Has anyone ever tried fitting an OEM radio into the 5th gen?

I like the bluetooth and SD card features from my retired VW radio. I want to attempt to put the OEM VW stereo in the Infiniti.

Is this even possible, and if it is, what possible difficulties may I face?

VW is 10-speaker system. 3-way components in front, 2-way in rear. No sub.

Unit like shown here in ebay link.

Thanks

 

You are probably the first one to try it. There are 2 aspects to figure out. First is the mechanical aspect or simply put "will the VW unit physically fit in the Maxima dash?" I know that the Toyota radio is too big. If it will fit in, you then have the challenge of bolting it in. The nissan radio has screw holes on the side for mounting brackets. The VW radio does not. You will have to make your own custom mounting brackets. Then you might be left with a gap between the radio and the dashboard, which is another custom made a part.

Then you have the electrical aspect. This could be a deal killer. The Nissan radio has 4 channels or speaker outputs. You said that the VW unit runs 10 speakers. How does it do that? Are there 10 channel outputs or are there 4 and there is a "decoder" unit to create the extra speaker outputs?

Then you have to find out what kind of line level outputs does the VW unit use - industry standard or proprietary? Then you have to match that to the Maxima that used 2 types of radios, industry standard or proprietary (Bose). You may need a line level adaptor for this. You will need to make a wire harness adaptor as the Maxima wire harness will not plug into the VW radio.

Good luck.

 

This project would be an electrical nightmare.

You can get an aftermarket Double Din stereo with Bluetooth and sd card capabilities for relatively cheap from Crutchfield, and they'll give you the appropriate harnesses etc for free so it's all Plug and PLay and compatible with the existing speakers.

 

+1 for what its worth just get the HU you want

 

It actually shouldnt be terrible. It could potentially work.

Depending on which VW stereo he's talking about, it could be a standard single din, which you should be able to make fit somewhat easily.

As long as it's not the monsoon system, there should be just 4 speaker outputs. The components arent true components, they just run a bass blocker to the tweeters.

Also, it should be a standard ISO stereo connector. You can even order vehicle specific "Nissan-ISO" adapters, so no soldering or connecting wires. Could very well be plug and play.

But, I would still just buy an aftermarket radio. More RMS wattage, better chance of making the steering wheel controls work, better chance of fitting, etc.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll just chuck the VW unit online and it'll probably cover half the cost of a new unit and be a lot less of a PITA.

Does anyone know what the weak point of the 5.5 gen is? I actually don't mind the radio in the 2000. It sounds really well-balanced. I just like the SD and bluetooth.

Does the 5.5 gen suck because of the head unit or the amp? I pulled a speaker and they look to be the same part (off looks alone). So it's gotta be some part of the sound processing/amplification.