981 Porsche Cayman CarPlay Options?

Full disclaimer: This is one of the most first world problems I've ever experienced. 

I've been daily driving the 2014 Porsche Cayman I bought dirt cheap for a few days now, as I'm trying to get the new clutch broken in before the GRM Track Day at the FIRM. The car drives great, except for one major flaw....

No Apple CarPlay. In fact, since the car has Porsche's CDR 3.1 radio (the base model), I'm connecting my phone to it with an auxiliary cord like a savage. I'm already tired of digging for my phone every time I have to skip a podcast ad.

A Mitsubishi Mirage is more expensive than this Porsche, and now I understand why: Factory CarPlay. 

Putting in an aftermarket radio isn't really the direction I want to go--that would require an ugly dash adapter and losing the parking sensors, which are quite handy in a car with rear visibility this poor. And Porsche's OEM CarPlay option only fits earlier cars. 

Instead, it looks like a few companies make boxes that claim to project CarPlay onto the OEM screen. Has anybody here installed one of these? Any recommendations? I'm assuming it's all the same crap from AliExpress, and the only difference between brands is the amount of support afterwards?

Here's what I'm looking at:

https://carabc.cn/products/porsche-wireless-carplay-android-auto?variant=44729169117488&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOooAezNXwf2OGNmM-z8aLx0VN9B6FmihDjG1O2IRprFePtdy50zEWv4

https://carlinklife.com/products/wireless-carplay-android-auto-for-porsche-911-boxster-cayman-macan-cayenne-panamera-pcm3-1-4-0-2011-2018-video-module-box?variant=40298775019597

https://www.joyeauto.com/product/porsche-cdr-crd-wireless-apple-carplay-airplay-android-auto-interfacepre-sale/

Have you talked to Crutchfield?  They helped me put a CarPlay receiver into my 10 year old Buick Enclave that had a butt-ton of stuff integrated with the factory head unit.  I used to do a bunch of car audio stuff but it had been a few years and I assumed there was no way to integrate a new receiver with all the electronics.  I was wrong.  It was a job but it looks and works just like a factory CarPlay unit.  Kept all the features working- parking sensors, backup camera, rear entertainment, steering wheel controls, etc.  

IMHO you should ask this on Rennlist or Planet9. There are exponentially more Porsche owners there than on GRM.

My Cayman came with an aftermarket stereo that had poor wiring. I had it replaced with a Sony touch screen with Carplay. It was a game changer.

Done correctly it can look as nice (or nicer) as the factory stereo.

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

Have you talked to Crutchfield?  They helped me put a CarPlay receiver into my 10 year old Buick Enclave that had a butt-ton of stuff integrated with the factory head unit.  I used to do a bunch of car audio stuff but it had been a few years and I assumed there was no way to integrate a new receiver with all the electronics.  I was wrong.  It was a job but it looks and works just like a factory CarPlay unit.  Kept all the features working- parking sensors, backup camera, rear entertainment, steering wheel controls, etc.  

This is the answer. Having it all integrated with the headunit is orders of magnitude better than dealing with any dongle-adapter system. I would also reccomend a quality headunit (Kenwood, Alpine are reasonably priced quality units, JVC and Sony are good, stuff like Boss and Dual are a little better than bottom shelf). I didnt think it would make that big of a difference and wasted too much time and money on low budget junk, until I made the jump, and have no regrets about spending the extra money.

I also got some help from the Crutchfield staff recently, as it has been a few years since I played with car audio stuff. 100% worth working with them. 

IIRC carplay/AA in a non-PCM car requires some extra adapters and isn't exactly straighforward or cheap. My lower tech but still functional method has been a bluetooth adapter that runs into the aux input (installed by previous owner but I think things like it are pretty commonly available and simple to install) and a phone mount that puts the phone right next to the radio (https://www.rennline.com/exactfit-magnetic-phone-mount-sku-pm01-04/). It's basically carplay (android auto in my case) with a slightly smaller and further away screen. Cheap, works reliably and it's even wireless technically

I was looking for similar kits for our 2019 Infiniti QX50 and found GTACarkits  has carplay kits...

Link to their Porsche listing

https://www.gtacarkits.com/product-category/carplay-androidauto-for-original-car-stereo/page/2/

I last used their product to put boothtooth into our 2006 Mazda 6.... so no guarantees implied

Gordon