A). I ran the wire through the factory grommet behind the glovebox.
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Tape your wire to a wire coat hanger and punch through the grommet. I was surprised how flexible the grommet was, it took a good amount of force to poke a hole. I ran a 10 AWG wire with a 25A fuse to the battery.
The additional components all fit nicely where the stock LCD screen would rest, underneath the dash, behind the center vents.
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I put the nav antenna here also, but the satellite antenna did not get good reception. Instead, I installed the Sirius antenna on top of the dash, at the base of the windshield. Reception is great.
The camera and reverse wire leads were run along the passenger side, under the carpet, up the rear pillar and into the hatch, through the factory rubber grommets.
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I ran the camera wires through the grommet on the right, and the reverse wire tap went on the left. Tap the green wire with orange stripe, only at this location. There’s a wire harness plug immediately inside the roof of the car, and this wire changes color. I tried tapping a few other places that were more accessible, but after guessing wrong twice I gave up and ran the lead into the hatch. These grommets are also very flexible, you should have no problem pulling a few wires through.
Finally, I taped the LCD screen to the back of the long plastic dash trim piece. Without the factory radio, there’s no place to mount the LCD. Rather than trying to fabricate a new set of brackets, I tried aluminum tape.
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. It holds very well, no wiggle room at all, so I’m pretty happy with this choice. It makes the install a little trickier. You have to install the radio completely first. Then loosen the center dash piece (but don’t remove it entirely), and then set the LCD loosely in place. Snap the dash piece down first, then snap in the LCD. Be sure to line up the plastic grooves on the trim piece with the ‘prongs’ on the dash pieces.
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I did not replace the factory screws in the center dash cover. I don’t think they’re necessary, but if you want to use them, I suggest a magnetic tip screwdriver to make your life easier.
For the VSS wire, regular 3’s can tap a shaft speed sensor on the transmission (search the forums for this), but that sensor doesn’t seem to exist on a Speed3. Speed3s AND regular 3s can also tap a wire behind the gauge cluster. See this post for more details: http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=72085.msg1436716#msg1436716
I can confirm that procedure DOES work for a Speed3. It’s important to note that the VSS connection is NOT necessary, but CAN improve accuracy.
EDIT 3/26/07:
This is the best I can do for a pic of the dash kit mod. I didn't take any pictures while I was cutting it up, and I'm not going to uninstall the system just to snap another pic. If you want to paypal me some cash, I'll buy another kit, hack it up, take pictures, and send it to you. I did all this with a dremel (cutting tool and sanding tool).
![]()
Cut on the red line. Cut the top part of the pocket somewhat inside the opening. I left a 'stub' of about 1/4", and then used a sanding attachment to smooth that out. Cut straight back until you clear the side of the kit. Then cut towards the side. You should have an "L-shaped" cut. Now continue the cut halfway down the side, top-to-bottom. Change direction again and continue your cut all the way down the length of the pocket side. The D3 is deeper than the pocket, so the entire back portion needs to be removed. Do the same cuts on the opposite side. This should leave you with a flat 'tray' with two shallow sides, and no back, attached to the front of the kit.
EDIT 3/27/07:
For anyone interested, here are some pics of the wires routed towards the back of the car:
Wires going behind head unit, under glovebox (in front of the fuse panel), down through the passenger kick panel, and under the carpet along the right edge of the car. The pink wire is the VSS lead, the thicker black wire is the power lead I added. You can barely see the purple/white reverse wire in this picture.
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This pic shows the wires going from the front passenger side towards the back. Look for the purple/white reverse lead.
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Wires come up under the seats/rear trim panels, into the rear quarter panel/d-pillar.
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Finally, they go under the headliner and through the grommet pictured previously.
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EDIT 3/30/07:
Finaly got pictures of the camera mounted inside the window. It's a little tough to see because the camera is small and black...
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I also added a custom background. It looks a little better in person, for some reason the picture came out a bit too pink.
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EDIT 4/3/07:
BTB200 came in, fixed the autoconnect issue with my Verizon LG VX8300. Other than that, I don't notice any other differences.
I’ll start with a review of the Pioneer AVIC-D3.
Crutchfield is selling them for $999, but there’s a promo code for 15% off if you buy 3 Pioneer items >$49.99. They’re also giving away a free rearview camera. I got the D3, dash kit, wiring harness, camera, Bluetooth, Sirius, and iPod cable for ~$1,100. Retail MSRP is close to $1,600. Best part is that it’s all under warranty still.
