The AVIC is a very slick system, my brother has it in his Lexus IS. However, you're in the same boat as me. You can add the AVIC, but you won't have a stock look and the steering wheel controls will NOT work. In addition, if you car is still under warranty, aftermarket electronics is a good way for the dealer to blame it/you for any problems.

My suggestion is to get a portable GPS unit, like Garmin StreetPilot. You can use it any car and its actually better IMO than the OEM NAV (its touchscreen) and more intuitive. The best part is that it'll run less than $1K!

You also lose the abilty to control the On Board Computer (OBC) functions if you remove the factory radio unit.

Now if you really want to get serious about this, here is what you do. Someone sent me information a few months ago on a project he was working on to retain his factory radio, factory changer and Sirius while adding Navigation. To do this he moved some components around to make it all happen. First he moved the factory radio down to the ashtray. To do this he build a custom center console cover to accomodate this. He will be building an Alpine monitor into the old radio location. With this setup everything will still work, including all of the cluster information and stalk controls. As a final touch he is painting all of the wood in the X5 to a Piano Black to match the new console.

Check out this handy work:

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Xoutpost.com - where you come for the information but stay for the friendships

My installer told me he could make the steering wheel controls work, but the on-board computer...hmm. Honestly I am taking deleivery of the X5 this Thursday so I'm not even sure what the computer does or what I'd be losing.

Putting the stock radio in the ashtray sounds like a decent option. Losing the warranty is troubling but it only has a year left. Maybe the stock radio should stay where it is and the Pioneer can be mounted elsewhere, if there's room.

Larry

I have Navi but my other cars do not so........
If I had a choice I would save my money and get one of these.
I still may get one anyway.

Magellan Roadmate 700
Portable Auto GPS System
Built-in U.S. Map &
Major Metro Areas
Touch Screen

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...h=20162*20181*

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"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

Holy moly! Got any more info on this Jeff?

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-'13 E93 M3 Cab, Interlagos Blue, Carbon Black leather, DCT, all options, and fun, endless fun!
-'13 X5 35i M-Sport, Carbon Black & Cinnamon, Dinan Stage 2!
-'15 Toyota Sienna Limited Premium AWD, Silver & Grey, Nav & BluRay, and less lame than the 2011 it replaced
-'07 Mini Cab S, Laser Blue, 6sp, endless fun that ended (sold)
-'04 X5 4.4i, loaded, loved, modded and sold

I traded emails with him last night. He's in the process of changing the color to something other than the Piano Black - he wasn't happy with how that came out. As soon as he is done he indicated he would send me a complete set of pictures.

__________________

Xoutpost.com - where you come for the information but stay for the friendships

Cool--I look forward to seeing what he has done.

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-'13 E93 M3 Cab, Interlagos Blue, Carbon Black leather, DCT, all options, and fun, endless fun!
-'13 X5 35i M-Sport, Carbon Black & Cinnamon, Dinan Stage 2!
-'15 Toyota Sienna Limited Premium AWD, Silver & Grey, Nav & BluRay, and less lame than the 2011 it replaced
-'07 Mini Cab S, Laser Blue, 6sp, endless fun that ended (sold)
-'04 X5 4.4i, loaded, loved, modded and sold

http://www.mybimmer.net/

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This looks very interesting. Is anyone familer with the Xenarc unit and what it can do?

Larry