Pioneer to the rescue for slightly older cars:
Pioneer AVH-1300NEX Multimedia DVD Receiver with 6.2" WVGA Display/Apple CarPlay/Built-in Bluetooth/SiriusXM-Ready/AppRadio Mode +
It used to be a priority for me until I tried it in a rental and realised its a bit of a gimmick and it would be more sensible to choose a car based on more traditional factors.
How are "traditional factors" and necessary extras mutually exclusive? That's dumbthink.
I buy a car that fits all my requirements - and they always start with the traditional factors. But once we've checked those off the list, the car better have A/C and CarPlay or I ain't buying it. I drive at least 2 hours a day.
CarPlay was a must: but you should know that not all CarPlay screens are equal either. In my testing the Ford implementation was way beyond the competition: biggest, clearest screen, most responsive and best sounding.
I ended up with a fully loaded Ford Edge Sport - and I can definitely say that the seamless CarPlay played into that decision (as well as the car being all around excellent).
On a recent trip I had a rental car that was a 2017 Toyota Highlander: and I couldn’t even believe how dated everything was. There wasn’t even a “Siri Button”: just some dumb built-in voice assistant that was terrible. Everything about the car was rubbish: but by far the “infotainment” system was the worst part.
Pretty funny to see Toyota scrambling to put CarPlay in their cars now.
I bought the 2015 Edge Sport (bright gold) in 2016. As much as I love the car, the only one sticking point with it was the lack of CarPlay. FordSync2 is such a bastard child of Ford, and it's no surprise it's created by Microsoft. My mom purchased the 2016 Edge which has CarPlay and the difference is night and day.
Lucky you. There's actually an upgrade by 3rd party that essentially installed a 2016 Edge unit into my car, but the price is over $2K and will most likely void my warranty. The market is definitely there. Ford did a disservice to here to prior owners. If Ford comes out with a Ford-stamped CarPlay upgrade for my year, I'd jump on it.
Check out the upgrades from 4Dtech. Not cheap but totally worth it. I installed Sync 3 in my 2013 Lincoln Mkz and love it. Light years ahead of the old system. QNX based and fast. The latest upgrade to version 3.0 fixes my biggest gripe with the original Sync 3. It used to take forever for Carplay to "activate" while Sync did its thing on startup. Now, 5 seconds and boom. Carplay is going and my podcast is playing before the car is in reverse. Having lived with the old system for 4 years and just having it again in a loaner, treat yourself to the upgrade. It doesn't void your warranty at all. You will thank yourself daily
Only thing I don’t like about CarPlay is not having Google Maps. For me, it’s still far more accurate with the hundreds of miles I drive per week.
Google Maps is of course available as an app on your iPhone, so you should be able to use it. It is of course not the native app for “hey Siri” use, but it should be accessible if you prefer it.
It's available on the iPhone but it will not display the maps on a CarPlay enabled screen - only Android does that. Still, you can hear the Google Maps audio prompts. And, if you do anything on the CarPlay screen, your phone will leave Google Maps as the iPhone display becomes a slave to the car's screen.
I was able to retrofit a 2 DIN radio with screen and Apple CarPlay functionality to our 2006 Honda Odyssey minivan - there is even a trim kit that fits around it so it looks natural in the dash. Not all vehicles can do this - particularly the ones that have the stereo controls separate from the display, e.g. Honda Pilot (for which I now think there is a way to do it).
Do your research. You might be surprised.
But the big reason why I never want to buy a vehicle without CarPlay is that while a car manufacturer's technology is frozen in time, Apple keeps updating the features and functionality. I think they are a little conservative with their approach but if they would work allow third party navigation apps like Google Maps, Waze and provide a precipitation/weather overlay the maps, that adds to the safety factor.
There's nothing like a trip down memory lane with the 2006 apple maps launch to remind me that all complaints about Apple's recent QA decline suffer from recency bias.
My big complaint with carplay is turning on the car: on a honda pilot with "wired" carplay it's russian roulette whether to plug in the phone then start the car, or start the car then plug in the phone... and then will the honda display launch carplay or stay in its own system... or connect to the phone with bluetooth and not connect with carplay?
I shouldn't have to sit in the driveway with my car idling for 5 minutes while I disconnect and reconnect my phone until carplay successfully launches. The problem is the honda software not having a prioritized list of connections (ie, prefer carplay and detect it!).
New half-baked business idea: make an aftermarket car stereo that *only* works with wireless carplay.
I was greatly disappointed in Toyota for eschewing CarPlay in favor of their horrible deficient infotainment offering. It’s just such a customer negative decision on their part and makes the driving experience in their vehicles feel extremely dated. Lack of CarPlay is the only reason we looked outside of Toyota for our next purchase.
