headunit recomendation Alpine, clarion?

I need to put a radio in my commuter car. I dont want to spend to much but I need to have decent sound. I have some old school MB quarts I paid over 600.00 for back in the late 90's that Im going to put in the doors and Ill power them with one of the amps I have lying around. What I am in need of is a somewhat decent headunit for the car. I think Im going to go with satelite radio so I have some tunes for my ride (its a little over an hour commute each way). Ive run clarion in the past and it wasnt that bad, and I can get  one of their brand new top units on flea-bay for 200.00 and then another 40 or 50 for the sirrus add-on module. I like the idea of MP3, since Im not going 100% autophile in this car MP3 would be nice to have. I looked at some eclipse, but none of them have mp3 that are in the 200.00 range. I have an alpine in my wifes car and I have a cva-1005 in my expy and Im happy with both. THe alpine is going to be in the 300.00 range though, and Id rather not go that high unless you all tell me the clarion has gone to complete crap. So whats the best way to get MP3, sat ready, and around 200 to 250 dollars? Also I have a low end pioneer in my explorer that I wouldnt give away, Im just completly unhappy with its sound.

You are thinking about getting satelite radio is one thing to consider.  Are you looking for a radio that can control the tuner or for an portable external tuner.  If you want the radio to control the tuner you have to decide on what service to you want to go with.  Clarion has sirrus and Alpine  has recently announced that they offer both sirrus and xm. 

Kenwood also has a radio the Kenwood KDC-MP625  that plays MP3's and WMA's and sirrus tuner.  Another nice feature of the kenwood is that it allows you to control your mids, highs and lows.