New AA \ ACP Thread (with Poll)

[iKenndac]

I've been following this thread for forever, and thanks to the information it provided, I got CarPlay installed in my CX-5 today - one of the first here in Sweden - so thank you for that!

My dealer originally wanted 4300 SEK (~$470 USD) for the installation, but I managed to negotiate the price down to 3500 SEK (~$380 USD), and with some vouchers I had for the dealer, my out-of-pocket expense was about 3000 SEK (~$330 USD). Do be aware that we have a 25% sales tax here which is included in all prices, so that price of 3500 SEK is actually 2800 SEK (~$305 USD) + tax.

So!

The screen looks really great, and it's really nice and readable. Having Siri in the car is really nice - it's way better than the built in voice commands. Navigating around within CarPlay is decent enough considering the touchscreen is locked when in motion - the home button in the centre console takes you to CarPlay home, for instance.

However, unfortunately, this appears to be a quite lazy CarPlay integration:

- The navigation directions don't appear in the instrument cluster or the HUD, which is a thing CarPlay added in iOS 10. Not many cars implement it, but it's sad to see it's not here, either.

- There's no "Mazda" app - it just dumps you back to the Mazda Connect homescreen when you click the Mazda app in CarPlay. Again, this fairly common behaviour, but CarPlay does allow manufacturers to build their own custom app to allow you to change various settings etc without leaving CarPlay.

Overall, I give Mazda's CarPlay integration a tentative "C+" - the core experience is good, but they could have done a much better job especially considering how much money they're charging. I haven't driven with it long enough to see if it supports smart fuel status yet (CarPlay on modern Ford cars will automatically offer nearby fuel stations when your fuel gets low, for instance), but my hopes aren't high considering how lazy Mazda has been with the other CarPlay features that require more than the minimum effort to implement. If it does support that, I'll bump it up to a "B-".

 

[jthj]

People here will generally hate on Ford but when it comes to in car tech I think theyre ahead of the pack. Sounds like Mazda is solidly average.

 

[7eregrine]

Nice! Thanks for the report! Firsties!
Agree Ford does a nice job. Friend got an 18 F150. The whole infotainment system is great.

 

[boandlkramer]

Is the screen still disabled in motion?

 

[iKenndac]

Is the screen still disabled in motion?

Thats the problem with writing more than two sentences - people dont read it all. To quote my own post:

Navigating around within CarPlay is decent enough considering the touchscreen is locked when in motion

 

[7eregrine]

- There's no "Mazda" app - it just dumps you back to the Mazda Connect homescreen when you click the Mazda app in CarPlay. Again, this fairly common behaviour, but CarPlay does allow manufacturers to build their own custom app to allow you to change various settings etc without leaving CarPlay.

Question on this. When you go back to MZD does your ACP continue to work? Meaning if you were navigating or listening to Spotify in ACP does that continue?

 

[shadonoz]

How much data do AA and ACP use?
Of course "it depends" on what you do with it and how often.
But might it be problematic for anyone without an unlimited data plan?

 

[rhojos14]

How much data do AA and ACP use?
Of course "it depends" on what you do with it and how often.
But might it be problematic for anyone without an unlimited data plan?

It's my understanding that it would use the same amount of data as if you were using your phone by itself. It's just basically projecting your phone's interface onto your car's infotainment.

 

[shadonoz]

It's my understanding that it would use the same amount of data as if you were using your phone by itself. It's just basically projecting your phone's interface onto your car's infotainment.

That sounds right. I'm just wondering about the quantity. I never use my phone for data unless I'm on wifi, so I have no idea.

 

[jthj]

Streaming music would probably be the main one to worry about. Im pretty sure most of the services let you download songs local to the phone so if you do that while on WiFi it can play from the local file while on the go minimizing the data use. Thats what I do anyway.

 

[rhojos14]

Streaming music would probably be the main one to worry about. I*m pretty sure most of the services let you download songs local to the phone so if you do that while on WiFi it can play from the local file while on the go minimizing the data use. That*s what I do anyway.

Same here, and with podcasts as well. The only other thing would be if you use your phone for nav, I don't that often so I can't give an estimate of how much data it goes through but I'd like to think not as much as music streaming. The bigger worry, at least for me, with using nav is it drains my battery so quick. But being plugged up shouldn't affect that.

