10000% agree. A "modern" radio (that isn't an infotainment) in an older car is such an awesome upgrade for 200$.
Photography by Chris Tropea
We do a lot of things to ruin our cars on the street in the name of going faster, so how about something to make our Club Spec Mustang more enjoyable, especially before a 3000-plus-mile road trip?
Time for a modern radio.
While our Mustang came from the factory with a six-disc CD changer, we wanted a more modern experience for our 17-day adventure–a way to stream music and podcasts. Luckily, the SCCA Club Spec rules were updated for 2025 to allow for radio upgrades.
So we went to our spare parts shelf and grabbed the same Sony XAV-AVX1000 head unit that we’ve used before, with this particular one coming from our old Nissan Frontier. Why do we keep coming back to this model? For one, it has a volume knob. Our Mustang doesn’t have steering wheel controls, and we like the simplicity of a knob–it’s way easier than searching for a button to click up or down while driving.
[Upgrades can be about making your vehicle more comfortable, too]
For the hardware to install the unit, we went over to the Crutchfield website and sourced the necessary dash bezel, wiring harness and install guide for $46 shipped to our door.
Similar head units on eBay are selling for $100, so call this a $146 upgrade that will let us easily see our GPS while driving with Apple CarPlay.
About 10 screws stood in our way to removing the trim, and then we could remove the old unit from the car and confirm that we had everything on hand necessary to complete the job.
The hardest part? Unclipping a connector for the a/c controls so we could move the dash bezel completely out of the way.
We then wired up the new car harness to the radio’s harness and simply installed the radio.
This modification also cut a chunk of weight out of the car. The stock unit weighs 6 pounds, 9.5 ounces, and the new unit only weighs 1 pound, 15.4 ounces. Ounces make pounds, right?
Now that we’ve gotten everything back together, we think this new head unit fits nicely in the dash and adds a modern touch to the driving experience of our nearly 20-year-old Mustang. It just took a few hours and less than $150.
10000% agree. A "modern" radio (that isn't an infotainment) in an older car is such an awesome upgrade for 200$.
In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :
I am a big fan of this upgrade to older cars especially ones you are spending a lot of time in. I was in the Mustang for most of September while traveling for events and the ability to have CarPlay made the time spent in the car so much more enjoyable.
In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :
I concur with your agreement. I did my first upgrade 10 years ago to replace the non-functioning (which they all were) Bose unit in my 300Z. I installed a double din Kenwood/Garmin unit which made me happy until, 3 years later, I found that I could no longer upgrade maps and firmware in the unit (thanks so much Kenwood/Garmin), but at least I could listen to Sirius/XM. Fast forward to complete failure of the Kenwood unit, and I went with a Sony unit with all the streaming goodies. I now have choice of navigation, choice of music streaming, and best of all, a backup camera, which the Z sorely needed.
Definitely agree, although the crusty old-fart part of me needs the radio to include a CD player.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:Definitely agree, although the crusty old-fart part of me needs the radio to include a CD player.
Even though I rarely use CDs anymore–I've pretty much gone totally digital–there's something special about popping in a CD before going for a drive.
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
I'm there with you, not because I'm old but because my kid has discovered CDs and loves them. He prefers to ride in my old truck so he can pop in a CD he likes or so we can listen to one of the old random CDs I have in an ancient flipbook to find something "new."
I have mixed feelings about this, specifically regarding my 128i. Having access to Android Auto when needed would be nice, but I don't find myself needing it that often, and I otherwise loathe screen-based systems in cars - I like buttons and knobs that don't require me to look at the unit to operate it. I have Sirius built-in, so that's covered. About the only thing that might push me in this direction is when enough pixels in my radio go out that I can't use it anymore.
100%. Its so nice to be able to get nav onto the screen with carplay on the way to the track and easily be able to stream music. Though even supercheap android headunits are really good these days. I have an Atoto s8 in my car and it is fantastic for what I need. I have full play store access so I can get the full versions of any android app on it. It might not have the ultimate S/N ratio of a high end radio, but its in a noisy track car anyways.
........something I rarely use.
All I want is FM, I don't even care if it's stereo.
Displaying 1-10 of 16 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
