Peugeot 208 Radio Upgrade

As the owner of a Peugeot 208 for several years, I grew frustrated with the head unit. They are known for having a number of problems with them, and so many 208 owners head to the internet to look for an alternative.

Unfortunately there’s not really much information out there about which radio upgrade you should go for - and this leads some people to contact auto electricians, who will often fit good units from the likes of Pioneer or Kenwood, but often these cost a lot of money not only for the head unit but also for the fitting, and don’t really provide any more features than the standard 208 screen other than maybe the addition of Android Auto or Apple Carplay.

In this article we’re going to do a deep dive into one of the options available for a Peugeot 208 radio upgrade, and in particular, which of the many options you should go for based on what’s available online.

Why upgrade the radio in your Peugeot 208?

Firstly let’s look at some of the reasons to upgrade the radio in your Peugeot 208. You might be on the fence as to whether you should do it or not - and it’s my opinion as Peugeot 208 owner for three years that it’s absolutely worth doing.

We’ve written a full article on this, but the stock 208 touchscreen is prone to quite a few problems - including switching itself off when it’s very hot, sometimes not turning on at all and rebooting itself constantly. Unfortunately the standard 208 SMEG units suffered from a variety of problems and if you’re experiencing issues, it may be time to replace it.

Additionally, if you’ve got an earlier, pre-facelift 208 (generally before 2015) you might be lacking certain features, such as navigation, Apple Carplay or Android Auto. This is something that a replacement head unit can provide for you, without you having to go out and buy a new car.

While there are many reasons why you would want a new head unit, from one 208 owner to another, it’s absolutely worth doing and is one of the main things you’ll want to do to your car while you own it. 

Upgrade recommendations - what to buy

I am only going to review one head unit upgrade in this article and that’s because I feel it’s by far the best one out there on the market, without comparison. That unit is the Dasaita PX6 head unit for the Peugeot 208.

We will get into the ins and outs of why I have recommended this unit to you, along with how to fit the unit, how to use it and what to expect from it, but suffice it to say that as a mechanic I have fitted a few of these to customer’s cars and there has never been anyone who has regretted it - it is a significant upgrade to what’s already in the car, and in my view, much better than anything else on the market you could buy to replace your 208 touchscreen.

Of course, if you don’t like the Dasaita and you would prefer a smaller unit (the main complaint that people have with this unit is that it’s too big) then you can go for a Pioneer or Kenwood unit either fitted by yourself or by a specialist - but just be aware it’s possible that you could lose a lot of features, including the steering wheel controls, some of the trip settings as well as other native 208 touchscreen functions - and I would expect that you’d pay a fair bit more than the Dasaita too.

The Best Peugeot 208 Radio Upgrade - Dasaita PX6

The Dasaita PX6 is a 10.2 inch Single-DIN Android head unit designed specifically for the Peugeot 208. It’s an excellent alternative to the built-in head unit, and is a reliable piece of kit that provides a significant upgrade to your Peugeot 208.

We’re going to go in-depth on the Dasaita PX6, including the pros and cons of fitting one to your car, as well as whether you should buy one or not.

Background - who are Dasaita?

Dasaita are a Chinese company that produces and develops car AV systems. This is all they do - they don’t make stereos or speakers for anything other than personal and commercial vehicles. Dasaita has a decent reputation in the marketplace for making good products, but they don’t have the clout of a larger manufacturer like Pioneer. 

They are well known in the industry for aftermarket stereo systems at a cheaper price point than other manufacturers - but are well known for making units designed for individual cars, allowing you to keep bespoke features that existing touchscreen units might provide such as the steering wheel controls and other driving functions activated by the touchscreen.

Specifications, dimensions and features

Comparison to the original unit

Let’s first look at what you get over and above the original SMEG unit fitted from factory to your Peugeot 208. 

Firstly, many Peugeot 208 owners buy these units because they own cars fitted with the old SMEG 5 units which do not include Android Auto or Apple Carplay. Additionally most of these units also did not include navigation. While the navigation in these units is old, it is better than nothing (although most people would prefer to use their phones anyway.)

As such, this is probably the most cost effective way of upgrading your 208 to include modern features not only such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but also the ability to play movies and TV shows, games as well as streaming music, online radio and YouTube videos. You can even chat with people via Facebook Messenger and check your email using Gmail. 

Compared with the original unit, the Dasaita is much larger - it’s 10.2 inches rather than the standard 7 inches you get with the SMEG. The resolution is also much better - the Dasaita boasts a 1280 x 720 pixel screen. 

One of the coolest things about the Dasaita is that it does everything the stock unit does, as well as a whole lot more. Here’s a list of things the Dasaita does that the standard unit does not.

• Wifi - allowing you to search for and connect to nearby Wifi networks 
• Supports RCA type front and reverse camera input - so if your 208 was not fitted with a reverse camera as standard this is perfect if you want to retrofit one
• CarPlay and Android Auto - perfect for older 208s that don’t include this
• Any Android feature you can think of - Google Play store, YouTube, etc
• 4G internet connection

Fundamentally it provides you with a significant step up in in-car entertainment technology, and will allow you to do almost anything you could do with an Android tablet - because the Dasaita is basically an Android tablet you install into your car.

Fitting and assembly

The Dasaita unit is very, very easy to fit to your Peugeot 208. It’s simply a case of unbolting the old screen and slotting the new one in. You will need a few tools, including a trim clip remover and a screwdriver set.

Fundamentally all you need to do is remove the old fascia, unplug the old unit, install the new fascia, add in the new wiring loom, connect the new unit and bolt everything together. However, rather than describe this to you, there’s an excellent YouTube video which shows you exactly how to fit this unit to your car.

Just ensure that you check everything works as expected before screwing in the final piece of fascia plate - go through and check through the functions of the screen as well as the steering wheel keys just to make sure.

DAB Radio

One really important thing to note is that the Dasaita unit does not use the car’s own DAB antenna. It uses its own antenna which fits behind the dashboard for FM reception, which is generally OK - but for DAB reception you need to use a windscreen mount. I would even go as far as to say if DAB radio is important to you, don’t buy the Dasaita - because it’s more trouble than it’s worth to get it configured properly.

I will say however that it’s definitely possible to stream DAB radio from your phone if you have enough data - so if you’d prefer to do this, it’s one way around the problems you might have getting proper DAB reception. It’s not ideal though.

Do you lose any functionality?

One of the most common questions about the Dasaita is this - whether you lose anything from the SMEG unit. I’m happy to report that no, you don’t - although some things may not be quite what you expect.

You keep the DAB and FM radio - although as we’ve mentioned the DAB isn’t fantastic. You also keep the steering wheel controls - so you can use the volume up and down on the steering wheel as you can with the old SMEG unit, as well as the handsfree calling function. You also keep the trip computer function, although this is in litres per kilometer only and not in miles per gallon - so if this is important to you then just bear this in mind.

Additionally you keep all the settings you can think of within the SMEG unit, including the ability to edit the car’s lighting, the time and date, language, etc. 

Final opinion on the Dasaita PX6 Peugeot 208 Radio Upgrade

We’ve written a lot of articles on the Peugeot 208, and so if you’re experiencing other problems, check out some of the other stuff we’ve written!