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There are a few others out there, many have done it but the installation does require some surgery. I am way too lame to do it myself and in Bay Area the only guy I found that would do it wanted $1200 which was too much. I agree I love Android Auto I have it on my aftermarket radio in my truck and in my wife's Nissan Leaf.
If your hand you can do that joyauto but it is a chinese comapny and there are some stories of people that had issues with it.
I had this unit in my former W222. It worked just fine. By the time I had this retrofit installed on my W222, a wireless connection was not an option. Check if they have a wireless option now. The unit worked really really well. The only disadvantage of these units is the fact that audio from the unit is delivered to the vehicle via the AUX cable. So, don’t expect your sound system to as good quality as factory bluetooth audio. The same is true for phone calls and microphone quality when using the unit.
The only work around solution is to connect your phone to the vehicle bluetooth and hence Audio, while just using the Carplay/Android Auto to navigate or use Apple or Google Maps or Waze, and also phone calls. I would not use the unit itself (AUX) as the Audio source. It becomes a headache as you have to play music from the Mbenz bluetooth audio window and then get back to the carplay/android audio window, but that’s the only way to maintain sound quality.
The Mbenz/factory apple carplay works well in my current facelift, but still not as good/fast as my BMWs, so you are not missing a lot with pre-facelift anyway and this retrofit solution.
Some old photos from my former pre-facelift W222 when I installed this unit:
Best pace to hid the unit is to the left side of the passenger foot area You don’t need to fully remove the central console. Just this gas was enough for me. Need to de-assemble the rear of the central area to get enough clearance on the front Enough clearance to pull the CD changer partially out and access the wiring harness.
I ran across this unit when browsing for an Android Auto solution for my W222. No idea if it is any good, but it does support wireless AA on this 2nd version and there's a complete video of how to install it.
I had this unit in my former W222. It worked just fine. By the time I had this retrofit installed on my W222, a wireless connection was not an option. Check if they have a wireless option now. The unit worked really really well. The only disadvantage of these units is the fact that audio from the unit is delivered to the vehicle via the AUX cable. So, don’t expect your sound system to as good quality as factory bluetooth audio. The same is true for phone calls and microphone quality when using the unit.
The only work around solution is to connect your phone to the vehicle bluetooth and hence Audio, while just using the Carplay/Android Auto to navigate or use Apple or Google Maps or Waze, and also phone calls. I would not use the unit itself (AUX) as the Audio source. It becomes a headache as you have to play music from the Mbenz bluetooth audio window and then get back to the carplay/android audio window, but that’s the only way to maintain sound quality.
The Mbenz/factory apple carplay works well in my current facelift, but still not as good/fast as my BMWs, so you are not missing a lot with pre-facelift anyway and this retrofit solution.
Some old photos from my former pre-facelift W222 when I installed this unit:
Best pace to hid the unit is to the left side of the passenger foot area You don’t need to fully remove the central console. Just this gas was enough for me. Need to de-assemble the rear of the central area to get enough clearance on the front Enough clearance to pull the CD changer partially out and access the wiring harness.
I'm in the middle of installing and having an issue getting the CD player to fit all of the way back in with the extra wires now.
Do you have any suggestions?
06-21-2023, 11:09 AM