The Nav unit works great, looks great, and sounds great. I’m still shocked how much better the stock speakers sound with a new head unit. My iPod sounds great, Sirius sounds pretty good, and the FM reception is excellent. I can tune in stations I didn’t know existed until now. The audio controls are pretty good, 3 band parametric EQ, source level adjustment, high pass filter, etc.
The maps are pretty up-to-date. I work on a military base and the D3 maps have more of the side-streets than either Google or Mapquest maps. I haven’t found anything missing around town yet. The routing is easy to do, address searches are intuitive, POI searches are a piece of cake. I haven’t used the POI database much, so I can’t comment much about that. The D3 uses an onboard gyroscope to help determine acceleration, speed, vehicle turns, etc. I’ve had mine installed for 300+ miles and it’s still in ‘learning mode’, so it should continue to increase in positional accuracy. It’s already pretty good, most of the time it’s within 50 ft. I really like the day/night mode. Turn on the headlights and the screen will dim. All A/V screens dim, and the map screen changes from tan to dark grey. You can also adjust how much the screens dim at night.
The voice guidance is clear and easy to understand, and will give you prompts ~0.5 miles before a turn, and then again immediately before a turn. Directions are very easy to follow.
The iPod interface is excellent.
I ran the iPod cable under the gearshift console and into the storage box/armrest. I leave my iPod in there 24/7 since the D3 will charge the iPod battery. I’ve got an iPod mini, filled with 4 GB of music, and it’s still pretty easy to sort through the list and pick out a specific song, or artist.
The Sirius interface is the polar opposite of the iPod.
I think it’s absolutely horrible and I’d be embarrassed to sell such a sub-par unit if I were Pioneer. You get one line of text that shows maybe 12 characters, though it does scroll. What really pisses me off is the preset display [picture 30b]. The preset buttons always say ‘Preset 1, Preset 2, etc.’, regardless of whether you save a channel there or not. I’ve filled my preset list, but you’d never know it by looking at the screen. To be fair, you had to remember the stock preset buttons also, but the stock radio didn’t have a fancy display like the D3. I’m seriously considering switching to XM.
On that note, I may as well give my opinions on XM vs. Sirius, since I’ve used both. I listen to classic rock, some hard rock, and country. I have XM in a Honda Prelude with a good aftermarket system, and Sirius in the MS3 with stock speakers and no sub. I think Sirius wins for sound quality and rock variety, though XM’s country options are marginally better. It’s a tough call, but Radio Margaritaville helped sway me to Sirius for this install.
Back to the D3. The Bluetooth interface is also easy to use.
I’m using the BTB200 and I’ve only used it with a Verizon LG VX8300. The phone DOES autoconnect (does NOT w/ BTB100). I can still only transfer my contacts one at a time, no batch transfer (same as BTB100). If you try multiple contacts, it'll drop the connection. Other than that, it works great. No echo at all so far, listeners on the other end have never complained, and it comes through the car speakers loud and clear. I’ve got the mic on the dash near the instrument panel, but it picks up the passenger’s voice just fine. Incoming calls can be set to auto-answer or not, and will automatically mute the music. After an incoming call is complete, the music source will come back on.
Last but not least, the rearview camera.
This was a $250 value given away for free by Crutchfield. I absolutely love that company. I mounted it at the top of the rear window, on the inside of the car. I can’t see the bumper, but I can see objects at bumper-height ~18” behind the car. This should make parallel parking a lot easier. I’m really impressed by the wide angle. I saw a person walking behind me in a parking lot in the camera before any of my mirrors, or even looking over my shoulder. The clarity isn’t going to blow you away, but it’s more than adequate for a rearview camera.
I used Crutchfield’s metra dash kit to make a double-din kit for the D3. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures, but it’s pretty easy to imagine. I cut the top of the pocket out of the dash kit, and left the bottom as a shelf. Since this kit has no mounting brackets for the double-din unit, I let the D3 sit on the bottom shelf and securely taped it in place. I originally intended to use a metal pipe strap, but I didn’t have anything big enough. The tape was supposed to be temporary, but it seems to hold really well, I may just leave it. I also had to cut up the D3 trim piece to fit into the opening. The hardest part of the install was stuffing all the wires behind the unit. The trick is to shove as many of them into the small holes and openings at the back of the cavity, particularly the factory wiring harness and plug. The two mounting screws seem to hold it in pretty well, if it were a loose fit, the D3 would tell me ‘excessive vibration’, instead it says the install position is ok. In some of the pictures above, you can see rough patches of the dash kit where I cut the pocket. I’m planning to either wet sand the sides and try to smooth them out, or use a flat black paint to make it look more uniform. Other than that, you’d never know this wasn’t a double-DIN kit.
