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I’ve held back a fair while (7+ years?) with my stock headunit, but I think it’s now time as most of my trips are different enough to require GPS. So it would be nice to have it integrated into the dashboard somehow, and might go a reverse cam and a dash cam if it makes sense and can fit in the budget.
My model is the Australian 2009/2010 NC2, PRHT, Automatic with Bose. The factory headunit looks like this in photos from my article on how to swap the evaporator in the Air Conditioner:
As you can see it comes with a state of the art 6 CD stacker that also reads MP3’s, to hold literally thousands of your favourite songs – playable within minutes.
Removing the entire fascia
I’ve already removed this once during the air conditioner repair & took photos as I knew this upgrade would happen sometime. However to get it removed is fairly straightforward, you can follow the first couple of steps in the AC article which is basically this:
- Unscrew the gear knob & pull off the handbrake cover
- Unclip (carefully!) the small panel between the seats
- Unscrew the centre console plastic section, unclip two plugs, and lift it out
- Remove the two plastic shrouds on either side of the radio
- Remove the lower section of the fascia (containing the 12v socket)
- Unscrew both sides of the combined aircon/radio fascia
- This is probably the hardest bit – there’s a tiny bolt hidden on the side of the radio – mine was on the drivers side in AUS. This needs to be removed before the whole section can be pulled out. This was easier to get to for me as I had the entire steering column unbolted and out of the way. Good luck!
Here’s how it looks from the back once removed, so we know what we need to find regarding wiring harnesses.
It’s already been done
Here’s a few videos from people who have gone through this process already, which we’re going to be getting some hints from regarding wiring trickery.
Now that I’ve found these videos, I’m getting suggested videos all for MX5 NC radio installs so there’s plenty of information out there to go astray!
Shopping List
Now that we can see what’s there and how people have done it, we can figure out what bits we need to achieve this.
Fascia
There are maybe 3 options for the Fascia I have discovered:
Generic Aliexpress – seems to be missing the side guides. There is also an option that allows for two single din slots but can be cut to allow double. This model also looks like it’s for the NC1
Metra 99-7519B – This is similar to the aliexpress options in terms of style (the DIN area has a protruding lip) but contains the side guides. The one pictured specifically is for the NC2 and up due to the lower rounded corners, for the NC1 there’s a different variant with the square corners. This (or a variant of it) is what the majority of guides/videos/forums use.
Scosche MA1550B – this appears the closest to the factory fascia (rounded lower corners, inset aircon controls) and the most expensive, and extremely difficult to source as they might be out of production (2025). It’s mentioned in regards to the Atoto radios as the opening is very slightly taller.
My aim is to try to source the Scosche MA1550B for the appearance, and also it seems to have a slightly larger (taller?) opening to allow for the cheaper radios that I’m looking to get. I’m reading a lot of people are having to modify the other options by filing or grinding to get radios to fit.
Update: I found a site within the country that listed the Schosche as in stock (and expensive!). I have ordered it and if it’s the right one when it arrives I’ll update this with their name.
Radio
For the radio the goal is to keep the price on the low side ($200AUDish), not the absolute cheapest but not at the name-brand level (sony/kenwood/pioneer – $400AUDish). Here’s what I’ve found so far.
- Atoto / Revcarx
- These seem to be about half the price of more popular brands while still doing all the typical google functions (like maps) and android auto which is what I’m after.
- The models that keep getting mentioned are:
- A6PF (2022, 2gb), A6PL (2024 refresh? 4gb? QLED), A6PP (2025? 2gb/4gb/IPS/QLED??)
- A5L (2025, 2gb, absolute cheapest models)
- A7 (Linux based, not android but does android auto, has odd gremlins?)
- S8 (mid-range, costly, 4gb)
- 10X (top range, expensive)
- The differences being the design of the front (buttons or touch-buttons, exposed usb), the display technology (IPS vs QLED), Android version, & ram/cores.
- Popular opinion is if you can afford it and it makes sense for the car, go for at least 4gb ram and QLED.
- They seem to have packages with cameras.
- Extreme sales on Aliexpress during big holidays.
- Eonon
- Only just eyeballing these as another budget option. Don’t seem as prominent as Atoto
- They get a decent review, and have more recent android versions?
Currently leaning towards the Atoto A6PL (A6G2B7PL), or the S8 if it’s cheap enough.
Update: I found an A6EG2A7PLB + front cam bundle for 20% off + 20% off ebay black friday bonus. So the radio + front + rear camera + postage is a total of ~$240. To go the capacitive buttons or S8 was $100+ more which goes a bit above the old budget for this car. Not a lot of information about the “PL” variant but everything indicated it has 4g ram and 64gb storage, and apparently as good as the S8 with it’s features. Will update this to verify whether the correct radio model arrives (with QLED) as it sounds too good to be true. Even at that price if it’s a standard PF or so it’ll be a good buy.
Wiring looms & other
For the wiring we need to connect between the new radio and the mazda plugs inside, and also accommodate for the steering wheel controls and maybe the handbrake/park override. The mx5’s (I think up until very recent ND models) don’t have standard CANBUS, you can purchase converters but I’m going to skip this as I don’t think it’s necessary.
The Atoto’s come with so many wires so you don’t need to buy much else, which is partly why the Atoto choice ends up so much cheaper. You don’t need to purchase a $100 steering wheel control box or line out converters or antennas – it’s all in the box.
Note: The smaller white plug that goes in to the back of the stock radio seems to be ignored by everyone – mine has one and the only thing I’m aware of is the AUX port down in the tray area, so once I have the radio out again I’ll trace this to confirm what it does. I’m going to be very annoyed if I had bluetooth available for 7 years! Ok I have found photos I took while it was apart and a wiring diagram. The smaller plug seems to be more so the stock radio can react to the cars speed, lights, all of that – like a CANBUS. And also the AUX. So this is why people are ignoring it. I might see if I can wire up the AUX to the new radio anyway since I’ll be in there.
So this is what I have come up with from the videos.
For all radios:
- 4 x solderless RCA plugs (for the Atoto line out converters)
- Wire terminals/caps/crimps/joiners
- 2 x Metra (or similar) 70-7903 Wiring Kits (the 2nd is purely to borrow two pins from to put in the first, for steering wheel controls)
If you’re going for a big name brand (sony/pioneer/kenwood/jvc/etc.) radio:
- Parking break bypass cable (this is radio-brand specific) – apparently only required for name brand radios, for Atoto we can ground or just leave disconnected the parking break wire.
- Metra ASWC (for steering wheel control translation – the Atoto contains an app to do this without the hardware, I’m unsure of others)
- You may need 2xline-out converters (For the BOSE? These come with the Atoto)
Hooking it all up
Troubleshooting the blue wire / no power: https://forum.mx5oc.co.uk/t/nc-bose-atoto-s8-swap/150675/12
This wiring diagram is courtesy of Flywheel Films who made the first video I linked earlier.
Android Auto – Head Unit Reloaded (HUR) from the play store