I used to be a boy racer, and when you are everyone knows that at the centre of the car is the most important feature. The stereo. I picked up my M9900 second hand for £200 and what a lot of features for the money. The unit is a standard din size and has a really minimalist look with two main control dials. This approach allows most of the face of the stereo to be taken up with the widescreen TFT display.

The screen is bright with great colour and is capable of displaying Video input provided by any source through a Video RCA cable. Once a video source is plugged in, the included remote control allows you to setup the image (small square, letterbox etc) to suit you're preference. I used this function to full effect in my golf where the video was fed from a bumper mounted front facing camera providing real time video of the road on my dashboard. A very nice touch. This also be very useful when connected to a reversing camera on larger vehicles.

Sound is clear and crisp due to the better than usual power of 52W per channel. RCA in/outputs make easy the task of running an ipod in and setting up amplifiers, especially with the dedicated mono sub out RCA. Sony really thought this through.

Controls are taken care of with a rotating dial by selecting up or down a branch of options. It's ok when your used to it but dont try learning the menus whilst driving.

To access the CD slot of the stereo the face rotates down and forward, revealing a pretty dull functional slot loading drive, the disadvantage is that the face cannot be removed for security purposes. The unit comes provided with a neat cover to hide it when not in use but it's still obvious it's there.

The M9900 comes in two colours, blue and red so choose which suits your interior best and check before buying.

Be aware that if you wish to connect an ipod to this unit, you will need a separate sony adapter to control the ipod with the unit.

This stereo is still great and looks way more expensive than it is. If you want to show off your music, this will do it, the screen is something of a novelty due to it's small size but still great fun.