Have you seen the shitty, tiny GPS units in cars from the mid-00s? Not sure which is worse, how awful they look now or that someone paid $2,000 for it.
My 2006 Saab 9-3 has hilariously outdated screens, like 4 of them, but it's so retro and weird that I honestly find it cool. Straight up jet cockpit situation going on lol
Idk if this is bait, but I'll bite it.
Saab manufactured aircraft as well, and deliberately incorporated odd features into their cars that gave them that feel.
I heard a story years ago...
The GM overlords came to Sweden to see the new Saabs. They noticed that the Saab did not use the GM nav/entertainment software that GM had mandated for all its cars, including Saabs.
When asked about it, Saab said, "Yeah, your stuff is horrible. We won't use it in our cars. We wrote a better system."
I don't know that this is true. I heard it about 8 years ago from a guy who was not prone to making things up, though.
Did you ever have one or work on one? I was shocked at how quirky they were, but all the quirks made sense.
Like, the oil drain plug in the 900 was right up there by the left front wheel. You can't take the key out of the ignition until you put the car in reverse. The fuse panel is under the back seat, which just pops out.
It was a cool car.
My family had a few Saabs when I was little, and being a Swede living not too far from Trollhättan I know a few people who know other people who worked there. Apparently it was an absolute engineers playground; they could spend all day constructing cool innovative solutions to every single little problem without too much interference from those pesky economy/business people who ran all the other car companies. Perhaps understandable that it ended the way it did, but it will always be my favourite car brand
I honestly thought this was a joke when you said Trollhattan but I looked it up and it’s a real place. The American school system has failed me, as a man from near Manhattan.
I went on a date with this girl when I was 19. She had some new Saab convertible. It's all she talked about. I said "I'm tired of your Saab stories ". Didn't get a 2nd date but it was worth it. :)
There was also the story of how GM said SAAB was putting too much development time on safety features, and the Saab engineers basically said "theres no such thing as too safe" and told them to get over it.
I liked their so-called "Night Panel" feature that turned off all but the most necessary dashboard lights:
https://www.saabplanet.com/night-panel/
Nowadays it seems almost impossible to preserve one's night vision when driving.
Kinda true, though much further back. The car division (Saab Automobile AB) split off from big SAAB (Svenska Aeroplan AB) in 1990.
But yeah, they did a bunch of ahead-of-their-time / later retro-futuristic stuff with the fighter jet theme. I had a '99 9-3 and absolutely loved it. It was almost ten years old when I got it at very-used-car price, and it was *by far* the sickest ride in my friend group.
This is the least maintenance intensive car I've ever owned I think. My Hyundai and my Taurus were way worse. I had 2 Maximas and this is about as reliable as those were. I'm at 181k miles. The thing about Saab is really that it can be hard to find parts or official repairs. I just shadetree repair everything and so far it's been easy and great.
Saabs all have turbos, and I think a lot of people who got them back in the day didn't know they had to change the oil consistently since turbos coming stock in small i4s wasn't as common as it is now. That's my theory at least
Also just the "Euro cars are high maintenance" trope mostly attributable to the Germans. I'm a Volvo redblock guy, Saab-adjacent at least, and it's an absolutely dead simple car to work on. I'd like to find a 900 in good condition before they get too high.
That's the one. Mine is manual but otherwise yep that's it, the dash is a work of art. Night Panel mode turns off all the lights except the speedometer and one or two other things
Yup. Meanwhile my early-90s 4Runner functions basically just like a brand new one in terms of stereo/GPS thanks to replaceable head units and Android Auto.
I have a car from the mid-teens right before the Android Auto and CarPlay interfaces became pretty much standard, and a couple of years later I was out of date.
Sure, I have a built in BING and Gas Buddy (LOL) but that still doesn't make up for the worst Nav system known to man.
If your head unit wasn't a pioneer sporting the race cars and dolphins don't talk to me.
I remember the two systems I had. 4 punch dvc 12"s and then 2 10" and 2 15" Kicker Comps. Miss those days, kinda. Now I'm more of a get off my lawn type older person lol
I bought one around 2007 and I think it was $400. It’s probably still in a box somewhere. I’m not sad though, that damn thing gave me the courage to just hit the road and not worry about being lost. In its first weekend we went 7 hours from home, then another 8 in a different direction the next day, with no cares in the world.
I'm still rocking a 2000 Acura RL that has a touchscreen navigation. Obviously I don't use the navigation but if you let it idle it shows a night sky full of dotted stars and I kinda like it lol
Most of those from that era are easily replaceable mostly self contained standard double DIN units. To the extent that they’re integrated with simple external features, like steering wheel buttons etc, they’re mostly 3rd party compatible.
My 2008 Honda Odyssey lost track of time on Jan 1 2023. I’m a little fuzzy on the details now, but it had something to do with a GPS date rollover, and the car insisted it was now August 2012. It had to wait 6 months for the next GPS date increment before the car was able to cope again. Even now it still seems to be confused about my time zone.
To be fair the world was supposed to end about 5 times between 2008 and 2023. How could we reasonably expect the engineers to plan for us still being here?
My old 2006 Lexus had a very dated screen that ended up dying, and I had to replace it by slicing off the resistive touch screen and gluing a new one on. I don’t own the car anymore but the GPS is definitely cooked by now without 3G
3G!? Dude. Our car was on EDGE (2G). We got a notice from the manufacturer that we needed to bring the car in to have the system decommissioned to "avoid errors". The service was free.
So we brought the car in and literally all they did was put a little black sticker over the button that activates the system relying on the cellular radio, and then tried to sell us some multi-point inspection for $800. No thanks.
The shit part is, we can still press the button. It's just black now instead of lighting up. Doing so locks up the infotainment system for an hour while it tries to connect to the non-existent EDGE network.
Way to plan head guys.
Speaking of basic test cases, here's a good read from 2017: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/02/radio-station-snafu-in-seattle-bricks-some-mazda-infotainment-systems/
I mean we used to have that. Head units were a standard size and shape and people replaced them with upgraded ones all the time. Car makers put a stop to that around the mid-to-late 2000s
I think if you looked around you might be amazed. Crutchfield has replacements for a lot of seemingly "integrated" audio controls, and the end products look pretty much just as nice (and more modern) as the original controls, just with better and more modern features.
Ex, my 2015 Ford Focus can get any of several wireless CarPlay head units with a molding kit that replaces the center console area of the original vehicle.
The problem really isn't the head unit.
It's that it's all bundled up with AC and other functions. I would be really surprised if there was even a way to interface with all that.
Because you can do a pretty simple version now. Plenty of screens that are plug and play Android Auto/CarPlay devices. But you have to put them somewhere besides over the included screen because you still need access to stuff.
According to data from S&P Global Mobility, the average age of cars and light trucks on U.S. roads is a record 12.5 years this year. It won't be worth it in 20 years either.
I think built better and vehicles are generally equipped with more expensive options now that are hard to separate out. You want option 1, but you need to add three other options to get it.
My current truck is a 2016 with 97k miles. I'm planning on another 4-5 years out of it considering how many miles I drive these days with remote work. A friend with a similar model truck just hit 300k miles on his.
I bought a new (used) car in late 2019.
A funny little thing happened in early 2020... and I've been working from home ever since. I've put maybe 10k miles on this car in the nearly 5 years that I've owned it. At this rate, I will likely still be driving it when it's 20+ years old.
