So at the start of 2015 I joined the ranks of the beamer owners club, sadly though I had to sell it before the summer. 

Since then I've had to drive around in a Fabia VRS, which while ok is such a come down. 

I'm now thinking about buying another BM, however wanted to know what the pitfalls of making slight stereo changes are. 

Ideally I'm thinking of buying another 123D M-Sport, I don't like nor do I want the head unit which will come with the car. However know making any change to a BM comes with the inherent danger of tripping one of a million computer errors. 

With that sad can anyone tell me if I was to change the head unit to an Alpine double din unit, am I likely to screw the electronics up or will I need to ask someone with a BM computer system to tell my car I'm now using something other than  the BM fitted stereo. 

If anyone can help with this I would be grateful, cheers in advance 

Pretty sure you should be OK with switching the head unit providing you get the right adapter leads etc...

Thanks E46, I most definitely would be using the correct adapters and the like as I will want the stereo wheel controls to work with the new head until. 

I'm just a little worried I will trip an error or two on the way 😂

You should be fine Kris, there's not really too much that can go wrong with the rest of the car when changing a head unit 

Thanks E46, before I forget what about the parking sensor sound, if replace the head unit will that still come through the speakers as it does with the BM head unit? 

There is an adaptor you can get that keeps your parking sensors. You just need to make sure you do your research or talk to someone that understands but it's definitely possible to get it all working nicely

I was hoping there would be something like that, it does however make you wonder why we want to buy BMs 😂

It's usually more for the driving experience right? 

100% right on that, hence why I'm looking at buying another 123D, best car I've ever owned in my opinion and I've had some nice old school hot hatches 

Just a shame about the location of the Cam Chain and that it's not got a USB input, or that BMW didn't just use (like Alpine)  a standard rear mounted USB cable input on the back of the head unit  

That would be too easy! I'm pretty sure the later ones will have USB input?

I think it's an optional extra still, but they still use this god awful BMW over engineered design 

Sadly most manufacturers have been catching up on this sort of stuff for years. They've only just about all caught onto the fact that bluetooth and USB should be pretty much standard features these days...

This is true, but how BMW calculated that they should charge over a £1000 to have USB is beyond me

That's crazy money. They definitely know how to charge when it comes to options lists. Makes some used models a bargain though!

Not really people just don't have it installed.....which is why Im looking at pulling out the BM stuff and putting in something better

Fair enough, a nice double din should look the part and provide you with plenty of features too.

Thought about going for something with either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto depending on your phone?

I was thinking about going for the Alpine ICS-X8 I'm a bit of an Alpine freak now days and like the fact that they have a rear USB connection and provide you with a good length of cable to root it where ever you like. However as its a normal USB cable you can just buy a normal cable if its not long enough, so its all good and user friendly they also use sweet amps in them so sound nice

Always better to have rear USB IMO I hate having wires poking out of the dash and like to hide the ipod/usb stick etc away in the glovebox

Definitely, I have also been lead to believe that this kit will do the trick, but I may need to cut things about to make the kit fit in the dash.

I was also assured that the heating controls are below the head unit, which will look a lot better than if they sit above the head unit

Looks like it includes everything you need!

It sure does I just need to find a new 123D M-Sport to buy

Haha that's the fun part now. Got any lined up to look at this weekend?

Funny you should say that, as after posting yesterday this showed up the od inter-web

Looks smart and decent spec!

Have those tyres been stretched on the rear?

Unfortunately I think they may have been, they will need changing along with the front if they have as well