FWIW, I was on the fence until I read some reviews that stated the custom screens didn’t look as good as the native Aston screens did. I’m not a big car play user (in my Vantage), so I decided to pass as I was most interested in enhanced/modified screens. I’m sure others that have it can provide more color though.

Also, my dealer quoted $1,250, so you may want to ask if their price is standard MSRP for the upgrade.

 

I have exactly the same question. Thank you for asking!

 

So I had this installed on my new Vantage and I’m a big CarPlay user/fan. I quite like the screens better than the native screens but I will say it’s buggy. Doesn’t auto connect 80% of the time for example. I personally think it was worth it but it’s really just a personal preference.

 

I have a 2025 Vantage and had Car Play Ultra installed about a month ago. First, double check price. The first dealer I called quoted me the $1500. The second told me that Aston was running a special through the end of the year to get it into more cars for $500. Obviously I went with the second and only paid $500.

Short answer: it's probably not worth it. At $1500, it's certainly not worth it. At $500, maybe for the novelty. As someone mentioned, it's buggy. Sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't. I've had it where I can see the speedo and tach, but everything else, including center screen is black and I can't play any music or see any maps until I turn off the car and reset everything. It also seems to now take the system a good 5-10 seconds from start to power up, whereas before the Ultra install, it was only 1-3 seconds.

But even if everything is working correctly, I don't really see the point. The regular Aston interface is gives you more information and is more sporty. The Ultra interfaces behind the wheel are "too Apple", and I say this as a HUGE apple fan. I could see how this would be nice on an SUV or family car, but on a performance sports car, it's a downgrade. Sure you can get a full screen map behind the wheel, but do you need that? I thought the display would be highly customizable, but it's not. Basically, you have 6 layouts to choose from and then some different color choices. None of them are as good as the native Aston screen IMHO. So the only difference between regular CP and Ultra CP is that you can customize the screen behind the wheel, and that's a downgrade for me.

The best option for me is to just use regular car play. With regular, you can still get Waze in the small map behind the wheel (useful for long drives), you can still control everything on your phone with you voice, you can still see everything in the center screen, etc. What's better, with regular CP, you can easily exit to the Aston screens and see telemetry data, etc. In Ultra, there's no easy way to exit out into the native Aston system.

The only advantage of CP Ultra IMHO is that you can turn off lane keep assist (which is MADDENING in the new Vantage) with 2 button presses instead of 3. That in itself might be worth $500, but probably not.

Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has....

 

Thank you for your thoughtful, insightful and complete review. I think I will not instill Apple Ultra in the foreseeable future. I am quite happy with what I have got and don't see any advantages. On the contrary, technology and connectivity are already quite painful, so why add more headaches.

Again, thank you very much for your comments - it is reviews like yours that make forums such a valuable resource.

 

WOW! Great assessment, and I would come down on it exactly as you did, specifically: "I thought the display would be highly customizable, but it's not. Basically, you have 6 layouts to choose from and then some different color choices. None of them are as good as the native Aston screen IMHO."

That was my impression after researching, and I'd have been very tempted if my dealer offered it at $500, but in the end, I'd have been disappointed. FWIW, I'm fine to save the $1,500 (what others were offered), $1,250 (what I was offered), or even $500 (what you paid), and make the third button press to turn off LKA. Let's say the average miles driven per year is 1,500 and each drive is 20 miles (75 drives per year). At $500 for CP ultra, and a three-year ownership term, that third button costs $2.22 to avoid; at $1,500 it's $6.66 per drive.

Thanks much for sharing...I won't be upgrading my '25 Vantage either!