Dire need of up-to-date Map/Navigation,receive/call hands-free in-car phone Call and play/control your
phone's Music was one huge reason where Phone functionality
integrated into Car's infotainment system such as CarPlay and android
auto were born. Three main functions(GPS,Music,Call) of Phone to use
hands-free seamlessly in Car with it's infotainment system is the reason I would
not buy new Car without it. Every Car manufacturer's should adopt it
fast and make it so convenient,seamless(like comes with new BMW) that
customers can't live with out it.
I don't get automakers who don't include this in 2018 models. Get with program Honda, Mazda, and Toyota just to name a few. You internal system stink and no one wants them! Now Kia is with it, my 2015 Soul which didn't have CP at the time (used purchase) was upgradable to current CP now. So I was able to download the update and have CP on a 2015 model and these new 2018 don't have it!!! WTF? Free update and hardware that is still current and able to handle CP. Now that rocks! Way to go Kia!!
Once you try it, you know you want it... Especially compared to the abominations some car makers ship. The biggest problem is that automakers are more and more moving away from the double din radio format, which at least allowed you to replace the factory unit with an aftermarket system. If you're going to be stuck with the factory radio, it better be a good one.
This was well know even back in 2012 when apple released car play then android. It is the dam Auto makers withholding technology. Or saying it more correctly, withholding to allow them to make a buck by selling their junk.
I could easily get a 2018 Subaru Forester right now at a good price but it doesn’t have CarPlay. So I’ll wait and pay the higher price for the 2019 model that will have it.
Was shopping for Subarus recently and the upgraded system on higher line models has CarPlay on some models. You might want to check- many sales staff are kind of uninformed on CarPlay. Take a look at the new larger VW Tiguan- it has CarPlay standard in all trims. It is a nice ride and I am a former Subaru owner.
Not that I want another car payment right now, but if I did I would certainly look for a vehicle that has CarPlay in it. Its just plain silly today not to have it and even more silly to CHARGE someone for using it (*cough* BMW *cough*).
i used to think this as well, until i bought a car with apple carplay. they have it locked down to only approved apps, which is very annoying. i would much rather have a mirroring setup like they have in europe. with mirroring, it mirrors (duh) your phone on your car's screen, therefore any application that you can download will be allowed. my major complaint is that if you want a gps app, you must use apple's maps (same with google only allowing google maps). what if someone wants, for example waze, and has a apple phone. it is utterly ridiculous in this day and age to not allow a app to be used based on hardware. wake up providers, and i suggest a mirroring application rather than android auto or apple carplay. (mirrorlink is the app in europe)
I have a 2017 Camry that I installed a Kenwood/CarPlay unit that works simply wonderful with my iPhone X.....I also think that Apple's Map service works pretty damn good....now if they could improve Siri...sometime she's great and other times infuriating...
CarPlay was a must: but you should know that not all CarPlay screens are equal either. In my testing the Ford implementation was way beyond the competition: biggest, clearest screen, most responsive and best sounding.
I ended up with a fully loaded Ford Edge Sport - and I can definitely say that the seamless CarPlay played into that decision (as well as the car being all around excellent).
On a recent trip I had a rental car that was a 2017 Toyota Highlander: and I couldn’t even believe how dated everything was. There wasn’t even a “Siri Button”: just some dumb built-in voice assistant that was terrible. Everything about the car was rubbish: but by far the “infotainment” system was the worst part.
Pretty funny to see Toyota scrambling to put CarPlay in their cars now.
Interesting observation. All things considered, I'd rather have CarPlay than not, over any other system. That said, I rented a 2018 Dodge Durango recently and my first real time using CarPlay and I was woefully underwhelmed. It was far more complicated to use, and I was stunned that if I wanted to use anything other than Apple's apps, it was more convoluted than just using my phone dash mounted as I do now. In fact it was deceptively, dangerously, more complicated. I assumed the usual high Apple level of intuitive functionality, and found myself completely distracted while driving trying to figure out why something was just not working.
in my estimation from that experience it has a long way to go. But, as you point out the screen interface is not consistent (which is a stunning revelation given Apples usually tight licensing restrictions), I'll definitely keep giving it a shot. When it did work, it worked well. But for now, I think I'll just stick to using my phone directly.
It used to be a priority for me until I tried it in a rental and realised its a bit of a gimmick and it would be more sensible to choose a car based on more traditional factors.
How are "traditional factors" and necessary extras mutually exclusive? That's dumbthink.
