Hello everyone! I'm looking to upgrade the head unit of the car stereo system in my 2008 ES350 and I'd really like to get something with Apple Carplay in it. This car is actually my wife's car and I usually drive a 2021 Civic EX that has Carplay. I drive a lot for my job and I'd like to have some of the same capabilities in this car as I do in the Civic. What I want to do is leave the navigation screen alone since the rear camera and climate controls go through it and my research so far seems to point to the backup camera being no good to interface with a new head unit. That's fine with me. I just want to put the new unit in up under it. What worries me and what got me here to talk to you guys is the fact that I can't find an install kit for this configuration on Crutchfield or Amazon like I usually have been able to for previous vehicles. This one does not have the Mark Levinson package by the way. The head units I'm looking at putting in this car are around the $500-$600 range and I want to be sure that this is doable before I start forking out money. In all honesty if I can't make this happen I will probably start looking to trade the car in because the only way I can get music into it from my phone is the aux port in the center console and it's that same crappy one that constantly disconnects that I had in a 2010 Corolla several years ago. I just want to get this car to a point where I can easily spend a couple hours in it driving comfortably as I regularly do that on a daily basis. I don't want to trade the car in because it's only got 52k miles on it. Please help guys! I'd love any input you guys may have. I suppose I could pay a shop to install it but I'm a service tech by trade and I generally do all things like this myself. Thanks in advance.

 

Also, I wouldn't be opposed to going the GROM VLine VL2 route as I just discovered the thread about it here. Any success stories? It looks like the original poster abandoned it over there and isn't responding to questions about satisfaction with the unit.

 

this one looks pretty good https://www.ebay.com/itm/27502181231...oAAOSw~9NhiKT8

 

I too am about to pull the trigger on the Grom and was disappointed that the OP of the other post didn’t followed up on their satisfaction. Did you make the purchase? Are YOU happy? Did you have the reverse camera and does it work as advertised, plug and play?

 

I honestly haven't bought it yet. If it was my daily driver I would have pulled the trigger on it but it's my wife's car and I hardly ever drive it. I've had a hard time justifying a $600 purchase for it given the circumstances.

 

I am wanting to purchase the same Has anyone pulled the trigger yet? If not I will.

 

I’ve had one for about 1.5 years now. It was buggy at first but several firmware upgrades and it’s been solid for months now. I love wireless CarPlay.