CarPlay for Subaru Outback 2015?

Hardware
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I want to get CarPlay for my 2015 Subaru Outback. Does anyone out there have a recommendation you love for aftermarket options? Is it better to have wireless or is wired good enough (especially because presumably you need to charge it anyway)

I was looking at this article.

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I was thinking the same thing for my 2015 Forester…

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I’m also interested!

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Me too … in a 2012 Legacy.

How would this affect Nav or the backup camera? Not wedded to the Nav (it sucks and would rather use Apple or Google maps anyway), but the backup camera is nice to have.

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I have a 2015 forester that we put the first car play head unit into (ilx-007 or something like it). A few things (some specific to Subaru)

  • It would be really nice to have wireless. So many trips are fairly short the cable is annoying and i don’t need to charge my phone
  • Pay attention to the size of the volume buttons (really all the buttons). The ones on this head unit are really small and not very sensitive. Really poor design (the steering wheel volume buttons work. most of the time).
  • For whatever reason, at lest on our install (which was done at a pro shop) the voice command button on the steering wheel doesnt trigger anything. We ended up with some dead buttons on the wheel that we now need to press on the head unit (all the buttons on this device suck, see volume note above).
  • The backup screen in our car is the small info panel on the top of the dash. This head unit didnt alter the backup camera view at all (although it may have been nice to have it on a much larger screen).
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I may get in trouble from @RosemaryOrchard for this question :slight_smile: but I’m in the market to buy my wife a new car. I’m seriously considering the 2019 Forester or Outback but have never owned a Subaru. We have owned Toyotas, Hondas, and BMW (high maintenance cost on the BMW). Have you been happy with the Subaru?

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Our 2016 Outback is the best vehicle we’ve ever owned. It is reliable, service support is excellent, seats are great, drives comfortably, and is solidly built. We’ve driven it twice coast to coast in the U.S., and found it to be a great road trip vehicle.

The only thing I do not like at all is the built in Magellan GPS. Waze, Apple Maps, Google Maps are all better.

On the original topic of this thread – connecting an iPhone to the Outback via Bluetooth gets us all the features we need.

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Have a 2015 Forester, bought it used. Our third Subby. Love them.

There are a few quirks here and there, but I think all cars have those.

We would certainly buy another, especially if it had CarPlay.

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Agreed just wish I could see Waze or Google Maps on the bigger screen.

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We have had four Subaru Outbacks & 1 Legacy. The main advantage of course is winter driving. We lived in Michigan and had lots of snowy conditions to drive in. No more getting stuck! We have moved to TN mountains so still appreciate that safety factor. But besides that, since 2010 love the backseat room. Gas mileage is pretty good. 2010 Legacy got 36 miles to the gallon. Not bad for a pretty big comfy car. The Outbacks get more like 30 mpg.

Still haven’t decided on a CarPlay option for our 2015. Maybe we will upgrade to a newer car to get that since I haven’t been satisfied yet with the options open to me?? AUX and USB have gotten us by. But whatever we do it will certainly be a Subie.

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I installed a Sony XAV-AX100 in my 2015 Toyota Tacoma, and have been really happy with it. I spoke about it on this episode of Connected:

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Thanks for the link and review. I knew when I met you at the Chicago show that you had good taste in vehicles. :wink: Hopefully your Taco is as dependable as mine has been, considering mine has been working hard and reliably since '99 and still does everything it is supposed to. The stereo, however, is in serious need of updating, and I think after 20 years it is ready for something a little more modern. I’ll take a look at the Sony.

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Thank you! I will take listen to this episode and take a good look at the Sony.