I buy a car that fits all my requirements - and they always start with the traditional factors. But once we've checked those off the list, the car better have A/C and CarPlay or I ain't buying it. I drive at least 2 hours a day.
Exactly. CarPlay is far from perfect, but it’s also far superior to the other maufacuter solutions I’ve used. The Nav system in my Audi is nice, but the voice recognition is atrocious and I’ve never had an issue with Apple Maps.
If if nothing else, having a larger, easier to use display than the dinky iPhone screen is a huge improvement.
Its rare that that there is only one car that fits your needs. If I’m deciding between a couple models and one has car play and the other doesn’t, that makes the decision easier.
CarPlay was a must: but you should know that not all CarPlay screens are equal either. In my testing the Ford implementation was way beyond the competition: biggest, clearest screen, most responsive and best sounding.
I ended up with a fully loaded Ford Edge Sport - and I can definitely say that the seamless CarPlay played into that decision (as well as the car being all around excellent).
On a recent trip I had a rental car that was a 2017 Toyota Highlander: and I couldn’t even believe how dated everything was. There wasn’t even a “Siri Button”: just some dumb built-in voice assistant that was terrible. Everything about the car was rubbish: but by far the “infotainment” system was the worst part.
Pretty funny to see Toyota scrambling to put CarPlay in their cars now.
I bought the 2015 Edge Sport (bright gold) in 2016. As much as I love the car, the only one sticking point with it was the lack of CarPlay. FordSync2 is such a bastard child of Ford, and it's no surprise it's created by Microsoft. My mom purchased the 2016 Edge which has CarPlay and the difference is night and day.
Lucky you. There's actually an upgrade by 3rd party that essentially installed a 2016 Edge unit into my car, but the price is over $2K and will most likely void my warranty. The market is definitely there. Ford did a disservice to here to prior owners. If Ford comes out with a Ford-stamped CarPlay upgrade for my year, I'd jump on it.
It's actually MFT (My Ford Touch) that was created by Microsoft. That was so terrible. It finally got better when Ford ditched Microsoft and released a new MFT version. The newer Sync 3 is miles better. From my experience, I think it's the best infotainment system out there. It actually won't void your warranty if you add a Sync 3 system to your Edge. Using OEM parts won't void your warranty. This is the place I used to upgrade to Sync 3 in my F-150. It's $1,500 to upgrade your Edge.
Toyota/Lexus were the big holdouts and now they are starting to slowly introduce cars with CarPlay support. The next company that needs to adopt support is Tesla. They are a lot like Apple and really want to own the look and feel of their user interface, so convincing them isn't going to be easy. To get them to support CarPlay/AndroidPlay, we have to appeal directly to Elon and do it in large numbers. If he sees enough of his customers asking for this as a feature, we'll see him address it.
The conclusion the author is deriving from the survey in the headline of the article is misleading! Only owners of CarPlay were surveyed! Of course they want the feature. But whether prospective car buyers really need it or even know of it is not stated!
Comments
I buy a car that fits all my requirements - and they always start with the traditional factors. But once we've checked those off the list, the car better have A/C and CarPlay or I ain't buying it. I drive at least 2 hours a day.
My big complaint with carplay is turning on the car: on a honda pilot with "wired" carplay it's russian roulette whether to plug in the phone then start the car, or start the car then plug in the phone... and then will the honda display launch carplay or stay in its own system... or connect to the phone with bluetooth and not connect with carplay?
I shouldn't have to sit in the driveway with my car idling for 5 minutes while I disconnect and reconnect my phone until carplay successfully launches. The problem is the honda software not having a prioritized list of connections (ie, prefer carplay and detect it!).
New half-baked business idea: make an aftermarket car stereo that *only* works with wireless carplay.
The biggest problem is that automakers are more and more moving away from the double din radio format, which at least allowed you to replace the factory unit with an aftermarket system. If you're going to be stuck with the factory radio, it better be a good one.
Customer Demands stand true.
Take a look at the new larger VW Tiguan- it has CarPlay standard in all trims. It is a nice ride and I am a former Subaru owner.
in my estimation from that experience it has a long way to go. But, as you point out the screen interface is not consistent (which is a stunning revelation given Apples usually tight licensing restrictions), I'll definitely keep giving it a shot. When it did work, it worked well. But for now, I think I'll just stick to using my phone directly.
If if nothing else, having a larger, easier to use display than the dinky iPhone screen is a huge improvement.
Its rare that that there is only one car that fits your needs. If I’m deciding between a couple models and one has car play and the other doesn’t, that makes the decision easier.
https://www.4dtech.com/2015-ford-edge-sync-3-upgrade-for-myford-touch/