Aftermarket head unit advice

no
yes
yes, if the installation is done per industry standards, there is no warranty issue. Some Regions do offer "Dealer supplied" after market rear camera systems.
no, unless the HU is a Dealer offered upgrade, which is still junk.

Opinion: If you do not like the factory Stereo/Nav systems available, then purchase a base model car, and replace with what you want. It is your car. The problem is you will give up other options available because everything is provided by level or package. Replacing the factory upgrade JBL head unit (JBL) is difficult, at best, due to the systems dedicated amp, speaker impedance, input voltages, ect...plus the cost of the JBL upgrade is lost. I purchased a 2010 Prius II Base and completely replaced the system with after market. I did not need auto pilot, self parking or sun roof, but added leather heated through the Dealers vendor. I am a mechanic, have kids and a dog. But thats me.

There is much info in this, and the 2nd Gen Audio/Electronics sections of this forum, as well as other places. Do a lot of research and take your time to consider the pros and cons, and what you want.

Never be afraid to ask anything on this forum. There are some really good people here.

 

You can add a full audio/nav/camera setup and leather seats, fully installed, for less than the cost that Toyota charges, and you'll be happier with the results. When they do the seats, the result is factory quality -- the upholsterer removes the seats, removes the fabric cover, then stitches the leather to the seats. With the audio, sky's the limit, but it's no problem for an installer to replace the door speakers with better speakers and all that stuff.

 

I have the JBL and it is rather a waste of money when you upgrade your head unit. Except for a couple of things.

First, I personally think the JBL system sounds pretty darn good, it has great bass (I'm not a booming type of bass guy). I used the Scosche adapter to use the JBL with my new Ottonavi head unit and I really like it. It looks factory and everything works very well. The IGO Nav is great, the IPOD interface is excellent, and the radio reception is outstanding. The DVD also works perfectly. The only downside is that it does not have voice recognition and the original JBL unit does.

Now for the second thing you do get with the Prius III. You get the buttons on the steering wheel for the phone to answer and hang up the phone. And the nice thing is these buttons still work fine even with the new Ottonavi head unit. In fact all the steering wheel buttons work fine with the Ottonavi unit.

But to tell you the truth, you'd be fine with the Prius II and would have enough money left over to put in a nice 5 way Amp along with new speakers and overall have a nicer system than the JBL. Only thing you would not have are the phone buttons on the steering wheel.

Good luck.

 

The color LCD touchscreen was standard on all 1st and 2nd gen Priuses (NHW11 and NHW20, spanning 01-09 model years). On the 3rd gen (ZVW30, aka 2010+), you only got it on 2010-2011 models if you got nav. For 2012+, it's changing back again to be standard. See Exclusive: 2012 MY Prius - Changes and Additions | PriusChat.

 

I have a 2012 Prius 2 package, and it includes the phone buttons on the steering wheel, but no voice commands.

 

I am finding a hell of time with this as well... I currently have a Myron Davis HU in my Prius, and I hate it. I bought it with that installed already. I do really want to switch it out with something cool, I don't care about a factory look, but I want it too look really nice. I have seen people adding the Pioneer 7" screen, but that crappy looking bracket on the sides of the unit looks like hell, in my opinion. Plus, if I was going to go all screen, I would want to try and squeeze an 8" screen in.

Someone mentioned an Alpine coming out in a couple of months... Anyone have any info on that? I can't seem to find it on Google.

It seems like all of the "stock look" HUs are running off a SUPER old version of windows mobile software, which I do not care for. To make a short story long, I need help figuring out what HU to replace my Myron Davis with....

 

Model: IVE-W535HD

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.


Best Buy:
Alpine - 50W x 4 Apple® iPod®-/Satellite Radio-Ready In-Dash DVD Deck - IVE-W535HD

 

While I appreciate the effort, this unit is going to leave a massive gap of cheap looking plastic in my dash considering it's size.

I did find this, Alpine INE-Z928HD Navigation Receiver at Crutchfield.com , which I hope would leave a smaller gap... But it isn't out yet, so I guess that was the other one someone else was talking about.

What I would really like, is a company with a well respected name that made one that looked stock...

 

The Alpine looks like a regular double DIN.

Audiovox makes a line of OEM look units under the Advent name.

 

Hmmmm, I don't know if Audiovox is a name I wanna trust But I will take a look at the advent units. The problem with the first apline is it wouldn't take up enough real estate in the dash(6"), the 8" probably would...

 

They make very nice filler bezels, it wont have all the buttons you have now, it would just be blank. The Alpine screen size is the same as stock 6.1

 

I beleive the Advent line is very close to the OEM since I email Audiovox for a dealer in Canada and they said I must go to a Toyota dealer since they are the only ones that carry these for them. Too bad because I wanted to buy one of these but I know the dealers will charge good money for one. Does anyone know where I can get a better price for one of these?

 

When you go with an after market solution like this do you loose all of the car features like trip info, back-up cam, and the ability to change car settings?

 

Only loose what is viewable on the Touch screen, not on the dash screen. I dont look there for info anyways. Most anything adjustable is in the HU for audio. A MDL II unit as I have, not much loss and all other aftermarket HU will have a BU cam setup anyways.

 

2012+ all come with a touchscreen radio. The higher models add GPS etc.

You can easily add a rear-view camera to either the stock head unit or an aftermarket one. On my 2010, I connected the rear-view camera to the rearview mirror. The installation was very straightforward. There is a slot already in place near the license plate lights for a camera. No permanent modifications were needed. All of the trim panels easily pop off to run the wires.