Hello, I’m a new GX460 owner and member of this forum. My husband and I just purchased our 2015 Luxury model this week and wanted to add Apple Carplay, but we are finding that it is actually not as simple of a task as we thought it would be. We’ve been searching and searching have only seen a couple of interfaces (Grom and Lsailt) that seem to keep popping up, but they both seem to be relatively new and we are unsure if it’s worth the money yet. I was wondering if there is a way to replace the entire touchscreen with with something that runs Carplay instead? I apologize if that is a dumb question or has been mentioned somewhere here before and I missed it, as I am not one to know much about these types of things. Thanks for any help or insight you may have.

 

I have the Lsailt unit and I've come to like it for longer drives. For around town, I just use the stock interface. @hzhao has done a full screen and infotainment replacement from a company but removed it due to some issues. He'll probably chime in on his experiences. I believe others have installed a similar unit and had issues with airbag lights that needed some kind of wire splicing. I didn't like the full unit replacement because if that new unit died then there is no backup until I re-install the oem unit. With the grom or Lsailt, you have a 2 in 1 type of unit where you have at least something to fall back on.

The Lsailt unit comes in at a better price compared to the grom unit. Any issues I had were fixed with forum member's input or by the company.

 

The entire replacement option is not ideal for various reasons IMHO. Modern cars rely heavily on CAN bus communication for many functions and diagnoses, and Lexus OEM head unit has many of such key elements build into it. By simply replace it, you will running into some issues and short falls. I tried those Tesla style vertical 15” one, but didn’t like it due to few fundamental short falls. In comparison, Lsailt unit basically only add the CarPlay and other functions to OEM head unit without change any its OEM functions. If CarPlay is all you would like to have, this will be the ideal solution. Lsailt is in the process to release their new generation unit, which will be using a much fast process with nearly instant on in performance.

 

Thank you for the insight. It looks like we will hold off and wait for the next generation to come out before considering the update. I appreciate the help!

 

Hello, I’m a new GX460 owner and member of this forum. My husband and I just purchased our 2015 Luxury model this week and wanted to add Apple Carplay, but we are finding that it is actually not as simple of a task as we thought it would be. We’ve been searching and searching have only seen a couple of interfaces (Grom and Lsailt) that seem to keep popping up, but they both seem to be relatively new and we are unsure if it’s worth the money yet. I was wondering if there is a way to replace the entire touchscreen with with something that runs Carplay instead? I apologize if that is a dumb question or has been mentioned somewhere here before and I missed it, as I am not one to know much about these types of things. Thanks for any help or insight you may have.

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And for the record, there is no such thing as a dumb question when you are seeking knowledge.

 

I have replied your post on another thread particularly in discussion of CarPlay options.

To be specific, there is no solution to replace the OEM head unit due to its CAN communication requirements. The other solution with seemed replacement of 15” vertical display unit option, is actually required to re-use the OEM head unit (the lower half of the center stack), but with that face plate and controls removed. The process is far more involved that Lsailt or Grom option, for that is basically and-on solution.

As I stated in another reply, the 15” solution was not ideal with many short falls. In comparison, Lsailt solution is much better if adding CarPlay is something that has the value to you. I haven’t done anything with Grom unit, but from the spec, it should be very similar to Lsailt unit. One key note, Lsailt will only support 2014+ GX, as Grom has two versions for both 2014+ and prior 2014 GX.

 

Good to know. We purchased a 2015 Luxury, so hopefully we can make this work down the road. I’ve had the Carplay in my last two vehicles and although it’s a feature of very little importance in the grand scheme of things, I definitely miss having it. 😀