I ran a new power cable to the head unit. I connected all of my components to the same power lead, and the combined rating was 15A. The stock radio is fused at 7.5A, so I would HIGHLY recommend a new power lead if you go this route (the D3 alone is fused at 10A). I ran the wire through the factory grommet behind the glovebox.
Tape your wire to a wire coat hanger and punch through the grommet. I was surprised how flexible the grommet was, it took a good amount of force to poke a hole. I ran a 10 AWG wire with a 25A fuse to the battery.
The additional components all fit nicely where the stock LCD screen would rest, underneath the dash, behind the center vents.
I put the nav antenna here also, but the satellite antenna did not get good reception. Instead, I installed the Sirius antenna on top of the dash, at the base of the windshield. Reception is great.
The camera and reverse wire leads were run along the passenger side, under the carpet, up the rear pillar and into the hatch, through the factory rubber grommets.
I ran the camera wires through the grommet on the right, and the reverse wire tap went on the left. Tap the green wire with orange stripe, only at this location. There’s a wire harness plug immediately inside the roof of the car, and this wire changes color. I tried tapping a few other places that were more accessible, but after guessing wrong twice I gave up and ran the lead into the hatch. These grommets are also very flexible, you should have no problem pulling a few wires through.
Finally, I taped the LCD screen to the back of the long plastic dash trim piece. Without the factory radio, there’s no place to mount the LCD. Rather than trying to fabricate a new set of brackets, I tried aluminum tape.
I did not replace the factory screws in the center dash cover. I don’t think they’re necessary, but if you want to use them, I suggest a magnetic tip screwdriver to make your life easier.
For the VSS wire, regular 3’s can tap a shaft speed sensor on the transmission (search the forums for this), but that sensor doesn’t seem to exist on a Speed3. Speed3s AND regular 3s can also tap a wire behind the gauge cluster. See this post for more details: http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=72085.msg1436716#msg1436716
I can confirm that procedure DOES work for a Speed3. It’s important to note that the VSS connection is NOT necessary, but CAN improve accuracy.
EDIT 3/26/07:
This is the best I can do for a pic of the dash kit mod. I didn't take any pictures while I was cutting it up, and I'm not going to uninstall the system just to snap another pic. If you want to paypal me some cash, I'll buy another kit, hack it up, take pictures, and send it to you. I did all this with a dremel (cutting tool and sanding tool).
Cut on the red line. Cut the top part of the pocket somewhat inside the opening. I left a 'stub' of about 1/4", and then used a sanding attachment to smooth that out. Cut straight back until you clear the side of the kit. Then cut towards the side. You should have an "L-shaped" cut. Now continue the cut halfway down the side, top-to-bottom. Change direction again and continue your cut all the way down the length of the pocket side. The D3 is deeper than the pocket, so the entire back portion needs to be removed. Do the same cuts on the opposite side. This should leave you with a flat 'tray' with two shallow sides, and no back, attached to the front of the kit.
EDIT 3/27/07:
For anyone interested, here are some pics of the wires routed towards the back of the car:
Wires going behind head unit, under glovebox (in front of the fuse panel), down through the passenger kick panel, and under the carpet along the right edge of the car. The pink wire is the VSS lead, the thicker black wire is the power lead I added. You can barely see the purple/white reverse wire in this picture.
This pic shows the wires going from the front passenger side towards the back. Look for the purple/white reverse lead.
Wires come up under the seats/rear trim panels, into the rear quarter panel/d-pillar.
Finally, they go under the headliner and through the grommet pictured previously.
EDIT 3/30/07:
Finaly got pictures of the camera mounted inside the window. It's a little tough to see because the camera is small and black...
I also added a custom background. It looks a little better in person, for some reason the picture came out a bit too pink.
EDIT 4/3/07:
BTB200 came in, fixed the autoconnect issue with my Verizon LG VX8300. Other than that, I don't notice any other differences.
