I think I am leaning towards the adapter to fool the radio for now for now.
Like that one site says that Glen_L posted, some dealers have had diagnostic equipment destroyed over aftermarked radios and therefore some refuse to diagnose them. I can see where this may be the source of the dealer comment. I asked him for this policy in writing. I MAY do a glove box installation, but I am not sure about the whole fiber thing. I had it installed on a passenger side shelf once before on my Scirocco. So I could see it clearly. I didn't want to obscure it and risk damaging the sled during install or removal. I secured the sled and was able to dock the radio no problem. I am not crazy about the idea of it being obscured in the glove box. I may attempt to see if I can find a wrecked one and get the dash out of it. I would almost rather cut a hole in a spare dash than mess with the factory radio. WHAT SUCKS IS: I am still in Italy till the end of the month and I can't LOOK at the car other than the few minutes of video I have and think about this. If I end up cutting into my glove box then in a few years when it is out of warranty I will want to install this in the console, and that will suck. Grrr. I think the factory radio is NOT worth keeping however to install my head unit, the empeg, an amp AND replace the 6-8 speakers in the damn thing--they are all 2 ohm I have been told. This seems to be more of a pain than it's worth.

Here is what I DO want to do: You see this car is special to me. I had a really nasty divorce a while back. Credit went through the wringer, alot of pain and heartache. I am 31yrs old and I don't make alot of money to begin with. An E-5 in the military with a wife and kid, if the wife doesn't work, they qualify for food stamps. My situation isn't that bad... I am an E-6 with a wife that does work, I have three kids, two of which I pay child support on. ANYHOW... this is my first new car. I have spent along time straightening out my credit. I had to convince the credit union that I didn't owe back child support. Support Enforcement is real quick to throw you under the bus if you are behind--or in my case when I had a judgement for support increased. But to get them to admit that you are paid and your credit shouldn't suffer anymore... that's another story. As I said this is my first new car and I have a very strong desire to protect it and keep it as new as possible. I know that isn't possible to keep it perfect but I WANT to. It represents a rebuilding of sorts. Five years ago I couldn't have gotten an asswhooping on credit. I am remarried and this is MY car. I have an 8 year loan. I pay it off when my oldest turns 17. And he may end up with it when it is paid for--not likely but I may have some temporary fit of insanity. I am going to try really hard to pay it off sooner. I won't refinance unless I can get it at 4% or lower.

I am very hesitant to mess with it. It has the new car smell... I want to revell in THAT for a while. I catch myself turning the radio down so that I can HEAR the exhaust.

Reality will kick in at some point I'll scrape the rims or someone will hit me...something will happen, and at that point I will look at it differently and I will be ok to tear away at the radio. So I guess what I am saying is that I want to do the minimal least intrusive install I possibly can until then. I think the CD Changer Device to fool the head unit and I may just get an inverter and run it off of AC--that is what I am starting to think. I know that is a ghetto way to do it, but I am just not ready to really modify it yet.