2017 3.6R w/ Navi Head Unit Upgrade?

I am the proud owner of a new (to me) 2017 3.6R Limited, w/ Eyesight + Navi. My old car that got totaled was a 2018 Impreza Premium, and while this one is a year older, it is by far an upgrade. However, the one thing my Impreza had that the 2017 Legacy does not is CarPlay integration. Being unable to view my GPS app on the head unit is a pain, and I do not want to clutter up my windshield, dash, or air vents with a phone holder. I know I can replace head units, but my vehicle comes with Navi. Is there a head unit upgrade (or firmware update) that would allow me to keep the Navi functionality but also allow me to integrate CarPlay? I thought about perhaps just purchasing a 2018 Legacy head unit since the parts were likely to fit, but so far haven't been able to find one that had a port for the microSD with the Navi software, or the head unit button for "Map".

Short answer: No. In Legacy and Outback, 2015-2017 vs. 2018-2019 are totally different head units from different manufacturers. There are no firmware uhgrades available to add CarPlay or Android Auto to a MY 2015-2017 head unit.

Hi I'm new here, very recently I got a 2017 Legacy Limited w/Harman Kardon and over the weekend put in an aftermarket head unit, a 2020 Pioneer DMH W4660NEX which I can recommend. Got it for the wireless Apple carplay (phone stays in your jacket) and the sleek screen. Interface is pretty fast and it sounds great. You can adjust volume and all that with steering wheel buttons. If you don't need wireless you can save $250 and get the dmh 2600NEX which is basically the same thing. Both are like having a big smartphone in your car with Google Maps and podcasts, even whatsapp calls. Any reason why you need navigation if you have googlemaps? As a complete amateur I gotta admit it was a pretty hard installation because I needed to retain the starlink unit and disconnect a mute wire, so I was on the phone with tech support a lot (crutchfield). I'm still working on getting it to line up perfectly flush with the dash trim kit but you can see where I'm at with it in the photo. Factory amp, rear cam display and steering wheel controls are retained. If you don't like the black color trim you can get it in silver to match the vents and climate control panel. I can give you model numbers for the trim kits that look nice (it's Scosche, beware of Metra in this case.)

Edited July 20, 2020 by wick3rman
Make clear which 2017 model

Damn that Scoche one looks great. I got the Metra one and the stereo seems really inset for me. I can seem to get the steering wheel controls to work. Did you use the Axxess brand controller or a different one?

Yeah I didn’t know anything going in so just got whatever Crutchfield recommended, which for the wiring was iDatalink Maestro. It works pretty well and retains everything. You can adjust volume, move forward and back a track, pick up and hang up calls, and press a button for Siri from your steering wheel. All these functions can be reassigned to different buttons if you want when you flash the Maestro module. I just wish they let you assign a button to display the camera connected to the 2nd camera input (not the rear cam, that one’s triggered by being in reverse) on the Pioneer unit. Last weekend I was swept up in car modification enthusiasm and installed a front camera , a Natika, which I got for $40 from amazon, and drilled a small hole at the bottom of my front license plate frame and screwed it on there. It almost looks factory to me, see pic. It really helps get close to the curb without scraping the low-hanging Legacy bumper. Now if I were able to just press a button on my steering wheel to have that front camera appear, it would be so great. As it is i have to click through a couple screens on the Pioneer to get to it. It’s cool that you can add it as a widget on your home screen that actually displays in its little window all the time, once you get it going. You might be able to see it as a bright square bottom right of screen in pic. I actually called iDatalink Maestro and they said that in fact Pioneer will make you able to activate 2nd camera through steering wheel in a future firmware update sometime in September. fingers crossed that actually happens.

 

Yes the Scosches are both nice, I ended up going with silver because it looks more at home being a very similar plastic material to the other panels. Whereas black is a smooth material that looks like a different texture than the black of the dash material. The serial numbers for the Scosches if you want to get them on eBay are black SU2030B or silver SU2030SB.

Edited July 18, 2020 by wick3rman

Here’s a photo of it in the daylight.

Ah ok. I got my parts over a year ago and at that point Crutchfield was using the Metra set of wiring on their site which as pretty complicated to get organized and connected up. I may end up just getting the newer idata wiring and just redo it all.

