Some of you have the ability to choose the right vehicle for you, like my father, and drive it until the wheels fall off, so to speak. You can put a couple hundred thousand miles on a vehicle and be as happy with it as the day you bought it. You see a new vehicle driving down the road and you know the price they are paying for that new ride and it makes you happy to know the money you are saving.

You are seriously considering it, but why?

You don’t really need a smartphone to connect the Bluetooth, most Android radios today will connect to any device that is Bluetooth ready, but let’s say with the money you’re saving you bought a smartphone and now you’d like to do the best of Bluetooth with the hands-free calling option that everyone else has. Then you discover that you can download a playlist of your favorite songs to your phone. Now you want a radio that can play your tunes while you’re in your vehicle. And to top it off, your new smartphone has GPS navigation, but it uses your data. Even with all these features, you still don’t have a backup camera.

How can you get all these features in your vehicle without trading in or spending a small fortune on an upgraded radio, with an affordable replacement radio? There is a wide range of radios on the market. There are some that are less than the average car payment and then there are some that are as much as the average mortgage payment. We opted for the reasonably affordable type. You’ll have to get a touchscreen radio if you’re looking for built-in navigation or a backup camera. Fear not, if you can operate a smartphone, you can operate a touch screen radio.

What came with our new trip?

We own a 2016 model year vehicle that came from the factory with a touch screen radio, Bluetooth, and a rear view camera. It doesn’t have the navigation because that would have required an additional badge on the truck that would put the cost of the vehicle out of our price range. That said, we recently upgraded the radio in our 2002 model year vehicle with a radio that has all the bells and whistles, including GPS navigation, and we’re seriously debating whether or not we should upgrade to the newer truck. The aftermarket radio has more options, a bigger screen, and looks great.

Why do we choose ours?

Our teenager drives the 2002 model year vehicle. The main reason for adding all the safety features a radio offers. We wanted Bluetooth for hands-free calling and wireless music streaming, GPS navigation, WIFI, a DVR dash cam (yes, a dash cam), and a backup camera without cluttering the dash with gadgets.

Your music is downloaded to the phone or through an application. With built-in Bluetooth, the radio automatically connects to your phone, giving them access to your music. No more flipping through CDs just to find the song you want to hear. It was nothing short of a miracle all those years of flipping through CDs while driving down the highway and keeping it in the ditches. Speaking of distractions!

In conclusion.

It’s okay to take that little leap into the future. You’ll probably appreciate answering phone calls without reaching for the phone. Use the backup camera to connect to the camper or any other trailer and get it right the first time. Navigate to a destination without having an additional device dangling from the dashboard. And last but not least, our radio has a built-in DVR dash cam. I don’t even have to explain the importance of that function.