FAO Fox: Buying a E39 530i Sport

Anyone bothered to upgrade their stereo equipment in their E39? I'm kinda lost in the car without my iPod plugged in and having only the radio to listen to as I don't bother with CDs.

I've looked at something like an Andrive/Dynavin unit as it seems a very good OEM finish and has all the bells and whistles. On the other hand, I could just install a Parrot MKi9200 and use the iPod integration through that. Much cheaper, but is it worth spending the extra on a touchscreen unit? Is the sat nav/bluetooth phone connection good enough to warrant a few hundred quid?
 
I have a Dynavin. It was a massive ripoff at 600 quid and the IBUS connectivity is so badly coded I had to unplug it because it kept currupting the BUS (Seriously, it was even causing the thermostat to misbehave, I kid you not) but I still really like it. I just leave it in Nav mode constantly so all I see of it is a lovely full colour map of where I am.

It's not perfect but IMHO its better than any other option for the E39.

P1070809.jpg
 
Are you familiar with the Andrive unit at all, Fox? It looks like a great UK based alternative to the Dynavin but I'm concerned the features won't be worth anything as they'll be useless, call quality particularly.

Here is the E39 version. I believe it's sold and supported by a prominent member on BMW5.

http://www.andrive.co.uk/android_bmw_e39.php

I guess if the resale value of these units is fairly high then it might be worth taking the plunge.
 
It looks very similar to the Eonon units - I tried an Eonon unit that looked identical to that but ran Windows CE and had a 6.2" screen. It went back under the DSR as it was full of frustrating bugs such as randomly starting up in a different mode each time rather than the last mode you used, etc etc. This might be a different unit using the same shell - I've not seen it before - but the radio side UI looks identical.
 
I have the factory HU with BMW iPod connectivity retrofitted and an alpine amp added via the speaker line outs feeding front components and a sub in the boot.
 
I'm looking closely at the Andrive unit. I assume you're following the thread here...

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/77914-andrive-oem-style-systems-for-e39-new-video/

Was looking at Dynavin before but have only heard bad things about their support and commitment to fixing issues and future development (that none of those exist, basically :)).

The Andrive looks pretty good - much better underneath than the Eonon with a 7" screen, 1.2 GHz dual core, 1GB ram, etc. I was of the same opinion as Fox regarding android initially - that it was unneccesary, but am coming round to the idea. Mainly because instead of relying on a limited ipod connectivity on the Radio side, I can play music on the Android side with a USB hard drive plugged in the back and using a decent Android music player with proper album art etc etc. Only downside is the only steering wheel controls that work on Android side is volume.

Seems like they have good support, commitment to fixes and development on the android and radio side (even if the radio side might possibly be shared with other units).

The only thing that really bugs me is the buttons! Arrghhh why do they not look like E39 buttons!!! I'm a bit of the opinion that if these things dont look totally OEM i may as well get a normal double din. At least Dynavin gets that right. Having said that, at least they get the shape right and it doesn't curve in at the top like many units do (because really they are designed for the X5 dash and not the E39), and I think I'll be able to live with the buttons.

In fact I'd probably have one already if I didn't have DSP. Have to figure out a way to upgrade myself rid of DSP before I can use an aftermarket HU.

Bad Piggies in the car while waiting for the wife!!! awesome!! :)
 
The dynavin unit certainly looks a lot better, Fox's looks completely OEM unless you really know what you are looking for.

I believe they do an android unit too, maybe look at that? The looks of the Andrive unit look nothing like OEM, those buttons are totally wrong.
 
I agree - the buttons bug me. But i actually think the unit looks OK in a car. Maybe I'm just conditioning myself to accept it so i can buy one though:).

I know Dynavin do an android version but as above I've heard bad things about Dynavin, plus there was this odd internet bitch fight with dynavin.com and dynavin.co.uk plus some stuff on ebay. Chinese triad wars for control of the OEM-look replacement car head unit market or something :), but no smoke without fire maybe?
 
jamoor said:
holy moly, someone just offered me over £5k for a non m5 e39.

A years free motoring, back of the net!
Click to expand...

You can count on one hand the number of decent 530i Sport Manual's with decent history that pop up each year now so I'm not hugely suprised. They've stopped depreciating really so it's no suprise you got back what you paid for it.
 
Pretty much set on a E46 330 estate or E39 530 estate. I'm really hoping that if I end up buying a petrol that I'll see 35-40 mpg on my commute guys! lol

I'm favoring the E46 as I don't think the E39 estate works as well. But it depends on whichever cars I find for sale I guess.
 
E46 Touring is great, looks better IMO and has a nice boot. However it's great if you're not really after a tourer. If you specifically want a tourer with a proper boot like a Volvo then you need an E39.

The E46 tourer boot is realistically crap for an estate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom