Great writeup!
A headunit with CarPlay and Android Auto plus a rear camera is the best upgrade to my pilot. Not only does it make the car safer to drive, it opens the door for many other possibilities, e.g., listening to PodCast, music on Spotify, or audiobooks in a long trip (for that matter, any app that is sanctioned by Apple and Google to work when driving).
For those who don't want to buy a soldering gun, there is this type of heat shrink solder connectors that are water proof:
https://www.amazon.com/140-Solder-Seal-Wire-Connectors/dp/B07JJ6YYKL
A headunit with CarPlay and Android Auto plus a rear camera is the best upgrade to my pilot. Not only does it make the car safer to drive, it opens the door for many other possibilities, e.g., listening to PodCast, music on Spotify, or audiobooks in a long trip (for that matter, any app that is sanctioned by Apple and Google to work when driving).
For those who don't want to buy a soldering gun, there is this type of heat shrink solder connectors that are water proof:
https://www.amazon.com/140-Solder-Seal-Wire-Connectors/dp/B07JJ6YYKL
You need three things minimum.
1. Virtually any double din head unit will fit, there’s plenty of depth. I recommend looking at crutchfield and amazon for reviews and the features you’re interested in. There are ~$100 Android based junk units to $1000+ ones.
2. Buy a Metra 95-7861 trim kit. It’s cheap and fits perfect. This is plastic trim that allows you to use a standard double din headunit in the factory location. I’m using this and has tons of good reviews. About ~$14 on Amazon.
3.Buy a Scosche HA08BCB connector. ~$9 on Amazon. This plugs into the factory radio wiring and acts as a pigtail between the headunit connector. This comes labeled and with a diagram on the bag with what each factory wire is for. You either just crimp this to the matching new headunit wires or solder it. All headunits should come with a diagram or labels on their wires. You literally just match the wires with the same labels. I always recommend solder, but if you’ve never soldered before you may consider quality crimps with a quality crimp tool. Cars shake and rattle, solder generally holds up better. Do a quick light pull test after crimping.
Note, the factory subwoofer will not work with an aftermarket headunit by itself. You will need to drive it with an external amp as most all aftermarket headunits don’t have a built in amp for subs like the factory. The factory sub is rated for 50watts at 2ohms. You can find a small amp to drive this if you want. In my honest opinion the factory sub is useless and extremely underpowered for such a large interior like this car. I wouldn’t bother with it. If you’re looking for something better, reference crutchfield for subs that fit. You need a shallow mount to fit in the factory location. You’ll still need an aftermarket amplifier as well. The other option is to run a box in the trunk. You’ll end up with better quality bass for the price. I have a small custom box I built and tuned a nice small sub at ~47Hz. It’s more of a sound quality build instead of sound pressure (loudness). Not all subs are ghetto blasters and don’t have to be.
If it were my kid, get him a simple carplay/android auto headunit just for safety of them being able to get calls on the headunit. Don’t worry about the subwoofer or speakers. They’ll probably want another car or neglect/destroy the car soon enough.