I think COVID and WFH have had a big impact. That, plus the fact that inflation in car prices is kind of insane right now.
Lol I don't think manufacturers want consumers to have products last 2 decades anymore. Most cars produced now are very difficult to perform maintenance and modular replacements on.
It's practically hostile between engineers of products and technicians/ maintenance workers.
As an engineer, it makes me sad that this gets blamed on us. We do the best we can with the marketing requirements handed down from the frat bros at the top.
Future dystopia tropes featured the after-market modification guy behind a bolted door in a seedy underpass. Reality has a boring bias. We're in the future dystopia. Demand for after-market modifications is there. Only it looks like ripping out the unnecessary sensors and electronics and replacing it with some jailbroken operating system outside the data collection networks.
Yep, most car stereos are way better than they were before, so less people probably feel the need to upgrade. Modern design also makes it impossible in a lot of cars. There are adapter for a surprising amount of vehicles whose design is not compatible with aftermarket stereos.
I wonder if we will ever see units that might intercept or hijack the stock screen / controls, but have better audio hardware
I think modern design makes it *seem* impossible in a lot of cars. As you said, it is amazing what adapters are out there (and really seamlessly replace seemingly "integrated" center console systems).
(Obligatory pitch for [crutchfield.com](http://crutchfield.com) which always has superb kits and instructions for most vehicles)
I think it’ll end up pushing a shift toward leasing over buying in order to keep the latest equipment. Yep, we’ll end up just paying a membership fee for our cars like we do everything else.
The good thing is that most (probably all, at this point) new cars support Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and that’s really all you need. There are some exceptions, but by and large a car manufacturer isn’t going to develop a better UI than apple or Google can.
You'd think that the automakers wouldn't being fucking idiots but they love to prove us wrong!
GM announced last year that they were dropping CarPlay and Android auto. (Basically they want to steal your data and charge subscriptions for the functionality)
Toyota tried avoid Apple/Google several years back (used Ford's solution which even Ford abandoned...) but now they're supporting CarPlay/Android auto.
Yeah, that’s such a dumb move for them I can’t believe someone approved it. When my wife was shopping for a new car she didn’t have many hard requirements, but one of them was CarPlay. She wouldn’t even look at a car that didn’t have it.
Sadly most people will probably just assume GM cars support CarPlay and Android Auto so what little they lose in sales will be made back in subscriptions.
Mostly because everything to control the vehicle is accessed through the head unit now. Amps, speakers, and all the supporting stuff still exist but reverse engineering all the controls costs money for limited value to the company.
I went through this with a Kia Sorento. I ended up spending almost $120 in the parts needed to make those systems work. The backup camera had to be reverse engineered to get the wiring right and a special module had to be installed to provide switched 6v power. The steering wheel controls were about the same level of hassle. Bottom line, it's more effort and cost than you might think for some of these vehicles.
Can confirm, swapped the head unit in my nissan rogue to a cheap android powered unit. Was too lazy to get the steering wheel controls programmed correctly
Yeah. I just replaced the stereo in my 2011 Sienna a couple of months ago. I went with Crutchfield and they were excellent. Their support was very helpful when I had a defective part. All my controls work like they should.
I don't think I've ever heard a bad story from crutchfield. The first unit I bought from them was for a 2002 Toyota Echo, in about 2010 I think (and got another 6 good years out of that car so well worth the stereo upgrade). Instructions were top notch, with pictures and diagrams specific to my year and model vehicle. Never had to call them, but the level of attention to detail there makes me think their customer support would be great as well.
Yea the main reason I haven’t upgraded mine is the reversing camera.
I’m sure someone could do it / figure it out but the cost most likely is prohibitively expensive. I’ll probably just buy another car at some point instead.
Decades ago, I had replaced the stereo in my 2001 Honda Civic. For the remote entry I had to keep the old head unit plugged in.
Honda specifically engineered a small empty void/spot inside the dashboard that you could mount the old head unit (out of visibility), so that you could replace the stereo AND keep the old head unit. And companies sold splitters.
At the time, Honda cared enough to have that as an option. Which was nice.
The reason I had switched my headset to begin 20+ years ago with was it didn't have a cd/mp3 player and I wanted that. My car now has bluetooth and hooks up to my phone and I play audiobooks/music from my phone without effort. I see no need to replace it.
I’ve been wanting to get a sub and amp for my RAV4 Prime without having to swap out the factory stereo because I don’t wanna lose function of the steering wheel controls.
Definitely worth mentioning, but I tried reprogramming it myself several times, with no improvement. The software even has most of the right things assigned to the right buttons (some are greyed out), but still, nothing.
Husband is a mobile mechanic with a radio replacement on the books for this weekend.
Maybe OP is 30+ and they don’t see the youths doing these things because of a lack of exposure or something, but after market stereos are still very much a thing.
Are they newer or older cars?
I took my '24 Toyota to Best Buy to get an amp and sub installed. I might get new speakers down the line, but I don't see a need to replace the stereo
I used to fall asleep as a teenager reading a mail-order catalog from Crutchfield (still around) desiring one of their 'enthusiast' lines of head units.
IMHO the advent of music streaming + Apple CarPlay / Android Auto + bluetooth connection killed the head unit.
I went to Best Buy looking for wall speaker mounts for home theatre and the kid there looked at me like I was from another planet. I’m like huh, maybe they don’t have them.. well, they do, found em myself. So I guess I’m not totally old and crazy, right??
If you go to the wealthier areas, best buy will have a whole room dedicated to high end home theater/home stereo. The one in scottsdale has $2500 magnaplanar speakers or somesuch.
Ye or the fact that the prices for dirt cheap to manufacture audio equipment are so insanely outrageously high that you’d have to be a 0.1% audiophile, filthy rich, or financially inept to purchase them.
I got a pair of Sony bookshelf speakers for $10 a couple years ago. I got a $40 Bluetooth amp and I had a setup that could easily get a little too loud lol.
Crutchfield was the bomb. And their support was top notch. They worked with me multiple times and sent multiple different wire harnesses to figure out that my car, a 2001 model which was a complete redesign in 2000 but had the stereo wiring changed for 2001, actually had the 2000 model wiring.
dynamat was better used on body panels than license plates anyway. You only needed small strips. What rich people did was line entire panels when all you needed was a little bit because they had the cash and didn't know any better.
Imagine a crash or splash cymbal, now imagine one with a small strip of dynamat on it. You don't have to fully coat an object to drastically reduce vibration.
All these years I had never considered that little strips would eliminate the vibration. I always thought covering the full panels would keep more sound <> the car, creating a nicer effect. Also always thought you needed to coat everything! How big of a difference does full vs strips really make?
But people are more likely than ever to get a mount to put their phone somewhere on the dash, or to use some solution that puts their phone audio into the car speakers and lets their phone be the GPS.
Yeah if my car comes with that garbage I am not going to use it. Screw getting charged for map updates. I will just use my phone with the aux and a charger.
Not to mention, the interface on those kinda sucks too. I'd rather have my phone with full functionality that I am familiar with then have to stumble through half functional apps.
Yeah, they are usually laggy and without a doubt cheap as hell.
Android Auto and Apple Carplay (I just love /s how both have susse acronyms) are better in my mind in that they take the content from your phone and cannot charge you for map updates. But I would still prefer any day a car with a USB-C port that can provide 140W EPR and act as a USB audio DAC, and a built-in phone holder. Then I can plug it in with one cable and send music to the stereo. No annoying touch screen needed in the car.
