Picked up my new CRD Limited yesterday. While I've generally been a Ford/Mercedes driver, this car fits exactly what I was looking for.

One question that may have been asked and answered, if so, I apologize. I would have prefered the Sirius radio over the GPS/Nav but couldn't find a car that had everything else and that combination. The owner's manual for the navigation system claims that Sirius is a dealer add-on option. Anyone have this option?

I'd like to know the answer to this one also.

You can add it on. The dealer can do it or you can do it. Order the kit online for less. It's basically a Sirius receiver that plugs in to the back of the head unit as well as an antenna.

I have Sirius...Want to even swap:)

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Len
'06
White, Limited, sunroof, tow, side air bags, sirius, tire pressure monitor
1999 Porsche Carrera 4, Can't tow with this one

Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the Liberty Nav System and Sirius and U-connect.

There are two types of Nav Systems you can get from Mopar, if you are only going to go with a factory system - the RB1 and RB4.

RB1 is an Alpine made unit for Chrysler that will work with the rear mounted CD Changer and Sirius, but only partially with U-connect. You can add the CD changer and Sirius tuner box in the rear cargo area of your Liberty and use the existing CD Changer wiring harness if it's there. The RB1 will display the Sirius radio station ID. The Song Title and Artist will display with the optional wiring harness available from Chrysler. If you have U-connect, the RB1 only integrates to the point where it will mute the radio or navigation voice when a telephone call comes in. The display will not be populated with any call related data. The RB1 does not receive this data from U-connect.

Navigation-wise the RB-1 offers turn by turn, route guidance and full mapping capabilities from DVD navigation discs.

RB4 is a Harman/Kardon / Infinity made unit for Chrysler that will work with tw of these three connected at one time: the rear mounted CD Changer, Sirius and factory U-connect. You can add the CD changer and Sirius tuner box (if you don't have factory U-connect) in the rear cargo area of your Liberty and use the existing CD Changer wiring harness if it's there. The RB4 will display the Sirius radio station ID. The Song Title and Artist will not display and I am not sure (at this point) if adding the optional wiring harness available from Chrysler will make it display on the RB4. If you have U-connect, the RB4 fully integrates including radio or navigation mute when a telephone call comes in, call information (incoming and outgoing) populating the display, visual text message alerts, signal strength alerts and voice mail alerts (all limited to the capability of what your bluetooth cellphone will transmit, not all of them transmit all of that information).

You can also customize the voice-over function so that when Navigation prompts are given, the radio is muted or just faded into the background so that the Nav talks "over" the music, as well as letting the Nav and telephone share priority so that when Nav prompts are given, you decide which voice is most important - the telephone call or the Nav.

The RB4 has more watts per channel than RB1, but it does NOT have mapping ability. It is route guidance and turn by turn navigation only and it is CD based navigation, not DVD (there are two CD's for this system since CD's have size limitations - East and West).

MRCD on e-bay is a good source for these systems on e-bay, but in his comparison charts he says that U-connect and the RB1 are compatible with a 'work-around'. There is no work-around and beyond the radio muting for telephone calls, they are not compatible and you lose all of the U-connect display functionality in the RB1.

Which is better? I have factory installed U-connect, so I opted to go with the RB4. The logic on RB4 is that there is no need for maps to display because it is a voice driven system designed to keep your eyes on the road - this is why it lets you decide whose voice gets priority when more than one voice needs to be heard. RB4 does display the distance to the next turn, if you are going to make a turn, u-turn, merge, fork, etc ... compass direction and other information on the display, basically a graphical depiction of what the voice prompts are telling you. So it has display features, but it is not that aerial or ground mapping grid that we have come to expect from most nav systems.

The mapping and additional information features on the DVD based RB1 are great, but it is at almost double the price when purchased from e-bay sources, and several hundred dollars more when purchased new from Mopar.

Personally, I just wanted something that will give me directions from point a to point b while i listen to my satellite radio and CDs and that lets me fully enjoy the U-connect option. I opted for RB4. It is inexpensive, it sounds A LOT better than the regular am/fm/cd radios from Chrysler (they both do actually) and it is very easy to use.

