We live in weird times. I know there are so many ways to back up this bold statement – cultural, political, environmental, whatever – but I’m saying that specifically about the state of aftermarket car tech. And, even more specifically, aftermarket car audio/infotainment tech. Want to get even more specific? Sure you do, it’s fun! In that case, I’m talking about cheap aftermarket infotainment systems.
In some ways, we’re sort of in a golden age of this sort of crap, and I kind of mean that literally. Well, not the golden part, the crap part, and even that I suppose is metaphorical over literal crap, but I think you see where I’m going. We live in an age of cheap, plentiful options for head units, and those cheap units are, objectively, deeply strange machines, unique and interesting and kind of baffling artifacts of this very specific time and place, and I think they’re worth talking about.
I started thinking about all of this because I was replacing the head unit in my wife’s 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan, which I talked about yesterday regarding the reverse camera issues and my beef with VW’s taillight bulb access. It was positively riveting, you should read it.
Anyway, I was given two demands for this new head unit: it should be able to use Apple CarPlay and have a working backup camera. And, this thing I got satisfied both of those requirements! But it also does so very much more, and I’m pretty certain absolutely none of the other things it does makes any sense whatsoever, which is why I’m so fascinated.
Okay, What Is This Thing?
It’s this unit for sale on Amazon: one of the cheaper head units I found that does CarPlay and is a direct fit replacement for the factory head unit VW supplied way back in the Obama administration. It was about $110. That’s dirt cheap, really.
Installation was easier than I thought it would be, and the new unit is dramatically smaller than the old one, partially because it doesn’t need all of the space or mechanical parts required for the old unit’s CD/DVD player. This frees up a nice little cube of space I can use for smuggling something, like a fat wad of saffron or some black-market eyeballs.
It’s a nice, dark, enclosed space; maybe I can grow hallucinogenic mushrooms in there?
The overall fit of the assembly is great, and looks pretty damn close to stock, so no complaints there. The knobs and buttons feel pretty decent, too.
The unit came with two different wiring harnesses, one with an adapter to connect right into the car’s CAN bus, which made things a lot easier. Strangely, the built-in back-up camera was not part of this harness, and the new unit did not have a connector that would fit the existing camera, as I discussed in that other post.
It did, however, come with its own camera, which uses a standard composite interface, and that was fine, though it annoyingly displays it’s own parking guide lines despite the fact that the head unit superimposes its own parking guides, making a confusing mess, as you can see above, over my face.
And yes, I’ve combed through the preferences and have yet to find a way to turn off either of those guide lines. I guess I got what I paid for.
That said, the use of a regular, bog-standard composite input opens up all kinds of possibilities! Like this:
That’s right! Old-school, 8-bit-era computers tended to use composite video output, so why settle for some boring view of what’s behind you – which is in the past, baby – when you can have real excitement like this:
Remember Pitstop II? Great game. Why not give it a go when you shift into R, for Race?
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It doesn’t have to be some old 8-bit Commodore computer, though; any composite signal would work. You could have a DVD player set to repeat, and every time you go into reverse, you’re treated to a random scene from Heartbeeps.
Good times! Sure, this composite-only camera input required me to run a wire all the way from the front of the car to the rear, but whatever, it’s worth it.
What Else Works Great
I’m happy to say that the main raison d’etre for this thing, running CarPlay, works just fine. It connects wirelessly and pretty seamlessly once you do the initial setup. It’s not especially quick, though; every time you start up the car it takes between 30 seconds to maybe(?) a minute before CarPlay starts, and there’s always this odd little dialog box that you have to dismiss:
I especially like the cavalier quality of that “sure” button. It pretty well encapsulates my feelings about being told “have no media file!” Sure. Whatever you say.
But, more importantly, CarPlay just seems to work, and, really, along with a working back-up camera, that’s about all that will be asked of this machine.
