At BestBuy I picked out a unit SONY 3250 and the salesman ordered all the accessories for the install.
I just got a call from the store saying my unit would not work in my car and I would need a more expensive unit and parts would have to be ordered from Mazda.
What unit do you have in your CX-5?

 

Stock unit which works fine for me.
I prefer that my music money is invested in my home studio and audio equipment and my assortment of instruments.
That said there are multiple units that will fit the CX-5 some refined to one's specific style of music.
Depending on year you need to be careful with speakers as the ohms of the stock Bose are not compatible with all aftermarket units.
It's really easy to "fry" them if you don't match them up correctly.

 

What year and trim is your CX-5?

 

In my experience, Apple Carplay is light years ahead of the klunky navigation system built in to my CX-5 Grand Touring. That's the good news.

The bad news is that I've had months of frustrating experience trying to get Apple Carplay to play nicely with my car, including (literally) hours of excellent customer support from Apple as I tried to resolve the issues. The problem was that the link between my iPhone and the Mazda was not consistently reliable. It would work fine for a time, then drop out. That happened more times than I can count.

I had all but given up when I found this on Amazon and ordered one. My hopes were not high, but to my surprise, it installed quickly and easily (plugged right into to USB in the center console), and it was 100% plug-and-play--setup time was less than five minutes. Now I can use CarPlay with my iPhone 14 and I don't even have to plug the phone into the car. And for the first time Carplay has been working perfectly and consistently reliably with my CX-5! At $69.99 this was a real bargain and game-changer for me.

This may sound like a paid testimonial, but believe me: it's not. I paid full price for the product, installed it and had it up and running in lno time, and nobody has paid me to make this report--nor am I connected with the seller in any than as a rank-and-file retail customer. I just wanted to share it with other CX-5 owners who may be experiencing the same kind of issues and frustration with CarPlay that I was.

If you're an iPhone user and are not using Carplay because you couldn't get it working properly with your CX-5, believe me: this simple dongle is a great solution. Wish I'd discovered it a long time ago!

Milt Baker, 2021 CX-5 Grand Touring, 29K miles

 

For under $60 during an Amazon flash sale

Unit comes with both USB-A and C connections. It is a Dongle installed in my wife’s car for CarPlay and it works OK. Connects within 1 minute to my wife’s phone.

We leave it permanently in the center console compartment using a six inch or shorter cable that came with the unit to the USB-A to the car’s Port 1. Another USB-A to Lightning cable from the dongle to her phone is available for charging only. We also leave a different colored USB-A to Lightning available for passenger’s iPhone with a Lightning to USB-C adapter for charging only, in case we have a passenger that uses USB-C. Eventually the setup we I’ll change when we update to newer iPhones. Dongle having USB-C may be helpful in the future

We have an issue, the charging is not fast on a long trip, and after 3-4 hours the phone cannot charge beyond its original level and may drop a few points.

Unplugged, over a few hours your phone battery will drop into 50’s or less, I suppose because Waze and music streaming over WiFi uses a lot of power.

I have no idea what the data use is with Waze on constantly, but it’s probably enough that I am glad I have an unlimited plan

 

My experience with Waze and both our iPhone12 and iPhone14 suggest that Waze is very battery hungry, and we've found that it'll run an uncharging iPhone down to almost nothing in just a few hours. When we need Waze, we always run it on an iPhone that is charging, and that generally keeps the iPhone battery from going flat. Our CX-5 has two separate built-in USB ports in the center console plus a that converts the cigarette lighter to a USB port--so a total of three USB ports.

Milt Baker, 2021 CX-5 Grand Touring

 

I run Apple Maps with my phone plugged in for CarPlay and my phone charges well. It's not as fast as plugging into the wall, but it does the job for me...

 

I was always a map guy.
I have no issue using the Mazda navigation system, did take a while to get used to it.
I only carry a Tracfone flip for emergencies.
I will not make or take any calls while driving.
I do have an old Samsung phone I use only as my music player with over 8 hours of music which I can update from my laptop.
I connect via a USB cord, hit random play and have never had an issue.
But then having been a service manager for Apple I would never pay the money for any of their hardware.
Bottom line is I purchase vehicles based on driving, handling, reliability not for phone or software compatibility.
But to each their own.

 

Well, as the OP asked specifically about adding Apple Carplay to his car, he obviously values other features than you... I would try a dongle as suggested above. I have the AA Wireless product - which just added Carplay support with the newest firmware. It works great for me with AA. https://www.aawireless.io/carplay

 

Actually, the original OP didn't say anything about Apple Carplay except in the thread title, they were asking about a Sony 3250.

"At BestBuy I picked out a unit SONY 3250 and the salesman ordered all the accessories for the install.
I just got a call from the store saying my unit would not work in my car and I would need a more expensive unit and parts would have to be ordered from Mazda.
What unit do you have in your CX-5?"