I collect my new ND2 in a couple of weeks, and and like to buy a new cable to connect my iPhone to CarPlay. I’m planning on storing my phone in the centre cubby forward of the gear shifter, so I’d like to buy a cable that will reach from the USB port to my phone, but without lots of unnecessary excess cable. I haven’t got access to an ND car in order to measure the distance from the USB port to where my phone will be in the cubby. Can any ND driver tell me the length of cable I need? There’s 4" ones and 6" ones on Amazon, I fear 4" will be too short.
Does the ND2 come with Carplay in the uk do you know? My dealer really isn’t sure at all. I have a GT+ RF on order arriving 6th September, I’ve come from a S3 which had CarPlay and would struggle without it.
i know it can be retro’d but begrudge paying an additional amount.
Dam it, Gloucester Mazda are quoting £300 to add it… it’s worth it really as removes the thought of touching your phone, in the S3 you simply leave your phone in the centre arm rest.
Whatever length you need (Oh Matron) buy quality. My wife has a Samsung tablet that wouldn’t reach full charge even if turned off and charged overnight. I tried various different chargers and eventually finished up with a six way charger which shows the charging current on each output. I’ve got a cupboard full of assorted USB cables and only one of them would charge at a decent level. I searched online and found some high quality ones at a fair price with thicker wiring for quick charging and fast data transfer.
Run of the mill pound shop USB cables would only charge the tablet at around 0.6 Amps. With a quality one it charges at 1.7 Amps. Even if you know nothing about the subject I’m sure you will appreciate the difference.
The company I purchased from is JuicEBitz. High quality cables with connectors that connect solidly and securely. A badly fitting connector can also cause wear and damage to the connector on your equipment. So do you want to risk damaging your expensive iPhone with a 99p lightning cable or do you want to pay around £9 for a quality product that will charge it about three times faster?
I consider myself a bit of an expert in this department having bought god knows how many cables to get the right one…
Ok, if you want to put your phone in the little cubby you’ll need a 15-20cm cable depending on whether you get an angled one or not. If you get the brilliant IL holder for the centre console (i highly recommend it) then you’ll need a 50cm cable to reach that. If you intend to use a windscreen style holder and end up with your phone to the left of the dash binnacle then a 30cm cable is perfect for that.
Just be warned that if you do get carplay/android auto fitted then the port they put in specifically for the phone is a high amp version (2.4?) so get a decent branded cable that can handle that, it does charge the phone pretty quickly.
Last thing: that cubby is useless for any decent size modern smartphone. I have an Iphone XR and it sticks out to near enough the surround. The worst part is though that the material in there doesn’t grip your phone at all so expect to be fishing it out of the passenger footwell a few times (experience talking).
Which holder is that? Is it the one that goes in the centre glovebox? If so, how did you route the cable? Actually, as you’re saying a 50cm cable, then I think you’re probably referring to one of these nets that goes along the side of the transmission tunnel?
Ah, I have an iPhone XS Max, so that cubby may not actually be the best place for my phone!
Use the magnet part from that on the IL and you have a very discreet mount which is super strong.
As for routing the cable it just routes round to the holder but stays out of the way of all the controls. I use an official apple 50cm cable. Let me know if you want pics.
Also that Max is never going to fit in that hole at all. The XR just fits in widthways so that will have no chance.
Thanks again @Thatbeetle. I see that the IL holder is for LH drive cars only, which is a shame as it looks good. I’m planning to store my phone out of sight, as I like the benefit of CarPlay which is no need for a phone to be on display or interacted with. I’ll wait until I have the car and then figure it out. You’ve saved me from buying a cable that would prove to be useless as my big phone won’t fit in that cubby!
I have a 60cm usb cable that has an angled plug on one end and USB C on the other. The thing to remember is that you’re facing a conflict of interests.
On the one hand you want a nice short ‘tidy’ cable that isn’t too long and on the other you need ot be able to hold the phone when its plugged in while you’re getting Android Auto / apple car play fired up.
No connection with them except as a very happy customer. Had a Samsung tablet that didn’t even reach full charge overnight. I have a charger which shows the current being drawn on each output. With all the cheap cables I had it would only charge at just under half an amp. With a Juicebitz cable that goes up to 1.5 amps.
I’ve chucked all my crappy old cables away and have stocked up on various ones from these people. Very solid physical connection with a proper click. Loose plugs can damage the socket on your phone or tablet. That will cost you way more than a decent quality cable.
Poundland might be OK for some things but not for USB cables.