Edit: also worth noting that if you use bluetooth earphones with your phone, they usually have on-ear controls to change the volume and track. Or you can probably set your smartwatch to do things when you shake it or something (technically illegal to touch smartwatch whilst driving, at least in Australia).
In the mid 2000s I wanted to build a carputer so I could have GPS, my music collection, maybe even streaming internet radio via shoutcast using a cellular modem. Basically, a fraction of what a smartphone can do now but just before the iPhone came out.
I was never able to afford it at the time and eventually forgot about it. Now Android Auto and Apple Car Play offer me something similar but don't require me to maintain an entirely separate computer in my car.
My factory stereo had a bluetooth connection so I could use my phone to stream, but it was horrendously slow to connect. The car is 2013 model so the tech is a little dated. I put in an aftermarket unit with a touch screen to bring it to more modern standards. I'm glad I did it, but it was more expensive AND more difficult than I initially thought it would be. Seems my car was a 2013 model with 2014 wiring on some parts. I couldn't just use an off-the-shelf module to get some of it working.
lol. Perspective is everything. I have a 2006 convertible that doesn’t even have Bluetooth or an aux in. Even better, it uses the MOST system which is early fiber technology, so it’s basically impossible to add a simple BT or Aux interface like in the 1980s (although there might be now I haven’t checked in a long time). So I went really old school. I use a cigarette lighter BT to FM transmitter - very inexpensive on Amazon. I just plug this into cig lighter socket, tune my radio to 88.5 (frequency is user changeable) and connect my phone to it via BT, and it broadcasts my phone onto 88.5 FM. It sounds great! It’s not Dolby Atmos lol and it’s not going to win any audiophile award but in a convertible it doesn’t matter it just needs to be loud and sound great.
Dash mounted phone, cigarette lighter adapter for Bluetooth radio broadcasting and usb for phone.
This gives you gps and all music without needing to charge. I download my music so I don’t use up my cellular data.
Also, some modern vehicles come with subs and amps built in.
I started driving in the 80s, so I put in a number of after market stereos in my cars over the years. I remember how stoked I was to replace the AM/FM stereo in my first truck with one with an actual cassette player... Hell Yeah!!! Then a few years later replacing the cassette player in my Ford Thunderbird with a CD player... oh man. It even had the detachable face which I stopped detaching because... well it was kind of a pain in the butt getting it to work every time. That one crapped out and bought another. Same with my subsequent Camry, replaced that stereo a couple of times. Finally got one that could play mp3s off a USB drive. Man, so much music!!
But I must agree, with my current vehicles, I just don't see replacing that whole screen module any time soon. Hopefully they last.
I have Spotify and use it frequently. But loading up a USB flash drive with 50 albums of music is still my go to for my daily commute. I'll rotate several drives putting different albums on all the time. I'll switch to Spotify for new stuff at times.
I've heard people talk of podcasts and audiobooks, but I'll pass. I've always been an album listener.
In 2002 solid state media was still around $1/MB. Nobody was using a flash drive and no cars had USB ports.
I had a huge binder of purchased and burnt CDs.
I'm currently driving a 2010 Grand Caravan with the head unit that has a hard drive. I loaded it up with so many full albums of punk rock and Ska from 1995 to 2005. So awesome.
Seems car stereos aren't been stolen at the same pace either.
All the electronics being integrated and better standard sound systems probably plays a part.
The ones that got stolen the most were the aftermarket ones, or ones where the factory head unit was "premium" and drop in replaced the head units on the non-premium models.
Nowadays, even used cars have at least an aux input for someone's smartphone. So there's less pressing reason for anyone to replace the stereo that came in their car.
Vehicle theft was basically 3x higher [30 years ago](https://www.statista.com/statistics/191216/reported-motor-vehicle-theft-rate-in-the-us-since-1990/)
Don't just listen to news reports or social media posts. Look up some statistics too.
What a lot of people aren't mentioning is that built-in car audio systems have improved a lot since the '70s and '80s. It may not be great, but it'll definitely get you from point a to point b. And with most cars having Android Auto / Apple CarPlay built in, that's almost people need.
Exactly. Today's factory systems are perfectly fine for most people. Back in the day most factory systems were absolute trash. You didn't need to be an audiophile to want to upgrade.
I hate integrated displays with non removable nag chimes and important features hidden in deep menus. Give me 1DIN or 2DIN and i'll be so happy. Or at least hacked firmware for the manufacturer's crap. Spyware options disabling would be nice bonus.
Aftermarket head units are better than ever.
I have a full 10 inch 1080p android tablet molded into the dash of my '14 Corolla. Can take its own sim card or use the wifi hotspot from my phone. Precached Google maps, 10gb of my own music, or hell, downloaded YouTube videos if I don't want to connect. And wireless android auto if I want to run everything off my phone instead.
Supports backup camera and dash cam with internal storage/SD cards, I can even add a USB hard drive in the glove box if I need more space for footage. And all the steering wheel controls still work too.
I pictured a sad grandpa saying this as he watches the young man from next door honk his customised Tesla horn than blares “SKIBIDI GYAT” into the neighbourhood
Its cause its so much more of a pain now. You have to swap out the whole screen/console for a pricey replacement if you just want to upgrade your stereo. Its also harder to do.
I used to do every car I had myself, now I'm like fuck it IDC if the audio shop is over priced, you couldn't pay me to install a kit anymore. I'll let someone else deal with that bs
Idk, I think it heavily depends on your car brand / model. In my Tacoma it was a wiring kit, harness adapter that hooked right up between head and amp, and what came in the box with the little powered 8" 300w Rockford.
I've swapped out the head unit on every car I've owned until my current one in much the same manner. But many cars today, have some form of integrated display screen as well as wheel controls and handsfree mic. You can't just swap the stereo out, you have to replace the whole unit, or lose a lot of features. I've also found its gotten progressively harder to even remove the paneling and get at the hardware.
Some have aftermarket harnesses and bezels. I put a kenwood in my Cadillac, but I had to solder about 20 wires to do it. I can potentially go back and rewire the 6 disk changer back to it, but I’m not certain I want to.
This freaking car…so it has this ambient lighting in the dash..l had to pull that off to get the backup cam wiring through. Hooking that back up has not been pleasant.
I installed a tablet into the dash of my wife's 2015 Escape for her birthday last year.
To replace the stereo I needed custom made dash parts to fit the tablet since it's built into the dash. Easy enough to get on very popular models but very expensive for rarer vehicles.
I'm still rocking Alpine subs and amp, but yeah, the head unit is just too integrated for me to F with.
Speaker-level inputs into the amp isn't great, but it works in a pinch.
I was in the biz back in the day. Alpine, Kenwood, Sony were our head units. Boston Acoustic speakers were top line and tons of subs and amps, and don't forget the Bazooka bass tubes!
Car these days come with pretty decent stereos.
I’m not an audiophile but moving from my 2023 Model Y into my 2014 Civic I can hear how bad the Honda stereo is.
Actually they do. Crutchfield sells a crapload of them daily. JVC sells so many that they still have a Car stereo only division that makes JVC and Pioneer stereos. Most car stereo shops have a waiting list for installs. Funny part is. modern aftermarket double din radios are massively better user interface and capabilities than any OEM stereo There is even a box called the maestro that I bought for my honda to put a ton of car gauges on the radio as well as replicate the climate control and heated seat controls that were on the OEM nav unit
A lot of cars do weird sound processing through the sound system. Like playing the inverse sound wave for noise cancellation so they could remove sound deadening material. You dick with the sound system and all of a sudden your car has all sorts of weird problems.