But There’s So Much More, And It’s So Weird
Now let’s dig into why I think these devices are so damn weird, and such products of this time and place: they’re incredibly well-featured, but I’ve never really encountered a product that has so much undesired capability.
I get that fundamentally, this machine is basically an Android phone, just in a different sort of presentation. And, as such, it’s basically free to include software that does all sorts of stuff, to the point where it’s so easy to do that questions like “should it do this” or “why the hell would anyone want this” just don’t ever get asked.
That’s the logic that puts a fully functional audio recorder in your head unit:
It works just fine, I tested it out. It saves separate audio files and plays them back and everything. It’s an audio recorder. On your dashboard.
Now, maybe if cell phones that do this – which is pretty damn near all of them – didn’t exist, maybe this would make sense, if you were willing to drag the people you wanted to record into your car. Maybe.
Actually, not maybe. No one wants this. What possible use could this have? If you need to record audio, you have either software on your phone or a dedicated voice recorder. You may have both. I think you can get these audio files off the car with an SD card, but why? It’s so baffling that this is here.
Look, there’s a web browser, too! I guess if you had no phone or computer or tablet or internet-connected fridge or anything like that, maybe you’d choose to browse the web on your dashboard, provided you were close enough to a WiFi network (there’s no cell connection on this head unit, at least not that I saw?). I guess if you don’t want to pollute your phone with porn, you can have the option of watching dirty videos in your car while you sit in your driveway?
There are YouTube apps and dedicated Google apps and picture browsers and a calendar – I guess you could log into your Google account and get some of these things populated? But, again, you have a phone – everyone has a freaking phone – why the hell would you want any of this?
Look, there’s a calculator on this thing. A calculator. You can make your car a 3,000-pound self-propelled calculating device, should you so choose. Was any living modern human being asking for this? At all? I would genuinely love to meet the person out there who was thinking, damn, I wish I could calculate logarithms on the dashboard of my car, like a king, instead of on my phone or computer, like some miserable, filthy animal. Introduce me to that person, and I’ll buy them a beer and multiple tacos, just to spend some time around them.
Look, it does this, too:
What the hell is that? I had to look it up; it seems to be some sort of digital radio standard I’d not been aware of. I bet there are people out there for whom this is important, even if I’m very much not one of them. If that’s you, look, this does that! Hot damn!
It does regular FM radio, too, of course, and it can store files if for some reason (there’s 25 GB of local storage!) you think the best place for all your TurboTax records is on your car’s dashboard; it has its own nav system that’s somehow different than the Google Maps app it already has, there’s that floating robot on the right there that is some kind of AI chatbot thing, and there’s probably even more I didn’t bother to find out about.
And you need none of this.
Everything this does that has any utility at all whatsoever, you’re already doing on your phone. Everything else you’ll never need or want to do. This is an absurd machine.
But at the same time, it’s an incredible machine. It’s cheap, it does the job it needs to do pretty well, and you can pretty much ignore all the superfluous stuff. It’s both incredibly well done and incredibly sloppy, all at once, and I think that right there is the punctum of where we are technologically, especially with cheap electronics like this.
These devices are such a strange combination of overkill and half-assery. For example, the built-in settings and help give some really useful information that you normally don’t seem to get from most electronics, like connector pinouts right there on the screen:
That could be very handy! That’s good information! And then, in the same set of settings, you also get screens like this:
Wait, what? Peptides? Aren’t those chains of amino acids used in the building of proteins? Why does my head unit have those, and why do I get to pick if they’re left or right? What the hell does this mean?
This one, too. “Protocol Vehicle Model Alert Pop-Up Box?” Do I want that closed or open? It may as well be asking me if I want my argyles diurnally oriented or re-swepsonized?
At least half of the entries in the settings are incomprehensible in the same way, thanks to some clumsy mistranslations or similar sloppiness. And then at the same time there are settings that give you a staggering amount of control and deep customization of what this thing can do.
