Carplay for 2017 Legacy

[psh]

After pursuing all the official Subaru options, I have found that there is no official Subaru option to add Carplay to a 2017 Legacy. I have added a Sony head unit with Carplay (and backup camera) to my wife's 2013 Imprezza about two years ago and she loves it. I am now considering adding the Alpine iLX-507 to my Legacy. Has anyone had experience with installing or using the iLX-507 in a Legacy?

 

[Jo-hn]

After pursuing all the official Subaru options, I have found that there is no official Subaru option to add Carplay to a 2017 Legacy. I have added a Sony head unit with Carplay (and backup camera) to my wife's 2013 Imprezza about two years ago and she loves it. I am now considering adding the Alpine iLX-507 to my Legacy. Has anyone had experience with installing or using the iLX-507 in a Legacy?

I have a 2017 Subaru legacy and thinking to add a aftermarket CarPlay too. Can you share your experience on the installations and the unit you installed? Thank you.

 

[rowlands57]

I used Crutchfield for both of the retrofits I made. I find their packages are very complete and the tech support is really helpful. I did not do a Subaru but both installs (Mazda and Audi) went great. Their package kept the rear-view camera and all my steering wheel controls working like the factory units.

 

[psh]

I have a 2017 Subaru legacy and thinking to add a aftermarket CarPlay too. Can you share your experience on the installations and the unit you installed? Thank you.

My install is up and running (for the most part). Here are my comments:
The Good-
The Alpine sounds awesome
The OBD connection gives me more data info then my car originally did. If I have low pressure in one tire I can see which tire is low.
Carplay works great (the main reason I did the upgrade).
The Alpine comes with a GPS antenna that the IPhone uses when in maps.
The unit supports the factory installed backup camera.

The Bad
The Alpine will not let you go into setup mode until you turn the parking brake on and off twice in quick succession (a safety feature). This does not work 90% of the time. Alpine is blaming IDataLink Maestro and IDataLink Maestro says its the car, which I don't believe. This makes it a real pain to change settings. I may purchase an override device about $15.

The Ugly
I bought the interface cable that goes between the Alpine and the factory installed USB ports. This does not work. After talking with Crutchfield we are thinking Subaru may have changed their proprietary wiring of this cable, I do believe Crutchfield, but they sent me an extra cable to test, just in case. The back of the Alpine has two USB pigtails with female connectors, I have them popping out from under the dash and for now I plug my IPhone cable in one of those. Surprisingly it doesn't bother me that much but I will find a more elegant solution.