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I've worked out that an Apple Carplay stereo is the second most important requirement for my next car (after bike & crap carrying abilities). Rather than limit my search to cars that already have this I figure I can add one myself.
Seems to be a bit of a minefield of cheap brands I've never heard of and expensive ones by Sony, Pioneer etc. Is it best to stick with known brands or is there an Aldi of car stereos?
Probably single din unfortunately. Wired is fine. Also needs to have a decent (doesn't need to be massive) touchscreen and not be horribly slow.
No idea what else I need. Guess DAB would be nice, and are there any security features that make them less desirable to nick?
Single Din with a "floating" screen then?
I've just fitted a Sony XAV to my van, very happy with it. It's a single din unit but with a double din screen on the front.
They do floating ones too https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-car-receivers-players/xav-ax8150
I actually thought they did a couple of different ones but that's all I can find now.
I've not used an unbranded / Aldi one for years, last time I did it put me off for ever. Maybe they've got better these days.
Don't forget you'll potentially need Canbus adapters etc, mine cost nearly £200 in bits for fitting.
Guess DAB would be nice
DAB & carplay were my only requirements, you can pay more for NAV but it's redundant these days with carplay. I also fitted a small all in one sub which had massively improved the sound.
You can buy double din fascia adapters for a lot of cars nowadays which is much preferable and give you more options in head units and double Dins are normally cheaper too, especially if you get a mech less one.
You’ll need the same connection adaptors no matter what so maybe have a Google before you choose your car to see if it can be converted.
Hadn’t realised the adaptors were so pricey either
Mine was expensive because the original radio had some of the vehicle settings on it (like setting the clock on the dash) if whatever you buy doesn't have the same then it will be a bit cheaper. I think it was about £50 extra for the clever canbus adapter.
Depending on vehicle you might just need a different cable.
What are you looking at buying and how old?
You'r not getting a single-DIN with touchscreen unless it's a floating one like @phil5556 mentions above.
I've no experience of CarPlay, but I've found Pioneer headunits to have the best mic/Bluetooth for handsfree calling, if that matters. Sound quality generally great too. I stuck a double-DIN low-end Pioneer into my car, non-touchscreen with actual physical buttons as I HATE trying to use a touchscreen on the move.
As for head unit recommendations I only looked at the Sonys and Pioneer. I didn't like the look of the Pioneer screen & menus etc - looked a bit max power. The Sony is a bit cleaner & simpler. Mine is the XAV-AX5650.
There's a cheaper one that looks pretty similar. Has a resistive touchscreen instead of capacitive, not sure what other differences there are https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-car-receivers-players/xav-ax3250
Sony use quite a low screen resolution if that bothers you, it doesn't me for headunit, others have HD screens.
That's about the extent of my head unit knowledge.
And one more thing, depending on car you might be able to get a CarPlay interface box - my 3 series already had a decent screen, I fitted a box that adds CarPlay to the original iDrive (nearly) seamlessly.
I stuck a double-DIN low-end Pioneer into my car, non-touchscreen with actual physical buttons as I HATE trying to use a touchscreen on the move.
Depends on what functions are on the touchscreen - my Ford has a floating screen, with actual knobs and steering wheel controls for tuning, etc. I use certain touch controls, like source to switch between the DAB radio and my phone, and to bring the satnav map up to full screen, but that’s about all. Unfortunately, many modern cars have systems fully integrated and which are touchscreen only, which I hate with a passion! I honestly think they’re dangerous, for the same reason using a mobile phone is. The way things are going, it’s getting to be increasingly difficult to replace an infotainment system, because it’s just one or two big screens running across the width of the dash; Mercedes are doing this, and it’s fine until it fails, in which case the driver is stuffed, there’s no information available to allow the vehicle to be driven. And I have seen it happen, the car had to be put on a trailer and taken to a dealer to be sorted out. The car in question had literally just come out of the workshop, imagine it happening on a motorway late at night…
