Is it worth installing a new stereo head unit?

What's with the almost $500?

You can get a no-frills deck in there for $50 if you shop. It might only be AM/FM and a USB port for a memory stick, but that's still not awful.

I wouldn't spend a lot on this particular problem but it's worth doing something. You could even velcro a knockoff pill speaker to the dashboard and put music to it from your phone.

 

If the head unit itself is the broken part you could also just get a used one installed. Should pretty cheap even if you would have to pay somebody for the whole thing.

 

My 2006 Prius has a working AM/FM/CD MP3 player. But the sound quality from the MP3 player is not great.

As a result, I purchased a Aigoss Bluetooth Car Speakerphone, Car Stereo Music Receiver Player from Amazon for about $20. See: Amazon.com: Customer Questions & Answers The Aigoss speaker mounts on a visor clip with very strong magnets. Very good sound. I use it primarily to listen to canned music but I have paired my cell phone with it also.

When the Aigoss is paired with your phone's bluetooth, the Aigoss will play your cell phone on its speaker. Alternatively, you can download MP3 music to a mini SD card and insert SD card into Aigoss. I think I calculated that the 32GB mini SD card can hold about 500 songs. Youtube music (or other YT content such as documentaries, college courses, etc.) can be downloaded from YT and ripped into MP3s for free.

Just my two cents ("$0.02").

PS In your situation, I would just purchase a used radio/CD that is working from ebay and also get the Aigoss speaker. Cheapest Prius radio with CD on ebay for 2004 Prius is $45. Just make sure that the radio is sold as used (NOT as parts). Used parts that do not work can be rturned (while items sold as "parts" generally cannot be returned).

 

I say yes because I did.

Added a sony head unit with volume knob (critical), bluetooth, USB, but most importantly Apple CarPlay so one gets the functionality of a modern car. Head unit, steering wheel control adapter so stock controls including HVAC still work (very important), mounting kit for stock look and pre-wired harness (HUGE time saver; highly recommended); all for the princely sum of $370 from Crutchfield. Also, Crutchfield has very good installation instructions for DIY and the GenII head unit is really easy to get to.



Still using the stock (non-JBL) speakers since they are still in good condition and the new head unit improved the sound quality enough that I don't feel the need to upgrade those so I saved some $$$ there.

This is such a great value to me that I'm considering installing another one in my Gen4 level II base that doesn't have CarPlay.

GOOD LUCK!

 

do it, but buy a cheap head unit.

 

I did it, remember you will lose few things.
1. Intelligent Parking Assist
2. Feedback sounds
3. Voice commands
I have a 2006 Prius (japanese imported) which had these features and I lost all of them.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I definitely would (and will be doing it soon)

Modern aftermarket head units have much better sound quality and more connectivity features than our old Gen2 ever dreamed of

 

I did it to got a nice Pioneer head unit and 2 new front speakers and the steering wheel adapter interface for around $500 installed.
Sounds great. Best Buy.

Then I sold the original head unit which worked fine for $50. on CL.