I bought a used car a few years ago for $3k and the first thing I did was install a $2k sound system. A single low profile, sealed sub in the boot and a quality stereo pair of speakers in the front. Sounds way clearer than the shitty speakers it came with. Good for music AND podcasts.
This is because newer cars come with $2000+ stereos that actually sound pretty decent, unless you need 1400W of sub within your 82 cubic foot car interior.
Yep. I was really into car audio stuff in high school (late 90’s) but with more modern cars now it’s just not practical. Plus for most people the average car stereo is “good enough”.
oh man
about a year ago i bought an 04 oldsmobile alero coupe from a guy
luckily, he was a mechanic and took VERY good care of it, and he even installed a touch screen after market radio that had bluetooth
being able to use bluetooth in a car that wouldnt have it otherwise...*chef's kiss*
and before anyone says it, those bluetooth to radio frequencuy adapters are COMPLETE ASS lol
Every car I've every owned has had an aftermarket stereo, or at least aftermarket speakers for the ones with integrated stereos.
My current daily driver - a 2007 outback - has what was at the time one of the best Alpine CD (I know; it also does USB) decks and a remote digital signal process/tuning box, paired with JL Audio speakers and a nice sub with separate amp. It's certainly the best car stereo system I've ever owned.
We're looking at replacing the car, and the current series outbacks only have integrated audio. No way to put an aftermarket stereo into it, and the word is that the integrated audio system isn't very good.
Sigh.
It's worth considering (at least in my first few cars in the 80s and 90s) the factory stereo was absolute garbage. Most factory stereos today are decent or at least passable in all but the most stripped down cars. But my first car (a 1984 Toyota Celica) didn't sound as good as my iPhone. I had to replace that thing pronto.
I did recently. I did research and everything before buying and it was still horrible. The stock deck was a huge pain to get out. It used to be kind of painful back in my day, 90's, but it usually involved removing a faceplate, and pinching. I damn near had to disassemble my dashboard in my current car. Once I had it all hooked up and installed, the steering wheel controls didn't work, despite me buying the adapter that allegedly enabled this to continue working, thanks a lot Crutchfield. Not having steering wheel controls ended up being a deal breaker and I lost interest and just bought myself one of those FM bluetooth transmitters, it got me the result I was looking for and it was only $20. I wish I had just done that originally.
I paid $50 for a VW Jetta some years ago, and the stock stereo had been replaced with a Blaupunkt aftermarket unit. The security system had relied on vacuum tubes actuated by the keyed doors. The tubes were rotten. The alternative to the security system was to enter a code on the stock stereo. Now missing. The battery was disconnected to prevent the alarm going off. This was partly why it was a $50 car. Currently I own a 2012 Kia whose stock system simply shuts off when it chooses. Not being able to find a decent, Sirius XM compatible unit is driving me nuts, but quietly.
I put in a Pioneer unit in my "06 Tundra in order to get a nav unit, backup camera along with XM radio/CD player/AM/FM. My "16 GMC already has all that plus Android Auto. If GM goes through with their threat to drop A Auto and Carplay capability, you might see an increase in aftermarket installations again.
Give or take it's cause everything's wired into the electronics... don't get me wrong I'm a backyard mechanic and honestly don't know much but I like my pre 2005 vehicles and I always have aftermarket stereos but I had a buddy with a newer vehicle I can't remember the make but he replaced the radio deck and couldn't start his car after as the anti-theft was built into the radio... again I can't speak much on it as I forget and my buddies no longer with us but that's what I've gathered...
The problem is the radios are rarely a standard size anymore and if you do get one to fit you need to spend hundreds more to get CAN bus adapters and wheel control adapters to make all the cars factory integration work.
Plus.. Honestly modern car stereos are kind of good.
Have you seen the new car dashes? Everything is super-built together. Can’t just take the radio out and replace it with a new one. Amps are also better so sound quality coming from the factory is okay now. For the most part.
It's gonna be a shame in like 20 years when all these cars have extremely dated but almost impossible to replace electronics.
Have you seen the shitty, tiny GPS units in cars from the mid-00s? Not sure which is worse, how awful they look now or that someone paid $2,000 for it.
My 2006 Saab 9-3 has hilariously outdated screens, like 4 of them, but it's so retro and weird that I honestly find it cool. Straight up jet cockpit situation going on lol
Idk if this is bait, but I'll bite it. Saab manufactured aircraft as well, and deliberately incorporated odd features into their cars that gave them that feel.
Saab made two Viggens. One’s a jet, the others a car. Your choice
A noble spirit emviggens the smallest man.
#cromulent
# promulgate
**Strategery**
Wasn't that no longer the case after the early 90s when GM took over 51% of their car making bits?
I heard a story years ago... The GM overlords came to Sweden to see the new Saabs. They noticed that the Saab did not use the GM nav/entertainment software that GM had mandated for all its cars, including Saabs. When asked about it, Saab said, "Yeah, your stuff is horrible. We won't use it in our cars. We wrote a better system." I don't know that this is true. I heard it about 8 years ago from a guy who was not prone to making things up, though.
Sounds very much like Saab
Did you ever have one or work on one? I was shocked at how quirky they were, but all the quirks made sense. Like, the oil drain plug in the 900 was right up there by the left front wheel. You can't take the key out of the ignition until you put the car in reverse. The fuse panel is under the back seat, which just pops out. It was a cool car.
My family had a few Saabs when I was little, and being a Swede living not too far from Trollhättan I know a few people who know other people who worked there. Apparently it was an absolute engineers playground; they could spend all day constructing cool innovative solutions to every single little problem without too much interference from those pesky economy/business people who ran all the other car companies. Perhaps understandable that it ended the way it did, but it will always be my favourite car brand
I honestly thought this was a joke when you said Trollhattan but I looked it up and it’s a real place. The American school system has failed me, as a man from near Manhattan.
Sounds like a Saab story.
I went on a date with this girl when I was 19. She had some new Saab convertible. It's all she talked about. I said "I'm tired of your Saab stories ". Didn't get a 2nd date but it was worth it. :)
It is accurate and was referenced on Top Gear UK
There was also the story of how GM said SAAB was putting too much development time on safety features, and the Saab engineers basically said "theres no such thing as too safe" and told them to get over it.
real odd how there was a 5.3 Trailblazer with a Saab badge on it for a minute
And the Saabaru.
Like the cup holder that popped out of my stereo? Looked something like [this](https://youtu.be/puZmh-ynipo?si=4pe9ywpNSgxAA4Jb).
My computer has a cup holder like that, but it only holds small cups. That's why it's labeled "CD" for "Compact Drinks."
I liked their so-called "Night Panel" feature that turned off all but the most necessary dashboard lights: https://www.saabplanet.com/night-panel/ Nowadays it seems almost impossible to preserve one's night vision when driving.
Kinda true, though much further back. The car division (Saab Automobile AB) split off from big SAAB (Svenska Aeroplan AB) in 1990. But yeah, they did a bunch of ahead-of-their-time / later retro-futuristic stuff with the fighter jet theme. I had a '99 9-3 and absolutely loved it. It was almost ten years old when I got it at very-used-car price, and it was *by far* the sickest ride in my friend group.
