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So yea, did some DIY.
What I actually did was the worlds most simple job - replace OEM Tape Player with the OEM CD Player with Multi Info display. In any other car this is a 5 minute job which requires you to.... remove the tape player and fit the CD player.
But no, this is not the BMW way.
The old radio/cassette unit which was shockingly fitted as standard on £34,000 cars as recently as 2003 (Ok, it has a changer as well but thats still not acceptable) is a single peice unit. Oddly, it's also rather sought after on Ebay - they sell for, wait for it, £200+ if its the later model fitted to the facelift cars.
The CD unit is not a single peice unit - it is a CD drive with a seperate multi info display. It's a far better unit than the tape player and crucially has a much larger screen. This means it works well with mp3 solutions displaying text on the screen etc.
The two units are seperate and are linked by cable. But no, not in the ordinary fashion. Infact the cable from the display actually wires into the cars main loom where the ECU is, and then a further two cables are properly wired into the cars main fuse box. From here, it then works the CD player using cabling which is already present in the car. So I to get it to work, all this had to be wired in. Then the entire bluetooth phone control unit needed moving to make space for the multi info display in the dashboard.
I guess this is when why peoples radios break they pay £9000000 for another tape player rather than go the CD route
Still, I think it was worth it - looks a tad better, still fits in the dashboard, and I'm happy with it. I've also got an OEM BMW MP3 Changer in the boot as well so I've got 600 tracks in the car whilst still looking completely OEM, and a Sony Sound on Top amplifier behind the glovebox to improve sound.
What I actually did was the worlds most simple job - replace OEM Tape Player with the OEM CD Player with Multi Info display. In any other car this is a 5 minute job which requires you to.... remove the tape player and fit the CD player.
But no, this is not the BMW way.
The old radio/cassette unit which was shockingly fitted as standard on £34,000 cars as recently as 2003 (Ok, it has a changer as well but thats still not acceptable) is a single peice unit. Oddly, it's also rather sought after on Ebay - they sell for, wait for it, £200+ if its the later model fitted to the facelift cars.
The CD unit is not a single peice unit - it is a CD drive with a seperate multi info display. It's a far better unit than the tape player and crucially has a much larger screen. This means it works well with mp3 solutions displaying text on the screen etc.
The two units are seperate and are linked by cable. But no, not in the ordinary fashion. Infact the cable from the display actually wires into the cars main loom where the ECU is, and then a further two cables are properly wired into the cars main fuse box. From here, it then works the CD player using cabling which is already present in the car. So I to get it to work, all this had to be wired in. Then the entire bluetooth phone control unit needed moving to make space for the multi info display in the dashboard.
I guess this is when why peoples radios break they pay £9000000 for another tape player rather than go the CD route
Still, I think it was worth it - looks a tad better, still fits in the dashboard, and I'm happy with it. I've also got an OEM BMW MP3 Changer in the boot as well so I've got 600 tracks in the car whilst still looking completely OEM, and a Sony Sound on Top amplifier behind the glovebox to improve sound.
