Good replacement radio for 2015 Mirage DE?

[cwatkin]

Also, is there any reason to save the old radio or any brackets from it or should I just throw it in the electronic scrap my business generations and get it properly recycled?

I really cannot see ever putting a factory radio back in but wanted to ask before I junk it. The only thing would be for my GF's car if her radio went out and was worse than my old one.

Conor

[Eggman]

Would be good to open it up and see what failed.

[cwatkin]

Would be good to open it up and see what failed.

It is the buttons. You push them and they either don't respond or do something completely different than requested. It is probably some electronic microswitch that would cost more more in time than it is worth to fix a crappy radio from the start. I am all about forensic teardowns to see what went wrong and all but when a cheap $17 radio from Wal-Mart is considered a better option (if it would have fit), why bother?

I was involved in the forensic investigation of a dam failure at a multi-billion dollar hydroelectric facility starting 15 years ago to this day. You take time to figure out what went wrong when billions of dollars are at stake. A $20 radio goes in the trash! You just buy a better one for not much more money and go on with life.

The only reasons I can see to save this thing are to slide it back in if I sell/trade the car and keep the Kenwood or a spare for my GF who has the same exact car as I do if something worse goes wrong with her radio. My radio was usable but very frustrating.

Conor

[PityOnU]

I wanted to let everyone know that the Kenwood is installed and working well. I have only had it on for 10 minutes but it sounds noticeably better and the buttons work of course. I like that the bluetooth is completely independent of the car with its own microphone as I never thought much of the factory system.

The outer trim ring popped right off. It looks like the el cheapo won't work in our cars, at least with the dash adapter I bought. They all pretty much looked the same from what I could tell.

Conor

Glad to hear it worked out in the end! If you ever have some time, I'd love to see some shots of what your center console is looking like now it's all sorted and buttoned up.

[cwatkin]

Glad to hear it worked out in the end! If you ever have some time, I'd love to see some shots of what your center console is looking like now it's all sorted and buttoned up.

It look nice. I will cleanup the passenger seat as I have a ton of crap from this and working nonstop. I drilled a small hole in the side of the storage pocket and ran the Bluetooth microphone wire through the side. The microphone is mounted just to the left of the radio.

It sounds a ton better in all regards than the stock setup.

Conor