Alternative Touchscreen Radio/satnav

December 21, 2008

Hi

I know there have been other threads about the poor sterio in the SR well I wanted a fitted Satnav in mine so I have bought the satnav dash panel surround from Toyota, and fitted a double din Kenwood head unit.

The surround needed a lot of modification to fit as the hole in it is far too wide and the edges are too rounded to look good.

Anyway it started out looking something like this (this isn't my car and the stereo is the wrong one but you get the idea)

I then took the radio and heater panel out, it's very easy, took about 10mins

Then set about modifying the surround, I stuck some pieces of plastic to the sides of the hole to make the hole smaller then used fiberglass paste and filler to finish it off

I then fitted the Kenwood head unit in with the original brackets that fix the Toyota radio and fitted the new surround (the screen looks terrible in the photo, it got a bit bleached out, it is in fact excellent with a very wide viewing angle)

Despite numerous tries I could not match the silver of the dash right, it's actually slightly golden in colour, so I came up with this, mat black around the stereo and silver at the top. Looks OK to me....

I now have a touch screen stereo with good reception, it is also a Garman SatNav with safety camera alerts, a DVD player, an IPod interface that plays music and films, a hands free bluetooth phone kit, it will also support a rear view camera and additional screens if you want them.

It's excellent having 1000's of songs from my IPod playing and the sat nav is very good.

I can confirm that it is the Speakers as well as the radio that needs replacing, the sound is much better with this head unit but the sound is not complete, it's very flat and rounded... I will look at the Speakers later as this lot has cost enough already....

After doing this I found a readymade surround on the net and bought that but it's no better than the one I've made so if anyone wants it then drop me a PM. It cost £45.

I'm away for a week now in the sun (yippee) so expect a delay in replying...

If anyone wants to do something similar to theirs and wants to know more then let me know

Pete

December 21, 2008

Hi
I know there have been other threads about the poor sterio in the SR well I wanted a fitted Satnav in mine so I have bought the satnav dash panel surround from Toyota, and fitted a double din Kenwood head unit.
The surround needed a lot of modification to fit as the hole in it is far too wide and the edges are too rounded to look good.
Anyway it started out looking something like this (this isn't my car and the stereo is the wrong one but you get the idea)

I then took the radio and heater panel out, it's very easy, took about 10mins
Then set about modifying the surround, I stuck some pieces of plastic to the sides of the hole to make the hole smaller then used fiberglass paste and filler to finish it off
I then fitted the Kenwood head unit in with the original brackets that fix the Toyota radio and fitted the new surround (the screen looks terrible in the photo, it got a bit bleached out, it is in fact excellent with a very wide viewing angle)
Despite numerous tries I could not match the silver of the dash right, it's actually slightly golden in colour, so I came up with this, mat black around the stereo and silver at the top. Looks OK to me....
I now have a touch screen stereo with good reception, it is also a Garman SatNav with safety camera alerts, a DVD player, an IPod interface that plays music and films, a hands free Bluetooth phone kit, it will also support a rear view camera and additional screens if you want them.
It's excellent having 1000's of songs from my IPod playing and the sat nav is very good.
I can confirm that it is the speakers as well as the radio that needs replacing, the sound is much better with this head unit but the sound is not complete, it's very flat and rounded... I will look at the speakers later as this lot has cost enough already....
After doing this I found a readymade surround on the net and bought that but it's no better than the one I've made so if anyone wants it then drop me a PM. It cost £45.
I'm away for a week now in the sun (yippee) so expect a delay in replying...
If anyone wants to do something similar to theirs and wants to know more then let me know
Pete

Nice work,

As you, I have bought also a new unit with GPS, DVD, bluetooth, DVBT, rear camera, and so on...(from China)

.. I am waitting it in next days...

Have you connected propperly the steering wheel control? That is my pending issue...I hope it works....

I have bought in eBay the accesory...

December 22, 2008

Hi

Yes the steering wheel controls work, you can get an interface for the major brands of head unit.

The cheap head units from China all run WinCE software and can only do one thing at a time, you can't listen to the radio or Ipod and watch the GPS screen, as far as I can tell they don't have a hard wire interface for the steering wheel controls.

Interestingly I noted that you lose all the steering wheel controls when you unplug the lead from the rear of the radio, including the one that controls the computer, also the lights on the switches go out as well...

Hope yours is ok

Pete

December 22, 2008

Hi
Yes the steering wheel controls work, you can get an interface for the major brands of head unit.
The cheap head units from China all run WinCE software and can only do one thing at a time, you can't listen to the radio or Ipod and watch the GPS screen, as far as I can tell they don't have a hard wire interface for the steering wheel controls.
Interestingly I noted that you lose all the steering wheel controls when you unplug the lead from the rear of the radio, including the one that controls the computer, also the lights on the switches go out as well...
Hope yours is ok
Pete

Hi Pete, As I know, the steering wheel controls, will work, but I neet to test them to asure it.

It is a very very complete HU, so it has RDS and DUAL ZONE. You can use DVD or RADIO or digital TV and at a time, use the GPS.

I will receive it soon. :)

August 2, 2009

Hi
Yes the steering wheel controls work, you can get an interface for the major brands of head unit.
The cheap head units from China all run WinCE software and can only do one thing at a time, you can't listen to the radio or Ipod and watch the GPS screen, as far as I can tell they don't have a hard wire interface for the steering wheel controls.
Interestingly I noted that you lose all the steering wheel controls when you unplug the lead from the rear of the radio, including the one that controls the computer, also the lights on the switches go out as well...
Hope yours is ok
Pete
Hi Pete, As I know, the steering wheel controls, will work, but I neet to test them to asure it.
It is a very very complete HU, so it has RDS and DUAL ZONE. You can use DVD or RADIO or digital TV and at a time, use the GPS.
I will receive it soon. :)

Hallo Mik Iglesias- I too have a verso and am looking to import a radio from China - What radio did you import and did the steering wheel control work?

I look forward to hearing from you

Claudio Gaggia