MyE28.com

So, while stuck in the hospital a few weeks ago (healthy, active 49 yo male with raging pneumonia...wtf body??), I couldn't take another episode of Matlock. Which left me with little to do but go down a bunch of car-related rabbit holes. The aftermarket head unit the PO installed on my 535is bit the bullet this winter and I really wanted to get Carplay some how. I found my answer on another forum. (hey, I had a fever and was on industrial strength painkillers. Cut me some slack).

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Power-Acoust ... 5055269224

The folks in the Honda S2000 and Ferrari 308 forums are all over them as they don't require a trim plate, install easily, and work. I figured I'd give it a go, grabbed one and installed it yesterday. Gotta say, it does what it says on the tin. Starts up fast, connects faster than my F-150, and sounds no better, no worse than you can expect from 35 year old speakers.

[img]https://imgbox.com/gcMVxfHo/img]

Am I actually the only person who has tried this thing?

That's kind of cool.
Can you change the background screen? Something solid and neutral would be great especially if you could get it close to BMW orange (or at least neutral gray or black).

In theory I can change it. Just need to figure out how.

That's very cool. Looks like you get maps too. I might try that.

What are the audio outputs ? RCA ? Optical ? Front and rear channels ?

Thanks for the link.

Yeah, you get the entire carplay capabilities. Maps (Apple or Google or Waze), music streaming, podcasts, phone calls, messages. It's instead of a screen the size of an ipad on a new car, it's 3" x 7"...and it's surprisingly easy to use.

As for connections, I directly wired stuff into the replacement speaker lines in my car. There were 2 x front, 2 x rear, as well as an RCA (?) if you want to run it through an amp. There are also a bunch of lines for a front and rear camera set up, but I just capped those off.

I did manage to change the background to a basic white so it blends in way better, and the physical buttons can be backlit in a classic red to go with the rest of the BMW interior. So far, so good. If you can get one at your local walmart, probably worth giving it a go.