E53 X5 Business CD upgrade options

[Mad_Max 231]

Sorry if this has been asked before, I've searched and got lost in the stack of audio/ICE threads......

Having just picked up an '06 E53 X5 3.0D, I've noticed it has a horribly massive blind spot when reversing, big enough to run over a child, a dog, a small town...... never felt the need for one before until now........

Are there any plug and play factory based units that will support an aftermarket camera being retrofitted? I don't care if sat nav ever works, more than happy to use my phone for navigation, and can wire a camera in piece of piss. Bluetooth would definitely be handy but I have a decent work-around to that if that's not possible to incorporate.

I'd rather not go down the path of replacing the whole unit with some el-cheapo Android unit, if that's the only solution then I'd just get a camera kit with a small screen to mount somewhere and be done with it (just not that keep on having something attached to the windscreen or in an oddball place to look at), ideally I would prefer something in dash that keeps all the functionality of the factory MID and stereo system, that isn't a PITA to rewire absolutely everything, doesn't cost my left testicle to install and keeps the factory appearance.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Mad_Max

[dirtydoogle 383]

Dynavin n6 or newer would work, but they are spendy 

Quite a lot of the android units are very good, but you definitely need to research them

Mine has a chinese pile of junk running on that real scungy windows system from back in the day and it is garbage 

[Young Thrash Driver 1020]

I think @hotwire can help you out here. I remember he used to sell an aftermarket retrofit option on tardme a while back.

[Eagle 1662]

Avin Avant 4 appears to be a good option, although can get expensive if you want extra features.  

[Mad_Max 231]

On 10/3/2019 at 7:34 AM, dirtydoogle said:

Dynavin n6 or newer would work, but they are spendy 

Quite a lot of the android units are very good, but you definitely need to research them

Mine has a chinese pile of junk running on that real scungy windows system from back in the day and it is garbage 

Yeah I did see them, bit more than I'd want to spend at this stage. I have been looking at some of the android units and some seem to be ok, little bit of work to get them set up and working properly but should be doable.

On 10/14/2019 at 5:44 PM, Eagle said:

Avin Avant 4 appears to be a good option, although can get expensive if you want extra features.  

Had a look, while they look like a decent unit, yes they can get hella expensive, and I didn't see too many positive reviews of them - but that might've been the older versions, not the latest ones.

Will keep both the Dynavin and Avant systems in mind, seems the first thing I need to do is pop mine out and see what plugs it has as that could be an issue as well......

[Eagle 1662]

Latest version 4 has good reviews, the rest were upto standard it seems.

[Mad_Max 231]

So a fair bit of research later, thinking I might bite the bullet and try one of the cheap Chinese Android things, Dynavin and Avin Avant and 3 to 4 times the price.

With an IBus adaptor and the app to run it through the head unit, I can keep all the original MID info and have it on the display (as the BC button doesn't work), plus modify a few basic settings within the car without coding (so no need to use NCS, ISTA/P etc) - total cost of the extra IBus adaptor and the app is around $60, and a cheap Android head unit landed here can be around $260-$350 so won't be a huge loss if it doesn't last much longer than 12 months.