Adding Navigation + CarPlay to 2015

Gleytch · January 10, 2016

I ordered the kit from MVI on Tuesday and had it by Friday. It took about an hour to do the majority of the install, but installing the replacement USB port in the armrest/console of the bench seat was a little harder than expected. I ended up having to take the plastic piece that has the three cup holders out in order to connect it because one of the cables already in the armrest was too short to connect otherwise.

Once it is installed, it just works. Navigation and CarPlay are utterly identical to my wife's 2016 Tahoe and just as fast. The whole system responds much faster than before. The replacement doesn't exhibit the "ticking" sound from FM radio like my original system did.

One unexpected benefit is that my 2015 now has HD Radio. I live In the Kansas City area and there are a couple dozen HD stations and they sound great.

The new system had a new XM radio ID so I had to pay $15+tax to switch my existing service to it.

CarPlay is interesting but I'm not sold on it yet. I expected to like the navigation system from it better than the MyLink system but I don't. MyLink navigation is pretty darn good, and I'm saying that as a long time high-end Garmin user. The interface to the rest of the CarPlay system is quite good, and Siri does a good job, but it needs more work. I expect it will get better as Apple makes improvements. Luckily, those improvements won't require replacing the system again.

At $1195 it is expensive. My wife convinced me to buy it because factory navigation was the one thing on my must-have list that my truck lacked when I bought it. I settled because the truck was a good deal at the time.

For me, the upgrade was worth it. I get to take the Garmin off of the dash and I get a working FM Radio and a bonus of now having HD radio.

Gleytch · January 12, 2016

A little more info that I should have added before. Changing out the USB port in the console is required to support CarPlay, and the new one is just two USB ports. No SD Card slot, and no 3.5mm jack. I didn't use them, so I don't mind, but I see a lot of mentions of using the SD card slot on the forums so I thought I'd mention it. I do use a 32 GB USB drive packed full of music, and it switches between songs much faster now. I suspect that the new ports are USB 3.0 and faster as a result, but I don't know that for sure.

The other thing that changes is the ability to time shift live programs. That cool feature on the 2015 models doesn't exist in the 2016 and it's not in the replacement radio.

SkiDooNick700 · January 13, 2016

hmm interesting. At that price though, I don't think this is an upgrade I want to do anytime soon. Sure is cheaper than going into a 2016 truck though !

jeffsig · June 26, 2016

Thanks for posting this. I had a '14 and although the HD went in and out intermittently when it worked it sounded great. I'm excited to have it back as I ordered Carplay from MVI for my '15. I'm also excited about the snappier system.