E39 528i - head unit replacement: MP3 etc

[CommanderJameson]

The old dear (the car, not the wife) has a BMW Business Radio thing in it, with a cassette player, 6-disc changer in the boot and an RDS radio.

Is it practical to swap this out for an MP3-capable unit that doesn't look like arse, and to do it for a reasonable cost including fitting (being as if it's not absolutely drop-dead simple to do, I'll have to pay someone)?

[gizlaroc]

There is a whole load of double din units that do swap right in now for around £400, these give you MP3, DVD, Nav and Bluetooth.

Or you can buy a fascia from BMW for around £45 to take a single din, all the aftermarket ones are rubbish.

This was my 530i with the BMW fascia and an Alpine 9887r fitted....



And again with the BMW version of the Becker Indianapolis...



Still never looks as good as OEM or one of the double din units, plus you need to buy the adapters and fascia etc. so never that cheap anyway. I would go double din.

[CommanderJameson]

Single DIN? Double DIN? Wossat then?

Also, do these things come with hard disks or other multi-gigabyte storage (say, flash or whatever)? That'd be ideal - all my music in the car!

[gizlaroc]

Single din is the standard stereo size, the E39 has its own size which is not even double din size
but slightly taller and wider, a few brands have started to make slot in replacements for these cars now, companies such as Dynavin.

http://www.dynavin.com/products/product_dnv_e39.ph...

You simply slide out the radio and slide this in, correct connectors etc.



Have a look at the link and see what you think.