These Cheap Head Units Are A Perfect Metaphor For Our Time And Place
Do you ever get the feeling that, especially when it comes to AI, we’re just kind of letting the technology pull us along and we’re no longer really steering? I kind of feel that way. The pace of innovation is so fast, we’ve given up trying to assess what we’re creating or how it gets used, so now we’re faced with unregulated AI that isn’t taking drudgery away from people, but is instead destroying creative jobs and leaving a wake of malformed slop over every aspect of human culture.
AI has incredible potential to become a multiplier of human achievement, but left unguided, it’s just taking jobs and turning things to crap. These head units feel similar: they’re incredible technical achievements, and can be made to do exactly what you want, but they feel like they were just flung together and every possible feature was thrown at them, whether or not it makes any sense.
There’s no plan here, just a few rough guidelines and the hard edges of economic pressures. They’re almost like organic things that way, not designed but just sort of coarsely bred, with the pressures of the market evolving what these become, like generations of fruit flies.
Yes, it’s got some sloppy UX and is full of vestigial and unwanted crap, but it fits in the hole in the dash just right and does the two things I actually want it to do, all for $110. Does my satisfaction with this make me part of the problem? Definitely.
Do I have a better idea at the moment? Not really. But I’m kind of fascinated by it all.
[Ed note: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. If you click on that link and buy something on Amazon, we might get a commission. – MH]
You owe me a beer and tacos. I am the type of person that grabs a calculator way more regularly than I should admit to do calculations that I really should not admit. Engineer’s gotta engineer.
Oh I need one of these!
You honestly don’t. Save up and buy a Sony, Alpine, Pioneer, etc.
You’ll learn how to hate your car if you put one of these in it. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Actually, being able to sideload my own software would be the point of the exercise. I already have a JBL that I never use
Okay, I finally feel seen on The Autopian. The first thing I did when I got my Mk6 GTI was put one of these sorts of head units in. Just enough jank to be fun.
RCD-330 gang!
I have a 5-years old Vanku unit in my 3rd gen 4Runner and it’s amazing. With Torque Pro I have all the gauges I need, I have handsfree phone, and it actually brings decent sound to the ORIGINAL 1996 SR5 speakers. Which is something.
The only issue is that it’s positioned quite low, and the viewing angle is narrow enough to dim the image.
I put one of these in my Volvo V70. It was “fine” but janky enough to be annoying. I don’t think I would do it again. Nor would I ever buy another P2 Volvo, for that matter.
https://flic.kr/p/2kAwWSd
I really could not care less about CarPlay (though it worked fine), but I wanted Bluetooth and the ability to play MP3s from thumbdrives.
Having purchased some saffron from my local grocery store within the last week, I have to say this sounds like an excellent idea. Please let me know when you have some available for less than $100 per microgram (or whatever I had to pay–it felt like that).
Ever so slightly disappointing that the lead image with “this is MADNESS” didn’t serve as a segue to something about “One Step Beyond” or the ad campaign for the Honda City (the one with the Motocompo) https://boingboing.net/2024/05/18/when-madness-starred-in-early-80s-japanese-ads-for-honda.html
A cell phone? No, I do not.
Curiously enough I still agree with this point, though.
I didn’t put a new HU but I did find a PCB on AliExpress which makes AA possible in my old Sync-2 equipped Ford, both wired and wireless. It’s not a perfect integration but works smoothly, and for my needs – just navigation, sometimes – it was 200 bucks and 3 hrs of work well spent.
Suction cup phone holder on the old screen is an even cheaper way to upgrade!
You can read this whole article to the tune of “What’s this?” from Nightmare before Christmas.
All I want is a deck that will control my iPod with the remote. Current one does not control the iPod, though it does show what’s on, and I can skip a song if I want.
This old software must be very expensive to put in new systems since none of them have it. But, sure, a calculator.
