[DGVaniX]

Hi,
For some time now since I got the car it kinda put me off that I got the 2011 model with not many modern features and I'm thinking of slowly upgrading whatever I can.

So I have the large pro CIC iDrive and after some googling I found some CarPlay modules to add onto my iDrive which are compatible with the CIC version.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28391082343...0AAOSwzO5e4l4P

Has anyone ever tried one of these? Do they really work and for how long? Also, how do you even use these?

I want to get as much information as possible before forking out $300 on some Chinese crap, so any info regarding this is appreciated.

Thanks

[Houranimd49]

I bought one from eBay, and my car is a CIC as well. I've had it installed for a month now. 100% no regrets. I actually paid exactly $300. Just make sure your car is in fact CIC. My seller sent me NBT even after I said it was CIC... NBT will not work in CIC cars. Different plugs.

It was plug and play for me but there was 1 annoying thing I had an issue with: the CarPlay would randomly shut off and switch right back to the factory system. I reached out to the seller and luckily they were so helpful... I had to update the CarPlay system. they sent me a file and directions to do so and it worked. No issues since.

[monkeybifta]

Originally Posted by Houranimd49

I bought one from eBay, and my car is a CIC as well. I've had it installed for a month now. 100% no regrets. I actually paid exactly $300. Just make sure your car is in fact CIC. My seller sent me NBT even after I said it was CIC... NBT will not work in CIC cars. Different plugs.

It was plug and play for me but there was 1 annoying thing I had an issue with: the CarPlay would randomly shut off and switch right back to the factory system. I reached out to the seller and luckily they were so helpful... I had to update the CarPlay system. they sent me a file and directions to do so and it worked. No issues since.

Sounds like you've had a good experience, can you share a link to the unit you purchased?

Also, do you wire in your phone and does it work with the OEM mic?

[Houranimd49]

Originally Posted by monkeybifta

Sounds like you've had a good experience, can you share a link to the unit you purchased?

Also, do you wire in your phone and does it work with the OEM mic?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wireless-Ca...-127632-2357-0

Now it's even cheaper than when I got it lol.

They also have a plug and play microphone. I installed it because I don't keep my phone connected to the iDrive Bluetooth. Here's why:

When you install carplay, it has an aux cable that you have to plug in the aux. if you don't, no sound comes out. Keeping the phone connected to Bluetooth provided this weird complication between music playing through the car's iDrive Bluetooth even though you could control play/pause/skip while carplay was activated…. It was weird.

So what I did is kept iDrive Bluetooth disconnected. Installed the aux cable, and then go back into iDrive under audio input and select AUX. this way, the sound from music and calls are all under carplay.

Long story short, installing their microphone made calls much clearer to the caller, rather than keeping calls going through iDrive Bluetooth.

You can find videos on YouTube on how to run the wiring in the cleanest possible way as well as installation.

[DGVaniX]

Originally Posted by Houranimd49

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wireless-Ca...-127632-2357-0

Now it's even cheaper than when I got it lol.

They also have a plug and play microphone. I installed it because I don't keep my phone connected to the iDrive Bluetooth. Here's why:

When you install carplay, it has an aux cable that you have to plug in the aux. if you don't, no sound comes out. Keeping the phone connected to Bluetooth provided this weird complication between music playing through the car's iDrive Bluetooth even though you could control play/pause/skip while carplay was activated…. It was weird.

So what I did is kept iDrive Bluetooth disconnected. Installed the aux cable, and then go back into iDrive under audio input and select AUX. this way, the sound from music and calls are all under carplay.

Long story short, installing their microphone made calls much clearer to the caller, rather than keeping calls going through iDrive Bluetooth.

You can find videos on YouTube on how to run the wiring in the cleanest possible way as well as installation.

This kinda sucks, but I'm sure there's a way to connect the AUX wire to the main sound wires and have them switch when there's power going through the Carplay's AUX wire, would really like to use the built-in mic and no have extra things connected to the car, but I might as well take it to this guy in my town who does car electrical work for everyone in the city lol, sure he'll figure it out.

But no other problems with them? Random fires or anything? Or display glitches or any other issues. Most of these are from China and I'm not too keen on connecting some Chinese hardware to my car, haven't even had it for 2 years yet.

[Houranimd49]

Originally Posted by DGVaniX

This kinda sucks, but I'm sure there's a way to connect the AUX wire to the main sound wires and have them switch when there's power going through the Carplay's AUX wire, would really like to use the built-in mic and no have extra things connected to the car, but I might as well take it to this guy in my town who does car electrical work for everyone in the city lol, sure he'll figure it out.

But no other problems with them? Random fires or anything? Or display glitches or any other issues. Most of these are from China and I'm not too keen on connecting some Chinese hardware to my car, haven't even had it for 2 years yet.

The microphone was literally plug and play too. just run the wire down the A pillar and behind the gauge cluster.

Otherwise, since I uploaded the software update from the seller, no issues at all. Even uses the factory backup camera automatically.