I myself would prolly stay with the stock HU, especially if you have the steering wheel controls, otherwise if you go with a AM HU then you're gonna loose your steering wheel control capability, and then you have useless buttons unless you spend another $30-40 on top of the deck to install the kit to make the buttons work again.


I would actually just stay with maybe swapping speakers.....

if you're satisfied with how it sounds and not plannin on going sound crazy.. maybe look to see if they have a bazooka tube sub.. it will round out your sound.. allow you to lower the bass setting on your front/rear speakers so you can play it louder without that horrid sound of distortion

I like the idea of selling them for cash and buying something decent

Is it possible to just spend the gift cards at Best Buy (say on a television or something) and then just return the thing for a refund? In many states if a gift card or gift certificate is purchased with actual money (as opposed to the gift being a prize that the store gave away), then the stores have to treat it as money and can't have an expiration date, for example. If you can get a refund out of it, then I'd recommend you do that and get your auto sound components elsewhere.

I'd keep the stock head unit if you have the steering wheel controls, and replace the speakers and factory amp. Maybe get a 4 channel amp to drive both the rear and front speakers.

My wife is an eBay addict and says you can sell gift cards on there for almost full price. Like, you may get about 150 for your 160. Not bad.
Personally, I would go listen to the different head units and speakers, and play around with them to check out the features. I personally love Pioneer, and you can get a decent HU for that price. I think they have the best features for the money, but that'* just my opinion.

Alpine CDA-9856

should retail for around $200

You can never go wrong with Alpine, and that price seems good.

Look for something that has a crossover for front/rear. That will make your stock speakers sound alot better and then you will really not have to worry about blowing up your stock speakers.