I’m about to upgrade my 2016 Q3 infotainment with this. Since the stock system is a separate screen on top of the dash and head unit below, you don’t have to replace the original unit. It looks like they ship you the controller box, cables, and Wi-Fi antenna and I guess(???) you have to shove all that shit in the dash behind the original unit. I hope there is room for it, the controller is something like 150mm x 94mm
That audio recording feature could be really handy in Chicago or LA or Portland right now in case your phone gets “accidentally” smashed. Just saying.
I wish all my “OK” buttons were “Sure” buttons now.
“Fine, whatever” would work too.
I once had a GPS (a Garmin StreetPilot) that a previous owner had fiddled with the audio files. When I missed a turn, instead of “Recalculating..”, it would say “Just do what I told ya”.
I am sad that I can’t find the files, but you used to be able to download Gary Busey on your TomTom or Garmin. I found someone using the downloaded files to pretend they are riding along with Busey. The bit is bad, but the audio files are the real ones. I remember having the files at one time. This one is the best
https://youtu.be/DG_I8wlFYyY?si=gyqozNpTrgYmfvXO&t=190
Start @3:10
No one is asking for it, it’s probably just part of vanilla android and removing it would take time which would make it cost more than $110 and then you wouldn’t have bought it.
Keep your peptides fresh, Torch
From what I’ve read (mostly on this site) Chinese consumers really value what we consider gimmicks. So maybe it’s a cultural thing: all this stuff gets added b/c it’s what the Chinese designer assumes is universally desirable, plus it’s cheap and easy with an Android platform. Sort of the inverse of European manufacturers that couldn’t understand why Americans wanted cupholders–it’s hard to understand cultural differences. And given we all know to have low expectations of cheap Amazon crap, it’s not like there’s motivation to do market research and make a better product. I’m pretty sure the $50-ish projector I recently bought also allows me to check my email and fire up Google Sheets or whatever, as long as I don’t mind inputting everything one character at a time through the remote. So, utterly useless. But as long as it performs its core function similar to a name brand, I can live with it being “weird.”
Some are absolute dogshit, and some are actually really good. The only real way to tell the difference is to get incredibly lucky with others who have bought that same exact “brand”.
The “Snrubi” model I bought for our ’14 Cruze (a 9.7″
TeslaPortrait-style screen that fits beautifully in the location of the stock screen and center stack buttons) has been quite wonderful and gives the car wireless Android Auto.My suggestion, besides reading the hell out of actual reviews, is go for overkill on the power/RAM/storage side. Some of the cheaper models will be so underpowered they’ll be slow from the get-go. Ours is an 8-core with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
“reading the hell out of actual reviews” – this x 100!
Those are getting so hard to distinguish from the bots and “free product” reviews. Retailers like Amazon make it even worse by combining reviews for multiple options/models of a product. I find it really difficult to shop on Amazon because of that.
I rely on Facebook Groups – search the heck out of posts and comments. Just did one of these head units in my Amarok based on this, and it turned out awesome! The one thing I did do is buy from an in-country re-seller who had local support – paid more, but there were a few settings I needed help with.
This. The problem is that by the time you’ve found a good one you’ve probably spent the same money as if you went with a known brand in the first place (Sony, Alpine, JVC, etc.), not to mention the mountain of e-waste these disposable units generate.
The only downside is if you’re in a vehicle where a standard unit ends up looking somewhere between awkward and absolutely atrocious. In first-gen Cruzes, it is a mix of both, while my Cobalt has basically a double-DIN form factor to begin with and thus a 7″ touchscreen looks absolutely wonderful.
I appreciate the value of a pinout diagram on a device that requires power from *checks notes* said pinout.
FWIW I got almost the same device for a crappy Audi in my driveway and it worked pretty well. My main complaint is that I wanted a 24 band EQ (as pictured on the amazon ad/product page) and the best I got was a 3-band. For 75 bucks I can’t really complain, as it wasn’t BAD but also not great. Better than the 2003-era changer in there.
