Your fleet running reports

[Mito Man]

Probably one for Mito & Tim the JLR pervs - I'm feeling very tempted to try one of these in the Disco:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006959618796.html

It works by hijacking the Nav function. Press "Nav" and the screen switches to Carplay. Press "Nav" to exit and the car returns to all the standard menus. Sounds good and has been recommended by some folk on the Disco4 forum but I'm cautious as, you know, people on the internet are morons. However £100 is not the end of the world if it doesn't live up to expectations and I'd probably recoup that by putting it back on ebay. They seem to be £300+ from UK sellers.

I fitted something very similar into the ‘E’ prefix BMWs and it works the same way as I wanted to keep it all OEM. They work well 95% of the time but sometimes it glitches and the CarPlay won’t connect at all so have to turn the car and phone and off and on. Still fine though.

[Sundayjumper]

95% ? Those are decent odds

I have ordered one. With the benefit of a discount code Aliexpress insisted on applying, it came in under £90, including VAT, but a small risk of some import duty. Assuming it works that feels like a very good deal.

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[Gavster]

I've got factory carplay in my Seat and it only works 95% of the time so that's pretty good odds really

[Rich B]

I've got factory carplay in my Seat and it only works 95% of the time so that's pretty good odds really

yeah, presumably the same origin as the one in my Transporter. it works most of the time but does get confused and need a reset (holding off button for 10 seconds) every now and again.

[Beany]

Similar to the aftermarket one in the M135i

That said, wang it in over USB (might want to use a phone mount - I just used a long cable and bunged it in the passenger seat ) and it's way, way faster and smoother - at least with Android.

I've put the bluetooth intercept in the E86 but longer term I'm gonna look at Android Auto integration that isn't shit.

If Carplay is half as good as Android Auto it'll be excellent so I get the urge to retrofit it.

[Mito Man]

Might order one for the XJ - would make a good Father’s Day present but I’m struggling to find a reasonably priced one for the later Harman system.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I've got factory carplay in my Seat and it only works 95% of the time so that's pretty good odds really

yeah, presumably the same origin as the one in my Transporter. it works most of the time but does get confused and need a reset (holding off button for 10 seconds) every now and again.

Android Auto/Carplay in the Skoda seems to work no trouble most of the time. Only usually really has any glitches when it's cold and on first startup. Can take a while to get going. Once up and running we ever have any issues.

My bigger issue is I like to plug my Pixel 7Pro in for android auto and I don't know if it's my charger port but it seems to disconnect fairly frequently these days.

I still think it's a shame that Google killed AA for mobiles though. Driving Mode in maps (which I use in the no i-drive E91) has gone progressively shitter, in terms of integration of other apps into it. Spotify rarely appears on mine so I have no visual on what's playing or being able to navigate to play a different playlist without coming out of Maps and into Spotify itself.

[Beany]

I've got factory carplay in my Seat and it only works 95% of the time so that's pretty good odds really

yeah, presumably the same origin as the one in my Transporter. it works most of the time but does get confused and need a reset (holding off button for 10 seconds) every now and again.

Android Auto/Carplay in the Skoda seems to work no trouble most of the time. Only usually really has any glitches when it's cold and on first startup. Can take a while to get going. Once up and running we ever have any issues.

My bigger issue is I like to plug my Pixel 7Pro in for android auto and I don't know if it's my charger port but it seems to disconnect fairly frequently these days.

I still think it's a shame that Google killed AA for mobiles though. Driving Mode in maps (which I use in the no i-drive E91) has gone progressively shitter, in terms of integration of other apps into it. Spotify rarely appears on mine so I have no visual on what's playing or being able to navigate to play a different playlist without coming out of Maps and into Spotify itself.

It's your charging port, get it fixed under warranty while you still can, because it will fail eventually.

Source: Take a wild guess. Also two other people I know with the same problem

[Swervin_Mervin]

It won't still be under warranty Bought on release in Nov '22

[Beany]

Ah yeah, thinking back I got my one done under warranty - just - before I traded it on for a Pixel 9 Pro XL

Handily, the USB change required replacing the screen (at least, the one I got back didn't have any scratches!) so I got full trade in value.

Oh well, in that case I'd be making a list of local repair shops and getting a decent price, because, as noted, it *will* fail.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Ah yeah, thinking back I got my one done under warranty - just - before I traded it on for a Pixel 9 Pro XL

Handily, the USB change required replacing the screen (at least, the one I got back didn't have any scratches!) so I got full trade in value.

Oh well, in that case I'd be making a list of local repair shops and getting a decent price, because, as noted, it *will* fail.

I'll just trade it in. Company phone so it makes no odds to me. I understand they've been offering some fairly decent deals on trade-in.

[Gavster]

I've got factory carplay in my Seat and it only works 95% of the time so that's pretty good odds really

yeah, presumably the same origin as the one in my Transporter. it works most of the time but does get confused and need a reset (holding off button for 10 seconds) every now and again.

