Looking to upgrade the audio system in my 2012. Has anyone bought a head unit on amazon? The prices are so much cheaper than Australia.

Shipping isn't a problem.

I'm more concerned about the slight differences in model numbers between here and the US. I'm looking at a Pioneer AVH-X8550BT ($1200). The closest on amazon is AVH-8500BH (less than $500).

As far as I can tell the only difference is the region code on the DVD playback which isn't huge as I don't plan on watching movies in my car. Is there anything else I need to look out for though?

I'd be more concerned about the lack of warranty. Don't want to get a lemon, and have to pay to post it back to the USA.

Good luck though.

I recently went down this path, albeit a slightly different one.
Found the head unit I wanted (Alpine CDA-137EBT) on Ebay, $440.00 and 1 week later it arrived.
It came from some company trading out of Hong Kong and has since been installed in the car.

The frequency range of the unit matched up with those used in Australia and it has been used to play CD's (DVD's yet to be tested).

As Goosey has pointed out, if there are any problems with the unit, be prepared to be without a head unit or revert back to stock should an issue arise with the performance of the unit.

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As said above, I would be concerned about the FM Frequency not matching ours, if it does, its a huge saving over a domestic model and probably worth the risk of not having a warranty.

FM Frequencys are fine.

I did this 6 months ago. Got a Pioneer DVD Playing unit from USA. The only thing that does not work here is the DVD Region Codes, otherwise its all good.

Check out my guide to installing a head-unit in the latest model WRX/STi here. I include a list of the parts required.

Thanks for the info. Do you know if the pioneer apps work the same across the US to Au models?

You mean like the Sirius and Pandora? I dont use them so can not comment, but if you have them on your phone you could try it on mine if you like.

There have been BIG problems making Pioneer's Advanced App mode useful. They seem to have Apple feeding cash into their pockets so that Android development is just about non-existent. Even getting the iPhone 5 to work is a struggle too.....

However the US version of the ABH-X8550BT is the AVH-X8500BHS. Different name, same thing but is SirusXM ready (with add on controller) and Pandora enabled from factory. Also they will be stuck on DVD region 2 unless you get something to make it region free.

I have a heap of links to these topics if you want to know some more?

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That is the APPRADIO - I think he is just talking about the 2 standard apps built into all their current range touch-screen units to provide pandora and sirious. APPRADIO and APPRADIO 2 are only good if you use apple, sadly.