[philespo]

In an effort to avoid spending $650 for the bimmertech carplay mmi prime retrofit. I searched around aliexpress and found this unit for ~ $250 shipped (took about 1 week to arrive). I have not seen many reviews on f30post that cover the non bimmertech units, so hopefully this is helpful.

Price: $250
Install difficulty: 4/10
Functionality: 9.5/10
Purchase from AliExpress here

I drive a 2015 328i with HK sound, 8.8" nav, and surround view. This unit was relatively simple to install. There are a few great guides online from bimmertech (they're installing their own but its the same process) and the supplier (road top) makes an install video as well.

The kit comes with a small (apple tv sized) box, a new harness, some additional wires, and a wifi antenna. The box connects between the OE head unit and your cars display. Some cars (I believe all with HK audio, mine included) have 2 fiber optic cables that need to be moved. Here is a video guide for that. Installing everything went smooth, putting the unit back into the dash is a bit tricky. My car had a significantly larger head unit than the videos i've seen online. Everything still fit without needing to remove the glovebox. Just takes some time. If you do want to remove the glovebox, this is a good tutorial to do so.

On the back of the small box, there a number of switches that need to be toggled for your specific car. This is where you select your display size so the software scales properly.

The kit also includes wiring for camera retrofits and a female USB port that can be used with WIRED CarPlay (and Android auto, I have not tested this). Since I have PDC and surround view already, I didn't use this extra cable. I also skipped on routing the female USB port. I might go back and add this later, but my plan was to use wireless carplay only.

With everything installed, you can access the new unit by holding down the "home" button on your idrive controller. You really only need to access this screen once to pair your phone. Once everything is paired, carplay will automatically display when you turn on the car.

Sound is routed through the 'AUX input', however you do not physically plug into the AUX port (I believe this is different on CIC cars). Just make sure that your audio source is set to AUX in your idrive. (another reminder, if your car has the fiber optic cable and you do not transfer them, the sound will not work. here is that guide)

When you put the car in reverse your the system switches back to your OEM idrive reverse screen with the camera/sensors etc.

Mic works perfect. "hey siri" works perfect. Every single function that you would expect works as you would think. The ONLY function that looks to be lost is the ability to change song with the steering wheel. You can adjust volume, but the track froward/back says "not available" because you're listening via AUX. Oh well? I'm not sure if the bimmertech unit has this function, but I can't say it's worth the $400 premium.

There is something odd about using carplay without a touchscreen, but I got used to it after a couple days. There is a super tiny lag when you scroll through the interface, but (if this makes any sense) the lag is consistent so you end up just getting used to it. There is a chance that it's related to wireless carplay, but it doesn't bother me at all.

There is still a world where bimmertechs unit might make more sense for you. I've heard nothing but great things about their customer support. They are very active in the community etc. So if you're worried about installing yourself or want the guarantee from a known company, you can buy from them.

I am not super savvy when it comes to installs and I was able to get everything up and running in around 45 minutes. FWIW, the seller on aliexpress was very helpful and responded quickly. They also reached out to verify that this unit would work with my car before shipping. I would 100% buy this unit again and I see this as a MUST HAVE for any F3X.

I have only tested wireless carplay and airplay. I will test out Android Auto and leave a follow up to this thread.

[f30black340i]

I was just looking at ordering this, however when I input my vehicle information on the aliexpress site it says it is incompatible. My vehicle is a 2016 240i with HK audio. I think it should work. Did you have a similar experience?

[Poochie]

Originally Posted by f30black340i

I was just looking at ordering this, however when I input my vehicle information on the aliexpress site it says it is incompatible. My vehicle is a 2016 240i with HK audio. I think it should work. Did you have a similar experience?

The 240i came out in 2017, so you must have iDrive 5 then, which can wirelessly provision CarPlay through the BMW ConnectDrive portal, for like $300.

[f30black340i]

Originally Posted by Poochie

The 240i came out in 2017, so you must have iDrive 5 then, which can wirelessly provision CarPlay through the BMW ConnectDrive portal, for like $300.

Unfortunately I just fat fingered my first post, it should say 2016 340i. I believe if my car had been built a month later I’d have I drive iDrive 5 but no such luck.

[i128]

Thanks for the review!
2 questions :

1) How does Waze perform ?
2) If you have heads-up display, do you get the same display info as OEM? (eg. navigation direction, media info, etc.)

Thanks!

[philespo]

Originally Posted by i128

Thanks for the review!
2 questions :

1) How does Waze perform ?
2) If you have heads-up display, do you get the same display info as OEM? (eg. navigation direction, media info, etc.)

Thanks!

Waze works great, no issues. I do not have the heads up display, however I can pretty confidently say that none of the media/nav will display. You have the set your audio source to AUX so the car doesnt know what's playing. It's just passing the audio through the speakers. Same for the screen at the bottom of the gauges. It only shows nav info when using the BMW navigation.

[rcaso26]

Theres a thread with literally over 200 pages on the non-bimmertech mmi units:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...75929&page=203

[k9vdimmest]

Have you noticed any bugs?