Replacing Analog Phone With Bluetooth On 2001 Lexus 430

[jspickenspa]

My 2001 Lexus 430 is equipped with a center console Sprint analog phone. I was wondering is there is an aftermarket product that will allow me to convert the analog phone to a bluetooth interface (maybe a plug in that simply replaces the analog phone). Also I am open to any other suggestions. I would like to make use of the phone book, handsfree voice interface for calling, etc.. I do not want to use a bluetooth pickup device like Jabra that clips to the visor.

Any feedback appreciated.

[1990LS400]

I've seen similar questions many times over the past 10 years or so. There are no "plug and play" upgrades for either the 2001-2002 Sprint/Qualcomm Touchpoint-based LS430 phone system or the 2003 AT&T/Nokia 6310i-based LS430 phone system that will allow it to interface with the steering wheel mounted phone controller or navigation system if your car has one.

According to a coworker who worked at Sprint for many years, if your LS430 Sprint phone still functions, you should be able to use it as all the frequencies it used are still supported. (To say the least, I know many current and former Sprint employees. I live near their headquarters in Kansas.) Some people have just permanently left these old phones in their charging cradles in the center console and forwarded calls from their more modern Smartphones to them. Of course this requires that you have and pay for an additional phone service.

Or, you could ignore and even remove your old phone components and install an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit from a company like Parrot or Motorola. These kits seem to be getting rarer as more and more new cars come with Bluetooth hands-free phone systems.

Is your car a recent purchase? Does it have navigation? You might want to consider an integrated aftermarket solution that provides you with hands-free phone and aux-in/A2DP Bluetooth that would allow you to stream audio from a Smartphone.