GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Alpine CarPlay device: questions on an upgrade.

michele-san1

Passed Driver's Ed
Hi. Looking at getting this Alpine CarPlay receiver.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500ILX007/Alpine-iLX-007.html?tp=5684

I don't have a nav system, which this fixes. If anyone has experience here, there's a few things I'd like to clarify:

1. With the Alpine integration adapter, my steering controls will work, from what I hear.

2. Will the mic activate via the mic button the steering wheel? (Part of the functionality with the integration adapter?)

3. Crutchfield recommended mic placement by the RV mirror. Any way to tap into the factory mic system? If not, I think I'd rather have the mic below steering wheel, on the left. Visually cleaner.

3. Sounds like the factory Bluetooth is killed everywhere, so my BT controls in the headliner will not work? (Or could these be re-wired to work? I like this idea; not sure how easy.)

4. Does this also kill the entire voice activation system on the VW? Is there a downside to this, or does VW's system only cover Bluetooth Phone? (Meaning you don't loose any other voice functionality related to the car or settings.)

5. Crutchfield wasn't sure how this effects the display above the steering wheel. Will this display still mirror the radio status for mode, song, tracks, etc? There's a video of someone installing this into an Audi TT, and the display is still mirrored...

6. Best placement for the USB cable? I'm thinking center console, but not sure if this is easy (remove the VW port) or if that panel needs to be drilled.

Thanks for any insights!
 

adamsuder2

New member
I don't have definitive answers for everything because I still have quite a bit of tinkering to do. Buuut - I have replaced my factory unit in my MK6 with a pretty base Kenwood excelon double din and here's what I can tell you. Without any adapters at all - you do lose all functionality of the steering wheel controls. I have the adapter kit for that, but i havent had the time to install/program it. From what i can tell, it looks to be a pretty simple fix. Next, you lose some features of the MFI or whatever on the dash. To my knowledge, there is no easy fix for that. I was worried about it but when I hooked it up, it was very seamless. You couldn't really tell any features were missing if you hadn't seen it before the radio was switched. It's especially OK with me cuz I keep the thing constantly on only the speedometer or occasionally check fuel economy anyway. Voice commands are gone. I keep the radio on Bluetooth almost exclusively, so I can do voice commands to my phone. I keep my phone mounted to the top corner of my windshield, I just press one button and I can say "navigate to x" or "call x" and sound is broadcast through my speakers and the map is displayed on my phone. My phone has a large screen so it works really well. That being said, I didn't care if my radio had nav or not. One thing I still need to work on is getting the factory mic hooked up since when the phone plays audio through the speakers it also depends on the h/u for audio input. Fuck that ugly mic that came with the stereo. I am pretty sure the factory mic is one of those thick black wires plugged into the original radio... I'm just gonna saw off the end and hook a 3.5mm jack onto it and plug it in to the female 3.5mm mic input on my kenwood and see what it does. Also, fuck a USB cable. You can get GREAT quality bluetooth if your aftermarket radio has apptx. So much easier than having a bunch of cables everywhere.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 

michele-san1

Passed Driver's Ed
Thanks for your message. Super helpful.

I agree, I don't see any reason not to use the built in mic instead of a separate add-on. My VW mic works great.

It would be nice if the Bluetooth controls above the RV mirror could be wired to the new radio (mute, hang up-call), but I imagine this is more complex.

Keep us posted on your mic solution. Hope it works.
 
Top