While I admit to some envy of Allison driving around in a brand new Tesla, I’m still happy with my new car. I say new. It was new when I got it. 13 years ago. I’ve adhered to the manufacturer’s servicing program almost perfectly, including having the servicing done by them, and it has barely given me any problems in the 100,000 km I have driven it.
Being a 2006 mid-trim model, it came with an in-dash 6-CD changer and an auxiliary input jack and even steering wheel audio controls. In 2006 that was pretty nifty, but now my music lives on my iPhone, or even in the cloud. CDs are so clunky in 2019 and even if I wanted to listen to the radio (I don’t) the aerial is busted.
So for the last five years or so, I’ve been using a Belkin Aircast Auto which is… functional… but really quite annoying. When I’m driving at speed, there’s enough road noise to mask the hum and occasional other noises the unit emits through my speakers but in traffic it is quite audible. One of the noises sounds like a turbo whine that rises with engine RPMs — entertaining but less than ideal. The microphone works but callers have trouble hearing me. So does Siri.
A couple of years ago I asked the dealership where I have my car serviced whether they could fit an after-market Bluetooth unit. “Sure.” they said. “How much?” I asked. “Around $800.” they said. “I’ll let you know.” Yikes! I dropped the idea and soldiered on with the Aircast. Until now.
A while back I decided to research the market to see what was available and came across GTA Car Kits. This company sells a huge range of kits each engineered to specific vehicles. They cover fourteen different car makers, many models from each, and many different model years, some I found going as far back as 2002. About a month ago I finally decided to go ahead and order one.
I entered the details for my car and was presented with two choices — a wired solution that would give “iPod control” with an optional Bluetooth Extension module, or the Pure Bluetooth solution which also includes a wired Aux option. I went for the Pure Bluetooth model as that was the whole point of my purchase.
Before I purchased the unit, I was able to watch the installation video that GTA have on their site, so I was reasonably comfortable that I would be able to install it myself. The unit arrived less than a week after I placed my order, then I set to work installing it.
I had the installation video on my iPhone to guide me through the install process. Between the visual of an actual installation and the comprehensive commentary, there were almost no surprises during my install. I found it useful to be able to see the location and angle of the clips on the fittings I had to remove, so I wasn’t too afraid of applying the necessary force when it became necessary.
The big surprise came when I removed the head unit from the dash and found the expansion port on the back already had something plugged into it. I was crestfallen for a moment before I realised what it likely was. Unlike the car in the video, mine has a factory fitted power socket (aka cigarette lighter socket) and aux port in the centre arm rest. I spied 5 wires emanating from the unexpected plug and deduced these would correspond to a 3 wire stereo signal and two wire power. I elected to remove it and carry on.
The rest of the install went to plan, though at one point I looked down and noticed blood on my finger. I have no idea which part of the dash I cut it on. After a quick wash up, I put the final pieces back in place and it was time to test it.
The unit takes advantage of an “extended” mode which I believe is intended for an external CD changer unit. After turning on the power and pressing a few buttons, I was able to see “GTA Car Kit” appear as an available Bluetooth device on my iPhone. I was in business!
The kit promised CD-quality sound and the ability to control the audio on the phone using the car’s own buttons. It all worked as it should. At least, it did during that first test.
The next time I got in the car I was expecting the pairing to be automatic and it sort of was. The radio beeped and a moment later my iPhone began playing audio… out of its own speaker. I tried unpairing and re-pairing and all worked as it should again. The next time the same thing happened. The phone was seeing the Bluetooth and pairing with it, as evidenced in the Bluetooth settings, but was not sending the audio over that connection. Out of my first 8 starts, it worked properly twice.
I was already emailing GTA about the unexpected plug and so asked about this behaviour. Maurizio responded by asking me for a few details of my specific stereo and then offered a possible solution — quit all background audio apps on the phone, as this had fixed the problem for some other customers. He said there is a problem with the Bluetooth drivers in iOS 12 and that Apple are working on the issue. I quit every single app on my phone and the next two times the phone properly paired straight away. Since then it has failed again as I have already described, so now I either quit the apps before starting, or do the dance of the Bluetooth connection. It’s a bit of a pain when I’m doing a lot of short journeys, but hopefully Apple sort it out in a future iOS release.
Overall, I am very happy with my GTA Car Kit. I had not considered the loss of the factory aux and power, but the kit provides its own aux, which I fitted, and also an optional charging cable which I may add later. The difference is that the factory items are both sockets, flush fitted inside the centre console, where as the GTA has a cable ending in a plug for both. For the aux that is better as no additional cable is required, however for the power I will have to choose to install a Lightning cable with the possibility I may later need to swap it out for USB-C for future phones.
I’m loving the crisp audio, sans any hums or fake turbo whine, and the direct control I now have from my steering wheel. I can even answer and hang up phone calls from the steering wheel. Did I mention the kit comes with a microphone? I’ve yet to test calling, but Siri does hear me, I think, more clearly. With Siri, though, who can tell, right?
I have also been impressed with the support from GTA. I’ve exchanged a number of emails with Maurizio on the topics I’ve mentioned and he’s always been really helpful.