 

The silver one does look good! I'll stick with a clack one though as long as its not as glossy as the one I have now. The way the headunit sits makes using the buttons a struggle with someone with big hands like myself hahah.

 

I was wondering though how you dealt with the line for the parking break, With my older cars i just grounded the wire but not sure if you had to connect it up somewhere other than the one wire mentioned, at least in the Metra Axxess kit.

Here is how mine looks

Haha yeah the sloping on the sides of the Scosches will probably make it easier to hit those buttons. I had the same issue with a jvc radio on my old Mazda. Had someone else install it for me and the tiny volume buttons at the top were completely covered by an overhanging dash kit.

 

The glossiness actually looks kind of good in that photo. But yeah the Non-glossy matte Scosches will not smudge as easily. I can definitely recommend Crutchfield’s $25 ready harness service if you can still have them do it, you might be able to send in your harness and they set up the maestro and your wiring for you as long as you buy from them. They’ll take care of parking break wire and grounding and all that.

Oh yeah sry I know what u mean by grounding parking break wire lol... Crutchfield won’t do that I just got this from eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/254476589430

 

EDIT: You can do the bypass on these 2020 pioneers without installing any extra wiring, you just need to do this finger-on-screen trick and you’re good to go. Neat.

Edited July 19, 2020 by wick3rman

Gotcha. Yeah its annoying with the knob placed where it is. Hopefully they offer that service in Canada. Weirdly though because I had the base model 6.2 stereo their website doesn't list the idata one as compatible but uses this one from Crux (CRUX SWRTY-61N) or the set of wiring I used already. I found the idata one but it says its meant for ones with built in amps haha. And thanks for the link for the parking brake lines. Definitely gonna order that!

Yeah not sure why 6.2 vs 7 makes a difference to the wiring, it’s probably more that, as you say, your head unit doesn’t have a built-in amp. If the crux let’s you retain steering wheel controls that’d be dope.

Yeah not sure why 6.2 vs 7 makes a difference to the wiring ...

They are two totally different head unit designs, from two different manufacturers (Clarion vs. Fujitsu Ten).

Ah that's interesting, maybe iDatalink didn't put the work into making that model compatible then.

 

I'm curious if anyone has any luck installing any of the larger floating screen 9" and 10.1" Pioneer units that came out this year: the DMH-WT7600NEX or DMH-WT8600NEX. The size might be a little excessive and not for everyone. Like how Teslas have this giant tablet computer, only these are thicker and I wonder if they might protrude a little too much out from the dash. Still the resolution is better than the 4660 and I always underestimate what you get from more screen real estate. Crutchfield's site seems to think they won't fit sixth gen Subarus but I can't figure out why not. Would be great to see pictures here if someone has done it.

 

EDIT:

this guy seems to have put the 10.1” in a 2015 Legacy w/HK. Vents are a little covered but doesn’t seem like a big deal. Actually it looks pretty awesome. I lack the courage to go that big. Edited July 20, 2020 by wick3rman

There are some android based ones that are a full 10" that replace the entire unit are itself. Seicane makes one but i've heard that their performance is inconsistent to say the least. I'm happy with my Sony even though the screen is barely larger that what I had stock hahah. Crutchfield only offer that service if you buy the stereo from them as well. I'm gonna recheck all of my connections and see if thats where the issue is. Fingers crossed.

Yeah I saw a couple skeptical posts on That seicane thing and agree it seems highly suspect. The amount of engineering involved in getting a good capacitive touch screen and decently fast interface combined with good sound, is not what what many companies are capable of doing. That’s why aftermarket head units are normally such crap in terms of their user interface and speed, because they are made by sound companies and not Apple/Google. Apple CarPlay is only as good as the touchscreen in your unit can make it. That’s why this pioneer thing impressed me because although not as responsive as a current smartphone, it’s relatively decent which makes it better than basically any other aftermarket unit I’ve seen.

 

Yeah could be the way it’s wired, if Metra claims you can retain steering wheel controls I’d look at the wiring again. Crutchfield should help you since you bought from them originally. I had a good experience with their tech support.

Anyone wanting to go super fancy might want to wait for this to come out Sep 3rd: https://carboncarsystems.com.au/shop/car-stereos/kenwood-dmx9720xds-10-1-floating-hd-digital-media-player-wireless-apple-carplay-android-auto/