... was comically simple!

First post, but not my first time stopping here for great info (thanks!). I've had a few Mazdas and recently bought a couple more.

Saturday, my daughter asked if "we" could do the CarPlay upgrade to her 2016 Mazda3. I said sure. She literally turned around and headed to the dealership to buy the $199 cable/kit (knowing it was available for $150 online... and knowing she had to have it NOW). 45 minutes later, with the laptop fired up, we dug in. All in - with many starts and stops of the YouTube video - it took about 1.75 hours with no cussing, bleeding or broken clips or panels - bonus! We were really cautious - watching a bunch of segments a couple times - and not in a hurry at all. I bet we could do it again in under 30 min.

My daughter was blown away by how much it seemed to upgrade everything about the car - phone, music, nav, etc. "I feel like I just to a new car... again!" I was blown away by how well it integrated - the touchscreen, center ****, steering wheel, voice, etc. I did a similar upgrade to my '06 Land Cruiser, and while the system works, it doesn't have the factory-integrated feel that the Mazda CarPlay has. My wife's 2019 Acura came with CarPlay and it's not as nice as the upgraded Mazda3.

I've been modifying cars and trucks for years (!) and have to put this mod at the top of the "cost vs outcome" list. Pretty badass.

We got our other daughter a CX5 over weekend... guess what's next on my list of to-dos.