2016 U.S. CarPlay Vehicles: Chevrolet, Honda, Volkswagen and More

[beanbaguk]

This is taking way too long. I've been using a simple cradle with a suction cup since forever. Got the Tom-tom for basic navigation on the botton left corner of the windshield (it's great to always have a mini-map of the area even when not using the navigation function, you know where the intersections and odd turns are), and the iPhone suction-cupped in the middle of the console where people typically have their third party nav systems.

I can charge the phone, use it for audio, make calls (using the phone's microphone and the car speakers works excellent, I'm getting compliments on the sound quality), dictate very long text messages (thank you siri!), even switch to video recording when something fishy is happening on the road. I can use my iPhone without looking at it so it's not too much of a distraction. Knowing where every button is from daily use really helps, carPlay would defeat that. I'd love to have some sort of cradle/dock that is flush with the console where the phone is held inside the center console. Or just a sturdy dock for that matter. Preferably with some sort of OBD2-integration so the phone gets all the info from the car's sensors for better navigation and info. Easy things like suggesting to get some gas at station X when fuel is low, I have nothing in my calendar and prices are cheap right now.

But with respect; It sounds like you have an old car. Modern cars have a lot more functionality these days without the help of CarPlay.

I have a 2013 BMW and I have my navigation, phone, audio entertainment, my car power meter, tyre pressure, email, text messaging, voice command, even internet browsing and everything else built in, running through bluetooth.

The only thing I do is plug my iPhone into a charger and I don't even need to do that.

And to add, CarPlay looks very outdated compared to modern systems. Sure some are pretty crap (such as the Vauxhall / Opel systems), I've seen some amazing stuff from Merc, Audi and also BMW. These systems are leagues ahead of CarPlay.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Don't you charge your phone in your car anyway? Navigation sucks a lot of juice.


Yes, I was referring to the original SYNC, which was Microsoft. I know they ditched MS at some point. Though Blackberry doesn't sound much better.

A firmware update I installed in my Ford in September eliminated Microsoft, but said nothing of Blackberry. The Ford now allows steering wheel button access to Siri through Ford's inbuilt system.

The iPhone navigation screen goes dark when the road is long and there's no instruction to listen for, but will illuminate again in time for imminent turns. It's an intentional programming to help instill safety.

 

[Larry-K]

Sorry for being pessimistic, but I honestly don't think a self-driving car with the functionality you're describing will be widely available to consumers within 100 years. Sure there could soon be technology to make a naive self-driving car, but there are too many legal issues with that, and I still think it's really tough to make it work in all places a normal driver would. Lots of moral/social questions too. If your self-driving car is going to crash and can choose between killing someone else or killing you, what does it do? Will human drivers take advantage of self-driving cars in traffic?

I'd take the bus before I'd let Siri drive me anywhere, but especially with people paying less and less attention to actually driving (as illustrated by this thread) and the majority of road deaths involving single vehicle accidents, "Naive" cars are almost certain to be better at getting you home in one piece than the current, Homo Sapiens navigated vehicles.

Cars can't make the decision to kill one or the other now, but when they become self-aware, they'll probably opt to kill both.

 

[malexandria]

I just want Sync 3 in my 2016 Ford Fusion because Sync 2 SUCKS.

 

[apolloa]

Honestly, CarPlay isn't much better than my cars built in system. Apple needs to do some real work before they expect manufactures to implement their solution.

Yeap, if Apple and Google weren't shoving their systems onto the industry they wouldn't bother with it. Blackberry had it sown up pretty much, looking forward to see Ford's Sync 3 as that runs on the Blackberry QNX system.
The systems the industry developed themselves are easy to use, integrate safety hands free features, voice control, now in BMW etc we are getting gesture controls too.

 

[VPrime]

Has anyone actually used CarPlay? I can't imagine why anyone would fork up $500 just to have a very limited version of iOS mirrored onto a slightly bigger screen...

I have. I have a 2016 Golf with car play. It also has bluetooth audio functionalities.
I've had some bad luck, as it has only worked for about a week of the 3 weeks of car ownership. But when it does work it's great.

The cars steering controls and infotainment system is integrated very nicely with CarPlay and the phone. The interface on the cars screen is much more user friendly in the car than just using your phone on a mount. My car doesn't have navigation, but with Carplay I get the same functionality but nicer since it has always up to date maps and POIs.
Reading text messages, and siri is also great.
The interface is quick, scrolling is smooth and accurate. It's one of the best resistive touch screens I have ever used... I actually think it might be capacitive with a plastic cover.



