atecson

ericsondr

I imagine "Hey Siri" would work assuming your phone can hear you?

@cccjrsbox I'm not necessarily a "fanboy" but I do live in the ecosystem for sure. I had a crappy rental Malibu that had CarPlay and as much as I hated the car, I loved CarPlay. Does the $280 kit come with everything you need part-wise to accomplish the install? I've read a bit about the VIM, do I need to purchase anything to work with that too? (PS- I really appreciate the help!)

atecson

cccjrsbox

I haven't tried "Hey Siri" yet, not sure on that. But Siri pops up when you hit the little white circle in the bottom left of the screen. She also reads your texts to you and solicits your verbal responses to texts. On the apple maps, there's a mic icon that lets you tell her things like "give me directions home" or "where's the nearest Mexican restaurant". One of the neat things about this unit is that it uses the factory microphone. Other boxes I found on-line require an external mic - that was a no-go for me.

Everything was included (except for the VCDS cable of course). One of the cables sent in the kit didn't plug in correctly, had to use an exacto blade to shave some plastic - then it locked in great.

I didn't have to enable video-in-motion, but did need to enable aux audio. Used a VCDS cable and vag-com software from Ross Tech for that. Might be able to use another tool I've seen around here - ODB11 I think. VCDS was more familiar to me though - I had already used it to enable a bunch of other features like needle sweep, windows up with remote, rear DRL's, etc.

One more thing - support from the seller is pretty crappy, big language barrier and several days between question/response emails. Luckily I figured out my own answers while waiting for a response. I had asked them about the misfit cables, and how to enable the unit (I had been trying to use the nav button on the steering wheel instead of the nav button on the mmi). I figured both of these out though. Other than those hiccups, it was really straight-forward.

cccjrsbox

Not enough room behind the hvac area, really tight in there. There's a cavity to the right of the steering column that worked well for me. As a tip - run the wiring harness starting in the hvac cavity and push the connectors through to the steering column cavity before making connections. There are 2 holes between the hvac/mmi cage and steering column cavity you can use to pass wires through. Be sure to use the hole furthest toward the back to maximize clearances. It will save you some time wrestling with the tight spaces. Stuffing the hvac head unit and mmi head unit back in their cavities with a bunch of new wires was a minor challenge, but you'll find enough places to tuck them in just enough to get everything back in place.

atecson

@cccjrsbox, I really appreciate all your help. I’m looking forward to doing this mod. Maybe I’ll order the CarPlay adapter before this weekend.

cccjrsbox

Good luck! Shoot me a note if you hit a roadblock-

ericsondr

@ccjrsbox - I've been reading and researching this quite a bit... and emailing the retrofit manufacturer too. One thing I'm not seeing is how the usb connection is handled. I'm assuming it's not through the AMI port since any newer iPhone won't work. I'm not wanting to have some random USB cable emerging from my car in an unnatural place. How is yours handled?

ericsondr

Hmmm, I guess you already answered this a bit above. I've love my usb->lightning cable to be mostly hidden - if not completely hidden. That's one thing I love about the AMI port (the only thing really). I can put my phone under the armrest and hide everything. Is that even a remote possibility?

cccjrsbox

There's a usb connection dongle that I've situated in the crevasse between the storage cubby (in front of the shifter) and the hvac controls. I just leave my lightning cable plugged in there and rest the phone in the cubby. There are some instructions floating around that explain how to replace your cigarette lighter socket (under the armrest) with a usb connection for a really clean install. Sadly, it appears to require near full removal of the center console.

I agree that under the armrest would be ideal, but my chances of getting a Saturday to myself around here to tinker are slim. Kids are way too busy and kitchen passes are hard to come by!