Hope that helps.

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'05 CRD, Midnight Blue. Every option. Nice ride, idles like a garbage truck

Cool--Thanks for the info, richardkf!

I have an RB1 with CD Changer. Sounds like I just need to get the CD/Sirius box wired in.

Great info.

I hate my Dvd Nav system. On the trip down to DC, it routed us the worst way possible through Michigan where we started our journey. Last weekend it routed us the worst possible way home from our aunts cabin. As far as Sirius, I believe Bestbuy sells the kit you need to plug in to our nav system for $100.00. I bought the mobile one and hid the antenna in the sidewall and take the HU out and use it in the garage. I love Sirius!

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2005 Unlimited (LJ) Rubicon w/ 5.5" of total lift
Flat Fenders made by http://www.jpfaboffroad.com/

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759

You will also need the Mopar Sirius Install kit for vehichles WITH CD Changer. There are two kits, same price. One is for WITH and one for WITHOUT. The WITH kit comes with the Sirius multi-plexer. This is a splitter box that allows Sirius and the CD Changer to share the same wire harness that runs up to your RB1 Unit. When you want to hear one or the other, the MODE button will toggle between the two. The multiplexer lets the MODE button become multi-functional.

If you are ambitious, you can run the "artist/song title" cable from your RB1 unit in your dash back to the installation area in the cargo compartment. This will let Sirius transmit Artist and Song Title data to display in your RB1. With the standard harness, just the Sirius station number, name and pty category will display, no artist and song title.

This harness goes in place (not in addition to) the harness that is already there. For the $30 and two or so hours, it'd be a nice-to-have in your Jeep.

For part numbers, check out this link .... http://www.wjjeeps.com/sirius/sirius_diag_kj.jpg

I have the RB4, and even w/o the artist/song title info, I like it a lot.

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'05 CRD, Midnight Blue. Every option. Nice ride, idles like a garbage truck

I have the RB1 nav unit with Sirius. My dealer told me I could not have BOTH Sirius and a CD changer. Based on what I'm reading, the dealer is wrong. Surprise! I'll take the part #s to them and see what they say now.

Thanks.

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<b>2005 Liberty CRD Limited</b>
Atlantic Blue, Navigation, Sirius,
Park Distance Control,
Parrot Bluetooth system;
Custom heated, leather seats (black on the side bolsters, Atlantic Blue center);
Skid plate package, Michelin Cross-Terrains
<b>2007 Mercedes ML320 CDI (twin-turbo V6 diesel)
2008 Mercedes C350 Sport

No, what your dealer told you (mine did too after researching it with Chrysler) is that Nav can't be ordered with Sirius. The 6-CD Changer automatically comes with Nav if ordered that way from the factory, but the dealerships can not place orders for Nav systems with U-connect or with Sirius.

Ironically though, the RB4 fully integrates with U-connect (factory version and dealer-installed version, but with more features on the factory version than the dealer-installed version - dealer version has less sound quality and sends less data to the display of the RB1) just fine. So if you have U-connect from the factory (you can tell because it is built into your rear view mirror), you can use either Nav System, just depends on how much integration you want (see my previous post in this thread). RB4 integrates so much in fact that the U-connect AND Sirius AND CD Changer instructions are included in the RB4 User Manual.

However, for Sirius and the rear mounted cargo area CD changer, they will BOTH work just fine as long as you buy the right install kit and the right compatible CD changer. The multi-plexer let's you have two out of the three options at once: Sirius, Factory U-connect, CD Changer.

The dealers mean well, but most of them will not venture out beyond what they read in their computers because they don't want to risk having to give back your money on pricey, open-box electronics parts that work, but were possibly ordered wrong.

My CRD has factory U-connect, RB4 Nav, Sirius and it works exactly as described in the instruction manuals.

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'05 CRD, Midnight Blue. Every option. Nice ride, idles like a garbage truck