spicoli

As stated... depends on where you are at in the country. Also depends on the dealer. Tread Lightly is a great starting point (1% below factory invoice). quite a few dealers didn't want to negotiate below this on my jeep I ordered. I found a dealer/sales guy who was willing to and got my jeep ordered. If you have the patience to find the right people to buy from then you can get a good deal. Tread Lightly is a good price, but the dealers get reimbursed for that from jeep, so a dealer who wants to push units more than bottom dollar will work with you and then you can get a great price.

tramp

just bought mine a month ago
no dealer discounts
had to wait 6 weeks for delivery
worth every dime

MSmitty

Yes I'll be putting the AEV 2.5 lift on it with duratracs. Front and rear bumpers, winch, lights etc. This is coming with us to Hawaii when we move in a few months. Light/medium trails to beaches on the big island. Most parts will be coming from Northridge.

Rednroll

99% of the radios coming out will not have a CD player in them any longer. It's 2016, CD is dead. Bluetooth, USB, and online streaming music are the standard media formats now.

As well, when you mention to get an aftermarket radio you forgot to mention all the additional complexity that come with that solution. The OEM radios are canbus interface radios, so most of the wires are not there to directly plug in and connect an aftermarket radio. You need special interface modules, such as steering wheel interfaces, and running additional wires, you lose auto light dimming, you need additional dash bezel fitting kits, if you use hands-free phone calling then the microphone phone call sound quality sucks, the navigation doesn't work when you're in cities with tall buildings and tunnels, mountainous areas are problems as well because the required GPS signals get blocked. OEM radios have additional vehicle signals to overcome those problems in addition to the GPS signals to overcome those types of problems which aftermarket radios don't have. If you use your phone for navigation, then you have the problems associated with losing cellular connectivity, where you also lose your navigation and if you're relying on your navigation to get you from point A to Point B in an area out in the wilderness you've never driven, then you might be relying on that navigation working in those instances. Speaking of which then you also need to be aware if you have a limited data plan on your phone like most of us do, then your data is being used up as well. I mean none of us ever drive off the beaten path with a Jeep and lose cell phone reception right?

It's great if none of these problems affect you, but if you're recommending it instead, then you might want to share the entire story is all I'm saying because these things might be more important to others and it would be good to let them know about the negative expectations that come along with those aftermarket radios as well and since you're focusing on the negative aspects of the OEM radios it only seems like the fair thing to do.

WHT_JKUR

I have the AEV 2.5 with 315/70/17 duratracs. It is a nice all around set-up

WHT_JKUR

I took out the 130n out of my jeep and put in a nice midrange Pioneer with USB, Bluetooth, integrated Pandora control. Interface module to link to steering wheel controls, and added a backup cam for under $500 (with brackets, bezel etc).

Mine is not a nav unit, but what Chrysler charges for a upgraded radio (or nav) unit is highway robbery. IMO a lot better solutions out there aftermarket

Rednroll

I definitely understand, the OEM nav units aren't for everyone. I have one and am very happy with it. I've had it for 6 years. At this point, the only other thing I wished it had was Apple Car Play and Android Auto functions which weren't around 6 years ago.

So with the aftermarket radio you got, do the lights on the radio buttons come on when your turn your lights on at night or do you have to deal with dark unlit buttons in a dark cabin? Does the screen go into dark graphics mode, so it isn't shining bright light in your eyes at night?

How about the reverse camera you added? Does it automatically show the rear camera view when you put your JK in reverse, or do you have to manually activate it some other way? If it's automatic, what were the additional signals from the vehicle you had to connect to it? Reverse tail lights or something else?

Also like you mention you're at $500 without Nav. Navi usually adds another $150-$200 to the price tag of the aftermarket radios. It cost me less than $700 for my OEM Navi radio installed, so we're now at similar price points. The OEM radios are typically more plug and play and integrated with the vehicle. Where you have to run less additional wires and figuring out where to access those points in the vehicle to run those wires, while getting better overall integration with the vehicle. Thus, less complexity for other things to fail.

WHT_JKUR

Pioneer Avh2700BS. Thought about doing the NEX with CarPlay, but decided that I personally didn't need all of the functionality at the time, but I might reconsider in the future as CarPlay evolves. The 2700 has a button that engages SIRI, has Bluetooth, and interfaces with music(and Pandora). That is pretty much all I was looking for in the jeep. It also lets you get the nav audio directions from iPhone. That said, I have nav in my other 2 cars and I rarely use it. The pioneer unit has different color schemes and I have not found it to be too bright or distracting and never considered the need to dim.

Back-up cam is wired to reverse lights and automatically come on when I put jeep into reverse. Camera is mounted on a discrete bracket on the spare. Great field of view.

Rednroll

Ok, thanks. So the lights for the buttons on the radio don't turn on when you turn on your head lights and your display doesn't auto dim when you turn on the lights as well. The radio doesn't auto dim and/or change colors with your headlight controls like all the other lights in the vehicle do. Then additionally when you adjust the dash light dimming control, the radio's display doesn't dim with the rest of the lights in your vehicle as well.

Adding the rear camera functionality required you to have additional power wires run to the camera (the camera needs power), as well as running a wire from the back tail lights to the camera/radio which tells the radio that the vehicle is in reverse and these are all additional inconveniences you had to go through to get similar functions as the OEM radio. You've accepted living with those inconveniences or you can manually change the radio's color scheme every time you change from driving at night or driving during the day. As well, you have a dash trim bezel kit that came with the radio and while it doesn't look bad in your JK, it's obvious the radio just doesn't belong in the vehicle like everything else.

For Navi when you need it, you can hear the phone's turn by turn instructions through the radio's speakers. If you want to actually look at the map, then you need to look down at the small screen on your phone and deal with that inconvenience as well as driving in an unsafe manor because now you're taking your eyes off the road for an extended period of time to do so. Then in the those situations where you lose cell phone reception and are no longer getting navigation instructions, you drive around and hope you're headed in the right direction until your cell phone signal is restored.

Therefore, these are all things you've personally been able to accept all in the name of saving a few bucks on the radio.

Ok, so that's a lot more enlightening for everyone because now we're not only discussing the good things that come with installing an aftermarket radio but we're also discussing the bad things that you've personally accepted where we both know these are things you rather not have to deal with but you do because you saved a few bucks. I think we're on the same page now.

The last thing I haven't touched on is your re-sale value. You've lowered your JK's re-sale value because you had to run wires and alter the factory wiring inside of your JK to install this aftermarket radio and anyone buying your JK used should be looking at it like, "I don't know what this guy did to the factory wiring to install this radio, but I know he had to run additional wires and make connections to things that normally don't have these connections to them." So it's likely that the money you saved on the aftermarket radio is lost in resale value of your JK, unless you find someone who really wanted the exact same radio as you did to sell it to.

MSmitty

OK, I'm going in the morning to order. I'm taking off LSD and leaving everything else as is. I'm going for 27k out the door. What do you guys think? Should I try for lower?