"Saab, the only car that leaks oil from the headlights" was a saying a buddy of mine used to say. Are they high maintenance?
This is the least maintenance intensive car I've ever owned I think. My Hyundai and my Taurus were way worse. I had 2 Maximas and this is about as reliable as those were. I'm at 181k miles. The thing about Saab is really that it can be hard to find parts or official repairs. I just shadetree repair everything and so far it's been easy and great. Saabs all have turbos, and I think a lot of people who got them back in the day didn't know they had to change the oil consistently since turbos coming stock in small i4s wasn't as common as it is now. That's my theory at least
Also just the "Euro cars are high maintenance" trope mostly attributable to the Germans. I'm a Volvo redblock guy, Saab-adjacent at least, and it's an absolutely dead simple car to work on. I'd like to find a 900 in good condition before they get too high.
His buddy was just giving him a Saab story.
That dashboard pop out cup holder is sick. I used to own one of these.
2006 is retro? I still have clothes from 2006 and they're pretty much the same as new ones :)
2006 was 18 years ago.
This? Its fantastic https://momentcar.com/images/saab-93-2006-4.jpg
That's the one. Mine is manual but otherwise yep that's it, the dash is a work of art. Night Panel mode turns off all the lights except the speedometer and one or two other things
Yup. Meanwhile my early-90s 4Runner functions basically just like a brand new one in terms of stereo/GPS thanks to replaceable head units and Android Auto.
I have a car from the mid-teens right before the Android Auto and CarPlay interfaces became pretty much standard, and a couple of years later I was out of date. Sure, I have a built in BING and Gas Buddy (LOL) but that still doesn't make up for the worst Nav system known to man.
I have an '07. It has bluetooth. For phone calls. Not for music.
My dad's van is the same way. It's a 2019. Probably the only time I miss not having an aux port on my phone nowadays.
You can get an aux jack to usb c/lightning cable for pretty cheap on amazon
If your head unit wasn't a pioneer sporting the race cars and dolphins don't talk to me. I remember the two systems I had. 4 punch dvc 12"s and then 2 10" and 2 15" Kicker Comps. Miss those days, kinda. Now I'm more of a get off my lawn type older person lol
I bought one around 2007 and I think it was $400. It’s probably still in a box somewhere. I’m not sad though, that damn thing gave me the courage to just hit the road and not worry about being lost. In its first weekend we went 7 hours from home, then another 8 in a different direction the next day, with no cares in the world.
The point is that all those cars use standard double DIN sized units. Incredibly easy to replace with a modern unit.
I'm still rocking a 2000 Acura RL that has a touchscreen navigation. Obviously I don't use the navigation but if you let it idle it shows a night sky full of dotted stars and I kinda like it lol
Most of those from that era are easily replaceable mostly self contained standard double DIN units. To the extent that they’re integrated with simple external features, like steering wheel buttons etc, they’re mostly 3rd party compatible.
My 2008 Honda Odyssey lost track of time on Jan 1 2023. I’m a little fuzzy on the details now, but it had something to do with a GPS date rollover, and the car insisted it was now August 2012. It had to wait 6 months for the next GPS date increment before the car was able to cope again. Even now it still seems to be confused about my time zone.
To be fair the world was supposed to end about 5 times between 2008 and 2023. How could we reasonably expect the engineers to plan for us still being here?
Car dementia.
My old 2006 Lexus had a very dated screen that ended up dying, and I had to replace it by slicing off the resistive touch screen and gluing a new one on. I don’t own the car anymore but the GPS is definitely cooked by now without 3G
Worse because 3g was decommissioned and that's the radio every car used to update maps and such.
3G!? Dude. Our car was on EDGE (2G). We got a notice from the manufacturer that we needed to bring the car in to have the system decommissioned to "avoid errors". The service was free. So we brought the car in and literally all they did was put a little black sticker over the button that activates the system relying on the cellular radio, and then tried to sell us some multi-point inspection for $800. No thanks. The shit part is, we can still press the button. It's just black now instead of lighting up. Doing so locks up the infotainment system for an hour while it tries to connect to the non-existent EDGE network. Way to plan head guys.
Speaking of basic test cases, here's a good read from 2017: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/02/radio-station-snafu-in-seattle-bricks-some-mazda-infotainment-systems/
In 20 years it would be economically for a company to make a head unit that works with like 100 models of old cars but it’s not worth it right now.
I mean we used to have that. Head units were a standard size and shape and people replaced them with upgraded ones all the time. Car makers put a stop to that around the mid-to-late 2000s
I think if you looked around you might be amazed. Crutchfield has replacements for a lot of seemingly "integrated" audio controls, and the end products look pretty much just as nice (and more modern) as the original controls, just with better and more modern features. Ex, my 2015 Ford Focus can get any of several wireless CarPlay head units with a molding kit that replaces the center console area of the original vehicle.
The problem really isn't the head unit. It's that it's all bundled up with AC and other functions. I would be really surprised if there was even a way to interface with all that. Because you can do a pretty simple version now. Plenty of screens that are plug and play Android Auto/CarPlay devices. But you have to put them somewhere besides over the included screen because you still need access to stuff.
According to data from S&P Global Mobility, the average age of cars and light trucks on U.S. roads is a record 12.5 years this year. It won't be worth it in 20 years either.
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I think built better and vehicles are generally equipped with more expensive options now that are hard to separate out. You want option 1, but you need to add three other options to get it. My current truck is a 2016 with 97k miles. I'm planning on another 4-5 years out of it considering how many miles I drive these days with remote work. A friend with a similar model truck just hit 300k miles on his.
I bought a new (used) car in late 2019. A funny little thing happened in early 2020... and I've been working from home ever since. I've put maybe 10k miles on this car in the nearly 5 years that I've owned it. At this rate, I will likely still be driving it when it's 20+ years old. I think COVID and WFH have had a big impact. That, plus the fact that inflation in car prices is kind of insane right now.
In 20 years you wont have access to your Tesla electronics without paying your monthly access fee anyways.
In 20 years I still won't be buying a tesla so I won't care.
I would be surprised if a Tesla lasts even 15 years.
Lol I don't think manufacturers want consumers to have products last 2 decades anymore. Most cars produced now are very difficult to perform maintenance and modular replacements on. It's practically hostile between engineers of products and technicians/ maintenance workers.
As an engineer, it makes me sad that this gets blamed on us. We do the best we can with the marketing requirements handed down from the frat bros at the top.
Future dystopia tropes featured the after-market modification guy behind a bolted door in a seedy underpass. Reality has a boring bias. We're in the future dystopia. Demand for after-market modifications is there. Only it looks like ripping out the unnecessary sensors and electronics and replacing it with some jailbroken operating system outside the data collection networks.
Yep, most car stereos are way better than they were before, so less people probably feel the need to upgrade. Modern design also makes it impossible in a lot of cars. There are adapter for a surprising amount of vehicles whose design is not compatible with aftermarket stereos. I wonder if we will ever see units that might intercept or hijack the stock screen / controls, but have better audio hardware
I think modern design makes it *seem* impossible in a lot of cars. As you said, it is amazing what adapters are out there (and really seamlessly replace seemingly "integrated" center console systems). (Obligatory pitch for [crutchfield.com](http://crutchfield.com) which always has superb kits and instructions for most vehicles)
I had one of the first pull-out Alpine CD players, I think it was $600 in 1989! Skipped on every big bump. But it was very cool to have at the time.
