Center cup holder, no mount.
If it’s active, it’s usually playing music or a podcast (or actually being used as a phone) all of which can be controlled via my radio. On the rare event that it’s navigating, it’s mostly just voice prompts through the stereo and I’ll turn the phone on to glance at my next exit if I really need to.
I use this thing, a magnetic stick-on mount, placed pretty much dead center on my dash right above the vents. I experimented with a few different spots but that was the one that worked best in my car. (2012 Mazda 3 sedan)
I used to use a vent one, but I didn’t like having hot/cold air blowing directly onto my phone, nor did I like having the vent blocked.
My answer is close to this one. All the phone apps and GPS’s seem calibrated for someone in a Honda Accord. For those of us traveling via a large (~60’) RV, they’re far too slow to signal lane changes, and lead to roads/railway grades that are difficult (sometimes impossible) to navigate. I try to memorize the route each morning before travel, and the navigation apps are in my wife’s hands. She is experienced enough to reroute us around undesirable secondary roads consulting both electronic and paper maps. The goal of most navigation apps is the shortest route, but this can lead larger vehicles astray.
The phone is only used to play Audible books and is wherever the charging cord will reach. It bluetooth’s itself onto the dash display so I can control with touchscreen or switches on the steering wheel. I never look at it.
Our Subaru has a kind of cubbyhole under the radio and heat/AC controls. When I need navigation, it goes in there, propped up by the junk we keep in there, so I can see the screen at a glance, and I use the audio navigation.
For some reason, the Bluetooth stopped working months ago, so I don’t take calls when I’m driving. I do nothing so important that I need to talk to people immediately.
My Garmin is on a driver’s side window mount. (The A-post splits, like an upsidedown Y, there is a small window, not useful for much of anything except as a suction cup mount.)
My phone is either in front of the armrest/holder or on my thigh. I prefer the Garmin but there are some things I don’t like about it.
[ol]
[li]It gives you a route.[/li][li]When you deviate from that route it keeps trying to reroute you back that way. For instance, I only need it for the first few miles on the way home, to get me back to a main road. After that I know how to go home but it wants me to go a certain way even though I know another way is better/faster. Once I ‘miss’ a turn it goes for a couple of miles trying to reroute me back that way. No, I’m not taking that toll road/bridge when I can save $15 for about a 90 seconds longer route.[/li][li]If I’m searching for something in the car, it’s easier to press <directions> than to type it in.[/li][/ol]
Through a [del]quirk[/del] piss poor design of the car, it’ll only talk thru the speakers if I’m otherwise on the phone; however, if I turn bluetooth off & speakerphone on, they both talk at the same time making it hard to hear either one. :smack:
On the open door on the bottom compartment under the MFD and stereo, or in a cupholder if the cupholder is unoccupied.
Subject to change to ‘in a mount’ eventually.
I had it on a mount, till the mount came loose in the middle of a drive and I couldn’t retrieve my phone off the floor. Now I keep it between my knees.