The new car! - United Bimmer Community

**derdud** · 09-08-2007, 11:39 PM

I was supposed to post this a while ago but I got kind of busy with things. These are the pics of the 2004 530i I recently purchased. It's a fantastic car (amazing drive, I took it on a long road trip the weekend I got it). It's got the Logic7 system, which sounds really good. Much better than the sound system I had in my last car.

Although I'm totally satisfied with the car, there are still several things that I want to add into it -- namely bluetooth, Sirius, and navigation. I've been a little disappointed with the assistance I've gotten (or lack thereof) from BMW USA and my local BMW center. I guess it comes as little surprise, though. They insist that it is "impossible" to add Sirius if it did not come equipped from the factory. The last car I had was a Mercedes, and they said the same thing about adding navigation/COMAND to that. So much for impossible -- I installed the COMAND system in about 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon. I just had the dealership turn full support for it on.

I can't imagine it's truly impossible to do everything I want. Bimmernav apparently has a solution for the bluetooth and navigation, but nothing for Sirius. Before I buy anything from anyone, I want to make sure everything is going to work right together. Ideally I'd like to get the technical specifics of what components drive these features and how they interface with the rest of the system. I just wish I could find someone at BMW who would actually think before responding with "it's impossible".

Anyhow these are some pictures I took of the car.

witeshark · 09-08-2007, 11:43 PM

This car makes art museums obsolete

Nice

**RSF5** · 09-08-2007, 11:49 PM

^^^ What?

But yeah nice car man.

**Dudesky** · 09-09-2007, 04:30 AM

Nice 5'er. You'll enjoy a great many miles with it. Don't expect much from the dealers in terms of add-ons. They may or may not know a lot when it comes to integrating aftermarket stuff, and it would be a liability for them to suggest options; they can't guarantee it'll work flawlessly with the car if it isn't manufacturer approved, so it's in their best interest not to say anything.

**derdud** · 09-09-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudesky

Nice 5'er. You'll enjoy a great many miles with it. Don't expect much from the dealers in terms of add-ons. They may or may not know a lot when it comes to integrating aftermarket stuff, and it would be a liability for them to suggest options; they can't guarantee it'll work flawlessly with the car if it isn't manufacturer approved, so it's in their best interest not to say anything.

Dudesky, that's precisely the problem: I'm asking them about integrating the FACTORY systems, nothing aftermarket.

The thing I've noticed about the Germans is that they seem to be extremely hesitant to make any changes to their cars once they roll off the assembly line. I've never understood that from them, considering they have some of the most knowledgeable people working for them. They'd rather say it's impossible to do than say "the car didn't come with that, so to get it in you'll need to buy X and Y, and replace Z".

That's the only thing I think that other manufacturers have over BMW and Mercedes-Benz. If you don't get the DVD player or navigation on your Nissan as a pre-installed option, no problem -- take it back to the dealer and they'll put it in.

There's no such thing as impossible when it comes to this sort of thing. I've worked in car electronics, so I know this. Anything is really possible, it's just a question of how feasible or economic it is.
I might just start calling other BMW centers in an attempt to find someone who can give me the information I need.

**compactdisc** · 09-09-2007, 02:45 PM

lookin good

**RSF5** · 09-09-2007, 04:38 PM

^^^^ Whoa, I do believe a resize is in order...

**Exilion** · 09-09-2007, 08:52 PM

shit I get an adrenaline high just from looking at it.

**Rooz** · 09-09-2007, 09:09 PM

Nice ride, enjoy it

**dinan540** · 09-11-2007, 12:59 PM

I think you can add the sirius and blue tooth to your car aftermarket. Try www.bsw.com and www.bimmernav.com I think they sell kits for your car. As for the nav screen, if you buy a factory nav unit and have a knowledgeable stereo shop install it, you shouldn't have a problem.

On the E39, if you don't have factory nav screen, and want a factory nav screen, it is a pain in the ass because the vents are located lower in the non-nav dashboards. So, if you have an E39 and want nav, you have a choice of a portable nav system or a Flip down.

**dinan540** · 09-11-2007, 01:00 PM

Oh yeah, nice ride.

nick_318is · 09-11-2007, 08:57 PM

Nice ride.

**aburime1** · 10-30-2007, 06:47 AM

my car has aftermarket xm radio

**derdud** · 10-30-2007, 10:07 AM

1. Satellite radio is possible, but it's not a very financially-sound idea. To install satellite radio would cost around $10,000 -- a master harness in the car ($8,100) would need to be replaced and the labor would be around 30 hours. Plus the cost of the satellite radio module. Possible, but completely not worth it. There goes that idea.

2. My car already has Bluetooth in it. The feature just needed to be activated. The one dealership I took it to insisted that Bluetooth was not in my car and that the TCU had to be replaced. They wanted to charge me $1,000 for it. I took it to the other (and more reputable) BMW dealership in the area. The service advisor took a look at the car's information and was positive that it was already installed. Sure enough, just needed to activate it.

3. The same dealership also told me they could do the factory iPod integration by replacing the CD changer. That's fine, I'd honestly use the iPod a hell of a lot more than the CD changer.

4. The high drain warning I was getting is because the previous owner had an anti-theft system installed with GPS locator. The GPS locator was causing a slight drain. The dealership pulled it while fiddling with the iPod module.

So I'm all squared away and it only cost me $650. Not bad at all. I'm totally satisfied with the level of service I got, and I'm happy because I can use my iPod and my BlackBerry in the car now. Woohoo!

My only issue is that the iPod interface is kind of odd. It'll only show up to 500 songs, so I had to split up my music across 3 playlists (I have about 1130 songs on the iPod). That's not really a big deal, plus I can always access them from the artist selection.

The really bizarre thing is using the random feature. When I select a song and bring up the menu it gives me "Random Directory" and "Random All". Regardless of which I select, it doesn't seem to be truly random. It'll randomly pick a first song, and then once that song finishes it just goes in alphabetical order. Also, if I go into artists and pick one with multiple songs, I've noticed sometimes that I'll select one song but it will play a different one (this is when the random feature isn't on). For example I'll highlight "Bat Country" and select play. The highlight will stay on that item but it will change to "Beast and the Harlot" ... even though the item above it also says "Beast and the Harlot". So if I then select the song above it, it'll play Bat Country instead. Really weird. Has anyone else noticed this?

**GreenTourer** · 10-30-2007, 11:03 AM

Congrats on that luxury new ride!