Can we talk about Android Auto/Apple CarPlay and retrofitting?

I've been driving a Challenger for the past few days.  Had one while we were in Minnesota a while back.  Got to use them with some Fords when I was travelling with work a couple years back and enjoyed it immensely.

Unfortunately the newer Fords and Dodges are just out of reach, but the older ones aren't.  Unfortunately on that end, Android Auto isn't available.

Anyone have or have heard any good results of retrofitting everything for either?  Seems like there's a decent sized industry rising up that produces kits and such.

By retrofit, do you mean get new factory Ford or Dodge infotainment to work in an older model?  Or do you mean just stick in a 2 DIN headunit with AA or Carplay?

In reply to ProDarwin :

Not sure.  Either? Both?  Do the 2 DIN units actually work as well as factory?

I put a Boss BE7ACP in each of my wife's Mazda 5 and my Excursion.  With the right module, it interfaces with the steering wheel controls on the Mazda and it gives us Android Auto capability in each car.  Works really well and it wasn't tremendously expensive.  I'm sure it's not that great when it comes to high end audio quality, but it's good enough for me.

Ive put Android Auto boxes into two 20 year old cars this summer, a JVC into the RSX and a cheap Boss into the 9-5.  My wife just switched over to iphone and doesnt drive my cars regularly, so no clue on the CarPlay interface.  I got everything from Crutchfield, and it does seem like they have fascia adapters and such for many cars.  Also great customer support, as I ended up doing some returns and upgrades.

AA is kind of limited, but its nice jumping between cars that the song I was listening to in the RSX pops up the next day in the 9-5. Ive discovered for road trips that running Waze on my phone for alerts, and Google Maps on the head unit with navigation works well.  Also for days like today when I'm on call and need to copy/paste phone numbers, having dual screens in the car is helpful.

Edit- RSX install with the fascia adapter provided by Crutchfield

The Alpine head unit in my BRZ works well from a Carplay perspective, but the lack of a volume knob is incredibly annoying.

Its more reliable than the Android Auto in my factory 2019 Hyundai was, but I think thats more of an Android thing than the hardware itself.  Its flaky as berkeley.

ProDarwin said:

The Alpine head unit in my BRZ works well from a Carplay perspective, but the lack of a volume knob is incredibly annoying.

This... I ended up getting the JVC for the Acura because the Crutchfield guy mentioned it has a feature where you can swipe to adjust the volume. Not as good as a real volume button, but better than the tiny touch buttons

This sent me down a rabbit hole.

There is a 12313241656545 step process to retrofit a 2017+ wheel onto my 2013 BRZ to gain audio controls on the wheel.

There are numerous AA/Carplay compatible headunits with a volume knob.

There is only one AA/Carplay headunit that is wireless and has a knob.  Its $1000

I dont understand how these are so expensive.  I thought this technology would be cheap, and would be mainstream by now.

I was really hoping that Wireless AA / Carplay would be the end of E36 M3ty infotainment systems.  Manufacturers would just use those and the interface would become more standardized and they could go back to something they are better at like making cars.

Check This Jensen out:

Wired/wireless CP/AA, volume knob, $550.  Still not cheap, but better than 1k!  Seems like the wireless AA costs $150, as they have basically the same unit minus wireless AA for 400.

It's single DIN with display on a ball joint, so may not work depending on the dash BRZ layout.  I'm looking for one for my daughter's Civic, which has the stereo at the top of the dash. 

Sony XAV-AX1000 /thread.
 

Double DIN, not horribly ugly, volume knob, works well. There's one in my truck, my Element, and my sister's CR-V. Street price is somewhere between $200 and $300 depending on the day. 

Tom Suddard said:

Sony XAV-AX1000 /thread.
 

Double DIN, not horribly ugly, volume knob, works well. There's one in my truck, my Element, and my sister's CR-V. Street price is somewhere between $200 and $300 depending on the day. 

Doesn't support Android Auto at all, and Carplay is wired, not wireless :(

XLR99 (Forum Supporter) said:

Check This Jensen out:

Wired/wireless CP/AA, volume knob, $550.  Still not cheap, but better than 1k!  Seems like the wireless AA costs $150, as they have basically the same unit minus wireless AA for 400.

It's single DIN with display on a ball joint, so may not work depending on the dash BRZ layout.  I'm looking for one for my daughter's Civic, which has the stereo at the top of the dash. 

That doesn't seem terrible, but the "floating" aspect of it seems iffy.  The volume knob looks incredibly tiny too, maybe just perspective?

In reply to ProDarwin :

Android phones are miserable anyway, and wireless CarPlay just drains your battery. 

Tom Suddard said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

Android phones are miserable anyway, and wireless CarPlay just drains your battery. 

I don't disagree with the first part, but some will.

I hate pulling my phone out and plugging in a cable every time I get in the car.  Pain in the ass.  Especially in something smaller where there isn't a good place to put a phone to begin with.

I've got the Sony XAV-AX100 in my truck, it's an older unit that predates wireless AA, but I still love it. Has a volume knob. I think I paid $300 CAD for it around 4 years ago as a black Friday deal. I'd definitely buy it again.

Tom Suddard said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

Android phones are miserable anyway, and wireless CarPlay just drains your battery. 

Android Auto, A A, A+A = A

Apple Carplay, A C, A+C = B.

A>B

Android is better.  Fact.

ProDarwin said:
I hate pulling my phone out and plugging in a cable every time I get in the car.  Pain in the ass.  Especially in something smaller where there isn't a good place to put a phone to begin with.

in the few rentals I've had new enough to have such frills, I found I much preferred it! 
Variety of reasons; probably immaterial - good example of why we have options in life. (Oops, that was not intended to be political )

Ive been fine commuting in the old Grand-Ma-Quois with the stock stereo. But the 5 week class in the nice rental spoiled me. On a drive home from a northern contract in the spring, I pulled the trigger on a inexpensive unit that implied it supported CP. It lied (except in the fine print - my fault!)

I will be looking at the unit Tom mentioned, for the car and my 03 350. 

Quick look found the Sony between 250 and 3 bills. 

Also found this  $75 unit that looks like it does CP , Bluetooth, and has a volume control. But I've been fooled once, now...

Car has volume in steering; have gotten very used to that. Other steering wheel controls don't matter, but volume would sure be nice. 

The only benifit I see with carplay is having the Waze app on the big screen.

I put on in my wifes NC Miata. plenty of room for a phone mount, so I didn't care about wireless. no volume knob on the unit, but the steering wheel volume control is what you use 98% of the time anyway.

added in a back up camera and was under $500 a few years ago thru Crutchfield. they had very good phone tech help, the first wiring harness wouldn't allow the wheel controls to work, they walked me thru figuring that out and send me a new one the next day.

Looking to put it into my wifes 2012 Audi A4, but that car has 100 different buttons on the wheel and around the shifter for whatever a MMI is, and there are limited options that will allow those to work.

I hate phone mounts, so integrating CarPlay/AA is much more preferable to me. We did a whole setup on my dad's NC2 Miata recently with wireless CarPlay and a backup camera and he loves it. I would do the same on my mom's Outback but it looks really goofy with any available dash kit and she doesn't want to keep the car that long anyway. Based on inventory difficulties/chip shortages at the time, we bought a Pioneer with all touch controls. He only uses the volume/track controls on the steering wheel anyway and the look is pretty clean:

I was able to add CarPlay to my factory PCM system in my Cayenne, through a little circuit board that intercepts the touchscreen video and touch signals. Cost about $300 and I DIY'd the install:

While both installs I've done support wireless connectivity, I prefer plugging in for longer drives as wireless absolutely eats battery.