2016 E350/W212 (NTG 5.0) Cheap CarPlay solution that is also GREAT!
I just got a very nice 2016 E350 with Pearl White exterior and brown leather interior (sport pkg with AMG 5 spoke wheels).
I IMMEDIATELY missed CarPlay and a real NAV/Map.
I read up on coding it myself as I have done a bit of that with BMW's in the past, but decided I didn't want the learning curve just to get CarPlay.
So I shopped ALL the behind the dash man in the middle options (device between stereo/head and screen). The pricing ranged from $150 to $1000.
So I took a chance on an Amazon $179 Chinesium unit that seemed to offer what I needed which was NTG 5.0 compatibility which is a little rare... Turns out the NTG 5.0 was only put in some of the 2016 W212's late in the manufacturing cycle. Most seemed to get the 4.5/4.7 units.
Long story short, IT'S BRILLIANT! Works great, interfaces perfectly, and according to the shop that installed it, seems to work exactly the same as the unit they sell for $700 (they pay $350 for that one).
It took 45 minutes to install and there are a lot very good youtube videos that walk through this install. I could have done it myself but since the shop was tinting my windows already, I paid them $100 to install it.
Here is the link: https://a.co/d/0dVN4yZf
So I wanted to share my under $300 solution to CarPlay in the facelift E350's
Enjoy!