Desperate to get some digital music while driving!

[LilyWai]

Caveat: I'm a novice when it comes to car stereo technology so excuse my lack of experience & terminology.

So, have just purchase a used 2008 Toyota Blade, Japanese import which as expected has a Japanese head unit - an Eclipse AVN687HD - (& a lady who spouts Japanese at me every time I hop in the car). There are two issues that I'm struggling with & hoping someone can advise me on….
1. I am wanting to replace the head unit all together very soon but because the car came with no manual or info on this specific Toyota Model and I cannot find the info online anywhere I am struggling to find the precise measurements of the 2 Din space so I can purchase a head unit that I can be sure fits (I am restricted to purchasing online because of where I live & not having access to Car Audio specialist stores).
2. In the meantime while I am waiting to replace the unit I would dearly LOVE to have some of my music in the car. The current system seems to have an “iPod” option on it - I've been using Google Translate to try and work out the menu settings - but I cannot get it connected to my iPhone as I don't have the Bluetooth password that it requires.
I cannot even access the radio because it is tuned to Japanese frequencies which are not compatible with NZ radio frequencies so I can only get a total of two stations…both of which are awful.

I have been wondering if it would be possible to connect my iPhone in another way, like perhaps through a cord method, in the interim. I have been looking into audio devices that plug into the cigarette lighter and connect with the car's audio system bypassing the problematic Japanese audio system altogether but I'm just not sure of what is out there as options?

The Eclipse AVN687 system that is currently in place has a screen that tilts down to expose a CD slot and just beside this is a small square plug port that I have photographed and attached to this post. I wondered if maybe, hopefully, this port could be used to plug my iPhone into the system so as could play music from my iPhone's digital library?
I’m not sure what sort of cord would fit this port but I'm hoping it's an audio cord given it's placement beside the CD player.

Any advice or ideas would be gratefully received…to me driving without music - or with awful music - is just so depressing!

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Pretty sure all Toyota up until very recently have "iso-mount" which means the hole in the dash is standart aftermarket head unit width and there are brackets in there that bolt to the new head unit and bolt into the car very easily. Hopefully whoever installed that Eclipse unit bought a wiring adapter so you have a little more wiggle room, but I'd bet that the wiring from the Eclipse are also standard colors so just finding any reputable brand double din head unit should make for reasonably simple plug and play swap if you can figure out how to get the dash off and un-mount the Eclipse.

Stick to Pioneer, Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, or Sony for head unit for best results. Those are the top well established names for those.

 

[LilyWai]

Pretty sure all Toyota up until very recently have "iso-mount" which means the hole in the dash is standart aftermarket head unit width and there are brackets in there that bolt to the new head unit and bolt into the car very easily. Hopefully whoever installed that Eclipse unit bought a wiring adapter so you have a little more wiggle room, but I'd bet that the wiring from the Eclipse are also standard colors so just finding any reputable brand double din head unit should make for reasonably simple plug and play swap if you can figure out how to get the dash off and un-mount the Eclipse.

Stick to Pioneer, Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, or Sony for head unit for best results. Those are the top well established names for those.

Really appreciate your input and advice @hispls Sounds nice & simple, so much so that I may even consider giving install a go myself.
Have found a JVC one that looks like it fits the bill so good to know it’s a reputable brand.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Really appreciate your input and advice @hispls Sounds nice & simple, so much so that I may even consider giving install a go myself.
Have found a JVC one that looks like it fits the bill so good to know it’s a reputable brand.

JVC is the same company as Kenwood, from what I've seen the JVC branded ones are just Kenwood with less features or last generation Kenwood with the different name printed on them. If you like the look/feel/features of Kenwood and want to save a buck on the MSRP definitely worth looking at the JVC branded lineup!

You might want to reach out to Toyota or do some googling to confirm that it isn't some oddball size factory hole in those but every Toy I've ever owned was DIN width iso-mount and very simple to access. New models I think are getting into some oddball shapes but certainly 2008 is likely standard with everything else they made at the time and the fact that the factory head unit is already gone out of yours means that a new one should be plug and play.