rx ‘09 - ‘11 RX iPhone music and carplay

[nickRX20]

Hi there everyone,

im looking at buying a Lexus RX 350 Sport Luxury Gen 3 from either 09 or another one from 2011. I’ve tried to research but gotten confused and hoping someone can help steer me in the right direction. I listen to Spotify on my phone in the car normally so trying to figure out how to do this in the RX and be able to use the stereo controls instead of touching my phone to change the music and risk a fine. From what I understand the 09 car doesn’t have Bluetooth audio streaming or USB but is there a simple or easy way I can rectify this to be able to use my iPhone music in the car? The 2011 car is a bit more expensive and has a Mark Levinson stereo as well but not sure if it will have a USB connection that will interact with My iPhone properly or if it has Bluetooth audio streaming.

the other option I thought of was getting Apple CarPlay installed but it didn’t seem like the easiest thing to find and the ones I did didn’t seem to use the pre existing interface, using an additional remote instead.

thanks for any advice or guidance you may have!

[Roy 400h]

Hi Nick,

in short you cant connect your phone and get full functionality if its anything like the Mark Levinson system I have in my 2007 400h, there isn't even an auxilliary input.  I got around this by getting an FM modulator from Jaycar, i can at least stream my spotify/sound cloud music that way.  Some of the modulators even allow phone calls but its not been very consistent for me. Sound quality is ok but there can be some interference noise in the FM band, I think it depends on which frequency you choose to use. 

The Mark Levinson hifi is superb though, Im enjoying my CD collection all over again !

Hope that helps.

 

Roy.