Thread: connecting and mounting Iphone near driver door?

Hi. Very recently purchased a 2010 200C wagon here in Sydney, Australia.

This model has the nokia phone connector, Audio 20, and the auxillary 3.5mm jack in the glove box.

I would like to use my Iphone 4 for music, telephone and gps.

As of today the phone works over bt very well but it will not allow me to transfer the phone book from the phone to the car. I can live with that. Of course I don't have connection to the inductive antenna but I can live with that too.

As of today the audio works well as far as sound quality goes via the 3.5 mm jack. Volume is fine. However of course you can't control anything on the iphone via the 3.5mm jack while it is inside the glove box.

As of today I cannot use the phone GPS while the phone is in the glove box. To use the phone for GPS it needs to be mounted on the dash, and as far as I can see the best spot is near the driver's door.

My question is: Is it possible to just buy the Ipod integration kit, and have my dealer install that and run a cable from the glove box side and exit near the driver's door?

Or do I need to get the presumably even more expensive MDI and then run a cable across?

Where is the best place to have the cable exit and what is the best way to do it?

Is what I am planning a bad idea? Is there a better way to do it?

Once the phone is on the dashboard I can control the Ipod functionality directly from the device.

Thanks in advance for any help.

You car is already prewired for the comfort telephone unless I am terribly mistaken. In the armrest is there a socket for the iphone cradle ?

Secondly, you are also able to install the factory GPS upgrade to the current screen. It is a special upgrade that enables the existing radio to be a GPS.

Thirdly, you may wish to consider COMAND upgrade since that is actually quite useful with voice control.

Fourthly, are you certain that your car is not a 2009 ? I have not seen a 2010 car with audio jack but I am open to learning about your problem.

All of the 2010 I have seen are fitted with UCI and the cable itself can be interchanged to fit the iphone for music.

Thanks for the information. I bought the car from a leading dealer here in sydney. Actually I went in to look at a 2011 250d but this second hand model was a demonstrator with 3500 km and it was so much cheaper....

It has model designation c200 cgi w204 my10 and manufacture date October 2010. It definitely has the 3.5 mm jack as I have used it for the last few days.

In the armrest ( centre ) there is a phone connector but hither the iPhone itself or a USB plug fits. It definitely looks like the old style nokia thing although I could buy a cradle.

If I buy the cradle i will still have to put in a second cable to hook the phone up to the 3.5 mm jack.

I would like to buy the gps and command unit but here in Australia I won't be surprised if the charge me $5000 for all that. I'll have to check that out as the color screen is bigger and otherwise largely wasted.

The iPhone gps is excellent and has in built Internet ie google connectivity which is great when you don't know the address.

So i would still like to work out how to mount the phone on the dash and use just the one cable from the phone to do the audio and phone power and continue to use the excellent mb Bluetooth phone connectivity.

THe only difference between your two propositions would be the cost.

If you are suggesting to leapfrog your cars navigation and go directly to the facelift navigation then I dont recommend that move. It requires a new cluster and a whole range of other things you dont want.

You will find on ebay a number of people dumping the older NTG4 which suits your car.

By having a new COMAND LCD screen and a COMAND unit you would have to still look at buying the fans and wiring which 90% seem to forget to supply.

Personally if it was my car I would have the factory GPS and the upgraded cradle. Though I would take a serious look at importing the items.

Thank you for the thoughts. Not sure what you mean by facelift navigation but it doesn't matter. I think I will go in and talk to the MB people here in Sydney when I get some time and ask them about costs.

The problem with the factory cradle is it still won't give me the ipod functionality. It seems most people get around that with a separate ipod in the glovebox.


Although I import quite a lot of things for various purposes the effort of importing a screen and then finding someone to fit it and then having to discuss the warranty issues with the local service centre does not appeal much.

At a minimum I will order the Ipod kit assuming it can be fitted. Its all a lot of expense and work, however I should thought of that before buying the car.

I'm also going to look at the compliance plate when I get a chance.

Update:

Spoke to the dealership.

For about $200-$300 parts and labour I can mount the Iphone on the dash by the driver's door. I will run an aux in cable, and an Iphone power cable from the glove box sockets. The dealership will route the cables behind the dash. Nothing apparently needs to be cut.

It will be ugly. The phone will need two cables but I will have Iphone GPS, phone and Ipod for $250 installed.

The alternative of retrofitting command and company GPS would have cost at least $5000, maybe more. It would have looked much nicer but not offered much extra functionality at 25X the price.

Thanks for all the information here and the mercupgrade site. Will make a paypal donation.

You costings are way over what I can see as market prices.

In any event the voice control is worth $2500 alone. It is many years above what the iphone can achieve.

Well can you suggest a dealer where I should check again please?

Originally Posted by Ozboy

Well can you suggest a dealer where I should check again please?

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