Nifty City
 

I am thinking about buying the Nifty City Apple Car play system.
Does anyone have it and what do you think of it?
The other question I have is there any other systems that people recommend for Apple Car Play.

I have a 2010 with Nav.

Did you buy it ?

I haven’t been on here in forever. Been modding my truck so the car has sat as is for some time.

I just bought the Nifty City Tesla style radio yesterday. I have an Android based HU in my truck and having wireless CarPlay is great.

I’ll let you know how everything goes.

So I installed my radio yesterday and got a little more time with it this afternoon. Wow, what a difference from even a double din radio.

Now I’m not an audio geek, and I probably can’t tell the difference from a high end system to this, but the overall size and ease of use with CarPlay is a game changer for me.

I even sat in the chic fil a parking lot and had dinner while hotspotting my phone and watching a movie.

Extremely impressed with this and will continue to see what I can do with it.

What do you think of it?
 

Looks awesome. I'm considering this upgrade too but not a lot out there actually showing what you can do with it after it's installed (I've looked on YouTube and seen some stuff). I assume it's like having a tablet in your car that also carries Android Auto/Apple Carplay too?

So, random question, what's the coolest thing you've found so far? What else do you like about it? Any negatives from your point of view?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Dave

I mainly got the unit for wireless Apple CarPlay. And the bigger screen is massive compared to my last 7” double din radio. I never really used the upper cubby, so this works much better.

I’m trying to find a good app that will allow me to connect to my dashcam, but I just started that tonight.

For my truck, I have a BT ODBII reader and have an app on my android auto radio to get gauges and such displayed. I’ll likely try that with the Z soon.

There are also a ton of launchers you can install to change the layout of your screen.

I have the nifty city modular. Easiest to install. Only issues you need to hold back button to bring carplay up on the screen, phone calls on carplay is too low, and you can't see the volume setting. But, beside that, OEM with Carplay to use for WAZE and Apple Music.

Nice! Thanks for the comments both. I too have an OBDII reader with an app on my Android phone with gauges so that would be cool to have a page on the screen with that info displaced (a-la GTR style!). I also read some people have ECUTek app running with similar (and map changing). The more I look into the Nifty City Tesla screen, the more I'd like one...

Ships with Android 11. Where do you go for updates? Curious as to how often they are released.

The Tesla style screen is expensive, but IMHO it’s worth it. Seems to be much better that the Brainiac system I’ve been looking at for a couple years.

You can also split screen many apps, so having those gauges on top and CarPlay or radio in the bottom.

I don’t see any updates on their website but I’m sure if there was an issue or any new features released you could email their support.

I just ordered the Tesla Screen model from Nifty City this week. I have a 2010 Roadster with the Nav and had already installed the modular Nifty City system in that. Wanted to make the change to the larger Tesla unit.

Let us know what you think. I’ve had a couple bugs so far, but nothing I can’t live with.

Absolutely will

Thank you for the pictures. This is the first one I have seen with the carbon fiber upcharge. Is the carbon fiber a real carbon fiber overlay, or is it just a hydrodip with carbon fiber print?

I’m not sure how to tell. But I’m sure it’s just hydro dipped.

Did you get round to fitting it yet?!? I'm really tempted to fit one so am keen to hear some more 'real users' thoughts. Thanks in advance.

So far, so good. I had some issues with sound only coming from the right side of the vehicle and nothing from the left. However, I found one connection that needed made and it rectified the issue. I am not overly familiar with Android based products having been a long time Apple user so the navigation in finding certain menus. I imagine that once I find what I am look for I will enjoy it more and more.

I got a unit with the Carbon Fiber upcharge. The CF appears to be genuine. The fit and finish is very good.

I have an android based unit in my truck, so I was fairly familiar but I use Apple CarPlay almost exclusively. It’s nice having wireless CarPlay for sure!

Question, if you press the up on your steering wheel for the next song, do you go to the next song, or to the beginning of the song you’re on? I also have an issue where when my lights cut on, the BT will disconnect every time the screen adjust for day vs night.

Glad to hear! I also have the cf, but wasn’t sure if it was real or not.

That is terrific! I am planning on switching my Workshop 12 with custom carbon fiber overlay to this and needed to make sure it was real. Thank you!

http://www.the370z.com/members/lentz...6-interior.jpg

So I started having a problem yesterday where the passenger side speakers cut in and out and sometimes crackle and pop. Seems like it’s when the car gets hot bc it doesn’t do this at lunch. But in the evening when I go home it does this. And gets better as the car cools down. Could it be the amp getting hot? I have an email out to NiftCity.

