As a cheaper alternative to the VDO TR7412UB-OR, this Alpine unit sounds fine, has sub outs, and the display and key lighting can be tuned (red: 32, green 8, blue 0) to match the MINI / BMW orange nicely.

https://alpine-usa.com/product/view/ute-73bt

 

I got this Alpine Unit from Crutchfield. Paid extra for a harness that would allow my steeering wheel controls to work and paid extra ($25) to have them wire it all together.

Install took quite a while. T30 on one center pillar and T25 on the other (I bought the car used) but I'll skip all that.

Smoke test. At first it didn't seem to work...different speakers would suddenly become audible etc....rechecked the harness and tightened it down even more.

Voila! It worked! Tested the steering wheel controls...JOY! Put it all back together and went for a drive.

The steering wheel controls stopped working. Turning the car off and on again makes them come back...for about a minute. Pressing Vol +/- 10 times sometimes results in an increase/decrease in volume by 1 step...then its non-functional. Other functions all work, no speakers cutting out etc. Bluetooth phone works but I haven't really figured out what the "Phone" and "R/T" buttons accomplish...I think R/T will terminate a call.

Anyone else had this experience...any advice?

Thanks!