With all due respect to my colleague who earlier complained about the placement of the Camry AUX input, I say phooey! That's right, phooey.
Of all the dunderheaded locations a carmaker could place an input for an iPod; Toyota's solution is perhaps the least dunderheaded. True, it is tucked all the way to the back of a deep, dark cave at the bottom of the center stack...
Once done, the location's advantages are obvious. Go ahead and leave the cord plugged into the input. The cavernous compartment will neatly conceal even the longest cord. In the morning, simply open the fake-metal compartment door and plug in your iPod. And when you need to run into the store, simply place your still-connected Pod in the storage container and close the lid. Bingo! Would-be thieves won't even know it's in the car.
It certainly beats having an input on the audio system's faceplate or on the passenger-side of the instrument panel (as the Honda Element does). Toyota has gotten right what has flummoxed many other car makers. -- Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit at 12,616 miles
tjscata says:
10:32 AM, 04/19/07
Another convenient feature of that deep, dark cave is the pass-through on the right hand side. See the attached picture. If you pop out the plugs on both sides, you can pass the ipod aux cord (or a phone charger, etc) through there and then put the ipod in that little holder that is on the passenger side. Then you don't have to open the door and fumble with the cord at all!
dragonzsoul says:
10:40 AM, 04/19/07
hey, the honda civic has a great set up too!
sorebikr says:
11:29 AM, 04/19/07
I beg you to take a look at the Subaru Outback Wagon's aux input. Its in the compartment BETWEEN the seats. Drop in your ipod, close the lid and forget about it. Its great.
duh_rel says:
11:41 AM, 04/19/07
A friend of mine has the Camry hybrid and she was so frustrated that there wasn't an AUX input until I told her about it. I think it's a good design, although there are a lot of drivers that like to have things clearly visible and/or marked for them (which would essentially make it easier for a thief to see).
alpha01 says:
06:26 AM, 04/20/07
tjscata- yes, many people overlook the trap door. thanks for providing the pic!
~alpha
car_nut2007 says:
07:15 PM, 04/22/07
I went to the toyota dealer this week ( We bought an 07' Tundra as a work Vehicle) and while the salesman was copying some papers there was a red camry LE sitting in the showroom so I went and played with it, and i like the hole in the trap door cubby, but its kind of wierd to get it out (2 -pieces) and i felt like i was going to break it..but i haven't checked the new cam out yet...very impressive car
xoquixxoqafxo says:
11:51 AM, 07/21/08
Toyota=Love :P