Ok, I started digging into this and found out that the issue is with the harnesses and connectors supplied with the niftycity radio. I can grab the harness and connectors and the music will start and stop. The screen will even go black at times.

I’ve emailed NiftyCity to see if they can supply new harnesses and supplied photos and a video. For now I have removed the additional harness and red box they tell you to use with the Bose system. No audio static right now and sitting still all the speakers are working. But I’d like to reinstall everything with new harnesses the way it should be.

I'm thinking about getting the tesla style nifty city head unit for my base trim 370z. I'm confused about the climate control buttons. Why are climate controls always shown on the display but there are physical buttons below that do the same thing? Can I hide the climate control buttons from the screen? I have a base trim 370Z without dual zone climate control, it only has single zone climate control. So will the screen detect I have only one zone or will it still show two zones?

Also does the head unit switch on and off automatically when I start and stop the engine of the car?

How does the reverse camera work? When I shift into reverse does the reverse camera come on automatically? Can I switch to the reverse camera manually at any time or must I go into reverse? Any tips on wiring it?

How can I get the head unit to use my phone's data connection automatically so it has internet access? I know I can use my phone as a hotspot but I need it to connect automatically so I don't have to spend the time connecting my phone every time I drive. Maybe bluetooth tethering will connect my phone's data to the head unit automatically every time once paired? Is that supported? I don't want to use a sim card because I will get charged for a second data plan when I could use my phone instead.

How does this work with stock base speakers? Any issues like static? Does it improve sound quality?

Can anyone share a copy of the manual?

The climate control will show temp and fan speed at the bottom at all times. Although the fan speed isn’t really accurate in “auto” mode. I have the sport touring package and don’t have a dual climate either. Did the 370z ever come with that? In any case, you can swipe up from the bottom and get more controls, but the dual climate portion just changes both sides.

The radio boots up pretty fast, but does cut off when you cut the car off. Cuts on when the ignition is on and maybe ACC? Just like any other radio.

My Z has the backup camera in the rear view mirror. So I didn’t wire anything for backup to the radio.

I honestly haven’t played with it enough, but I think you’ll need to set the radio to connect to your phones hotspot. Probably keep the phones hotspot on to connect automatically. Although I’m not sure if wireless CarPlay will work then?

The manual is too big to attach here. Not sure how to share from my phone.

Update: had to pay $99 for a new harness to ship to me. Installed and everything seemed to snap together properly. Have an address to send the old harness back to at which point I should get a refund.

I installed the red box and harness again, and as of right now and 4 days later it all seems to be working fine.

The Nifty City unit will not work with Ecutek. So if you are thinking about tuning your car do not get this. I hear it works with the Aucar screens.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

I just got mine. I will post a review after the install but, it's definitely not real CF! Not a deal breaker but, I might've saved the $149 knowing that it's dipped.

Do you have the Bose system? If so, are you using the red box and extra harness? My replacement harness is doing the same thing as the original. Speakers cutting in and out. I can touch that harness and it’s definitely the issue. Let me know how your installation turns out. Other than that issue, which has gone away by not using that extra harness the radio has been great.

Very interesting - thanks for the heads up. Do you have any more details on this? I have an ECUTek tuned car and would like the Nifty City upgrade but have paused on making the purchase... (possibly quite fortunately...?).

Do you mean by your last comment that ECUTek works with Aucar screens?

Has anybody successfully got Torque to display on their screen at the same time as using Android Auto? Trying to get my new Nifty City setup configured because all I used my old workshop 12 was for Torque and I want to see my torque gauges on the screen for live vitals.


Picture of the new setup

http://www.the370z.com/members/lentz...nifty-city.jpg

I thought they were the same thing? When you say yours isn't working, what issues are you having, exactly?

nifty city resells aucar (full tesla style screen)
they also sell a an oem integration that will get carplay working on the oem screen on touring models

You should be able to split screen AA and Torque. I don’t have AA, I use wireless CarPlay. But I can try that sometime soon.

SIM Card Slot built-in?
 

Does anyone know if the NiftyCity Tesla-Style Screen has a built-in slot to add a SIM card or do you have to tether it to a cell phone. I don't see SIM card slot listed in the specs on the NiftyCity site. I'd prefer to buy a separate standalone data plan to stream it over 4G/5G cellular service rather than using the data plan on my phone.

The short answer is yes, it holds a 4G sim card. No slot, but it has a wire harness that plugs into the back of the unit. The end of that harness has a sim card adapter that holds the card. It can use 4G cards.