Vehicle Guide

2013-2015 Toyota Land Cruiser Upgrade Guide

The 2013-2015 Toyota Land Cruiser upgrades we get asked about start with one gap: these early 200 Series trucks never got CarPlay, and their factory navigation stopped earning its dashboard space years ago. Our wireless CarPlay retrofit closes that gap on the screen the truck came with, the ShiftPower SP26 wakes up a famously relaxed accelerator pedal, and sound deadening lowers the noise floor that a decade of miles has raised. Each upgrade connects with OEM style plugs, cuts nothing, and comes back out cleanly if the truck ever goes back to stock.

Wireless CarPlay for the 2013-2015 Toyota Land Cruiser

Mechanically, a 2013-2015 Land Cruiser is just getting warmed up, and most owners plan to keep theirs for a long time. The electronics have aged faster than the drivetrain. The factory maps show roads as they existed when the truck was built, so the phone ends up clamped to a vent doing the real navigating while a large factory display sits in the dash showing a compass. That daily workaround is exactly what our S-Connect retrofit ends.

The kit that reaches back to these years is the LGVIF-CB2W wireless CarPlay and Android Auto kit. You will find it in our Lexus line because it serves the 2013-2021 Lexus family, but its vehicle options include a harness for the 2013-2015 Land Cruiser. Select the Land Cruiser option and confirm your truck on the product page before ordering, or send us your VIN and a photo of your screen and we will verify the right configuration for you. That confirmation step takes a day and saves a return.

How the install goes

The interface connects behind the factory display rather than at the radio. Dash trim comes off, the module goes in line with the factory harness using OEM style connectors, and the trim goes back on. No wire gets cut, nothing gets spliced or drilled, and the whole kit removes later without leaving a trace, which matters on a truck that holds its value the way this one does.

Plenty of owners do the job themselves with trim tools and an unhurried afternoon, and nearly every product we sell has an install video on our YouTube channel so you can watch the full procedure before deciding. If you would rather not open the dash, book an appointment at our La Mirada, CA facility. We install everything we sell, and most installs are finished the same day as the appointment.

What stays factory

This retrofit is deliberately conservative about the rest of the truck. The factory screen stays in the dash, so the interior still looks the way Toyota designed it. The backup camera keeps displaying the moment you select reverse. The steering wheel controls keep handling volume and calls. The original factory functions remain available behind a button press whenever you want them, so nothing you paid for in 2013 disappears.

Audio routing is worth understanding before you buy, because it is a design choice rather than an afterthought. The interface sends all CarPlay audio, meaning music, navigation prompts, and phone calls, through the truck's factory Bluetooth system. That preserves the factory sound path, keeps the volume knob and steering wheel volume controls in charge, and means calls behave the way they always have. The practical requirements are simple: the phone stays paired to the factory Bluetooth, the audio source on the factory side stays set to Bluetooth Audio, and everything plays through the speakers automatically.

Living with it day to day

After the first pairing, the system is hands off. You start the truck with the phone still in your pocket, the connection establishes on its own, and current maps, your music apps, and your messages appear on the factory display. Wireless CarPlay uses Bluetooth for the initial handshake and WiFi to carry the session itself, so keep both enabled on your phone and let the truck do the rest. If you are still deciding between connection types, our article on wired vs wireless CarPlay walks through the tradeoffs.

Two honest notes so expectations land where reality is. The kit adds CarPlay to the factory screen, it does not replace the screen, so the display size and resolution stay whatever Toyota installed in your model year. And the interface streams CarPlay and Android Auto from your phone rather than adding standalone apps to the factory system, so navigation and streaming ride on the phone's data plan. S-Connect kits carry a 3 year warranty, and the Toyota CarPlay and Android Auto collection covers the other Toyotas in your driveway.

ShiftPower SP26: a more responsive pedal, honestly framed

The accelerator in these trucks is drive by wire. Your foot moves a sensor, the computer interprets the request, and Toyota tuned that interpretation gently, which is why a 200 Series can feel like it thinks about your input before acting on it. The hesitation is most obvious pulling out of a side street or merging with three tons of truck to get moving. The ShiftPower SP26 throttle response controller plugs in at the accelerator pedal connector and reshapes that pedal signal, so the truck acts on your foot sooner. Multiple drive modes let you pick the character, anywhere from a light sharpening to an eager tip-in for towing days or trailheads.

Here is the framing we insist on, because this product category attracts inflated claims. A throttle controller adds no horsepower and no torque. It changes when the truck delivers the power it already has, not how much power exists. Going the other direction, eco mode softens the pedal mapping, which smooths your inputs and helps improve fuel economy for many drivers. The SP26 carries a 3 year warranty and unplugs in minutes to return the truck to stock, so trying it costs you nothing permanent. Our article on what a throttle controller does covers the technology in more depth, and the ShiftPower collection shows the full lineup. Confirm your exact year on the SP26 product page before ordering.

Sound deadening: the audio upgrade that applies to this truck

Let us say the honest part plainly: we do not currently make an amplifier kit for the 2013-2015 Land Cruiser, so sound deadening is the audio upgrade that applies here. It happens to be a genuinely effective one, because the loudest problem in an early 200 Series cabin is not the stereo, it is the road. Big door skins, big tires, and a decade of loosened trim all feed a constant hum that the factory speakers have to shout over.

Sound deadening material bonds mass and damping to the metal panels so they stop resonating along with the pavement. The benefit shows up twice. At highway speed the cabin is noticeably calmer, which changes how a long haul feels, and the factory audio improves for free because the quiet details in music are no longer buried under tire roar. Phone calls through the factory Bluetooth get easier for the same reason.

Browse the kits in our sound deadening collection and confirm your application there. If you are already booking a CarPlay install with us, combine the jobs. We install everything we sell at our La Mirada shop, including our sound deadening, and one appointment can cover both projects while the interior is open.

2013-2015 Land Cruiser upgrades at a glance

Everything below is designed and engineered in Japan and US, plug and play with OEM style connectors, and reversible. Nothing on this list requires cutting a factory wire.

Where to start: what we see in the shop

CarPlay first, nearly every time. It is the upgrade you interact with on every single drive, and it makes a 2013 interior feel current in a way no other single change can. The SP26 is the easy add on: it installs at the pedal connector in minutes, and you feel the difference the first time you pull away from a stop. Sound deadening is the project for owners who cover real distance, and it schedules naturally alongside a CarPlay appointment because the interior is already being opened.

Whichever order you choose, the confirmation habit matters more than the sequence. Send us your VIN and a photo of your screen before ordering the CarPlay kit, and confirm your year on the SP26 product page. Two minutes of checking means the box that arrives is the right one, whether it heads to your garage or to our install bay.