Another help thread - I've been searching for over a week for some answers, but this car is so rare, there are no instant results on Google to help me start... so it's over to the community to see what can be done.
I have the non-nav model, which is fine by me as I paid less for the car as a result, and I really don't like the older gen i-drives. I prefer to retrofit a system which I have complete control over - wireless, 4G, bluetooth, Android OS, my own choice of Nav system and storage space for songs. This car is incredibly difficult to source good units due to the 1 DIN slot.
I am not even entirely sure what unit my car has, it says BMW Professional, it appears to have at least 7 speakers from what I can see. Is there a sure way of finding out?
My criteria
- High quality Android based 1 DIN flip out screen unit with a decent HD screen which works in sunlight, this means I don't have to have the screen out unless I want to use the nav, which is much less frequently than I use the stereo. Ideally, as boring and black as possible on the front with the least amount of "disco" so when the screen it not out, it looks almost OEM.
- A canbus adapter so that all the steering wheel controls continue to function
- I need the internal bongs to continue too, I saw a few options regarding this, either the adapter plums this into the unit or there is an external speaker a bit like a bios speaker on a motherboard
- A facade which works with the unit so that the dashboard doesn't look rubbish
Potential downsides
- I have researched that BMW can't perform software upgrades on the car without the OEM radio plugged in?
This seems bonkers but I suspect if their firmware software detects a module missing it probably throws an exception and won't move on... if so this will be a big pain as I don't want the OEM unit plumed into the back as some owners have done
Honestly this seems like a massive headache
- but I really don't want to put another brodit clip because I want the better sound with potential speaker upgrades in the distant future!Anyone with any experience please share!
I will continue to research and post any updates as I go here
