2020+ Headunit into a 2017 BRZ?
 

Gotten spoiled with the misses getting a new car that has Android Auto and have gotten annoyed with my phone mounted on the vent in contrast. Don't really need anything more than AA so I'd rather avoid an aftermarket unit where I'll have to source all kinds of adapters, etc. if I can get away with just making a factory unit work and presumably it'll be a lot cheaper too.

Anyone done this already?

???

I can't speak to whether a 2020+ will fit in a 2017, but I can tell you that having done a dozen or so audio upgrades in various vehicles sourcing adapters is pretty straight forward, and if all you want is AA then the options are pretty inexpensive.

If you haven't already look at crutchfield.com. They'll have everything you need, and will even build the harness for a reasonable fee so it is practically plug and play. Just a quick look but you can get everything for the install from about $400 and up.

That said, there's a pretty good chance it will work since the OEMs tend to keep the connectors standard. If I had that option that is likely what I would do as well. In fact that is what I did in my FRS to get GPS. (installed a 2014 radio in my 2013)

Apparently my searching game is in need of some work, as I was able to find this thread that basically spells it all out. And apparently Android Auto started coming withe factory units in 2018. Seems like a ton of work so I'll probably just keep an eye out for a deal on an aftermarket one where I'm not having to splice/re-pin/etc. but apparently can be done.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...018+radio+2017

As an owner of a 2020 BRZ, I thought I'd offer my input here as to the Android Auto functionality of the OEM head unit. Not sure if my head unit is the same as a 2018 or 2019, but I gather probably yes.

I love the Android Auto functionality, and I do like the factory head unit's physical knob for volume. Regarding the latter, I don't use it THAT often, but with the steering wheel controls not having a mute or pause function, being able to turn the volume all the way down quickly with a twist of the wrist is handy when I do need it.

With the work required to swap head units, however, and as Dadhawk mentioned, the relative ease with which you can source adapters and install materials (E.G. from Crutchfield, who I would also recommend), I'd go with an aftermarket head unit rather than upgrading to this one for a couple of reasons.

First, the availability of wireless Android Auto rather than wired. Using my wife's Mazda CX-50 with wireless AA really made me feel I was missing out with having to always plug my phone in. I also found that frequently plugging and unplugging my phone pretty quickly wore out the USB-C connector on the phone, rendering the connection unreliable after a relatively short while. This happened with three phones of mine, despite the last two having wireless charging and me never plugging them in to charge when at home.

I remedied this situation by picking up the AAWireless adapter (https://www.aawireless.io/en) to add wireless functionality, and it has been excellent! It's relatively inexpensive, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone that has only wired Android Auto in their vehicle. This eliminated the concern of wearing out the connector because I have left it plugged in the whole time, tucked into the little cubby next to the push-to-start button.

So - given that great solution to add wireless functionality, why would I still recommend an aftermarket head unit rather than picking up a later OEM one?

Well, I had hoped that using the AAWireless module would eliminate my other issue with Android Auto in my car, and sadly it hasn't.

Issue number 2 I've had since day 1 of owning the car, is that I found that when I was driving with Android Auto on, it would disconnect if I hit a big bump, crossed train tracks, or even on occasion when pulling some gees with twisty but smooth back roads. Most of the time, it will reconnect on its own after several seconds, but sometimes it has required one or more unplug / replugs of the device to recover.

After realizing the worn-connector issue with the wired connection, as I said, I had hoped that the switch to AAWireless would fix it because I no longer had the connection issue at the device, but sadly, no. I've even had AAWireless warranty ship me a new device to make sure it wasn't a problem with the connection in THAT that was to blame, and no luck. I've also tried several different cables and am confident that they are not an issue, so it appears to be a problem with either the factory head unit, the connections for the USB ports on the head unit, or the back side of the USB connectors in the console. The intermittent nature of the issue has made it unlikely that the dealer would be able to properly diagnose it, so I haven't bothered taking it in to have them look at it.

Bear in mind this is a sample size of 1, and it might just be that my car has a unique issue, but it's something to bear in mind if you're thinking you don't care about having wireless AA, or are thinking of going with the same combination of OEM head unit and AAWireless module that I'm running.

So, to sum it all up, if you have the option to go aftermarket and get a unit with wireless Android Auto built in, that would solve both my concerns with the factory Android Auto functionality in the OEM 2020 head unit.

There are no aftermarket units I've found from the brands I'd consider (Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer or Sony) that have a physical volume knob AND wireless Android Auto AND an in-dash, double-DIN form factor. The only ones that have a knob and wireless AA have been the ones with the floating screens, which I don't really like the aesthetic of. So I'd have to give up the physical knob to have the cleaner install, which is one of the reasons why I've stuck with my current setup instead of pulling the trigger on switching to an aftermarket unit.

Anyway, hopefully this novel of a post helps your decision process!