E46 with factory nav. Cheapest replacement?

[Chestrockwell]

Hi all,

I bought an E46 325ci cab for the upcoming months, nice car.

Anyways I want to upgrade the head unit for Bluetooth and the speakers as they’re really bad.

I took it to the local audio place and they quoted me £1100 + VAT!!! With the bulk of the price being Labour.

Let’s for a second assume the parts are £600 and it takes 5 hours to do, that is a whopping £100 an hour!

Anyways, is there a cheaper/easier way I can do it myself, all the guides online show the cars without the factory nav set up.

Bare in mind I paid 2,400 for the car so don’t want to spend 50% of the purchase price on jt

[PurpleTurtle]

I started a similar thread a while back, although I've been so busy lately I've not had time to do anything about it.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Eonon seem popular, this GA8150A looks OEM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qj7oESHcbo&t=...

They do a newer version which is in the more modern tablet affixed to the dash style of a modern car, personally I prefer the original OEM look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_CSc5pQykk

This chap has done an incredibly well detailed thread on installing with factory optional Harmann Kardon audio.

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/my-install-of-...

Would be interested to know how you get on. It looks a lot of work but all fairly DIY-able.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Monday 28th March 14:56

[d_a_n1979]

Chestrockwell said:

Hi all,

I bought an E46 325ci cab for the upcoming months, nice car.

Anyways I want to upgrade the head unit for Bluetooth and the speakers as they’re really bad.

I took it to the local audio place and they quoted me £1100 + VAT!!! With the bulk of the price being Labour.

Let’s for a second assume the parts are £600 and it takes 5 hours to do, that is a whopping £100 an hour!

Anyways, is there a cheaper/easier way I can do it myself, all the guides online show the cars without the factory nav set up.

Bare in mind I paid 2,400 for the car so don’t want to spend 50% of the purchase price on jt

If it has a CD changer and you don't use that; look into the Bluetooth/hands-free kits Grom Audio do; they're plug n play, sync to your phone & cars OEM audio/controls and work brilliantly. If you're not into using the old, outdates nav etc, it saves a lot of hassle and expense

That's if you don't want to spend silly money...

https://www.gromaudio.co.uk/partfinder/product/res...

Exactly what I ran in my 2002 E390 Touring and it was superb & worked faultlessly

Otherwise it'll be Eonon and Xtrons head units I think unless Kenwood and the likes cater for the E46. Personally I wouldn't the crappy Chinese head units; they do have their fans, but everyone I know thats' used them have had issues and the 'customer service' has been crap/waste of time & the head units got binned

Edited by d_a_n1979 on Monday 28th March 17:57

[naturalaspiration]

The problem with many aftermarket units, especially with convertibles, is screen glare. You may want to consider just adding a proper Germany built Bluetooth adapter with full steering wheel controls, and Alpine on-top amplifier. And change speakers with Focal kit. I have put two vent magnet mounts and use my beefy Samsung Note as a media and navigation device with Autozen app as a dedicated, Andoid Auto-like front end.

The Bluetooth kit is currently not in stock...
https://www.musikimauto.de/BlueMusic-Bluetooth-Aud...

Edited by naturalaspiration on Monday 28th March 16:40

[e21Keith]

If you have the factory nav it's a bit more complicated because although the screen is in the dash, the nav/video unit is in the boot together with the radio itself, so the dash unit is just the screen, some buttons and somewhere to stick a single CD. To change to an aftermarket nav unit all the cables need to be extended from the boot to the dash.

I installed a Parrot kit and was happy with the results.

[AW10]

I put an Xtrons unit into a 2005 X5 with factory nav and DSP and am rather underwhelmed with the product.
- the screen resolution is poor (should have checked the spec better)
- which mode it starts up in is a crap shoot (SD card, bluetooth or FM)
- the unit requires the occasional reboot when it gets itself in a muddle
- the reversing camera works when it feels like it
- at night the screen is stupidly bright unless turned down manually
- tethering to an iphone requires manual intervention on the iphone every time
- the car play adapter works when it feels like it

In hindsight I should have left well enough alone!

[PhillT]

I've got the Grom kit on my E46, which has the HK set up and sat-nav. It's 99% fine, only issue is that sometimes my phone will connect to it even when the car's off!

[joema]

Connects2 do a kit that replaces the CD player and you retain the HU