txrx300

Jim, Thanks very much for all your help and information. I wished that it could have been as simple as swapping out the 2001 head unit for a 2010 one. :( I would have been willing to pay the ridiculous price for the new Lexus radio. Oh well.

Our RX300 does not have the navigation system. However, I was told by both Lexus dealers that they could install an ipod interface, one even called it a VAIS, but that w/o navigation only part of the play info would show up on the radio display because of its limited size.

Chicago or Pittsburgh, but she is not paranoid about the antenna freezing. :) She's paranoid about vandalism (ref: car like hers she saw with broken antenna) if the antenna is left fully extended when she parks. Sorry for the misunderstanding. She tells me that the antenna does not retract when she turns the engine off with the radio left on, her normal modes operandi. Is that not the case? I apologize again if the rationale for changing antennas was based on bad info. She may actually want it just for a more up-to-date look. Even though the car looks almost new, it is dated in some ways to her. It is 10 years old after all. Thanks for the link. I will check to see if there are other local dealers for the Vais interface besides Lexus to see if we can get it installed cheaper. Her RX300 does have the CD changer, but my daughter has gotten rid of all of her CDs because she put them all on her ipod! Besides CDs are so '90s. ;) You're talking to someone who still owns vinyl though. Dan

Jim, thanks for your reply. The reason my daughter wants to replace the powered antenna is not because it is not working. It is because of paranoia. Before her car arrived she saw one just like hers that had had the antenna vandalized (bent and almost broken off). She is afraid the antenna can/will be stuck in the fully extended position making it an inviting target for parking lot vandals, especially when she is working night shifts.

I am new to the forum and this is probably a very ambitious first post. I have done some searching, but have been unable to find answers to my specific questions so I thought I would start a new topic. First some background. My daughter inherited her grandmother's 2001 RX300 4WD with only 31,000 miles on it. The car seems ideal for her because she will probably be moving up to the frozen north, except it is missing some features she would like, all in the radio department. OEM Lexus solutions would be preferred. She would like: 1) An "integrated" ipod/MP3 connection. I believe this is available from Lexus for around $800 installed. Has anyone done it and how "successful" (appearance, usage) was it? 2) Replacing the powered antenna with a fixed one like the newer (not newest) RX330/350s have. Is this possible? Has anyone done this conversion? I was told by one dealership it could not be done (I forgot to ask the first dealer). Is there an aftermarket solution? 3) Radio controls on the steering wheel. Since we didn't pay anything for the car, except for shipping, we were willing to put some money into this request including installing a new steering wheel. We have been told by different Lexus parts people that this is not possible, and if it were, it would be cost-prohibitive. Are there any aftermarket solutions that don't look tacked on? I understand that the easy solution would be to trade the RX300 in for a new one, but we feel our daughter does not need to be driving around in a brand new Lexus at this point in her life, and that's not even taking into account the tremendous expense. Thanks in advance.