The iPhone and car audio integration...

Howdy all. Just got myself a new car (well used... 05 PT Cruiser Convertible), and since I plan to keep this for a loooong time, I'm looking to replace the car stereo with something that has complete support for the iPhone. By that, I mean I want to plug it into an iPod adapter to charge and control it from the car's head unit, as well as pair it using Bluetooth for taking calls hands-free.

Much of what I'm reading about existing units indicates that I may have to use Airplane mode on the iPhone if using an iPod cable. Of course, this would preclude me from taking calls. Using an FM transmitter or cassette adapter instead is simply out of the question.

I'm wondering if anyone has had any positive experience with using their iPhone with their car audio in the manner I'm looking to do. I'm not having any luck finding a unit that is expressly iPhone-supported by the manufacturer, and various forum postings seem inconsistent or unclear on what works and doesn't. At the moment, I'm most leaning to either a Pioneer or an Alpine unit as a brand preference.

I am not sure if you could do them together. One thing I might say is that instead of plugging in the iPhone in with the normal plug to your stereo use just the 3.5mm audio jack on the iphone. With that I believe you could broadcast the music on your iphone threw your stereo and still maybe hook it up to bluetooth.

PS: If worst comes to worst just buy a 8gb iPod nano and use it for all your car music and use the iphone with blue tooth :x.

Edit: And to charge it you could use a standard usb car charger. Might be a lot of wires though.

Dylanyouto said:

I am not sure if you could do them together. One thing I might say is that instead of plugging in the iPhone in with the normal plug to your stereo use just the 3.5mm audio jack on the iphone. With that I believe you could broadcast the music on your iphone threw your stereo and still maybe hook it up to bluetooth.

PS: If worst comes to worst just buy a 8gb iPod nano and use it for all your car music and use the iphone with blue tooth :x.

Edit: And to charge it you could use a standard usb car charger. Might be a lot of wires though.

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I've considered the possibility of using a iPod separate from the iPhone, but that's not quite ideal. Using the audio jack instead is not an option as far as I'm concerned. Besides all the extra cabling, you just don't get optimal sound quality.

Supposedly the Pioneer DEH-P700BT works perfectly with the iPhone according to a couple forum postings I found elsewhere. I just wish Pioneer would state that themselves.

Alpine does have a couple models that do state "Works with iPhone", but better yet, I found an article detailing their new models coming for 2009 which offer complete integration with the iPhone. You can even browse your iPhone's contact list through the Alpine. These appear to be UK-only though... I'll have to dig more and see if something comparable is coming to the US.

I just upgraded my stereo in my car and was looking for full iPod intergration... but its not gonna happen. The iPhone/iPods are too advanced for these simple interfaced players.

Get an iPod and run it through a 3.5mm audio jack. Just as good quality. I found it the best solution. Otherwise your gonna be turning a pushing a lot of buttons to get the song you want through you players interface.

As far as bluetooth... get a player that supports the bluetooth add on it is gonna cost you about another 80 bucks, but if you really want it seems to be a good solution. But again there is always extra wiring and mics and things of that sort.