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Apple Carplay/Android Auto integration cost in pre-facelift cars?
I've been doing a little bit of research about having this installed in my car. I've seen companies like GTA Car Kits, Nav--tool, and a few others that sell kits to integrate into the car. But these are DIY kits and I'm not sure how good the quality is, easy of integration with the car using COMAND and steering wheel controllers, integrated voice control, or how difficult they are to install. I'm guessing that most of these are made in China, which might not be all that reliable or easy to use and integrate into my everyday driving. I really want to get Google Maps and Waze integration into the car since the pre-facelift cars no longer or never offered live traffic updates (other that worthless Sirius traffic) to get you to your route the fastest, police notification, etc that you find with crowd-sourcing maps such as Waze.
Mid City Engineering is a local company that has been popular on many of the BMW and Porsche forums I've frequented over the years. They sell a Car Play/Android Auto integration kit made by a company called ZZ-2 that is sourced from South Korea, not China. They tell me that it is as close to the facelifted version of CarPlay/Android Auto as there is and integration is easy. It is supposedly plug and play with no wire cutting. But they want $850 plus tax for the unit and installation.
Does this cost seem too high to add this functionality to the car? If so, are there other less expensive options that are just as good? Mind you, I'd like to have it installed professionally.
As far as I know there are a couple of options. Based on your post it seems you are in Chicago. Abt sells and installs a product they will stand by. The cost is $1000+. You can talk to John Samp at Abt. He is in charge of their mobile install department.
I just was at Mid-City this morning. I asked about car play integration. They are still developing an interface that they are 100% comfortable with. They have concerns about the support on the Chinese products and they said there are some bugs that pop up.
I am still deciding if it is worth adding the interface for the benefits it provides.
As far as I know there are a couple of options. Based on your post it seems you are in Chicago. Abt sells and installs a product they will stand by. The cost is $1000+. You can talk to John Samp at Abt. He is in charge of their mobile install department.
I just was at Mid-City this morning. I asked about car play integration. They are still developing an interface that they are 100% comfortable with. They have concerns about the support on the Chinese products and they said there are some bugs that pop up.
I am still deciding if it is worth adding the interface for the benefits it provides.
Yep...very familiar with Abt. I've purchased TV's and appliances from them several times in the past. But had no idea they sold stuff like CarPlay integration add-ons for cars. $1000+ is going in the opposite direction as far as price that I feel comfortable with. Mid City seemed pretty happy with the ZZ-2 integration that they sell and install on site. I definitely prefer any electrical component made in Japan or South Korea over anything made in China as Chinese QC leaves something to be desired. I'm sure one of the reasons MCE works with ZZ-2 is specifically because they are not a questionable Chinese company. Of course I would love to have their own developed product in my car because I know everything they develop in-house are top-notch quality. But since they install and service the ZZ-2 product, I have a feeling they aren't in a hurry to develop their own. I was just hoping that I could get a similar quality product installed in my car for less than the $850.
Abt uses the zz-2 as well. There are only 2 people I trust with my car, Abt and Mid-City. My car was the beta car for development for Mid-City for their Smart Start. Their development skills are amazing. If you do go ahead I would love to see how it works out.
I've been doing a little bit of research about having this installed in my car. I've seen companies like GTA Car Kits, Nav--tool, and a few others that sell kits to integrate into the car. But these are DIY kits and I'm not sure how good the quality is, easy of integration with the car using COMAND and steering wheel controllers, integrated voice control, or how difficult they are to install. I'm guessing that most of these are made in China, which might not be all that reliable or easy to use and integrate into my everyday driving. I really want to get Google Maps and Waze integration into the car since the pre-facelift cars no longer or never offered live traffic updates (other that worthless Sirius traffic) to get you to your route the fastest, police notification, etc that you find with crowd-sourcing maps such as Waze.
Mid City Engineering is a local company that has been popular on many of the BMW and Porsche forums I've frequented over the years. They sell a Car Play/Android Auto integration kit made by a company called ZZ-2 that is sourced from South Korea, not China. They tell me that it is as close to the facelifted version of CarPlay/Android Auto as there is and integration is easy. It is supposedly plug and play with no wire cutting. But they want $850 plus tax for the unit and installation.
Does this cost seem too high to add this functionality to the car? If so, are there other less expensive options that are just as good? Mind you, I'd like to have it installed professionally.
i have a 700 module for car play/andriod auto phone mirroring I’ll sell for half. Never installed my car got totaled the week before my amp came I was gonna do a complete overhaul. DM me if interested
I installed the Joyeauto CarPlay system in my 2014 S63. I’m not super experienced at pulling cars apart but I managed to get it installed and it works great, use it every day. Joyeauto offer speedy support over WhatsApp if you feel brave enough to do it yourself.
I paid around $400 for it - I think the professional installation will cost more than the hardware TBH.
I just got the zz2 installed on my 2016 s550e from a local shop in the bay area. They said zz2 is more reliable and prompt than the joyeauto module and they gave me a 1 year warranty on it as well. I have been using it for about a month now and can’t complain. I just wish the voice command siri worked from the steering button but that’s about it. Happy to answer questions
I just got the zz2 installed on my 2016 s550e from a local shop in the bay area. They said zz2 is more reliable and prompt than the joyeauto module and they gave me a 1 year warranty on it as well. I have been using it for about a month now and can’t complain. I just wish the voice command siri worked from the steering button but that’s about it. Happy to answer questions
I just got the zz2 installed on my 2016 s550e from a local shop in the bay area. They said zz2 is more reliable and prompt than the joyeauto module and they gave me a 1 year warranty on it as well. I have been using it for about a month now and can’t complain. I just wish the voice command siri worked from the steering button but that’s about it. Happy to answer questions
Questions:
1. If Siri and "Hey Google" don't work from the steering wheel button, how do you get them to operate when paired with the car?
