vuhnilla

First, I want to start by saying I haven't taken ownership of the 2001 GS430 yet, but if all goes well, plan to within the next week or two. I'm trying to plot out my potential future with the car, and this one has me kind of stumped because the Lexus appears to be different from other vehicles I've seen with stock navigation. Everything on the dash appears to be tied in with the stock nav screen, and I'm wondering if I'll lose that functionality if I replace it with a better screen--i.e. something with bluetooth, xm, etc. I've done a search and I see that it's possible to play dvd's on the stock nav screen, but that doesn't really handle the rest of the needs/wants that I'm interested in.

Can anyone shed some light on this? I'm sure it's been asked before, but a quick search didn't answer my question.

Thanks guys! Hope to be joining this community with one of my own soon!

Blanco

iTrader: (8)

Swap stock nav for aftermarket double DIN unit. You'll need a climate control module (around $200 used on ebay), and a trim kit. From what I hear, Carson sells the best looking trim kit.

Pretty plug and play from what I understand. Look in the audio/video forum here for diy installs with pics. I'll be doing this myself some time next year.

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

its definitely not a direct plug and play.

the harness that you buy for the lexus gs doesnt connect directly to the harness of the cars.

from what i can recall from doing the installation, you need to get to the oem amp and disconnect that and use the amp for your headunit.

and no you shouldn't lose any functionality

Blanco

iTrader: (8)

Ah, my bad. What I meant to say was that the climate control swap was direct plug and play. The new receiver will have to bypass the factory amp, such that you'll have to either use the internal amp in the double din, or use a separate external amp.

I don't believe there is currently a method to do a pre amp out to the factory amp. I'm planning on just doing a double din with an external 4 or 5 channel amp, and tapping the factory speakers where they connect to the factory amp.

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

there u go

sLOWaristo

iTrader: (4)

so confused when it comes to electronics.

vuhnilla

What I mean is that you can still theoretically access all of the controls and everything with an aftermarket double DIN screen? I was under the impression that all the climate control functionality and everything was done via the screen. I'm not really worried about the amplifier aspect of things. This certainly isn't the first thing that I want to do, but I just wanted to know before I dove in.

Are all of the OE Nav equipped GS' using Mark Levinson audio components?

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

Instead of starting another thread, is it possible to buy an oem navi headunit and install it on a non navi car. I would assume the head unit and the diskdrive would be needed, but what else and would it be to much work not making it worth it?