That being said, the VW system doesn't support wireless Carplay. So sometimes it's more convenient to use bluetooth audio, especially with iOS9's Proactive siri since It launches spotify, or podcasts right when I get in the car and automatically starts playing with out me having to connect any thing.

I also have experience with building my own infotainment system as well. In one of my older cars, I built a "Carputer", which is essentially a desktop computer, mashed in behind the dash running custom touch screen interface and media controls. It looked factory, and it was much more powerful and robust than the CarPlay setup, but honestly, Carplay gives very similar results with little hassle.

Overall, I'm happy I paid a bit extra and waited a month to get the 2016 version with Carplay instead of going with the 2015. No regrets .

 

[snowmoon]

Am I the only one concerned about linking a phone ( 2-5 year usable lifespan ) with a car ( 10-15+ usable lifespan )? I also think the growing use of "smart" head-end systems have not taken security seriously and it's only a matter of time before we start seeing more car based hacks.

 

[apolloa]

A firmware update I installed in my Ford in September eliminated Microsoft, but said nothing of Blackberry. The Ford now allows steering wheel button access to Siri through Ford's inbuilt system.

The iPhone navigation screen goes dark when the road is long and there's no instruction to listen for, but will illuminate again in time for imminent turns. It's an intentional programming to help instill safety.

What did your Ford have? Sync version 1 or 2?

 

[RB1959]

Has anyone actually used CarPlay? I can't imagine why anyone would fork up $500 just to have a very limited version of iOS mirrored onto a slightly bigger screen...

Yes I've had it in my car for several months. If its not for you then that's fine, but personally I like listening to UK radio stations I would't be able to listen to any other way while in my car here in the south of France I also like being able to tell Siri to call or message someone using my voice only and having her read my incoming messages to me. I like Apple maps as well, its not let me down yet, although I agree it can be improved. I also like asking Siri what the weather forecast is and when I get a bit lost telling her to navigate me home. What I wouldn't like is fumbling for my iPhone while driving to do any of that and being pulled over by a burly Gendarme for breaking the law.

 

[JamieGS402]

FYI: All Ford SYNC3 support both Carplay and Android Auto, SYNC3 is on the 2016 F150, 2016 Escape, 2017 Explorer and more.

.
I have a 2016 Ford with Sync 3.. I can confirm there is NO CarPlay. Or Android Auto from what the manuals say, but I don't have an android phone, so I can't confirm it. It does have Ford AppLink though.. Which is flaky at best.

 

[BigHonkingDeal]

So looks like it is number 3. I loved my Jetta back in 2001, but one minor issue (back when their warranty was 24 month/24,000 miles) happened at month 22, but mileage 24,270, and they wouldn't cover it. Since it was a transmission issue, it turned me off their company, but the Tiguan looks pretty good.

My wife just got the 2016 Tiguan and I love it. It's a fun car to drive and surprisingly roomy inside..... Comes with Carplay and Android Auto but even their factory system is pretty good and I prefer the Nav system over Maps. Hopefully Apple Carplay will support Navigon one day.

 

[dannys1]

So I'm looking at that picture with the steering wheel...

Holy hell, how is that not a driving distraction? I never realized how tiny the Carplay screens were.

They're not "Carplay screens" they're just the headunit the car manufacturer chooses to implement, they could be any size screen.

 

[mlody]

I am happy to see that my favorite brand (Honda) has Siri support on two models I care the most. Even though I currently drive TLX (with TLX at least I have - Siri Eyes free which is very nice too), that might soon change as I ended up with a lemon and might switch back to Accord which will give me more features for less money - we will see.

 

[Sethal]

Come on Chrysler/Ford. Sync and Uconnect are horrible. I've have/had both and can't stand the interfaces. If you want to push your own brands, go right ahead. Just give iOS users the option to use Carplay if they choose to.

 

[MrGuder]

Why is Lexus not on this list?

 

[Arcus]

Ha ha . Volkswagon.

 

[Lepton]

Do any cars support wireless CarPlay?

