This post isn’t very relevant to the usual (if you can even call these sparse posts usual) subject matter around here, but I wanted to get this information out on the Internet to hopefully save somebody else the trouble that I went through today.
If you’re planning to install a 3rd party, single DIN car audio head unit (CD player stereo/radio) in a 2001 or 2002 Mitsubishi Mirage, you probably don’t need to buy a dash kit. In fact, I’m willing to bet that most Asian designed cars (because they use single or double DIN factory stereos) don’t need dash kits to install an aftermarket, single DIN stereo.
The battery died in my Mitsubishi last week, causing the factory stereo to demand a security code that I didn’t have. While I could have probably retrieved the code by calling a Mitsubishi dealer, there’s no guarantee it would be free and I’d likely need to remove the factory stereo and retrieve its serial number for the dealer. Also, even if I got it working again, that stereo doesn’t even play CDs when it’s cold outside (basically all Winter) so I want to replace it anyway.
When trying to learn if I needed a dash kit, all I could find was this eBay listing for a 2001 2002 Mitsubishi Mirage Radio Dash Install Kit, so I ordered it. The listing isn’t lying… the dash kit does work for a 2001/2002 Mitsubishi Mirage; but so should the factory hardware that’s holding the factory stereo in place. You’d want to check your aftermarket stereo to be sure it has the same bolt holes on the sides as the factory stereo, but my JVC stereo sure did.
I technically didn’t need to spend the $10 for a wiring harness that I did either; I could have cut off the factory harness, stripped the factory wires, and spliced the aftermarket stereo’s harness directly to the factory wires, but I didn’t want to be stripping and splicing inside of a cramped dashboard opening when I could do all of that elsewhere and then just connect two harnesses. That was worth the $10.
So now I have a working radio and CD player in my car again, but I wasted $20 because I didn’t research it properly first. Lesson learned.
Become A Robot 
I needed a dash kit for my 2002 Pontiac. Yeah, I know it’s american, but your post reminded me of the nightmare I had with Best Buy and getting a stereo installed. My Pontiac requires that rediculous harness and cable for *any* aftermarket stereo, and those parts were about $125, PLUS the cost of the stereo.
The lesson here is never buy a 2002 Pontiac.
Yeah, those Pontiacs have such curvaceous, modeled interiors, I’m not surprised the kit is pricey (although $125 still shocks me). I can say that Best Buy’s markup on car audio accessories is ridiculous, but you don’t have much of a choice when they’re doing the install.
hooked up stereo and it comes on but turns off and wont come on unless i turn the car off then back on. there are two wires that i capped off(dimmer and the illumination)dont know what they go to..can someone help..thanks