Is Car Play in all Mercedes.

[MrLUFC]

Hey all.
I have been researching for a while now on the best options to get Car Play in my C Class, as the previous owner never requested it.

Im not massively over keen on the Chinese 3rd party options, so was looking at replacing the head unit from a car that did have car play.
But this got me thinking. I was curious as to whether all the Mercedes head units have car play, but unless you request it, it will remain turned off. The reason I am thinking that way is, I cant see any car manufacture have 1 car with a head unit with and 1 car with a head unit without, as that could get expensive.
Same applies with the wiring loom, they all they must be the same loom as i cant see Mercedes producing 2 types of looms.

Your thoughts from the Mercedes experts would be great.

 

[AndrewOl]

You would be surprised! Depending on what equipment is fitted and how it is configured will depend on what is possible at what cost. It can be quite complicated so I would recommend dropping commandonline an email with your vin and they will be able to advise.

 

[dmb007]

Had android auto retro fitted to my 2015 E400 for £190.
MB said it could not be done.
Regards
David

 

[MrLUFC]

You would be surprised! Depending on what equipment is fitted and how it is configured will depend on what is possible at what cost. It can be quite complicated so I would recommend dropping commandonline an email with your vin and they will be able to advise.

I dont think my vin would be much help. After a lot of research and using a vin decoder myself, they all pretty much use the same wording for the equipment fitted.
The only way to know for sure would be to get my serial number off my head unit.

Also, after a lot of research, it appears most head units do have car play, but depending on whether you request it will depend on whether its been unlocked.
But you can buy the device that unlocks the feature off ebay, it simply plugs into your OBD port and only costs £30. But for some reason it will not work on the c class, but does on pretty much every other model??
That confuses me, because surely MB used the same head unit in all their models.

 

[MrLUFC]

I know my system is the Audio 20 NTG5 with Sat Nav.

The activation tool on ebay works on the NTG5 S1 OBD 5.1

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Had android auto retro fitted to my 2015 E400 for £190.
MB said it could not be done.
Regards
David

Was that activated using OBD2 device which was removed following activation, or was there a device connected which stays permanently attached?

 

[AndrewOl]

If you send commandonline your vin they may be able to tell you (and sell you) what you need to get it working.

 

[dmb007]

Was that activated using OBD2 device which was removed following activation, or was there a device connected which stays permanently attached?

2 downloads using star.
I think from memory 1 download was option U117 I have the invoice somewhere if interested.
No permanent device connected.
Regards
David

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

T

2 downloads using star.
I think from memory 1 download was option U117 I have the invoice somewhere if interested.
No permanent device connected.
Regards
David

That’s useful to know. There are all sorts of ways of achieving CarPlay - some legal, some not - some additional hardware, some not - and it’s difficult to know which is which!