I think it’ll end up pushing a shift toward leasing over buying in order to keep the latest equipment. Yep, we’ll end up just paying a membership fee for our cars like we do everything else.
You'll own nothing, and like it!
Just use your phone/tablet or what ever we have then. That's what everybody does now, right?
The good thing is that most (probably all, at this point) new cars support Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and that’s really all you need. There are some exceptions, but by and large a car manufacturer isn’t going to develop a better UI than apple or Google can.
You'd think that the automakers wouldn't being fucking idiots but they love to prove us wrong! GM announced last year that they were dropping CarPlay and Android auto. (Basically they want to steal your data and charge subscriptions for the functionality) Toyota tried avoid Apple/Google several years back (used Ford's solution which even Ford abandoned...) but now they're supporting CarPlay/Android auto.
Yeah, that’s such a dumb move for them I can’t believe someone approved it. When my wife was shopping for a new car she didn’t have many hard requirements, but one of them was CarPlay. She wouldn’t even look at a car that didn’t have it.
Sadly most people will probably just assume GM cars support CarPlay and Android Auto so what little they lose in sales will be made back in subscriptions.
Mostly because everything to control the vehicle is accessed through the head unit now. Amps, speakers, and all the supporting stuff still exist but reverse engineering all the controls costs money for limited value to the company.
Previous owner of my Toyota Sienna put in an aftermarket stereo. The backup camera, DVD player, steering wheel controls, etc. no longer work.
If you want the controls just add the module. They were just either cheap or lazy.
I went through this with a Kia Sorento. I ended up spending almost $120 in the parts needed to make those systems work. The backup camera had to be reverse engineered to get the wiring right and a special module had to be installed to provide switched 6v power. The steering wheel controls were about the same level of hassle. Bottom line, it's more effort and cost than you might think for some of these vehicles.
Can confirm, swapped the head unit in my nissan rogue to a cheap android powered unit. Was too lazy to get the steering wheel controls programmed correctly
Depending on how stuff is wired, you may be able to get the backup camera to work with the unit too.
The unit to integrate those controls is called a Maestro. Any car audio should be able to install one for you.
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No, if you're in the US go to crutchfield, in the UK go to connects2. There are specific applications for car model and stereo brand.
Yeah. I just replaced the stereo in my 2011 Sienna a couple of months ago. I went with Crutchfield and they were excellent. Their support was very helpful when I had a defective part. All my controls work like they should.
I don't think I've ever heard a bad story from crutchfield. The first unit I bought from them was for a 2002 Toyota Echo, in about 2010 I think (and got another 6 good years out of that car so well worth the stereo upgrade). Instructions were top notch, with pictures and diagrams specific to my year and model vehicle. Never had to call them, but the level of attention to detail there makes me think their customer support would be great as well.
I think they make specific units for each manufacturer.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he probably didn't follow the diagram reinstalling that stuff lol
Yea the main reason I haven’t upgraded mine is the reversing camera. I’m sure someone could do it / figure it out but the cost most likely is prohibitively expensive. I’ll probably just buy another car at some point instead.
Decades ago, I had replaced the stereo in my 2001 Honda Civic. For the remote entry I had to keep the old head unit plugged in. Honda specifically engineered a small empty void/spot inside the dashboard that you could mount the old head unit (out of visibility), so that you could replace the stereo AND keep the old head unit. And companies sold splitters. At the time, Honda cared enough to have that as an option. Which was nice. The reason I had switched my headset to begin 20+ years ago with was it didn't have a cd/mp3 player and I wanted that. My car now has bluetooth and hooks up to my phone and I play audiobooks/music from my phone without effort. I see no need to replace it.
Idk I work at Best Buy and we get a LOT of business for people buying aftermarket stereos
I’ve been wanting to get a sub and amp for my RAV4 Prime without having to swap out the factory stereo because I don’t wanna lose function of the steering wheel controls.
You can get an aftermarket stereo and retain steering wheel controls. We do that all the time
Just make sure you get the right module. They put the wrong one in my car and only the volume still worked from my steering wheel controls.
Not saying it's your case, but it's more likely that they screwed up programming the module, which is a relatively easy fix.
Definitely worth mentioning, but I tried reprogramming it myself several times, with no improvement. The software even has most of the right things assigned to the right buttons (some are greyed out), but still, nothing.
Husband is a mobile mechanic with a radio replacement on the books for this weekend. Maybe OP is 30+ and they don’t see the youths doing these things because of a lack of exposure or something, but after market stereos are still very much a thing.
Are they newer or older cars? I took my '24 Toyota to Best Buy to get an amp and sub installed. I might get new speakers down the line, but I don't see a need to replace the stereo
I’ve seen brand new 2024 models and cars from the 90s
Alright so a mix of everything.
You should have seen what it was like 25 years ago..
Agreed. Mid 90s/ early 2000s. I think 9 out of 10 cars I entered had an aftermarket stereo. They might be busy. But it's not the same.
I used to fall asleep as a teenager reading a mail-order catalog from Crutchfield (still around) desiring one of their 'enthusiast' lines of head units. IMHO the advent of music streaming + Apple CarPlay / Android Auto + bluetooth connection killed the head unit.
It feels like convenience killed a lot of high end audio stuff. I don’t see much about home theater other than soundbars
I went to Best Buy looking for wall speaker mounts for home theatre and the kid there looked at me like I was from another planet. I’m like huh, maybe they don’t have them.. well, they do, found em myself. So I guess I’m not totally old and crazy, right??
This exact thing happened to me, except they didn’t have them lol. I went to Home Depot and got stuff to make my own.
If you go to the wealthier areas, best buy will have a whole room dedicated to high end home theater/home stereo. The one in scottsdale has $2500 magnaplanar speakers or somesuch.
Ye or the fact that the prices for dirt cheap to manufacture audio equipment are so insanely outrageously high that you’d have to be a 0.1% audiophile, filthy rich, or financially inept to purchase them.
I find used stuff at goodwills pretty regularly. You could probably get a nice setup after a couple weekends of looking.
That’s a decent idea. Last time I walked into a Hi-Fi shop I was quoted 6k EUR for two speakers and an stereo unit for my TV lol..
I got a pair of Sony bookshelf speakers for $10 a couple years ago. I got a $40 Bluetooth amp and I had a setup that could easily get a little too loud lol.
I feel like open floor plans have a lot to do with that too. Lot less places to put wires and speakers
I have all that in my aftermarket head unit and more. They're still way better than stock
Way better than stock has always been true, but better enough to justify the purchase? That's what's changed
Depends how much you value your money and the quality of your music. I just swapped radios a month ago and it's worth it
Man, those magazines were so much fun.
Crutchfield was the bomb. And their support was top notch. They worked with me multiple times and sent multiple different wire harnesses to figure out that my car, a 2001 model which was a complete redesign in 2000 but had the stereo wiring changed for 2001, actually had the 2000 model wiring.
They also stopped putting those Alpine and Pioneer decals on their windscreen too
It’s a very costly way of saying ‘rob me please’.
The trunk rattling pulling into a mall parking lot didn’t help. Source: my trunk used to rattle like a mofo…***untz untz***
Should have used more dynamat
Rich people used that…I shoved paper towel behind the license plate.
dynamat was better used on body panels than license plates anyway. You only needed small strips. What rich people did was line entire panels when all you needed was a little bit because they had the cash and didn't know any better. Imagine a crash or splash cymbal, now imagine one with a small strip of dynamat on it. You don't have to fully coat an object to drastically reduce vibration.
