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Post by caseyrook AKA Mechelle on Nov 17, 2018 19:59:26 GMT
Okay, so I thought my new (to me) 2014 Chevy Captiva doesn't have Bluetooth capability at first.
But after researching why then there was a phone button on the steering wheel, I found it does and ultimately hooked my phone up to the car's Bluetooth through the Standard Factory Radio.
...The BT only works for making calls. You can't stream any audio from your phone, and even that's not an automatic process. You have to "turn on" BT via the button on the steering wheel and wait for your car to ask you what you want to do ("call this number, etc"). My radio is NOT a touch screen. It's still a dial and button set-up.
Is anyone familiar enough with upgrading or replacing the radio in your car to know the logistics, pros, cons, dos, don'ts of the process? My friend told me that he would worry about an after market radio draining the battery.
My problem is that there are many, many, many, options for radio/receiver units to choose from, but very few are ones that I am certain can be compatible with my car, and I don't know what it takes or what is needed to replace the unit or hook it up to the controls on my steering wheel (which is something I really want).
What's more is that my model of car has been discontinued by Chevy so there is less material to read for research and Captiva is often not even a choice in filters on websites (Even Chevy's website didn't list it with their 2014 models!) and I don't know what other Make is comparable to mine.
Or do you know of any other apps, devices, add-ons, that could let me stream BT without replacing the Standard Radio I already have? I know there are BT adapters but I'd rather use them as a last resort because the cigarette lighter (and USB port) is in a stupid spot under the cupholders between the front seats so those devices don't seem practical.
Or do you have any suggestions altogether?
If it helps, my car does have SiriusXM and OnStar (though I have a subscription for neither).
Thanks in advance.
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Post by backroadjunkie on Nov 17, 2018 22:14:34 GMT
The Captiva was an oddball South Korean car. It's twins were the Daewoo Winstorm (in Korea), the Opel Antara (in Europe) and the Holden Captiva (Down Under), in case you can get parts under those names... The Bluetooth you're talking about doesn't have anything to do with the radio. It's supposed to be the hands free alternative for your phone. I have the same thing in my car, and don't bother to use it. FWIW, I've never replaced a car radio that wasn't a total PITA. Non-standard/proprietary connectors, sub-woofer support (if you have a sub), number of speakers, and most importantly, the size of the radio itself and how to make it fit into the space you have. It can't be larger than your current radio (and that usually includes length), and it has to somehow fit into your front console and not look out of place. It was worse if you were installing speakers, and trying to route the wires... But I digress... Doesn't your current radio have a 1/8" (3.5mm) auxiliary input jack? That's probably the superior way to hook up your phone/MP3 player to your radio. I thought GM had this as a standard for years. You just need to get the male-male 1/8" cable and plug your device in. Before I had a radio with an aux jack, I used an FM transmitter that worked well, until you hit another city using the FM frequency you were using...  |
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Post by caseyrook AKA Mechelle on Nov 17, 2018 22:55:58 GMT
The Captiva was an oddball South Korean car. It's twins were the Daewoo Winstorm (in Korea), the Opel Antara (in Europe) and the Holden Captiva (Down Under), in case you can get parts under those names... The Bluetooth you're talking about doesn't have anything to do with the radio. It's supposed to be the hands free alternative for your phone. I have the same thing in my car, and don't bother to use it. FWIW, I've never replaced a car radio that wasn't a total PITA. Non-standard/proprietary connectors, sub-woofer support (if you have a sub), number of speakers, and most importantly, the size of the radio itself and how to make it fit into the space you have. It can't be larger than your current radio (and that usually includes length), and it has to somehow fit into your front console and not look out of place. It was worse if you were installing speakers, and trying to route the wires... But I digress... Doesn't your current radio have a 1/8" (3.5mm) auxiliary input jack? That's probably the superior way to hook up your phone/MP3 player to your radio. I thought GM had this as a standard for years. You just need to get the male-male 1/8" cable and plug your device in. Before I had a radio with an aux jack, I used an FM transmitter that worked well, until you hit another city using the FM frequency you were using... Yes, it does have AUX (and USB but USB doesn't work with my phone) but my frustration comes from the fact that I would like to be able to control the audio with the buttons on my steering wheel. Also, I didn't know it when I wrote this, but the BT I do have doesn't work entirely to make calls. I'm told I don't have enough "minutes" for OnStar and it starts calling OnStar so I can get some more (which was an act that gave me horrible anxiety, thanks for that Chevy)... The Aux cord works but my goal is to have no cords hooked up at all. I don't want any extra distractions and they always are for me. It's too much stuff in my environment (which is said of many places and situations not just my car) and that bothers me because of sensory issues. And this isn't because I'm messing with my phone when I drive. I don't unless I'm not moving. Just knowing it's there is enough to bother me. And like I said, anything that hooks up to the cigarette lighter would be impractical because of its location in my car. It's cramped down there and you'd have to look down in that space under the cupholders instead of up where the radio is. I mean I guess if I found something that fit I wouldn't be against it as a last resort, but that's it. Call me what you will but I really want to be able to use my steering wheel to use audio from my phone. I just didn't know if I had any alternative options or if there was a radio that would work... ...You know what? I should see what happens if I used a flash drive loaded with music... |
