Car Play help

[Gabouk]

Hello peeps

Bit of newbie to this VW world, first VW GTI iv ever had to be fair, an so far I'm loving the car, feels great to drive an great inside

So iv read loads of stuff on this forum & others about this car, negatives an positives, an its amazing how much you can learn about a car from great car forums.

So Im hoping someone of you experts can help me regarding my topic

I have a 16 plate GTI (Used) as i was checking some videos an Topics about the car, i stumbled along "Car Play" which is a nice idea, my E92 M3 never had that lol or maybe i didnt know it had that  ?? lol
anyway unfortunately the 1st owner who ordered the car never clicked the option to have car play, so i thought its a nice thing to have, seems cool so i called up VW an they just quoted me, can you believe £215 to unlock this feature, reading from other topics, i know this was a £100 option when buying brand new, i just think thats a bit steep just to plug something in an unlock it,

I'm thinking now is it really that important to have?? lol,

any advice would be great guys, I'm guessing no point calling other VW Garages cause I'm guessing the price will be fixed among all of them.

Just seems a bit pricey for a "plug in , unlock, an have a good day sir" lol, i mean its not like they gotta take the whole unit out lol 

[jv]

Lots of options or updates are like that, nice money maker. DVD maps used to cost insane money from the dealer.

Have you got the app-connect icon in the menu? Without that you can't unlock it.

For the 100 quid when new it's a 'may as well'. Afterwards for 200 odd, not sure it's really worth it.

[Watts]

Seems pricey to me too however £100 to have it to start with seems expensive too when it is in the car anyway! You'll just have to decide if it's worth it to you. Congratulations on your purchase by the way, don't hold back on some pictures of your pride and joy

[fredgroves]

Thats VW licence fee and dealer labour for one hour (probably minimum charge) plus VAT.

I did hear on here though that nobody has ever manages to get it activated at the dealer...

[JoeGTI]

I've had it activated in my R.

In order for the activation to work you must have:
- MIB 2 Discover Nav
OR
- MIB 2 Composition (non nav) - BUT - certain versions only! It must have the VOICE button, not the MUTE button.

Is it worth it... Hmmm, I'm really not sure. To be honest, I find the car's Bluetooth setup better in many ways, certainly for the phone calls part.

For instance, when you've connected via carplay, the Phone button on the steering wheel and on the radio are useless. You have to go via the CarPlay interface to make calls. The MFD shows "CarPlay" rather than any useful phone information. It will read incoming texts to you and you can dictate texts via voice control (Siri) but I've never used this, I'd find that very gimmicky. You can't read the  texts at all. And it'll only do SMS. It doesn't support WhatsApp or any other 3rd party messaging.

The one area where it's good is for music/podcasts, but then I find Spotify a bit buggy on it too.

And you have to physically connect the phone via USB to even use CarPlay.

All in all - I find I use it less and less unless I actually need to charge the phone and connect the USB!

[Booth11]

By contrast, I use CarPlay all the time, for all functions - music, phone, nav, messages etc, and find it very useful feature.  It's a shame you have to connect via USB but not a big deal. Only time I use built-in nav or other built-in functions is as a back up.  But you do need to consider other things. For instance I stream music via Apple Music, and have had to up my data allowance on my phone contract to cover usage.  I think CarPlay or rather App-connect is one of those things you either like or you don't.

[kitbag1984]

I agree with booth. Although I have only had my car for a week I find it invaluable. The maps are better. I can access all my music and podcasts. I think the voice text reader is useful. You can check emails and making calls is a doddle. If you get an Apple Music subscription you literally have large majority of popular music in your car (compared to cd multi changers!).

Also. Using the "hey Siri" function reminds me of KITT from night rider. You don't even have to press the voice button and can ask questions and do a lot without having to touch any buttons at all. 

For £200 if you are keeping the car then it is we'll worthwhile. For £125 is a bargain.

[Gabouk]

Thanks for all the replies guys  sorry a bit late to reply my self, iv had such a manic day 

some great points been mentioned being positive an negative, i guess its a simple case of if i really want it, yes i do have the icon in my menu, its just when i press it, it says "go to local dealer to unlock" something like that,

i have the voice button, but when i press that, it also says the same thing, go to local dealer an unlock? i dont even know what that voice button dose  lol

i am gonna be keeping the car for a good few years i think, so i reckon just spending the £200 one off might be worth it, saying that if i have to unlock "voice" as well, could cost a  bit more,
 plus it will be a good when i come to sell it, cause i can say its a option thats been done but I'm no where near that idea

Thanks for all your inputs guys , regarding your experience with car play, think the only way I'm gonna know if its for me is if i actually get it done an use it, its gonna cost me of course, but I'm sure it will be worth it no doubt 

i will deffo get some pics up, honestly iv had no time to even drive it yet, been so busy , but when i do i will deffo get some pics up 

Thanks guys.

[Booth11]

The voice button function depends on what system you have.

If you have CMS or Discover Nav then it mutes the audio.  If you have Pro Nav then a short press of it launches the integral voice control which is part of the Pro nav.  If you have App-connect (CarPlay) then a long press of the voice button launches Siri.

[fredgroves]

You can add voice control to at least Nav though, maybe even CMS.... standard on NavPro.

Whether you'd want it with Car Play though? I mainly use it (badly) for dialing phone contacts. Its quite slow and hit and miss. In Car Play you can do that through Siri...

I'd just add the carplay...