Looking for the Forrester gurus of MT to help my friend find a good aftermarket stereo.

She left for Australia for 6 months with her car outside. Came back to a stereo that only turns on/off, and even that function was sketchy.

What's a good unit? Her main priority is reliability. Only feature she truly cares about is an aux function to plug in her iphone.

Other's are obviously welcome to chime in, dunno how picky Forresters are with stereos.

kthxbye.

 

P.S. Parents are buying this as a b-day gift, and they're both docs. Money is "no issue", within reason. No $2000 head unit suggestions please.

 

Honestly not picky at all.
Basically tell her to get whatever the heck she wants.

Biggest issue IMO is physical dimentions and getting the faceplate surround to work. As you know the center console the foresters have doesn't leave any room for the faceplate surround plastic. Which means you either don't use it and deal with the tiny gap between stereo and console, or find a stereo with a thin one, or do some other trickery to get it to fit and "look right"

that's pretty much it.
otherwise get whatever

 

I have a slightly older alpine in my 03 Forester and I'm very impressed with function, sound quality, and ipod integration. Here is a current model that is essentially the same as mine and is quite affordable at a MSRP of $160: http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/cde-122/
Allegedly, it also works well with pandora on the iphone, etc., but I don't have an iphone so I can't speak to that.

If you get it at crutchfield it comes with the wire harness and directions. I would suggest she take it to someone with a little mechanical ability for the install because getting the radio garnish off without f*'ing up the dash or garnish takes some finesse, plus you have to disconnect the heater cables, etc. Mine took about 1 1/2 hours (mostly cause I didn't want to scratch or break the garnish) and I used to be a stereo installer, so it may be worth taking it to someone. Hope this helps.

 

Edit: I like that one ^^^ pretty too. Thanks.

Ok, any suggestions on good units? Brands to avoid? If you had $500 what would you buy? I seem to remember a decent stereo thread recently, something about mk2tmr2's stereo. Tada:
https://www.miataturbo.net/showthrea...4&highlight=NA
It was more about dreaming and retro looks though.

 

Crutchfield is a great place to pick out a stereo, then buy from somewhere else and save about 30%.

If someone isn't picky about car stereos, good chance they can't tell the difference between a $100 head unit and a $500 head unit other than the features they will never use.

My .02, avoid Sony, Dual, Boss, Pyle, Pyramid, or any other fleamarket brand. One feature I definitely recommend for the everyday radio listener is HD radio. Find a head unit with it built in and not just ready. Sound quality is better and you can find more stations. Handsfree bluetooth I've found to be a feature I look for in my stereos, once you get used to it, it's hard to go back.

Check Amazon for prices, just don't go overboard on something she won't use.

 

/\ This man speaketh the truth. On all counts.
I kinda like kenwood/pioneer units

 

Alpine's the only brand I can vouch for reliability for.

I only buy Alpine now.

 

I put a JVC gps unit in my '06 Forester. Fit nearly perfect without the trim piece and works surprisingly well.

 

I did a Kenwood single din and the flip up pocket underneath back when I had my '04 FXT. Still a Kenwood fan because the display shows a lot of info and is highly customizable for Sirius or the aux in using a thumb drive.

 

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