General 500x 2016 CarPlay

[Velim]

Hi,

I am currently looking at buying a Fiat 500x 2015-2017 diesel for me and my wife to share (looking at this as it sits within the cheaper road tax band in the UK).

The radio system on the 2 cars we are looking at do not have CarPlay on them (as far as I know), I’ve attached pictures of the units from both cars. Can I buy a newer circa 2019 500x radio unit which has CarPlay and replace plug and play? Or are there retrofit alternatives which anyone can recommend? Or do any of the radios I attached have CarPlay on them already?

Thanks in advance.

 

[carlosemorais]

Hi.
So I checked the connections behind the units and they are the same, so it should work the same.
What I would recommend is to buy the new unit on Ebay with return waranty, so if it doesn't work, you can just return it.
Keep us posted if you managed.

 

[martinchristov]

I've spent so much time researching this prior to my recent purchase of a 500x 2017 diesel.
I bought mine with the 6.5 inch display, not the 5 - this is important because it gives you the option to install a CarPlay hardware add-on while using your original screen. I just purchased one through the website https://eng-custom.com/
I am yet to receive it in the next days, but this seller seems the most reliable + well priced.

I lost a month and a half trying a cheaper solution - a whole multimedia replacement I bought on AliExpress - that turned out a total disaster and I returned it (still waiting for refund). Although there are many sellers of similar devices, none of them seem very reliable.