My GTA Pure Bluetooth module costs $139 direct from GTA. The wired unit costs $84.99. I checked to see if Amazon sell them and found some that were very similar in appearance but did not include the microphone nor aux cable. In any case I would recommend buying direct from GTA for their clear ordering process to ensure you get a model suitable for your vehicle, and for their excellent support.
Thank you for your review of GTA bluetooth car kit.
I’ve had mine installed for some time and enjoy the add-on of bluetooth to my older car, but also have to live with the failure of automatic pairing/ connection. I accept that and I am used to the fix of -phone – settings – bluetooth off – bluetooth on – manual select gta for connection. The bigger issue – My left/right channels are reversed when connected by the gta! Its not my speaker wiring, it is the gta kit. I only was able to notice this one day when listening to an Armin Van Buuren track where a sound test is performed. I greatly enjoy my music listening in the car, but now I’ve got to get my sound stage and balance to be correct via this kit. I’m in the process of getting into my unit again, getting pictures and looking up wiring diagrams for the car port that the gta uses as if it is just left/right wiring issue, I hope a wiring swap of L and R is the fix. I’m curious if you test yours with a left/right balance test audio file or website audio balance test to see if yours is the same, or if I was just lucky to get mine was reversed when made. Maybe it’s not the wiring for mine, but the brains of the GTA, but I think its the wiring and in any case, a reverse of channel wiring should be my fix. Curious if your find reversed channels on yours!
Update on my issue of reversed / swapped Left / Right audio channels via bluetooth via GTA Car Kit. The connecting device is iPhone 8 by the way, and the same issue was occurring for previous iPhone 6. The issue remains but I am doing some more tests. Trying a different device, iPad – bluetooth audio to GTA = issue remains – left and right channels are reversed just as the iPhone. Ok, let’s do the next test with a different operating system. Samsung android phone – bluetooth audio to GTA = same issue, left and right channels are reversed. Next test. Using the iPhone 8 again, I tested the aux / wired audio connection of the GTA, not expecting a different result, but a different result is what I get. iPhone 8 – lightning connection – lightning to headphone dongle – aux input of the GTA kit = provides correct left and right audio channels! I was not expecting this. I was thinking the issue was with the wiring of the Left and Right connections at the connector that plugs into the car’s unit, but these tests may mean an issue with the bluetooth or internal wiring of the GTA. Thoughts? I suspect this issue (and maybe it’s just my issue) of bluetooth audio via the GTA kit having reversed audio channels in a car environment is not easily or normally noticed or important to the average listener. Hey, it’s audio/music in the car, all set to go. I did not catch it myself until a sound check emulation during a music track. Now that I know it is reversed and wrong for my setup, and caring about my audio, it is a goal of mine to correct it. TBD.
I’m still curious if other GTA bluetooth kit owners experience this. Other GTA bluetooth car kit owners – connect your device and load up a left/right balance test and see.
That’s an interesting problem. Based on your follow-up tests, it seems like it would have to be a software issue in the GTA unit to send the Bluetooth signal “backwards.” I know a couple of tracks I have which do an obvious stereo pan, but I probably won’t have time to check this for a week or so, even though I will be spending a lot of time listening through my GTA — road trip! What I won’t have with me is a non-Bluetooth connection to act as control (I don’t know the tracks well enough to know which way they pan). I’ll get back to you…
Sorry I did not get around to testing for this issue — I’ve been busy with life in ways I had not expected. However, Allison’s recent muck-up with audio where she recorded herself on the wrong microphone inadvertently worked as a test. While listening in the car, I noticed Allison’s voice coming mostly from the left speaker, but upon leaving the car and switching to my PowerBeats Pro earbuds, she jumped to my right ear. So, the GTA Car Kit definitely has opposite stereo staging to PowerBeats Pro. This doesn’t prove which is correct, but I’d put my money on Apple/Beats doing it right.
How have you found the hands free to work? Do people hear you well on a call? I assume you can hear them through the audio just fine.
Hi! Thanks for the review. I am consdering purchasing one for my Toyota Sienna. Like you, I currently already have an AUX port. Are you saying that whatever gets unplugged from the back of the head unit disables this AUX port and possibly one of my power (cigarette lighter) sockets? I don’t have either of these ports on an armrest though, they are all on the center console. Just wondering if you have any insight here. Thanks.
Hi Chris. The Aux port stopped working, and being the pretty simple device it is, I assumed the plug I removed from the back had been supplying the signal to it, rather than any kind of failure. It is worth noting at this point that I still have hit-and-miss success with my phone connecting to it and I have actually been contemplating removing the unit. One of the key reasons I wanted it was the microphone so I could use it for phone calls, but that has not been working for some time now. I should probably troubleshoot it — it may just be a loose connection — but it is very tempting, if I’m going to open anything up, just to rip it all out. I think the vendor’s statement that the connection issues are Apple’s may be divorced from the truth.
Damn I was thinking of getting one. But read so many issues people are having
i got one and now i read about the problems 🙁