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Post by Hari Seldon on Nov 18, 2018 5:15:01 GMT
The Captiva was an oddball South Korean car. It's twins were the Daewoo Winstorm (in Korea), the Opel Antara (in Europe) and the Holden Captiva (Down Under), in case you can get parts under those names... The Bluetooth you're talking about doesn't have anything to do with the radio. It's supposed to be the hands free alternative for your phone. I have the same thing in my car, and don't bother to use it. FWIW, I've never replaced a car radio that wasn't a total PITA. Non-standard/proprietary connectors, sub-woofer support (if you have a sub), number of speakers, and most importantly, the size of the radio itself and how to make it fit into the space you have. It can't be larger than your current radio (and that usually includes length), and it has to somehow fit into your front console and not look out of place. It was worse if you were installing speakers, and trying to route the wires... But I digress... Doesn't your current radio have a 1/8" (3.5mm) auxiliary input jack? That's probably the superior way to hook up your phone/MP3 player to your radio. I thought GM had this as a standard for years. You just need to get the male-male 1/8" cable and plug your device in. Before I had a radio with an aux jack, I used an FM transmitter that worked well, until you hit another city using the FM frequency you were using... Yes, it does have AUX (and USB but USB doesn't work with my phone) but my frustration comes from the fact that I would like to be able to control the audio with the buttons on my steering wheel. Also, I didn't know it when I wrote this, but the BT I do have doesn't work entirely to make calls. I'm told I don't have enough "minutes" for OnStar and it starts calling OnStar so I can get some more (which was an act that gave me horrible anxiety, thanks for that Chevy)... The Aux cord works but my goal is to have no cords hooked up at all. I don't want any extra distractions and they always are for me. It's too much stuff in my environment (which is said of many places and situations not just my car) and that bothers me because of sensory issues. And this isn't because I'm messing with my phone when I drive. I don't unless I'm not moving. Just knowing it's there is enough to bother me. And like I said, anything that hooks up to the cigarette lighter would be impractical because of its location in my car. It's cramped down there and you'd have to look down in that space under the cupholders instead of up where the radio is. I mean I guess if I found something that fit I wouldn't be against it as a last resort, but that's it. Call me what you will but I really want to be able to use my steering wheel to use audio from my phone. I just didn't know if I had any alternative options or if there was a radio that would work... ...You know what? I should see what happens if I used a flash drive loaded with music...I was reading through the entire post already knowing as soon as I'd seen the mention of USB that I was going to recommend the flash drive, then you finish off with exactly what I was going to suggest...  As a matter of fact, I find the flash drive to be better because it doesn't drain the phone battery. The other suggestion I had was to get a decent BT speaker and just have have your phone play the music through that without bothering with the car's own audio system at all, though that still won't work with the steering wheel controls.
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Post by caseyrook AKA Mechelle on Nov 18, 2018 5:35:51 GMT
Yes, it does have AUX (and USB but USB doesn't work with my phone) but my frustration comes from the fact that I would like to be able to control the audio with the buttons on my steering wheel. Also, I didn't know it when I wrote this, but the BT I do have doesn't work entirely to make calls. I'm told I don't have enough "minutes" for OnStar and it starts calling OnStar so I can get some more (which was an act that gave me horrible anxiety, thanks for that Chevy)... The Aux cord works but my goal is to have no cords hooked up at all. I don't want any extra distractions and they always are for me. It's too much stuff in my environment (which is said of many places and situations not just my car) and that bothers me because of sensory issues. And this isn't because I'm messing with my phone when I drive. I don't unless I'm not moving. Just knowing it's there is enough to bother me. And like I said, anything that hooks up to the cigarette lighter would be impractical because of its location in my car. It's cramped down there and you'd have to look down in that space under the cupholders instead of up where the radio is. I mean I guess if I found something that fit I wouldn't be against it as a last resort, but that's it. Call me what you will but I really want to be able to use my steering wheel to use audio from my phone. I just didn't know if I had any alternative options or if there was a radio that would work... ...You know what? I should see what happens if I used a flash drive loaded with music...I was reading through the entire post already knowing as soon as I'd seen the mention of USB that I was going to recommend the flash drive, then you finish off with exactly what I was going to suggest... As a matter of fact, I find the flash drive to be better because it doesn't drain the phone battery. The other suggestion I had was to get a decent BT speaker and just have have your phone play the music through that without bothering with the car's own audio system at all, though that still won't work with the steering wheel controls.
I actually have been using a mini BT speaker that can fit in my cup holder for months now, even in my old car, but like I had said, that was part of "too much" in the environment. I did set up a flash drive but it was a process that took nearly 4 hours because of all the logistics. That might be the solution I stick with. |
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