451 Pre-Facelift Stereo To Post-Facelift

Mod Description

Do you want to fit a Radio 9 or 10 (or specially made stereo like the S100) to your face lifted 451?

Mod Details

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I Don’t Like The Bosch Highline/Lowline Stereo

Not surprised. The lowline is just a radio and amplifier. No CD player, what were they thinking! The Highline stereo was a nice idea but it was over-priced, under specified and the sat nav was pants.

Can I Fit A Different Stereo?

Of course, you can get specially designed surrounds so you can fit a single or double DIN stereo.

Can I Fit The Radio 9 Or 10 From The Pre-Facelift Model?

Erm, the jury is out on that one. I’m not saying it is or isn’t possible But with a little hacking, it might be.

This is an S100 that I bought from Icebox Auto, click on the link and search for smart. It is the same outline as the Radio 9 and Radio 10 found in the 2007 to 2010 fortwo 451. I thought I’d see if it fitted the 2011 onwards 451 so there was a good replacement for the Bosch Highline.

Here is the S100 in its natural habitat, in the dash of a pre-facelift 451.

Let us inspect the hole in the dash and compare. Below is the 2011 onward facelift.

And here is the original pre-facelift 2007 to 2010. You can see a few differences but more become clear when you slide an old stereo into the new dash aperture.

It just about fits but it doesn’t slide all the way back.

The obvious problems are 2 moulded plastic piece each side that protrude.

The arrows below show 7 pieces that will stop the full insertion of the old stereo. There is a possibility (which I’m not going to try) that cutting these back will allow the stereo to fit in the hole correctly. None of the 4 screw holes will line up so you’ll have to drill small holes in the outside of the aperture for the stereo to bolt into.

Here is a standard pre-facelift stereo surround (part number A451 689 05 37 CR4A). The surround now no longer goes up over the dashboard and the stereo sits lower so you’ll have to break out your Dremel multitool.

This is all that was left. It was a quick cut for testing, please take more time and care on yours.

With the surround offered up to the stereo, it seemed to work alright. It might look better when you trim the plastic in the dash so the stereo can sit back as far as it is supposed to. Where I cut it off level at the bottom, you might want to let the plastic travel around the bottom of the stereo face a little bit more. You’ll have a better idea with the stereo in place.

If you do this you are insane but please do send me the pictures of your fitting.