Hello all, anyone upgrade their Q7 with one of those AliExpress Android Auto / Apple CarPlay units? I’m too cheap to upgrade my 2007 Q7 (especially with today’s new car prices), but am getting tired of the marginal Bluetooth connectivity. Would love to have a modern integrated entertainment/navigation system in my car. I see several options on AliExpress that run around $550. Not cheap but cheaper than buying a new car.

Was hoping someone else here has installed on of these things, and could share their experience. Thanks!

 

There's threads on here that go into this in detail for the full panel swap kits pros/cons. On the earlier cars where you don't have options, I think this is a good way to bring the older car up to speed, and significantly improve the tech, and the integrated look w/bigger screen and vertical buttons line really bangs, IMHO.

The main tip I'll offer is find a local source to buy it from, such as Amazon, or a specialty retailer like 4X4shop, etc. The reason is all these items are made in China. Most sites will ship the kits to you pretty quickly, although some use a slow boat delivery (another detail to pay attention to: shipping time), but when it comes time for problem support or warranty issues, they are in China and you are, well, not in China. Find exactly what you want, then buy it from a company that stands behind it's warranty/return processes 100%, as you will likely need those at some point down the road, if not more immediately (as in the case of received a damaged/defective product). I'm someone who knows about that scenario all too well.

 

Hi Prestige, great advice on sourcing the Android Auto retrofit from a U.S. specialty retailer. I'll do a search in the forums for previous threads on the subject. Thanks, again!

 

The more you know...just installed my new Carplay kit yesterday in our '10 to replace the one that was defective on arrival (DOA, lol) from last August. The company wouldn't send me another kit or harness for it and made me jump through all the hoops of basic troubleshooting and firmware upgrades (on a defective unit that usually didn't start-up at all) when the car was throwing out trouble codes as soon as their kit was attached to it. Ended up taking 5-6 months from point of delivery to point of my getting refund, and even then I had to pay the return shipping to China, which ain't cheap. I bought the new kit off Amazon, and it cost me less (almost exactly what I paid for the return ship of bad unit) than I paid via WAKAA for the original, whom I can no longer recommend due to their extremely poor/non-resolution of my defective Carplay kit received from them.

New kit from Amazon arrived in two days DHL air freight from China (included), and works extremely well with the MMI...no laggy response or other issues. I think the first kit I put into our '15 (from WAKAA also) is beginning to have issues after only a year in the car, so I definitely won't be buying directly from them again. Oh, and I did buy the multi-year Amazon insurance package for the current Carplay kit, knowing it more than likely will go out within 3 years provided, but I really bought it for early failure protection. The standard warranty is not impressive, so I'm protecting my investment this time.

 

@'10Q7TDI_Prestige' DId you get the full kit - screen and processing unit - or did you just get the processing unit?

 

We just have the add-on Carplay processor installed, so looks OE inside until you switch view to Carplay interface, and then it's a whole new game. This works extremely well with our 3G+ and higher MMI setup. Our '10 is especially impressive since updated the MMI firmware (and NAV system maps database)...pretty much everything looks better now, and with the Carplay interface you can 'tune' your screen backgrounds/intensity, etc. to suit your tastes, and it has a built in multichannel equalizer and several modes of 'music boost' / loudness levels that are quite effective in both cars (different radio systems...Bose/ B&O, etc.)