1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee with an iPad Dashboard Shows Old-School Can Be Cool Too

And living proof is the project here, as an iPad mini was installed into a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee (ZJ) for a genuine Apple experience when driving.

The iPad mini is a choice that more or less makes sense especially because of its screen size. The first-generation iPad mini, for example, was launched in October 2012 with a 7.9-inch screen, while the standard model boasted a display measuring 9.7 inches.

Three more generations followed in the next years, so right now, the latest iPad mini comes with a substantially improved display with True Tone and support for the Apple Pencil.

Installing it as a custom dashboard in a ‘96 Jeep Grand Cherokee obviously requires some modifications on the center console, but nothing that you shouldn’t be able to do at home. As YouTuber Andrew Johnson himself says, there are few minor details that could be further detailed, but other than that, everything looks pretty cool.

Having an iPad power your driving experience is actually a really good idea because the tablet offers the full iOS experience without any limitations (as compared to CarPlay, which only runs apps that are optimized for the car), On the other hand, there are apps that you really shouldn’t use behind the wheel, like video players, but other than that, you have navigation, music, and pretty much everything else.

And the best of all is that the cost of such an upgrade isn’t really big, especially if you already own an iPad. An older-generation model is just perfect for this project, albeit its dimensions can also fit your car’s center console for an integration that’s as seamless as possible.