I put a 12 inch unit in my 2010 mercedes and can’t be happier. It’s a quick linux unit that has the old video input (so maintains all of the existing functionality from the car), syncs seamlessly to the CANBUS including HVAC controls and stuff. Really slick stuff. Now my 15 year old merc pretty much has every amentity a brand new car has.
I’ve had good luck with the random Chinese android and some of the rtos and Linux head units. The old windows ce ones were terrible. The old cheep ones that had some kind of rtos I want to say nucleus and just did screen mirroring before aa and cp existed haven’t aged too well. But a lot share a harness so for $30 and few minutes it’s fixed with a new one that does. The atoto branded units seem to be better quality but I don’t think they do vehicle specific units though. Still shocking a Chinese vw specific unit didn’t work with the stock camera. There are adapters for $20 to $50 that would definitely be cleaner and probably work better. I find the cheap cameras that come with some of these units lack any uv protection what so ever. So I spray them with some clear uv coating. Deet seems to work well to get them clean.
I got a cheap Alibaba Android unit for my Mazda about 4 years ago.
But then put the stock headunit back in after about 3 months.
Nothing worked quite right.
I wanted Bluetooth to connect to my OBD2 adapter, but it apparently had a different version of Bluetooth that was incompatible with anything I had. What the hell? Isn’t bluetooth just supposed to work?
It took forever (30-60s) to boot up each time.
I don’t trust the cheap Alibaba systems, so I did not connect it to my phone, and only to my home Wifi through a separate isolated “guest” network. The browser and other stuff lost any appeal quickly.
The screen wouldn’t shut all the way off, and the lowest brightness was too bright.
The touch response was okay, but just a little slow and imprecise.
Overall, everything was just a little bit terrible.
Of course I got what I paid for, but the small annoyances really added up until I hated it.
DAB is a digital radio standard commonly used in Europe.
My favorite trick with the Android head unit I have in my car is to run Torque Pro on it, connected to a Bluetooth dongle in the OBDII port.
In addition to all of the extra gauges (of course I need to know my manifold vacuum) it allows me to clear Check Engine Lights while doing 80mph on the freeway.
I went with the windshield device that supports apple carplay and android as I did not want to rip up an all original 27 year old set up on my toy. 40 bucks and plays through the radio.
I believe there is a wire you have to cut to remove the guidelines on the new camera. That is the case for an aftermarket camera I bought for my car.
Also, buying a product with a rating below 4? Look at the big balls on this guy.
This was going to be comment regarding the reverse guidelines, until i read the rest of the article and forgot about it until now!
Torch – take a look at the camera itself, there’s usually 2 or 3 loops of tiny wire sticking out.
This is the fun part – you can now pretend like it’s that start of Lethal Weapon 3 (or any number of other movies where our hero clips the correctly coloured wire to disable the bomb)
One of the wires will flip the image, one can switch the video format/quality and the other will switch off the guidelines.
Your guess is as good as mine, when i bought my most recent camera, the image in the eBay ad said that the orange wire was for the guidelines, but the bit of paper that came with the camera said it was for one of the other options!
On top of that, most older OEM cameras are still plain, analog signals. He just needs to find the 2 signal wires from the OEM camera and splice them into a yellow (or red or white, no judgement) RCA connector. Then the OEM cam should come through just fine.
I’ve actually done this both ways, connecting an OEM cam to an aftermarket head unit and adding an aftermarket cam to an OEM screen.
I find that this sort of “useless features in lieu of quality” approach is pretty common with Chinese garbage. Zero chance I’d put one of those Amazon/eBay head units in one of my cars.
Looks around kitchen and thinks: “I sure have a lot of digital clocks. Why do I have so many fucking digital clocks? Note to self, gonna have to reset them all on Sunday. What a PIA”
Thankfully I live somewhere that doesn’t observe daylight savings time. As a watch collector, the time change business was a real pain in the ass.