I rent cars in the course of business. Sometimes cars come with neat toys, the latest toy being satellite radio.

When I was in Lafayette I often got cars with XM satellite radio. It was integrated into the car stereo as two more “bands” like AM and FM, XM1 and XM2. The talk radio stations were OK (one can catch Hannity and O’Reilly, but no Rush). I liked the selection, moving from 80’s to Boneyard, but my dial often stopped at BPM and The Move, which were good techno-dance stations that made good driving music. The sound quality was excellent, only cutting out when pulling under a gas station awning.

This car that I’ve been driving has featured Sirius. I haven’t listened to Howard Stern’s two channels; every time I channel surf nothing catches my ear there. Their talk shows consist of Patriot, TalkRight, and TalkLeft, with ABC Talk coming soon. The only person really worth listening to is Michael Reagan; I find Tammy Bruce a little shriller than Laura Ingraham. Usually when I do a quick scan I end up on ESPN and ESPNNews. There doesn’t seem to be as much music that I like. This morning I drove down an open road on the way to work and the signal was cutting out.

The worst thing about this car’s satellite radio is that Sirius is implemented with an aftermarket LCD panel. The display has way too much glare in the daytime. The 14-button pad has a flip cover, but the cover rattles against the rest of the panel. When I turn it on, it jams my AM and FM stations, and one FM setting receives the Sirius signal at 88.5 FM. Question to satelllite radio owners: are there better aftermarket implementations?

Given the built-in XM implementation and the aftermarket Sirius implementation, the XM wins hands down. Some cars that Hertz rents may have a built-in Sirius implementation, but I’d have to see if the signal still cut out.