I am looking to add CarPlay to my car and down to GROM or Beatsonic (or I'll take opinions of anything else). I am looking for as close to how stock would be as possible.

I am 0 interest in Android Auto and am 100% CarPlay. I see switching from phone calls as the main issue with these kits.

Thanks in advance.

I see my signature didn't update yet I have a 2016 F-Sport

 

I would like to add CarPlay to my car as well. I have a 2017 and I guess that came out in 2018, I had no idea. Waiting to hear replies for your post. Do you have a pic of your ride?

 

GROM is probably the best kit out there with great support, unfortunately it is the most expensive. I have the cheaper Carlinkit kit from China and it works but not without it's slew of problems, only perk is the wireless carplay built in. Beatsonic can be a hit/miss and at its price point, I'd just step up to GROM.

 

OK, thank you. I will look into it. Right now I am considering Spotify "car thing" since I mostly use Spotify for music anyway. I don't think I kno whow to install a grom.

 

Why is beatsonic hit or miss vs GROM?

 

If your location is correct and you're in CA, GROM is located near the San Francisco area and there are TONS of custom installers all across california especially in the LA area.

So the beatsonic kit is basically pieces of different kits joined together to do this while GROM is a single unit developed in-house by them. I'm hearing GROM kits being bulky and harder to install and is limited to only wired carplay whereas GROM is starting to work on wireless. I have Beatsonic's front camera add-on kit and it's meh for the price, glad I didn't go carplay kit with them.

 

The one issue I have and why I have yet to add Car Play to my 2016 F Sport, Is you have to switch out of the Radio/XM mode and change out of the factory system, so then the only way to play music, etc is via the XM app, etc while in Car Play. I wish someone just made a new screen that would plug into the existing stereo unit that would allow everything to work on one setting.

 

Did you mean beatsonic kits are bulky and harder to install? Im also looking into either GROM or Beatsonic for carplay

 

I think he meant beatsonic is bulky. I was reading the GROM thread and it wasn't super encouraging which is why I started looking at Beatsonic. I found that 4x4 in Canada with the replacement screen https://4x4shop.ca/product/lexus-nx-...sb-multimedia/ I talked to them said only complaint is you can't use factory microphone.

 

Purchased a Grom unit for my wife's 2015 NX Hybrid and had it installed at a local car stereo place a few weeks ago. There were a few connectivity hiccups at first but Carplay is now working flawlessly. The unit cost around $650 and installation was another $400. Definitely glad I paid for the installation because I didn't want to risk effing up my wife's car and it was nice to have someone knowledgeable to turn to with the initial connectivity issues. Given that we'll be keeping this car for the foreseeable future, the technology upgrade is definitely worth it IMO.

 

I'm looking at a 2018 NX F-Sport and was wondering if it is possible to have CarPlay enabled through Lexus directly. The sales person told me it was not available for 2018 models but I am reading conflicting information online. If anyone can confirm that would be great.

 

Yes, but not 100% sure, I think also depends of the production month of your 2018. I also have a 2018 F sport were able to upgrade to carplay.

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfo...dFAQ_Lexus.pdf