Hello

I have an '03 S- and I want to put in the factory navigation, I have the plain jane options, nothing fancy. What parts do I need to convert to this. Amyone done this? Would it be better to go aftermarket? My experience with aftermarket is it never works well. I do alot of travel and seen all sorts, aftermarket never hold up and EVERYONE says theirs never messes up until I get in the car.

Please help.

 

Only an option if you're crazy nuts like I am (I'm retrofitting the DPSM from the H/K stereo - see this thread), because it would take a LOT of labor and a LOT of expensive parts to do it. Seriously... not worth the hassle - you'd be better off trading in the MINI and getting another which already has it.

Think about it - for the 1st Gens, it was $1700 or so as a factory option. That doesn't have any additional labor costs. Undoing the way the car is set up now (including the wiring harness) and adding in the factory Nav is seriously cost-prohibitive. Think $5000 as a starting point, unless you're going to do all of the labor yourself (no easy feat).

In your case, I'd recommend a modern aftermarket unit... and I say that coming from someone who really likes the factory Nav (many people don't).

 

Amyone done this? Not that I know of.
Would it be better to go aftermarket? Definitely easier and MUCH cheaper.

I love my nav, but you need to get the computer (expensive!) and the screen (expensive!) and change the wiring harness (if possible).

Lots of good aftermarket systems out there by Garmin and Magellan.

 

I'm using a "cheap" ($300) TomTom One unit and it gets the job done.

I bought a ProClip to mount it on the passenger side's center console downtube and it works great.

I don't think it is worth it to spend $5000+ on retrofitting the factory one... just my personal opinion.

 

I like the factory Nav, which I have in my R53 MINI, but I know it's been asked many times on NAM whether a retro fit is possible, it's been talked about a lot but I haven't actually heard anyone attempt this mod. Unless you really want a Nav in your car, the best way is to probably sell it, unless your attached to your MINI (which is ok because I am too) then your best route is probably to go aftermarket. Good luck!

 

i will have to agree with the others. i like the factory nav, but i don't really see or know of any way to retro fit that in there. Especially since your speedo is in the center. Lots of work, money, and effort to do that.

i would say either get a portable nav unit, or if you want to change your head unit, you could get a flip out screen that has nav from pioneer, alpine, or any of those other brands. my personal preference is to alpine.

my $0.02