Android Auto/Carplay in the Skoda seems to work no trouble most of the time. Only usually really has any glitches when it's cold and on first startup. Can take a while to get going. Once up and running we ever have any issues.

Ironically my glitch is the carplay not working when plugging the phone back in after a stop during a long drive. That's when it won't connect occasionally.

[Mito Man]

yeah, presumably the same origin as the one in my Transporter. it works most of the time but does get confused and need a reset (holding off button for 10 seconds) every now and again.

Android Auto/Carplay in the Skoda seems to work no trouble most of the time. Only usually really has any glitches when it's cold and on first startup. Can take a while to get going. Once up and running we ever have any issues.

Ironically my glitch is the carplay not working when plugging the phone back in after a stop during a long drive. That's when it won't connect occasionally.

Same! Usually stopping at a petrol station for me or a quick supermarket stop. Or move car out the garage, turn it off, put stuff in it, turn it on again and it's glitched it out.
My guess it the when you turn the car off the media stuff is still on for a while in the background and going in and out when it's in that semi-sleep state is what confuses it and glitches the bluetooth out.

[Jobbo]

I find the same - particularly noticeable when stopping mid-journey for fuel, and particularly in my Audi. Often in that I have to re-select my device as the one I want to use for Carplay to get it to start working.

MX5 wireless Carplay always connects almost immediately and is pretty rock solid. The only issues I've had with it are when I've plugged the phone in to charge and it's been in the sun, it's overheated (not the car's fault).

[Ascender]

CarPlay in the Porsche seems much more reliable than the BMW. I've never had a single issue with it whether wired or wireless on the two 911s, but did have weird connection issues with the last M3 and the famous overheating in the charging pad issue. Occasionally the only fix was to restart the idrive thing which was a pain so I'm hoping they've fixed that.

Couple of boring cosmetic things done today... AC Schnitzer bumper protection strip fitted to hopefully stop any dog claw scratches when jumping into the boot and I've also put the 50th anniversary badges on which I had from the last one as this was a car from that year's run. I know they're marmite, but I quite like them. So there.

[Jobbo]

I passed an all black M3 Touring with black alloys last night. Rubbish spec in that colour scheme but it still looked lovely and muscular. I don't see as many around as I would have expected - far more recent RS6s.

[Gavster]

Android Auto/Carplay in the Skoda seems to work no trouble most of the time. Only usually really has any glitches when it's cold and on first startup. Can take a while to get going. Once up and running we ever have any issues.

Ironically my glitch is the carplay not working when plugging the phone back in after a stop during a long drive. That's when it won't connect occasionally.

Same! Usually stopping at a petrol station for me or a quick supermarket stop. Or move car out the garage, turn it off, put stuff in it, turn it on again and it's glitched it out.
My guess it the when you turn the car off the media stuff is still on for a while in the background and going in and out when it's in that semi-sleep state is what confuses it and glitches the bluetooth out.

I’ve fitted a phone holder on the dash because I am too impatient to wait for it to sort itself out, so I revert to using Google maps phone nav and head off. The CarPlay does usually sort itself out fairly soon after tbh.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Android Auto/Carplay in the Skoda seems to work no trouble most of the time. Only usually really has any glitches when it's cold and on first startup. Can take a while to get going. Once up and running we ever have any issues.

Ironically my glitch is the carplay not working when plugging the phone back in after a stop during a long drive. That's when it won't connect occasionally.

Same! Usually stopping at a petrol station for me or a quick supermarket stop. Or move car out the garage, turn it off, put stuff in it, turn it on again and it's glitched it out.
My guess it the when you turn the car off the media stuff is still on for a while in the background and going in and out when it's in that semi-sleep state is what confuses it and glitches the bluetooth out.

I wonder if it's Apple related. We don't have any issues like that

[Mito Man]

Needed to change the belts on the X5, then read that you need to do the harmonic balancer too. It was an ok job if it weren’t for the car being a million degrees hot.

I am impressed that this car has no leaks, perhaps BMW made much better diesel engines than petrol back in the day.

Old harmonic balancer wasn’t too bad but what a revelation. The car idles so smoothly you wouldn’t know it’s a diesel when sat inside. Feels much nicer through the rpm band too.

Plugging the code reader in and it says “transfer box oil wear” so I guess that needs changing. What happened to lifetime oil?

[Sundayjumper]

CarPlay is here:

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Ordered last Thursday, arrived here midday today. Everything feels decent quality. Worked straight out of the box. It took me two hours to install it but literally half an hour of that was fighting the dash trim back into place at the end because I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't relocate.

I’m very impressed for £90. The ONLY downside is that it uses the car’s aux input for sound, so you have to select aux from the car menu for it to work. If you want normal radio you can, but you need to re-select aux before going back into CarPlay. I’m guessing this means you can’t listen to the radio & use google maps at the same time. I’ve not tried it yet.