So I just bought a new Pioneer Avic-Z120. I go to buy a wiring harness online, THIS is what I find. Looks to me like there's not nearly enough wires for the Pioneer (haven't gotten it in the mail yet). So I go to my local ABC Warehouse, the guys in the automotive are usually straight shooters and let you know what's up. The guy gives me a wiring harness marked at $130 and he tells me this is the only thing I can use or else I will lose a ton of features in my car such as light on/key in ignition chimes and all sorts of stuff.

Which wiring harness have you 06-07 owners used? Is this guy telling me the truth or is he just trying to make that commission?

 

it needs a 100$ chime box, but they can be had much cheaper, half that if you buy your deck through sonitcelctronix.com but.

idk about the 7th gen (06-07) but the 6th gen had 3 different brands of chime boxes they could use, but their was only one i know of that mentains onstar, and that one is genraly harder to come by on the cheap.

but no, he's not lying to you.

the 120 is an easy install, red to red, black to black, yellow to yellow, so on so on.

you can do a video bypass if you so wish, youtube that. the 130 is an easier Bypass IMO because the harness is easier to take apart but you'll see what i'm talking about if you look it up.

why didn't you go with the 130 btw? the 120 is last years model.

 

I see... He also mentioned that in some cases there you may have to reset some settings for the car through the radio. Which I've never heard of any car doing before and I know that there aren't even any engine menus in the settings of the radio. He said to do whatever resets he was talking about you need the chime box.
Honestly, I can live without the light/ignition chime, my headlights are on the auto setting, I don't use my overhead light because I have leds underneath the dash and I never lock the door without the remote, so I never leave my keys in the ignition. I have never used OnStar and I never intend to use their service (waaaayyyy to expensive!).
With all of that being said, is there any other function to the more expensive harness?

The reason why I went with the 120 model is because I got an extremely good deal on it, I couldn't pass it up. It was about half of the price of the 130 and I wasn't looking to spend more than $1000 on a unit.

 

You listed everything that the unit affects - door-key-light chimes (plus any chime that accompanies a DIC warning like trunk open, traction control loss etc) and Onstar.

6th gens use the factory unit for remote programming and some other stuff. 7th gens all use the DIC.

You may need yet another interface cable to let the steering wheel controls operate the Pioneer. I'm jelly, I'm not ready to drop a lot of $$ for a new headunit, but if I was offered a great deal I'm afraid my willpower would give in.

 

yes, you need another 50$ modual for steering wheel controls, they can run 40-60$sh, their pretty simple, only a couple wires.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the input guys!

I already ordered my steering wheel controls from amazon and they actually got here today!