I spent almost a year thinking about which car I was going to buy next. I had driven a '98 civic for 6 years, and in that time I basically tore that car to shreds. I wanted something that was fun to drive, but still functional. This is going to be my daily driver, so it has to have room to haul a little bit of stuff to and from work. I've also got a wife and 2 dogs, and my car needs to fit us all comfortably. I finally decided on the MAZDA 3.

While trading in my civic, I found that all the mods I had made would not get me a penny, and in fact, it decreased its value. I decided that whatever I did to my Mazda, it had to be able to go back to stock condition.

So far, the powertrain and suspension have been left stock, but after about 30 sec. of driving it, I realized the stock stereo had to go.

I started with the head unit. The Pioneer Avic-N1 has it all. GPS, In-dash dvd, and the ability to run dedicated XM. Plenty of room inside the dash to hide all the wiring and components. (we'll see about the x-box and ps2 later) I couldn't find a steering wheel interface for the audio controls, so I built my own. So Yes, the steering wheel audio controls do work with the Avic.
As you can see, there is no gps antenna on the exterior of the car. It is hidden INSIDE the dash up against the defroster vent.
The XM antenna fits perfectly INSIDE the rear spoiler. NO VISIBLE ANTENNA OR WIRING!!!! The XM brain is hidden above the glove box, below the airbag.
The PPI amp mounted upside-down under plexi (soon to be engraved with the PPI logo) and the 2 JL Audio 10w6 (first gen.)The spare tire is still in the factory location and the amprack is removable for easy access. Cover panels to come.
So far the only permenant modification I have made are the lights in the cup-holders. Some people (my wife included) think its retarted, but when u put a bottle of water in it, the whole bottle lights up blue. I can always cut a piece of carpet to lay in there when I sell the car. And when u drill a hole in the dash for an alarm led., this is the lesser of two evils. Instead of a light on the dash flashing,,, I have flashing bottles of water.

MORE TO COME SOON, CHECK BACK LATER
Ill try to get the pics together to post a complete walk-through on the install.