Honda is now offering an accessory iPod connection.
I am in sales at a Honda dealership, and I am a Honda owner myself. I have had first-hand experience with Honda's iPod accessory Music Link™, but I can't honestly give it the best rating.
It works, and it mounts the iPod in the glovebox, which keeps it out of view and allows it to be powered by the same cable that connects the audio to the system. Another huge plus is that it will turn the iPod on and off automatically as the vehicle is switched on and off.
However, what makes the iPod so great is its ease of use, and user-friendly functionality. This unfortunately, is largely taken away with the Honda Music Link™ accessory. You can not navigate by artist and track. You can only navigate by playlist, and only the first few letters of the name of the playlist appear on the screen, drastically limiting usability. You can also shuffle your music at random.
What I want is a solution that will allow me to plug my iPod into a dock in either the glovebox, or the center console, and control my ipod using either an added trackwheel in an unobtrusive, yet easily reachable location, or a virtual clickwheel on the touch screen of my Honda Ridgeline's navigation screen. Of course, I would also like to view on my navi screen a mirror image of the iPod's screen itself. Direct, on-screen, touch navigation of the ipod's hierarchy of menus would also be a huge plus.
Honda's solution is at this point, very archaic in implementation, and nowhere near as intuitive as the iPod's controls. I am hopeful that this will be improved in future versions, as
BMW has recently done.