Hands-on with Apple CarPlay from Pioneer: Same great experience without a new car

September 9, 2014

Apple CarPlay has been a real thing for a while now, though we're not yet seeing it actually out on the roads – incredibly expensive Ferraris not withstanding. Of course, for those of us who want the experience without buying a new vehicle, third party units are what we'll be looking at. Like this one from Pioneer. It isn't ready to hit the market just yet, but priced around €1000 it's a huge chunk of change less than a new car. And at IFA 2014 this past week in Berlin, we got to take a sneak peek at it.

The CarPlay part is the same system we've been seeing teased for months now, but it's always better to see it actually working in person. A few trade show related demo fails aside, it's really slick and it's really something that you could use with ease behind the wheel. Siri wasn't playing ball with the event Wifi, but we at least managed to get a look at how easy it is to send messages, choose music and activate navigation, all without needing to take your eyes off the road.

Pioneer also makes complete in-car entertainment systems, right down to producing fascias for the various different cars on the market to make their systems look like they were there out of the factory. The car we looked at was a Suzuki swift, but the installation was seamless. The unit we looked at is still at the high-end of the market, but it offers CarPlay at a fraction of the price of a new car, and it allows you to take it with you when you do eventually get some new wheels.

But enough talk, check out the video below for a full walkthrough.