NEWBIE: gizmos for the Z4

[gadgetJunky72]

hi all,

so i've just traded in a 2003 bmw 330 cic for a 2004 Z4. not sure if it's an upgrade or a sideways step. the z4 made me smile on the test drive so i had to go for it.

by the time i'd finished with the 330 i'd added an Alpine sat nav + dvd, ipod connectivity, and bluetooth. so i'm looking to add some gizmo's to the Z4 and have some questions for you all.

1)
i've got sat nav on the Z4, can i add a tv/dvd to the screen. what do you guys think of the BMW sat nav. i doubt it will be able to match the after-market Alpine.

2)
I've been looking at the Dension Ice solution for integrating an ipod. is this the best one on the market? what other options do i have, do BMW do anything?

3)
Has anyone integrated a Parrot CK3100 to the factory head unit? is it any good? are there any bluetooth kits that integrate with the standard stereo, perhaps i should retro-fit the bmw bluetooth.

4)
Can i retro-fit a multi-function steering wheel. i'm really going to miss those button.

Thanks for you help. i'm picking up the car on saturday and can't wait. i used to own a Z3 and am really looking forward to the roadster lifestyle again.

 

[Wondermike]

1) i've got sat nav on the Z4, can i add a tv/dvd to the screen. what do you guys think of the BMW sat nav. i doubt it will be able to match the after-market Alpine.

It won't match it, it's pretty good though plus nicely integrated. You can get TV I think, but won't be cheap though.

2) I've been looking at the Dension Ice solution for integrating an ipod. is this the best one on the market? what other options do i have, do BMW do anything?

They do, just an aux lead though, don't think it has the functionality of the Dension thing.

Congrats on the car. What's the colour/spec/etc?

 

[WLH]

Be sure to post some pic when you get your Zed and I am sure you will get a lot of suggestions for gizmos...

 

[flyboyaj]

gadgetJunky72 Welcome to the 4um! Congrats on your purchase. The smile never goes away

I have no mods so I can't answer your questions, but do a search, I know that some of those questions have already been answered somewhere around here.

 

[che]

Hi gadgetjunky,

I went for the Dension ICE link plus as it works really well with the Z4 standard headunit, It displays song name an artist, plus you can scroll through all your albums or songs using the BMW headunit. I think there may be some small differences though with a car with either sat nav or the upgrade factory stereo? I have a feeling there is a slightly different kit option from Dension for this? Might be worth a new post asking for help on this?

The parrot is easy to fit, there are several companies from where you can purchase a special connector with both male and female 40 pin BMW connectors and a set of ISO blocks spliced in the middle, that way the parrot is just a case of plug and play whilst you can still keep your original headunit, this is what I have done and it works great

You don't have to take the phone out of your pocket to see who's calling with the screenless parrot CK3000 evolution kit either, when you copy all of your numbers across to it, you record voice tags on the parrot for each persons number, along with magic words for dialling. When someone calls you, provided that persons number is saved in the parrot (it holds hundreds) it mutes your stereo and plays the voice tag you recorded, you then know who is calling. The CK3100 is better as you can add pictures to but I wanted the install to be as discrete as possible so the screen was not an option.

Any probs or questions give me a shout

Che

 

[Z4NL]

I went for the Dension ICE link plus as it works really well with the Z4 standard headunit, It displays song name an artist, plus you can scroll through all your albums or songs using the BMW headunit. I think there may be some small differences though with a car with either sat nav or the upgrade factory stereo? I have a feeling there is a slightly different kit option from Dension for this? Might be worth a new post asking for help on this?

Well this is really interesting. I also have the Icelink plus installed and it does not give me the option to "scroll trough all my albums" at all. In fact it has the exact same functionality that the OEM iPod cable has, namely selection of only 6 playlists. I have the satnav option, no DSP. What am I missing here?

 

[che]

Hi Z4NL, You say you have satnav, this may be why its different as I think the satnav headunit is different to the basic headunit?

On the standard, non satnav headunit its a setting on the ipod you need to switch on to turn on the headunit text function, I cant remeber for sure if you set it on the IPOD directly or through the headunit, think it might be the latter? I will have a look when I get a second. when I press button 6 on my headunit, after a few seconds it says 'artist', by using the left or right headunit buttons you can scroll to 'albums' and another option, hold down the right arrow headunit button for a second on the type you want and then you get the alphabetical list of all the artists or albums on your ipod, again use the left/right arrow buttons on your headunit to scroll through and hold down the right arrow button to select. you can then scroll through the list of songs on that album or songs from that artist or just play all.

regards
Che

 

[Z4NL]

Hi there Che;

Thanks for the input. You're right, there is indeed extra functionality under the "6" button, however when I press "6" it says "Artist" for about half a second on the top line of my sat nav, and then the line is being overwritten by whatever it said before i hitted "6" (track title or whatever). I found out that hitting the fwd >> button will go to the next function (i.e. Album, Setup etc), showing that next function for haf a sec. Pressing >> for longer than a second or two will select whatever is there. So yes it does work but the interface to the satnav screen and the radio buttons leaves much to be desired. It does not display ID3 info the way the CD changer, or the headunit CD does.. only a scrolling line on top of the screen and even with this scrolling the full title seems to be truncated. Also, half the time the iPod won't connect after turning on the ignition (indicated by booming sound in the speakers for a sec), turning radio on/off will reconnect properly though.

On the plus side, the sound quality of the ICElink plus is incredible. Using the 5 playlists is not too bad either. But it doesnt come close to the OEM iPod link in my friend's 2007 Mini Cooper S. That looks and works just awesome. Hope there will be something like that for the Z4 in the future!

Cheers,

-Jan

 

[AlanL]

I can't believe we haven't offered the usual welcome:

:worthless:

Post some shots when you pick it up.

As for question #2 my own preference is the DICE unit. Works great and isn't all that difficult to install.