 

[dc16]

The cost of this is giving me serious pause. Right now I have the phone mounted on the vent if using GPS.
I'd probably still get this upgrade given that we own the vehicle and will keep it for a long time.

Did Mazda ever communicate that this would be a *purchasable* upgrade? I mean, it seems like there is a need for additional USB charging output for AA/ACP, but I was under the impression that this would be a software-only update over-the-air or via dealer.

 

[Xeler8ing]

I've been following this thread for forever, and thanks to the information it provided, I got CarPlay installed in my CX-5 today - one of the first here in Sweden - so thank you for that!

My dealer originally wanted 4300 SEK (~$470 USD) for the installation, but I managed to negotiate the price down to 3500 SEK (~$380 USD), and with some vouchers I had for the dealer, my out-of-pocket expense was about 3000 SEK (~$330 USD). Do be aware that we have a 25% sales tax here which is included in all prices, so that price of 3500 SEK is actually 2800 SEK (~$305 USD) + tax.

Excellent!

So!

The screen looks really great, and it's really nice and readable. Having Siri in the car is really nice - it's way better than the built in voice commands. Navigating around within CarPlay is decent enough considering the touchscreen is locked when in motion - the home button in the centre console takes you to CarPlay home, for instance.

However, unfortunately, this appears to be a quite lazy CarPlay integration:

- The navigation directions don't appear in the instrument cluster or the HUD, which is a thing CarPlay added in iOS 10. Not many cars implement it, but it's sad to see it's not here, either.

Not lazy as their proprietary Navigation software has right of place in HUD. There is no incentive for them to add Carplay/Android Auto Navigation to HUD.

- There's no "Mazda" app - it just dumps you back to the Mazda Connect homescreen when you click the Mazda app in CarPlay. Again, this fairly common behaviour, but CarPlay does allow manufacturers to build their own custom app to allow you to change various settings etc without leaving CarPlay.

Give them time to develop this. It has been a struggle for Mazda owners just to get Mazda to this stage!

 

[Xeler8ing]

Did Mazda ever communicate that this would be a *purchasable* upgrade? I mean, it seems like there is a need for additional USB charging output for AA/ACP, but I was under the impression that this would be a software-only update over-the-air or via dealer.

Yes pretty much from day one.

 

[7eregrine]

Couple things:

Streaming AUDIO like Spotify uses MUCH less data then you would imagine. Seriously. It isn't a giant data hog. You should ensure you aren't set to stream HIGH QUALITY on any app you use over cellular. Most apps have a setting to set stream quality on cellular.
My wife useses Spotify almost daily and rarely gets even close to her 2GB limit.
The biggest data hog on any phone is VIDEO.
Maps uses more data then music does. However with Google Maps at least you can download your 'home area' which greatly minimizes the amount of data used.

The one thing that really sucks about this is if you are on the fence like DC16: resale. Some years from now when we are privately selling our CX-5s you KNOW the question the new buyers are going to ask: does it have AA/ACP? Having that will add a little something to your resale versus not having it in some cases.

 

[Xeler8ing]

Given that my first service is due next year, I'll monitor the implementation of AA and might get it done whilst it's in for it's service.

 

[jthj]

Not lazy as their proprietary Navigation software has right of place in HUD. There is no incentive for them to add Carplay/Android Auto Navigation to HUD.

The factory nav is inferior to what is offered by Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze. Manufacturers just need to accept this and work with what customers want not against it.

To me it seems like while Mazda is listening to and responding well to consumers in other areas but they kinda had their heads up their $&&@$ on this one.

 

[jthj]

Wife wants it so were getting it even if its a tad over priced. *sigh*

 

[Xeler8ing]

The factory nav is inferior to what is offered by Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze. Manufacturers just need to accept this and work with what customers want not against it.

To me it seems like while Mazda is listening to and responding well to consumers in other areas but they kinda had their heads up their $&&@*$ on this one.

Manufacturers will always push their proprietary offerings first. There is really no incentive for them to add these to HUD. It adds complexity to their systems as they are designed for their products.

Trying to add all sorts of 3rd party offerings to HUD will drive up cost which will undoubtedly be passed on to the consumer.

Just be glad that AA/ACP has finally arrived and can be used via MZD connect.

 

[jeffrow925]

Post 700!!!!

Another [emoji817]

Bored waiting for NA availability.