Best apple car play radio?

Thanks for the replies guys. Definitely ordering from Crutchfield with the adapter for the car already made. Also definitely not paying for nav if I don't have to since I will always used google maps (as long as I have cell reception).

I'm leaning towards a capacitive screen but I still am on the wall about wireless CarPlay vs wired. I think it will be very handy on short drives to just get in and go, and the newer wireless CarPlay units and newer iPhones and iOS iterations have done better with battery drain than the earlier models I hear.

With that said, two new Pioneer models I'm looking at are either Pioneer DMH-W4660NEX (with wireless CP for $595) or Pioneer DMH-2660NEX (without wireless CP for $345). In both cases I need to do without CD/DVD but nowadays all I do is stream (again, as long as I have cell reception!).

Picking the features that are right for “you” is definitely half the battle. I looked at the Pioneer units, but after the huge disappointment I had with my previous Pioneer in my Cobra, and spending days/weeks pouring over reviews, I opted to move to the Sony, and now having 2, I have zero regrets. The thing that really made me gun shy with the Pioneer is that it failed on a garage queen that literally sees less than 1k miles a year, and it only lasted 1 season. Problem was that by the time it failed, I was already out of warranty, even though I only had it for a few hundred miles of drive time. At the time, it was a top of the line nav system, and was over $500, so that stung. At least now a days you can get much better stuff cheaper. Pioneers are generally highly regarded, this was just personal for me because they would do nothing in the way of support because it happened just outside of the warranty period. That left a very bad taste in my mouth. As for wired/wireless CarPlay, that is something only you can choose based on value. Since it’s always about double the cost, it definitely wasn’t worth it to me since my Sony auto connects to Bluetooth if I don’t plug in anyway, so I still have hands free calling and iTunes or streaming. The ONLY thing you’re missing is displaying whatever map app you use, but you can still have the audio guidance for that with Bluetooth. In a daily driver, I would care more, but for toy cars that are barely driven, I personally wouldn’t spend the extra coin just to avoid a simple plug in connection, at least until the wireless reliability gets MUCH better.

Black 10th vert, thanks for the info and these comments are very helpful. I will look at the Sony's as well including the model you said you had, the Sony XAV-AX5000.

That 5000 sure looks nice. However my wife fixed the CD player just messing with it and it has worked 3 times in a row... I'm debating on just leaving the 4 CDs in there and not stuffing it full of 6 for another year lol. Hoping that works for a while at least because I ordered tires today and when the stimulus check hits I'm going to be ordering necessary parts to tune my car myself.

I as well just installed a Pioneer AVH-2550 with carplay.(375$) Super easy to install and the bluetooth works great. It has a nice external mic that was super easy to route behind the dash and up to the sun visor so its at head level and not picking up road or engine noise. The wiring harness from Krutchfield was super simple to match wire for wire and I ran the aux cord to plug my phone in up through the console. The background is customizable and easy to load a different image however the unit only holds one photo so every time you want to change it you have to plug the thumb drive back into the aux port. Not a big issue if you dont put your aux port below the console . something to consider if you go this route, keep the port accessible.