bredstein
TYF Newbie
I have always wanted to listen to MY music, ideally from some media that holds pretty much all of it. At some point I added a PAC (AAI-GM9) with 2 AUX inputs. It worked well untill my CD player decided to retire... So I chose to go double din and touch screen - personally I have a dumb phone, but I like my daughter's IPod Touch 
After reading a lot of threads I came to a conclusion that I want 1) to minimize my dashboard butchering, because most of the DIY bondo-shmondo installs simply suck IMHO, and 2) I want to keep it cheap. So I started comparing measurements, and decided to go with a Pioneer AVH-X1500DVD. I have installed it today - works and looks great! - and I can report, that it fits without moving HVAC controls, and without any cutting inside! The header sits tight enough to skip any brackets. Nothing is covered, you have enough room to insert disks. The only thing I had to remove was a piece between original radio and HVAC. Then there is some empty space which I plan to cover with some matching colored filler. Here are some pics. You can see an AUX input from my previous setup, I hooked it up to the new header, and also a toggle switch, which grounds the parking brake signal, so the radio is fully functional regardless of whether I drive or not. I am still under impression, it is really cool!
After reading a lot of threads I came to a conclusion that I want 1) to minimize my dashboard butchering, because most of the DIY bondo-shmondo installs simply suck IMHO, and 2) I want to keep it cheap. So I started comparing measurements, and decided to go with a Pioneer AVH-X1500DVD. I have installed it today - works and looks great! - and I can report, that it fits without moving HVAC controls, and without any cutting inside! The header sits tight enough to skip any brackets. Nothing is covered, you have enough room to insert disks. The only thing I had to remove was a piece between original radio and HVAC. Then there is some empty space which I plan to cover with some matching colored filler. Here are some pics. You can see an AUX input from my previous setup, I hooked it up to the new header, and also a toggle switch, which grounds the parking brake signal, so the radio is fully functional regardless of whether I drive or not. I am still under impression, it is really cool!
