Ideas for New Head Unit?

[Tasmanian2]

Hey all,
Currently my mustang has the tiny base model head unit and I was looking to see what recommendations there were for possible upgrades? I’ve been looking at hellhorse performance’s upgrade kit but at over $1,000 I’d like to look for cheaper alternatives. What do you guys recommend?

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[NoVaGT]

I also looked into this for my 2016 base GT. I couldn't find anything that was reasonably priced, and had good reviews. Most units are from China, and work for about 14 minutes after installation, and then freeze up. And you ain't gettin' no tech support for any of those units.

I said "fuck that", and bought a 2019 301A car.

 

[Spork3245]

An OEM Sync3 install

 

[Tasmanian2]

I also looked into this for my 2016 base GT. I couldn't find anything that was reasonably priced, and had good reviews. Most units are from China, and work for about 14 minutes after installation, and then freeze up. And you ain't gettin' no tech support for any of those units.

I said "fuck that", and bought a 2019 301A car.

Yeah I was looking at some mutuals on Instagram and some of them have the Tesla-like screen I’m just wondering how good it actually is

 

[Tasmanian2]

An OEM Sync3 install

I wonder how much that would cost

 

[Spork3245]

I wonder how much that would cost

$800-1000 w/nav and trim typically

 

[ice445]

An OEM install kit from Hextall makes it fairly easy to move to Sync 3. Its expensive but your best option for quality

 

[Jimayy]

I'm looking to do an upgrade for my base model 2016 ecoboost. I would have liked a premium, but the deal was so slick on what I got. And leather seats + Texas is typically a no-go for me. I have looked to the Sync 3 conversions and what not. They are pricey as well. I think you can find more used on ebay for under $600, and check the site for ways to make it work. I'm still confused what the fourth toggle switch would do?
I saw recently on youtube that someone dropped in an android based head unit, to create that "floating head unit" look. Which the Audi A4, Civics, Accords and the Explorer ST and many other cars seem to have nowadays.
I saw on the reddit pages too This user used a Sony AX8000 to create the floating headunit look too. Reference One. Two.
I'd have to admit, it looks rather clean. The Sony doesn't allow custom wallpaper, but the Alpine Halo9 units allow you to use custom wallpaper. And these units allow video play (not to do while driving of course )
The only thing with the aftermarket headunits is you'll need a Dash kit, and right now I think only Metra and Scosche has them.
Metra 108-FD5CH | Metra 99-5838CH | Scosche ITCFD05B And these all cost almost as much as a headunit, $330-400. Comes with harness and usually the necessary installation stuff. So combined with a headunit, you can run near $1,000.

The ebay and china-express sites do list some units that are priced and come with the fascia/dash trim already. The tomtop seems always out of stock. The telsa units are about $600ish and some of the other Android ones are $500-ish. Generally they seem to work. And their plastic color/look seems to be more OEM looking than the metra/socosche kits. So it's something to consider. I really do kind of like the look of the floating head unit though.

 

[Cathul]

You should also consider a Maestro RR together with the Maestro MFT1 kit.

 

[Dave2013M3]

You should also consider a Maestro RR together with the Maestro MFT1 kit.

Not if you have 4" screen.

To the OP, if you go with the Sync 3 conversion, the other issue is you have to get an amplifer if you want better sound. As you will be stuck with the original base ACM unit for the sound. At least with an aftermarket head unit you will get more power.

 

[kh1818]

looked into this, realizing that my main objective was to find a solution to run android auto on a large screen. after a bit of research, decided to go with a kindle fire hd 10 tablet, and installed the 'Headunit Reloaded" app (allows the tablet to act as the receiving device to display android auto as a car headunit would). Note to do this, you need to install the google play store on the tablet. very easy to do - linked the instructions i followed below.

info on the Headunit Reloaded app- https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/android-4-1-headunit-reloaded-android-t3432348
google play on kindle fire 10 instructions: https://1upnote.me/post/2020/02/install-play-store-amazon-fire-tablet/

This works well (wireless connection works fine with my pixel 2xl). Also bought a CD drive tablet mount from amazon to hold the tablet in place. Think this will be temporary - i saw someone created a velcro-based mount to cover up the 4" screen by slapping 2 pieces of foam on either side of the media/telephone dash buttons and layering some velcro on top. Can't find the picture i saw earlier to link here at the moment but hopefully you can visualize. People also used scosche magnets to secure the tablet over the stock screen/buttons, this might be a good option as well.

This setup requires that you (1) connect the tablet to your phone's wifi hotspot, and you will have to start the android auto server on your phone manually each time you want to use this. For me that isn't a big deal (open android auto on phone, click settings, start server). This isn't the cleanest solution, but very low cost and achieves my objective.

 

[Mavro]

I've got the Kenwood NAV with the Metra turbo dash kit in my 2018 Mustang and they work good together. Kenwood unit has Android auto as well.

 

[Soulja4187]

I've got the Kenwood NAV with the Metra turbo dash kit in my 2018 Mustang and they work good together. Kenwood unit has Android auto as well.

Post a picture

 

[Mavro]

Post a picture

 

[Turbong]

That looks very self made

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