Replacement radios - opinions please 03 E46 Tourer
Discussion
Hi, I'm having a dawdle around the forums waiting to be approved to join the Speed/Plod chatroom so I can ask for experiences of the wonderful Late Licencing Penalty!
Thought I would garner opinion - I love my E46 but gadget boy husband and gadget addict son want to swap the radio for one of these digital display, built in sat nav, Bluetooth, ipod playing bells and whistles jobs (preferably from ebay to save money, adds husband)
I am a purist and think it should remain unadulterated. Perfectly happy with radio and CD player, use a plug in car charger if needed.
But I am willing to have my arm twisted if I can find recommendations of a decent one, and/or opinions on whether it is worth doing.
Thought I would garner opinion - I love my E46 but gadget boy husband and gadget addict son want to swap the radio for one of these digital display, built in sat nav, Bluetooth, ipod playing bells and whistles jobs (preferably from ebay to save money, adds husband)
I am a purist and think it should remain unadulterated. Perfectly happy with radio and CD player, use a plug in car charger if needed.
But I am willing to have my arm twisted if I can find recommendations of a decent one, and/or opinions on whether it is worth doing.
To retain a fairly original look on the dashboard and get the features you mentioned you would need to look at something along the lines of a Dynavin headunit (expensive option) or in my case I went for an Erisin headunit from eBay which is near enough half the price of the Dynavin. The last time I looked at a Dynavin unit they were on the N6 model, but they appear to have released the N7 now. If you're patient, not bothered about it being used and keep an eye on eBay you'll eventually get an N6 at a discount I would've thought.
Haven't had any real issues with the Erisin unit I bought from eBay though. Liked it enough that I helped my mum get one for my step-father a couple of Christmas' ago because he has an E46 touring and both units have been fine to date. However, my step-father has no idea about how much you can customise the unit and how you can download apps just like you would on a mobile phone because the units run an Android OS. The default navigation program works OK in my experience, but I downloaded a different one from the Google Play Store which I prefered the look of even though I hardly ever use navigation. Bluetooth phone works fine, Bluetooth music doesn't quite have the sound quality that I would like, but I'd rather save the battery on my phone and listen to music from the SD card or internal storage. I personally use the Spotify app and download albums through the app (I do use Spotify Premium though), because it gives a nice clean look with the album art when music is played. Also bought a DAB Radio adaptor for it, but DAB reception is poor in my area at best so I'd suggest giving DAB a miss unless you're near a built up area. I've found that the steering wheel controls all work as normal apart from I haven't found a way to change music tracks on Spotify using the wheel controls, but these same buttons change radio station and music tracks fine on the default music app. There are a couple of USB ports on the back of the unit so you could route an AUX cable or phone cable in to the storage bin between the front seats, but I got too exited and forgot to connect mine up and don't want to take everything apart again.
Fitting the headunit is fairly easy for the most part, although you will need to relocate your climate control unit unless you currently have a factory sat-nav unit. People say you should buy a climate control relocation panel, but neither my step-father or I have used one. Just push the climate control unit into place after removing the top storage bin and if it is anything like ours it will sit in place and not move at all and will look pretty snug in there anyway. I've fitted both units with no issues and I had no previous experience with car audio/headunits.
There are some even cheaper alternatives on eBay, but I've heard from a couple of people that have bought the sub-£200 units that they've lasted six months at best. My advice would be spend the extra cash, but not Dynavin levels of cash unless you really want the Dynavin.
I see that Erisin have now got some 9-inch Android 8.0 units on eBay, but these appear to stick out from the dashboard at the top and do not look anywhere near as OEM as their 7-inch version running Android 7.1.
Other people would probably suggest a JVC/Sony headunit of some description, but you lose the almost-original look with those and have to put up with a horrible looking plastic surround.
Haven't had any real issues with the Erisin unit I bought from eBay though. Liked it enough that I helped my mum get one for my step-father a couple of Christmas' ago because he has an E46 touring and both units have been fine to date. However, my step-father has no idea about how much you can customise the unit and how you can download apps just like you would on a mobile phone because the units run an Android OS. The default navigation program works OK in my experience, but I downloaded a different one from the Google Play Store which I prefered the look of even though I hardly ever use navigation. Bluetooth phone works fine, Bluetooth music doesn't quite have the sound quality that I would like, but I'd rather save the battery on my phone and listen to music from the SD card or internal storage. I personally use the Spotify app and download albums through the app (I do use Spotify Premium though), because it gives a nice clean look with the album art when music is played. Also bought a DAB Radio adaptor for it, but DAB reception is poor in my area at best so I'd suggest giving DAB a miss unless you're near a built up area. I've found that the steering wheel controls all work as normal apart from I haven't found a way to change music tracks on Spotify using the wheel controls, but these same buttons change radio station and music tracks fine on the default music app. There are a couple of USB ports on the back of the unit so you could route an AUX cable or phone cable in to the storage bin between the front seats, but I got too exited and forgot to connect mine up and don't want to take everything apart again.
Fitting the headunit is fairly easy for the most part, although you will need to relocate your climate control unit unless you currently have a factory sat-nav unit. People say you should buy a climate control relocation panel, but neither my step-father or I have used one. Just push the climate control unit into place after removing the top storage bin and if it is anything like ours it will sit in place and not move at all and will look pretty snug in there anyway. I've fitted both units with no issues and I had no previous experience with car audio/headunits.
There are some even cheaper alternatives on eBay, but I've heard from a couple of people that have bought the sub-£200 units that they've lasted six months at best. My advice would be spend the extra cash, but not Dynavin levels of cash unless you really want the Dynavin.
I see that Erisin have now got some 9-inch Android 8.0 units on eBay, but these appear to stick out from the dashboard at the top and do not look anywhere near as OEM as their 7-inch version running Android 7.1.
Other people would probably suggest a JVC/Sony headunit of some description, but you lose the almost-original look with those and have to put up with a horrible looking plastic surround.
Mine has a the 'moniter' which has analogy tv (now defunct) and satnav (2008 latest maps) function.
However I just use my phone for satnav, even in my parents stop spec A6, its just better and faster and more integrated.
You can however get setup with an adapter to connect into phones audio, which I dont have, but have thought about.
Daniel
However I just use my phone for satnav, even in my parents stop spec A6, its just better and faster and more integrated.
You can however get setup with an adapter to connect into phones audio, which I dont have, but have thought about.
Daniel
I have the Sony XAV-AX100 in mine. It does Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It's a great bit of kit and while some originality has gone it really has helped the inside become more up-to-date. I am surprised how dated the factory sat nav screen looks now as was a friend who has come from a B7 RS4.
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