After market CD players???
 

Has anyone installed an aftermarket CD player in their X5,

I have a 2004 X5 3.0 E53, I was thinking of putting in one the the units like Panasonic or Sony which have Blue tooth and a Auxillary for Ipod.

They can install it so it would be consealed under the wood trim lift panel as the OEM is.

Now one of the sales guy told me that I would lose the steering wheel controls, the use of the 6 pack at the back and the after market stuff (Sony, Panasonic etc.) will not sould as good as the OEM which I have already

Is this true?

Anyone have it installed..

you control the cd changer from the MID and if you take that out, you won't have control of it. the steering wheel controls aren't made specifically for those aftermarket, so i will assume you'll lose the steering wheel controls, unless the unit has the specific connections for it.

you can install the aux input ($39 for parts) and install the bluetooth ($750 kit) if you want the OEM look

Ive never seen anyone do an aftermarket cd player install that was able to go under the wood trim.
they said there is just not enough room back there. The wood trim has to go.

You can get a harness for the steering wheel controls. I know they had this in my previous car (Maxima).

Who makes the cd player in the BMW? I believe it is Alpine. If it is Alpine then it is probably already top-notch.

You can fit a cd player in the original slot and still have the wood trim hide the cd player. That's what i had in my car before i upgraded to a nav unit. you will have to do some mods yourself, mainly, in the back there is a plastic trim that holds the cd player and prevents it from sitting all the way to the back. I trim that piece out and the cd player will sit about a few inches more posterior.

Also, you can use a pac swix to still use your steering control to control the aftermarket cd player.

In terms of changer, i mainly used an ipod or burn a cd with mp3s and so i don't need a cd changer. Alpine has a pretty slick unit called ida x001 you should take a look at.
hope this helps

The Best Buy Sales guy told me that fitting is no problem, cause they fit the player a little more behind, so the trim will close, that case would cost around $75.00.

And losing the 6 pack is no biggie if I have the MP3 and Auxillary out...just the steering wheel controls was a worry and the loss of quality sound...like the sales guy said any aftermarket CD can't compete with the OEM of the high end cars like BMW or so...now maybe the Alpine ida x001 seem like a good option, but the blue tooth module will cost another $400 bill ontop of the already $550 Alpine....

Now who said the X5's have Alpine in them? if so why don't they write that on the player instead of saying BMW Business CD--hell what's Business CD anyways....

titanx5,

got pics of an aftermarket cd player installed with the cover?

How much is the unit at this website:
Http://www.etronics.com

Best Buy = 1) overpriced BIG TIME 2) They are going to see your X5 and be like omg BMW X5 and slobber all over the place.

I bet you can get a better deal with a local stereo shop.