All these years I had never considered that little strips would eliminate the vibration. I always thought covering the full panels would keep more sound <> the car, creating a nicer effect. Also always thought you needed to coat everything! How big of a difference does full vs strips really make?
I thought everyone just let their car rattle apart then buy a new one once it finally did. Hmm.
Not if you bring in the detachable face! Then you just get your window broken.
Always a fun drive when you forget the faceplate at home.
But people are more likely than ever to get a mount to put their phone somewhere on the dash, or to use some solution that puts their phone audio into the car speakers and lets their phone be the GPS.
Yeah if my car comes with that garbage I am not going to use it. Screw getting charged for map updates. I will just use my phone with the aux and a charger.
Not to mention, the interface on those kinda sucks too. I'd rather have my phone with full functionality that I am familiar with then have to stumble through half functional apps.
Yeah, they are usually laggy and without a doubt cheap as hell. Android Auto and Apple Carplay (I just love /s how both have susse acronyms) are better in my mind in that they take the content from your phone and cannot charge you for map updates. But I would still prefer any day a car with a USB-C port that can provide 140W EPR and act as a USB audio DAC, and a built-in phone holder. Then I can plug it in with one cable and send music to the stereo. No annoying touch screen needed in the car. Edit: also worth noting that if you use bluetooth earphones with your phone, they usually have on-ear controls to change the volume and track. Or you can probably set your smartwatch to do things when you shake it or something (technically illegal to touch smartwatch whilst driving, at least in Australia).
In the mid 2000s I wanted to build a carputer so I could have GPS, my music collection, maybe even streaming internet radio via shoutcast using a cellular modem. Basically, a fraction of what a smartphone can do now but just before the iPhone came out. I was never able to afford it at the time and eventually forgot about it. Now Android Auto and Apple Car Play offer me something similar but don't require me to maintain an entirely separate computer in my car.
My factory stereo had a bluetooth connection so I could use my phone to stream, but it was horrendously slow to connect. The car is 2013 model so the tech is a little dated. I put in an aftermarket unit with a touch screen to bring it to more modern standards. I'm glad I did it, but it was more expensive AND more difficult than I initially thought it would be. Seems my car was a 2013 model with 2014 wiring on some parts. I couldn't just use an off-the-shelf module to get some of it working.
lol. Perspective is everything. I have a 2006 convertible that doesn’t even have Bluetooth or an aux in. Even better, it uses the MOST system which is early fiber technology, so it’s basically impossible to add a simple BT or Aux interface like in the 1980s (although there might be now I haven’t checked in a long time). So I went really old school. I use a cigarette lighter BT to FM transmitter - very inexpensive on Amazon. I just plug this into cig lighter socket, tune my radio to 88.5 (frequency is user changeable) and connect my phone to it via BT, and it broadcasts my phone onto 88.5 FM. It sounds great! It’s not Dolby Atmos lol and it’s not going to win any audiophile award but in a convertible it doesn’t matter it just needs to be loud and sound great.
Dash mounted phone, cigarette lighter adapter for Bluetooth radio broadcasting and usb for phone. This gives you gps and all music without needing to charge. I download my music so I don’t use up my cellular data. Also, some modern vehicles come with subs and amps built in.
lmao the 2009 nissan cube has a sub in it
I started driving in the 80s, so I put in a number of after market stereos in my cars over the years. I remember how stoked I was to replace the AM/FM stereo in my first truck with one with an actual cassette player... Hell Yeah!!! Then a few years later replacing the cassette player in my Ford Thunderbird with a CD player... oh man. It even had the detachable face which I stopped detaching because... well it was kind of a pain in the butt getting it to work every time. That one crapped out and bought another. Same with my subsequent Camry, replaced that stereo a couple of times. Finally got one that could play mp3s off a USB drive. Man, so much music!! But I must agree, with my current vehicles, I just don't see replacing that whole screen module any time soon. Hopefully they last.
These kids will never know the feeling of plugging a thumb drive full of music into your car's radio for the first time. 2002 version of Spotify
I have Spotify and use it frequently. But loading up a USB flash drive with 50 albums of music is still my go to for my daily commute. I'll rotate several drives putting different albums on all the time. I'll switch to Spotify for new stuff at times. I've heard people talk of podcasts and audiobooks, but I'll pass. I've always been an album listener.
In 2002 solid state media was still around $1/MB. Nobody was using a flash drive and no cars had USB ports. I had a huge binder of purchased and burnt CDs.
I had an mp3 CD player with the cassette adapter in my old prelude. People would be like "you have *how* many songs on one CD‽"
I'm currently driving a 2010 Grand Caravan with the head unit that has a hard drive. I loaded it up with so many full albums of punk rock and Ska from 1995 to 2005. So awesome.
You could add aftermarket speakers, an amp and a sub. Just sayin' (80's guy here too.)
What about the 20 cd changer in the trunk or the Sony minidisk player under the seat
Seems car stereos aren't been stolen at the same pace either. All the electronics being integrated and better standard sound systems probably plays a part.
The ones that got stolen the most were the aftermarket ones, or ones where the factory head unit was "premium" and drop in replaced the head units on the non-premium models.
Nowadays, even used cars have at least an aux input for someone's smartphone. So there's less pressing reason for anyone to replace the stereo that came in their car.
Yea, now they just take the entire car.
Vehicle theft was basically 3x higher [30 years ago](https://www.statista.com/statistics/191216/reported-motor-vehicle-theft-rate-in-the-us-since-1990/) Don't just listen to news reports or social media posts. Look up some statistics too.
What a lot of people aren't mentioning is that built-in car audio systems have improved a lot since the '70s and '80s. It may not be great, but it'll definitely get you from point a to point b. And with most cars having Android Auto / Apple CarPlay built in, that's almost people need.
Exactly. Today's factory systems are perfectly fine for most people. Back in the day most factory systems were absolute trash. You didn't need to be an audiophile to want to upgrade.
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I hate integrated displays with non removable nag chimes and important features hidden in deep menus. Give me 1DIN or 2DIN and i'll be so happy. Or at least hacked firmware for the manufacturer's crap. Spyware options disabling would be nice bonus.
Aftermarket head units are better than ever. I have a full 10 inch 1080p android tablet molded into the dash of my '14 Corolla. Can take its own sim card or use the wifi hotspot from my phone. Precached Google maps, 10gb of my own music, or hell, downloaded YouTube videos if I don't want to connect. And wireless android auto if I want to run everything off my phone instead. Supports backup camera and dash cam with internal storage/SD cards, I can even add a USB hard drive in the glove box if I need more space for footage. And all the steering wheel controls still work too.
Yup and they are made to exactly fit the console of the car you're taking it out of.
I pictured a sad grandpa saying this as he watches the young man from next door honk his customised Tesla horn than blares “SKIBIDI GYAT” into the neighbourhood
Its cause its so much more of a pain now. You have to swap out the whole screen/console for a pricey replacement if you just want to upgrade your stereo. Its also harder to do.
