Many will consider this a cost-cutting step too far, but the interior was designed for ease of upgrading, with easy mounting space for anything from a simple soundbar to a full sound system.
This isn’t for everyone, but if it’s easily accessible, I’d have no problem installing a basic CarPlay head unit and speakers in an afternoon.
I was working at a chemical plant, and had my tow motor license for about a week. We had these garage doors that stayed closed most of the time to keep everything compartmentalized in case of a fire. I was driving along with a pallet on the forks, and some asshole spilled water and didn’t put up the wet floor sign or even attempt to clean it up.
I hit the brakes, went sideways, and absolutely destroyed the bottom 3 panels on this garage door. The bags on the skid I was carrying ripped open and made a huge mess, but thankfully what I was carrying didn’t react to water. My manager went back and looked at the tape recording and found the guy who did it. Then he made him clean up the mess I made, and fired him when he was done. The whole thing was scary as hell.
There’s about a zero percent chance that 5 year old console components cost more today than they did 5 years ago.
Things like that don’t get more expensive, they get cheaper as new tech develops.