Ford refurbished radios

[XR Rob]

Did any of you guys know that Ford replaces factory radios/CD players on a swap basis? I'm guessing that a lot of people just replace their head units when they get a car, or when it busts, so might not know about this.

It came up because I've booked the XR6 in for its 90,000km service at Ford and the guy asked if there was anything to look at and I said, "Yes, the CD player has eaten two CDs and I think it's bust..." and he said OK and then I asked if the replacement head units were expensive, or whether it was cheaper to just put my own in. That's when he said they swap it out for a refurbished Ford unit and the cost is "low".

He didn't specify how "low" is "low" but it's intrigued me enough for the key reasons that I kinda like keeping the radio as factory standard (just a strange quirk I have), and it's not like the prestige system in the XR6 VCT is a "bad" unit, per se, anyway. I also like the idea of it maybe being cheaper than some new bling-bling head unit which is going to look out of place in the console anyway. So I will keep you guys on top of what happens when the service is done, Feb 23.

Just curious in the meantime, did you guys know that Ford will rip your old stereo out and fit a refurbished unit if it's bust?