I should know this, but I don't.
It's a 2011 Caravan with the base radio. The CD player sometimes decides not to give the CD back for a while, and when it's from the library, that's an issue.
We'd love to have bluetooth for calls and streaming also.
Can I just buy the factory upgrade radio?
Or do I need to buy something aftermarket?
Beuller?
That's the radio I have in my 14 Caravan and it works well. I'm not sure if they upgrade the speakers when you order the Sat. radio option. It's not the best car stereo I've ever heard, but it sounds good and works well. I'm not sure if it's a plug and play situation to upgrade- you may want to call your local Dodge dealer and speak with a tech--- they'd know.
$90 is pretty tough to beat.
I'll chime in although I get the feeling that my opinion is not very popular around here.
Aftermarket stereos are always going to be superior to stock EOM stereos. Now, I will add the condition that this rule doesn't apply if you are looking at the absolute bottom end of the aftermarket car audio world. But once you are spending say $150 or so and going with a good brand name they are going to be better than 99% of factory systems.
I would look at someplace like Crutchfield that tells you what installation parts you need and sells them to you for 50% off when you buy the head unit. I know some people have an aversion to aftermarket head units, but if you avoid ones with neon flashing lights (which are generally the crappy offbrand ones anyhow) and install it nicely, I would take one over a stock HU anyday.
SEADave wrote: I'll chime in although I get the feeling that my opinion is not very popular around here. Aftermarket stereos are always going to be superior to stock EOM stereos. Now, I will add the condition that this rule doesn't apply if you are looking at the absolute bottom end of the aftermarket car audio world. But once you are spending say $150 or so and going with a good brand name they are going to be better than 99% of factory systems. I would look at someplace like Crutchfield that tells you what installation parts you need and sells them to you for 50% off when you buy the head unit. I know some people have an aversion to aftermarket head units, but if you avoid ones with neon flashing lights (which are generally the crappy offbrand ones anyhow) and install it nicely, I would take one over a stock HU anyday.
I can agree to a degree. The stock unit in the Forte is really hard to beat. Built in sat, bluetooth, great audio quality and steering wheel controls. The way most modern dashboards are it is getting harder and harder to replace the headunit.
All aftermarket stereos I've had (alpine, pioneer, Sony, and kenwood) have been better sound quality than stock with the exception of the Nakamichi in Lexus.
Now that I've said that, I just hate the look of nearly all of them. Even the nice alpines look "flashy" to me in a bad way.
I would be willing to bet your existing wiring harness does not have the microphone pickup for the bluetooth portion.
I agree with the others here. Personally, no matter how nice the aftermarket head unit is, I don't like them. I was recently looking at a Mustang GT that someone had put a $600 super fancy head unit in. Top of the line stuff (I looked it up). I didn't buy the car for other reasons, but if I had it was nearly a deal breaker anyway...or I'd have swapped it back out for factory. But I'm not an audiophile, so any factory system built in the past 25 years is good enough for me.
tuna,
I think it may be more trouble than it's worth. I looked into this for the '06 Miata I just bought. Wanted to buy the later NC Miata radio for the satellite functionality and/or Bluetooth. What I was told is that it's not worth the trouble, because there are other things you'd have to add. So I just bought an XM Onyx radio and neatly mounted it next to the factory head unit. For Bluetooth, I just use a Motorola unit that hangs on the sun visor. Not as good as having factory, but I spent maybe $45 for the two things put together and it works great.
I think I agree. It sounds like I'd have to spend the same money for a same-year head unit with stuff (apparently Dodge switched versions of CAN bus many times, read Allpar, then pay extra to get the microphone, then pay a dealer to unlock its code.
I'm going to crutchfield instead.
Thanks for the advice!
I've done the OEM upgrade in older Chrysler vehicles and as long as the car you're installing it in has the same options it generally works.
Sadly, the factory head units just aren't terribly good, which sucks since they tend to be much easier to use and aren't flashy/theft magnets.
There are some fairly simple aftermarket head units available, but they are few and far between. Touch screens for double din units seem to actually help with the simplicity aspect, except for the touch screen aspect which can be annoying to use when in motion.
Considering this one
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_023NJ220BT/Blaupunkt-New-Jersey-220-BT.html
If you haven't already, I would recommend doing some research on what wiring is already in the harness. You might find a majority of the wiring is already there, especially if it was an option for your model year. What isn't there should be available through salvage yards (with a warranty) to help control cost.
I went through this with my Sedona last year, and went with the factory unit. I'm happy I went through the trouble of installing a factory head unit with Bluetooth in place of the basic unit the van had from the factory.
Even though BT wasn't an option for my model year, the van looks like it came from the factory with it, most of the wiring was already there, what wasn't there was plug in harnesses except the microphone, and all the steering wheel controls, light dimmer, etc work.
I'm not sure what would be required for a caravan, since it seems to vary depending on which factory stereo.
In my case it cost me about $250, and that cost included the head unit, a steering column(salvage yard wouldn't sell just the steering wheel switches and short harness behind the airbag), and a new microphone from the dealer.
The hardest part was making the first cut into the headliner to install the microphone, that was my point of no return.
the best sounding stereo system i have ever had was the factory system in my 94 Chrysler LHS with the Infinity sound system.. i'd like to say it had 11 speakers in it and a 500 watt amp, and it was setup as a surround sound system so most of the noise came from the front. it wasn't the loudest system i've ever had, but it was crystal clear all the way up to WFO and everything just sounded better on it.. so, yeah, get one of those whole systems and just swap it all in..
Blaupunkt New Jersey 220 BT with a PAC RP4-CH11 Wiring Interface box.
I cannot get the steering wheel controls to work!
The radio has a 3.5mm jack for the SWC, and I plugged that into the 3.5mm lead from the wiring interface, no dice. I tried using the adapter to convert the 3.5mm lead from the radio to two wires, and tested connecting that to the blue/yellow wire from the interface box, and just touched the ground wire to the radio bracket (I think it's ground), but no dice there either. Some versions of the interface box have Blaupunkt and some do not. Help?
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