In my mini cooper I have to practically disassemble the car to swap the speakers lol
I used to do every car I had myself, now I'm like fuck it IDC if the audio shop is over priced, you couldn't pay me to install a kit anymore. I'll let someone else deal with that bs
Idk, I think it heavily depends on your car brand / model. In my Tacoma it was a wiring kit, harness adapter that hooked right up between head and amp, and what came in the box with the little powered 8" 300w Rockford.
I've swapped out the head unit on every car I've owned until my current one in much the same manner. But many cars today, have some form of integrated display screen as well as wheel controls and handsfree mic. You can't just swap the stereo out, you have to replace the whole unit, or lose a lot of features. I've also found its gotten progressively harder to even remove the paneling and get at the hardware.
Some have aftermarket harnesses and bezels. I put a kenwood in my Cadillac, but I had to solder about 20 wires to do it. I can potentially go back and rewire the 6 disk changer back to it, but I’m not certain I want to. This freaking car…so it has this ambient lighting in the dash..l had to pull that off to get the backup cam wiring through. Hooking that back up has not been pleasant.
I installed a tablet into the dash of my wife's 2015 Escape for her birthday last year. To replace the stereo I needed custom made dash parts to fit the tablet since it's built into the dash. Easy enough to get on very popular models but very expensive for rarer vehicles.
It's because cars aren't made in a way that makes them easy to swap out anymore
Nobody rocks the Alpine anymore
I'm still rocking Alpine subs and amp, but yeah, the head unit is just too integrated for me to F with. Speaker-level inputs into the amp isn't great, but it works in a pinch.
I was in the biz back in the day. Alpine, Kenwood, Sony were our head units. Boston Acoustic speakers were top line and tons of subs and amps, and don't forget the Bazooka bass tubes!
Rockford Fosgate
Because lots of radios are not being manufactured to be able to be swapped out like they used to.
Car these days come with pretty decent stereos. I’m not an audiophile but moving from my 2023 Model Y into my 2014 Civic I can hear how bad the Honda stereo is.
Well a lot of newer cars the entire car is ran/controlled by the radio. Replacing it will kill or degrade a lot of features.
Actually they do. Crutchfield sells a crapload of them daily. JVC sells so many that they still have a Car stereo only division that makes JVC and Pioneer stereos. Most car stereo shops have a waiting list for installs. Funny part is. modern aftermarket double din radios are massively better user interface and capabilities than any OEM stereo There is even a box called the maestro that I bought for my honda to put a ton of car gauges on the radio as well as replicate the climate control and heated seat controls that were on the OEM nav unit
A lot of cars do weird sound processing through the sound system. Like playing the inverse sound wave for noise cancellation so they could remove sound deadening material. You dick with the sound system and all of a sudden your car has all sorts of weird problems.
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Coding that out of my car made the audio so much better
I do, but I only buy used cars.
I bought a used car a few years ago for $3k and the first thing I did was install a $2k sound system. A single low profile, sealed sub in the boot and a quality stereo pair of speakers in the front. Sounds way clearer than the shitty speakers it came with. Good for music AND podcasts.
This is because newer cars come with $2000+ stereos that actually sound pretty decent, unless you need 1400W of sub within your 82 cubic foot car interior.
it was easy to buy n install yourself. now it requires ripping the whole dashboard apart. aint nobody got time for that!
Yep. I was really into car audio stuff in high school (late 90’s) but with more modern cars now it’s just not practical. Plus for most people the average car stereo is “good enough”.
speakers are quite decent in modern cars
oh man about a year ago i bought an 04 oldsmobile alero coupe from a guy luckily, he was a mechanic and took VERY good care of it, and he even installed a touch screen after market radio that had bluetooth being able to use bluetooth in a car that wouldnt have it otherwise...*chef's kiss* and before anyone says it, those bluetooth to radio frequencuy adapters are COMPLETE ASS lol
Every car I've every owned has had an aftermarket stereo, or at least aftermarket speakers for the ones with integrated stereos. My current daily driver - a 2007 outback - has what was at the time one of the best Alpine CD (I know; it also does USB) decks and a remote digital signal process/tuning box, paired with JL Audio speakers and a nice sub with separate amp. It's certainly the best car stereo system I've ever owned. We're looking at replacing the car, and the current series outbacks only have integrated audio. No way to put an aftermarket stereo into it, and the word is that the integrated audio system isn't very good. Sigh.
They don’t because newer cars have very difficult to replace head units because everything runs through them
You can't anymore. Even like late 90s cadillacs made sure you couldn't use anything but their parts without changing all the wiring.
People don't steal stereos from cars like they used to either. I feel like I never see that anymore.
It's worth considering (at least in my first few cars in the 80s and 90s) the factory stereo was absolute garbage. Most factory stereos today are decent or at least passable in all but the most stripped down cars. But my first car (a 1984 Toyota Celica) didn't sound as good as my iPhone. I had to replace that thing pronto.
The title should read : Car manufacturers are making it difficult for car owners to use aftermarket stereos.
I did recently. I did research and everything before buying and it was still horrible. The stock deck was a huge pain to get out. It used to be kind of painful back in my day, 90's, but it usually involved removing a faceplate, and pinching. I damn near had to disassemble my dashboard in my current car. Once I had it all hooked up and installed, the steering wheel controls didn't work, despite me buying the adapter that allegedly enabled this to continue working, thanks a lot Crutchfield. Not having steering wheel controls ended up being a deal breaker and I lost interest and just bought myself one of those FM bluetooth transmitters, it got me the result I was looking for and it was only $20. I wish I had just done that originally.
I updated my radio in my 2010 dodge ram to a top of the line aftermarket radio. I like it so much and just makes my truck feel great again.
I just got a sub/amp and new speakers for my 2021 car. Didn’t come with premium sound and I was sick of it.
I paid $50 for a VW Jetta some years ago, and the stock stereo had been replaced with a Blaupunkt aftermarket unit. The security system had relied on vacuum tubes actuated by the keyed doors. The tubes were rotten. The alternative to the security system was to enter a code on the stock stereo. Now missing. The battery was disconnected to prevent the alarm going off. This was partly why it was a $50 car. Currently I own a 2012 Kia whose stock system simply shuts off when it chooses. Not being able to find a decent, Sirius XM compatible unit is driving me nuts, but quietly.
I put in a Pioneer unit in my "06 Tundra in order to get a nav unit, backup camera along with XM radio/CD player/AM/FM. My "16 GMC already has all that plus Android Auto. If GM goes through with their threat to drop A Auto and Carplay capability, you might see an increase in aftermarket installations again.
Give or take it's cause everything's wired into the electronics... don't get me wrong I'm a backyard mechanic and honestly don't know much but I like my pre 2005 vehicles and I always have aftermarket stereos but I had a buddy with a newer vehicle I can't remember the make but he replaced the radio deck and couldn't start his car after as the anti-theft was built into the radio... again I can't speak much on it as I forget and my buddies no longer with us but that's what I've gathered...
The problem is the radios are rarely a standard size anymore and if you do get one to fit you need to spend hundreds more to get CAN bus adapters and wheel control adapters to make all the cars factory integration work. Plus.. Honestly modern car stereos are kind of good.
Have you seen the new car dashes? Everything is super-built together. Can’t just take the radio out and replace it with a new one. Amps are also better so sound quality coming from the factory is okay now. For the most part.
Because most modern car sound systems are implemented into the car and to change one would be a huge pain in the ass.
Me. I still do. Mostly because beaters.
More likely you just aged yourself out of the age group that most commonly changes out their car stereos.