 

[kc2kth]

RE: Aftermarket
Needed a new car and so I bought a 2015 Subaru. Considered an aftermarket head, and found the following Limitations
...
To get a "real" installer who would seriously make sure it worked right (with the above limitations), was going to cost about $400 on top of the head.

For the first time in about 20 years I recently had aftermarket heads installed in two of my vehicles (a 2009 and a 2010 GM product) and my results are mixed. I like the added function - and I opted for all of the modules to keep all of the steering wheel functionality - but there are some issues, more with HU firmware and ipod integration than with vehicle integration. Still I'd likely do it again before I'd opt for AirPlay. Now if I bought something that had AirPlay, I'd be fine with that as well - I have nothing against AirPlay. I just think the other options are pretty decent. I would likely however opt for replacing factory speakers and adding a DSP and amp on anything I bought new regardless of what the HU was or if I planned to keep it. There are some really nice sounding options out there and even an old fart like me closer to 50 than to 40 can tell the difference.

 

[Menel]

Why is Lexus not on this list?

Because that's just Toyota.

 

[wood1208]

wtf, Toyota. Grow to hell up.

My family including extended and many friends are Toyota loyal customers for decades but now switching for new cars to Honda for Carplay and androidplay support. What these car manufacturers don't realize that people don't upgrade/buy car every year or two like phones. So, when a customer is ready to buy new car, he/she will have to consider if my car does not support phone connected technology ? If not than why buy and wait till 10 years for another car to get so switch brand.
I would not and if someone buys car without such phone connected tech than they are ignorant, not smart car buyers. Think about you going to keep car for atleast 10 years without such important tech to live without.

 

[OS-SEX]

I have. I have a 2016 Golf with car play. It also has bluetooth audio functionalities.
I've had some bad luck, as it has only worked for about a week of the 3 weeks of car ownership. But when it does work it's great.

The cars steering controls and infotainment system is integrated very nicely with CarPlay and the phone. The interface on the cars screen is much more user friendly in the car than just using your phone on a mount. My car doesn't have navigation, but with Carplay I get the same functionality but nicer since it has always up to date maps and POIs.
Reading text messages, and siri is also great.
The interface is quick, scrolling is smooth and accurate. It's one of the best resistive touch screens I have ever used... I actually think it might be capacitive with a plastic cover.



That being said, the VW system doesn't support wireless Carplay. So sometimes it's more convenient to use bluetooth audio, especially with iOS9's Proactive siri since It launches spotify, or podcasts right when I get in the car and automatically starts playing with out me having to connect any thing.

I also have experience with building my own infotainment system as well. In one of my older cars, I built a "Carputer", which is essentially a desktop computer, mashed in behind the dash running custom touch screen interface and media controls. It looked factory, and it was much more powerful and robust than the CarPlay setup, but honestly, Carplay gives very similar results with little hassle.

Overall, I'm happy I paid a bit extra and waited a month to get the 2016 version with Carplay instead of going with the 2015. No regrets .

I too have a 2016 Golf and I also had a flaky Carplay experience that kept crashing and finally stopped working at all. Dealer tried to update the software but ultimately they had to order a whole new infotainment unit from Germany. Now that it's been replaced, Carplay has been working almost flawlessly. I just relied on it extensively on a long Thanksgiving trip to NC and it really shined for navigation, music and audio texting. Also, I really love driving this little car.

 

[Dydegu]

This is awesome. I really hope they spend more time talking about this at future keynotes. I feel like it hasn't had a lot of room to shine because of the limited roll out so far.

 

[cardfan]

Carplay needs work before even worrying about buying a car with that feature. Mount the iphone on the dash with proclip. Congrats, you've upgraded to the future.

 

[animatedude]

It sucks Jaguar is still behind on this...

 

[EdT]

Whatever the hell they put in my Prius c in Canada is an utter abomination. Living in downtown Toronto, a gps without any traffic data is about as useless as it gets. And supposedly there is no way to ever update the map data. The dealership pretty much told me to just use my phone when I asked.

I have a 2011 Camry with Entune. I was told the map system is a DVD which can be replaced, at around $400.00 U.S. Of course, being a DVD means that the data is already out of date by the time it's installed. I've also been told that there is no way to update the firmware for my Entune, so any improvements made since I bought the car are unavailable to me. Considering how poorly the voice commands work I sincerely hope that there has been improvements. Not impressed with either Entune or Toyota's support of the product.