2013 Head Unit In a 2014

[AD55]

I am sure this has come up before but I couldn't find it doing a number of searches.

I have a 2014 BRZ Premium, at least that's what the VIN number comes up as, and it has a stock 2013 head unit installed.

Bought the car used a couple of months ago and really didn't mess with the radio all that much till the other day. It had the basic owners manual but none for the radio/nav so I downloaded the 2014 manual from the Subaru site.

Right off the bat I noticed that my radio did not match any of those pictured on the first few pages. Also it only showed steering wheel mounted switches. On a hunch I downloaded the 2013 manual and lo and behold it did match my unit.

I guess the first question is, do I truly have a 2014 BRZ or was there a mid year 2013/2014 model produced? What other changes were made from 2013 to 2014 that might indicate it is not purely a 2014 model?

If it's only they had a bunch of head units and steering wheels left over after the last run of 2013's and stuck them into the first run of 2014's that's bad enough. However if it turns out the car is some kind of 2013/2014 hybrid that is missing other changes/improvements made in the 2014 model I'm going to be really pissed. At the very least this is deception on the part of Subaru and might even be considered fraud.

I'm mainly thinking of things like the weak valve spring issue that as I understand it, only appeared to be a problem in the 2013's. Is there any way I can even tell what year engine the car has?

[Dadhawk]

@AD55 the VIN will tell you what year your car is (as should the title)

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6106

[AD55]

I am assuming if the "D" in the example is a 2013 then mine is an "E" so I guess that means it's a 2014, if the model year increases in alphabetical order.

Regardless, the title states it's a 2014 and if I plug the VIN into Subaru's VIN identifier on their site it comes back as a 2014. I sent them a message from the Q&A section explaining the situation but haven't heard back yet. I kind of doubt I'll get a response since the car is 5 model years old and I'm not the original owner.

I could replace it with one of the way more superior aftermarket units out there but it still wouldn't give me steering wheel controls which is what I miss the most.

Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a car equipped with NAV and SAT Radio that didn't have steering wheel controls. Even my sister's 2014 Sentra has them.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by AD55

Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a car equipped with NAV and SAT Radio that didn't have steering wheel controls. Even my sister's 2014 Sentra has them.

The FRS did not have steering wheel controls until the '17 model year. I don't know about the BRZ although I do know it didn't have them in '13.

[AD55]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

The FRS did not have steering wheel controls until the '17 model year. I don't know about the BRZ although I do know it didn't have them in '13.

I think I have sorted out at least some of the confusion.

First of all, the radio with navigation and sat is the same in the 2013 and 2014 models so I do have the correct one. I believe the confusion about the steering wheel controls probably comes from the fact the cover of the manual says it's for the BRZ as well as all the other Subaru models. I am guessing some or maybe all of those other models did have the SW controls in 2014, just not the BRZ. Of course the manual makes no attempt to point this out. Also it only explains how the controls work with bluetooth, not the radio itself.

In the end I'm glad I looked at the 2013 manuals because the one you can download for the radio with nav and satellite is much more detailed then the one available for the 2014.