2. Have you found the wireless version to be as reliable as when it is plugged into the USB jack?
3. Can you use the OEM factory microphone to make voice commands for making phone calls through Android Auto/Carplay? I know other systems have had issues with that.
I just did mine in all of 30 minutes, by watching a YouTube video. I paid 333.00 and waited 2 weeks for it to arrive. Great investment for sure. I had to unlock my AUX feature, so I could have the voice functionality.
Hi all - would like to buy the ZZ-2 android auto / carplay interface (IT3-NTG5) for my 2015 S550 4matic but having a bit of trouble sourcing it. I am planning for a DIY install.
I just got the zz2 installed on my 2016 s550e from a local shop in the bay area. They said zz2 is more reliable and prompt than the joyeauto module and they gave me a 1 year warranty on it as well. I have been using it for about a month now and can’t complain. I just wish the voice command siri worked from the steering button but that’s about it. Happy to answer questions
Hi, from which shop in Bay Area did you get ZZ2 installed? I am in bay area and looking to get one installed. How's your experience after 1+ years of usage? Thanks
Hi I got it installed from a shop that closed its business due to covid. I would recommend going to zz2 website and contacting them to know about other shops in the area that are authorized installers. They are pretty quick in responding.
After about a year of usage.- Overall I am very satisfied and love it overall. It does what it says it does. However, since it is a after market solution it does have it's glitches. I encounter them once or twice a month and it's annoying. But I know that it is after market and these glitches are expected. It doesn't at all take away the awesomeness that is carplay. I use it both wired and wireless. Sometimes (when you exit the car, don't lock it and re-enter) the wireless stops working and you have to plug it in to use it wired. Or other times the display goes blank and simply turning the car off and on fixes it etc etc but again these things happen once a month or so and overall doesn't take away how happy i have been with it. Plmk if you have more questions
Hi I got it installed from a shop that closed its business due to covid. I would recommend going to zz2 website and contacting them to know about other shops in the area that are authorized installers. They are pretty quick in responding.
After about a year of usage.- Overall I am very satisfied and love it overall. It does what it says it does. However, since it is a after market solution it does have it's glitches. I encounter them once or twice a month and it's annoying. But I know that it is after market and these glitches are expected. It doesn't at all take away the awesomeness that is carplay. I use it both wired and wireless. Sometimes (when you exit the car, don't lock it and re-enter) the wireless stops working and you have to plug it in to use it wired. Or other times the display goes blank and simply turning the car off and on fixes it etc etc but again these things happen once a month or so and overall doesn't take away how happy i have been with it. Plmk if you have more questions
Thanks for the update Utkarsh. Have you tried Android auto on it? If yes, how was it? With aftermarket, bugs are expected not sure if they push out any update though.
I am currently deciding between ZZ2, GTA Car Kits and CP3 products by RDV. All 3 are being quoted at $1100-$1200 installed so trying to finalize which one to go for. Leaning towards CP3 by RDV as its USA based with 3 years warranty while others are 1 year.
I have not tried android auto yet but i can try it today and let you know how it works. I don't think they push out any updates or not any that I have seen. There is an update option in the system but it asks for a firmware thumb drive to be inserted to update so pretty sure there aren't any OTA updates to the system. I am not privy to the rest of the systems you're talking about. Please also check out the installer as well and see if they have been in the business for long. you might not want to be in the position i am in where the installer has gone out of business and i have no where to go if something happens to the system
I have not tried android auto yet but i can try it today and let you know how it works. I don't think they push out any updates or not any that I have seen. There is an update option in the system but it asks for a firmware thumb drive to be inserted to update so pretty sure there aren't any OTA updates to the system. I am not privy to the rest of the systems you're talking about. Please also check out the installer as well and see if they have been in the business for long. you might not want to be in the position i am in where the installer has gone out of business and i have no where to go if something happens to the system
Thanks. Will check on the dealers. Of course, you never know which one will shut down due to closure or transfer of ownership. But most shops that I got things done from have been in business for 10+ years so that gives me confidence. I checked on ZZ2 site and their recommended dealers quoted me around $1100. Since ZZ2 website don't tell how much they are selling it for, its hard to know exact breakdown. But based on few quotes, it seems labor is around $450-$500 so the price of kit is around $600ish. GTA ones are about $100 less while RDV ones is about same.
If your finding a shop in the Bay ARea let me know I mounted a phone holder that works great but blocks my analog clock. It puts my phone exactly where I should be, but I have Android auto in my XTerra (afermarket Apline radio it works great) and in my wife's Nissan Leaf which works equally well. I had much work done at the shope utkarshsth mentioend wish I had pulled the trigger with them as I trusted them to work on all my cars. I wouldn't dive into this car on my own, I found another radio shop but he's leary about doing it so I need to find someone that can source and install.
I am evaluating following shops and going thru respective modules to understand pros/cons.
California Car Sounds (RDV), OC Customs (GTA CarKits), Caracoustics (ZZ-2), Car Audio Express (ZZ-2). All are in range $1100-$1250. Called a couple of shops but got similar quotes but are rated less than these on Yelp. If you came across any let me know.
Thanks looks ike car audio express has great reviews, sort of far for me to drive but I think I may talk to them about it. I am so hooked on Andriod auto and they can uninstall the phone holder I had Sound Wave install, which they told me could be easily removed by them of course before they went out of business.
Do any of these solutions work for cars equipped with SplitView? Last I checked, none were compatible with SplitView cars (different video interface, I'm guessing?).
05-24-2021, 12:35 PM
Apple Carplay/Android Auto integration cost in pre-facelift cars?
