Hello and thanks in advance. I have a 1998 gs300 here in Australia. They did not offer gps until 2002 or so where it was standard. I do not want the headunit for the gps but for the oem look.

Now my question, is can i buy a 1998 1998 gps headunit from america and will it work? Would the headunit be plug and play for controls like ac, radio etc?
I urgently await your reply

I do not want an aftermarket headunit because i cannot stand the way they look. I like the factory form fitting one

 

I don't see any reason why it would not fit. Maybe take some pictures of your radio plugs and AC control plus and see if they are the same as the US models.

A bigger issue would be getting Australian maps in a US navigation unit. I believe 1998 would have been hard drive based, 2002 is DVD based.

You might want to go with a 2002+ unit from Australia or US so that you can use the navigation software for your market. There are several write-ups on from members who upgraded their older nav setups to the newer.

 

What would be the point? The 1998 Navi is extremely outdated, not to mention it's a PITA to even attempt to install. The Navi wouldn't work since there's no maps for Austrailia, and isn't your car RHD?

 

Yes the car is rhd. i cannot stand the way aftermarket units look because there is soo much real estate left over around it. I dont care if the gps does not work just the ac & radio etc

 

I would hate having a GPS installed without it functioning... It seems to be very difficult to switch from the standard headunit to a GPS headunit. The wiring is totally different. Even specialized shops have a hard time doing the swap....

I find that a double DIN integrates quite well on the dash with a good dash kit.

 

http://bananags.grantham-internation...GS_DIY/OEMGPS/

 

I'd say it's not worth it. It'd be like trying to install Aussie GPS data into a Soarer's GPS unit to work on the factory EMV (people have been trying for years to get it to work)... the layout seems to be similar.

 

I have a factory navi headunit out of a 99 GS. It has the screen and the radio, and the little black climate control box on the back. $150 plus ship and its yours.

Here is where I see a potential problem. I know US and Japan radio frequencies are different. I dont know if that is the case with your country's radio stations. US runs from some where like 87.9-107.9 FM and I dont know what in AM. The FM stations run in odd number increments also. If you have even numbered stations, you would be SOL.

 

The FM frequency is the same as far as I know between USA and Australia (87.5 - 107.9 or something like that).