I managed to buy one of the first O-Car head units for my MPV – prices seem to be currently fixed around £250.00. I’m a pretty regular Dad, with regular requirements – the main one being I need a car stereo which runs from my iPhone,charges it, and bluetooths the business phone calls. Simple! So you might like to read about my findings.
To keep it short, it’s a good unit but with some fundamental flaws. Sound is perfectly acceptable once adjusted using the sound app provided (which you download from the Apple app store), certainly comparable with an entry-level Sony unit it replaced.
It’s certainly an ingenious solution to use the iPhone 3G or iPhone4 as the head unit, and seemed like pure logic to me on paper. Transitions between playing music on ipod setting to a phone call are seamless, handled by a microphone supplied and the units Bluetooth. Using satnav apps is also fine, but here some cracks appear. I popped in a postcode to my clients address into Navmii’s excellent Navfree app, double clicked to turn on the radio app (the second app you download from app store) only to discover that the radio app can’t multi-task!
