Portofino Front Parking Camera

F Chatters: Does anyone know if a front parking camera can be retrofitted to a Portofino? Is there a plug and play kit available?

 

Barry, for what it's worth I recently purchased a Portofino and asked my dealer about installing the OEM front parking camera. I have the front parking sensors but am not impressed with how they work when sensing parking curb heights. My dealer said it was big job and talked me out of it. He made it seem like it would be cheaper to buy a new car! I believe there are a lot of aftermarket systems, so maybe someone on the forum has some suggestions.

 

The OEM camera system on the Portofino is an LVDS camera. It will be very difficult for you to interface your OEM NIT to a non OEM LVDS camera. There are ways to interface a NON LVDS camera to the system by tricking the NIT to think it is in reverse. This is certainly not an easy job unless you are familiar with Canbus, programing, and electronics. Also the route you take depends on what the specs of the Infotainment system in your car are; ie Hifi, non Hifi, CarPlay, etc. If you wish to pursue this further, DM me and we can talk in more detail.

 

Front parking camera and Apple CarPlay were among the must have options on my list when I was searching for my Portofino. I ended up taking one with front parking camera but without Apple CarPlay. Retrofitting Apple CarPlay also seems very complicated…going to live with a phone holder.

 

PortoV8: Actually, retrofitting Apple CarPlay in your Portofino is quite straightforward and definitely worth doing. I have done it in my wife's Cali T and I am about to do it in my Portofino. You need to purchase the proper unit online from ***********, Model No: CZT-F-Portofino, and have your local high end stereo shop install it. It makes a world of difference in your car, especially if you use an iPhone.

 

Thank you for the model number! Can’t agree more that CarPlay makes a world of difference. There is another thread about retrofitting it, but it wasn’t very clear that if it will work on Portofino without removing significant amount of parts.

 

The dash has to come out to get the radio out. The Apple CarPlay retrofit unit you purchase is "plug and play" with the head unit in the car and it stores behind the head unit once the dash is reassembled. The installation is best handled by a professional and maybe takes four hours.

 

My Cali T had the full front camera system and my Portofino does not- it has the "Parking Camera" which is fairly primitive. It will detect another car, gate or a solid wall in front of you, but it's useless for curbs or parking lots. I end up stopping my car far short of any barrier....that front splitter looks like it will snap easily.