[redking1]

Hello all

Im the proud new owner of a 2008 e92 335i - getting imported from Japan nonetheless! Just received images of the car at the port in Japan and safe to say im beginning to get excited now. One thing has occurred to me however - when the car arrives in the UK - will i be able to listen to UK radio stations and have access to a map of UK road networks on the iDrive system?!

After some trawling of online threads and discussions, i cant seem to find a definitive answer. As Japanese imports are common in New Zealand, plenty of posters from that part of the world have started threads - however i wonder if this is a different ballgame altogether from the UK side of things

After seeing lots of terms thrown about like CIC, CCC, INPA etc... i think i might be more confused than i was when i first started researching this!!

Can any clever person tell me what i would need to do in order to get this updated/changed to run smoothly in the UK?! Can it be done DIY or should i get ready for a nasty bill at a specialist? All replies welcome!

Cheers

[DavesZed]

Not so sure about the radio stations, but the nav won't work in the UK.
Japanese CIC units have a different system to most of the rest of the world. ie; if you imported a car from the US then all you'd need to do is load Europe maps, but for some strange reason that's not the case for Japanese ones.
What you have to do is "borrow" the HDD from a UK car and then copy the full hard drive image over to the Japanese one, this will then work properly, or at least should. I originally bought a Japanese CIC unit for my E89 retrofit and had a very quick learning curve as I researched this very subject. In the end I didn't do it and managed to return the headunit and replace it with a UK one.
To be honest it would be a hell of a lot easier to just buy a UK headunit and swap it over.

[redking1]

Thanks for the info - really appreciate it mate.

Why oh why do the japs need to be so particular with their tech lol. Would save me a lot of hassle if they used the same system as the US as you mentioned. To avoid butchering something somewhere along the process, i think you may be right - buying a UK headunit might be the best solution for me. I had a quick look on eBay/Gumtree and there is UK headunits for as cheap as £80/£100.

Am i right in thinking the data for the maps/radio is coded into the hard drive IN the headunit? Would then a 'plug and play' approach work?! Id hope once i swap them out everything would work accordingly.

Out of interest though - how on earth would one go about copying the HDD of a UK headunit onto the current Jap one?

Cheers

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by redking1

Thanks for the info - really appreciate it mate.

Why oh why do the japs need to be so particular with their tech lol. Would save me a lot of hassle if they used the same system as the US as you mentioned. To avoid butchering something somewhere along the process, i think you may be right - buying a UK headunit might be the best solution for me. I had a quick look on eBay/Gumtree and there is UK headunits for as cheap as £80/£100.

Am i right in thinking the data for the maps/radio is coded into the hard drive IN the headunit? Would then a 'plug and play' approach work?! Id hope once i swap them out everything would work accordingly.

Out of interest though - how on earth would one go about copying the HDD of a UK headunit onto the current Jap one?

Cheers

As for copying the HDD, there is a post on this somewhere, I Googled it and found it but can't remember exactly where though.

There are, generally, 2 types of headunit, Business and Professional. The business ones are the standard sized unit with the smaller screen whereas the Pro ones are the double depth unit and comes with the full widescreen. Then there are other options on top of that to consider. So I'd suggest waiting unit you have the car and can investigate which unit you'll need.
You may also require some coding depending on equipment level of yours and the car the headunit comes from, and you may need to have your VIN coded to the new unit and then the FSC code for it (FSC code is covered in this section of the forum ).
Then you may also want to upgrade to a Combox, assuming it doesn't already have one (2008 wouldn't have had one from the factory but may have been updated already), which will give you some nice features. You could also consider fitting an MMI box that'll give you Apple CarPlay/Android Auto on the screen (all OEM features are still available), there are some threads on this subject in here as well.

Hope that helps.

[DavesZed]

Here's a few options for you.......
Business unit.... (this is a CIC unit, note the connections on the rear panel) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bmw-E90-E...temCondition=4

Professional unit... (notice the depth difference) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-1-3-S...temCondition=4

And I've found a HDD available for a straight swap.... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E60-E...temCondition=4

[redking1]

That is very interesting indeed... glad to see someone else has already been in the same boat as i am in right now with this query. I actually have pics of the dash/interior of the car already and - after a quick google search - i THINK the car has CIC opposed to CCC (two slots for CD and DVD opposed to one).

Worst case scenario i suppose ill be down £240 for a performance headunit which makes me feel slightly better about the whole conundrum. Not honestly sure how much of dealbreaker not having radio stations/navigation is considering ill probably just use my phone for these purposes (the youth of today - am i right?)

The MMI box is another option... certainly brings the interior of the car up to date with current designs, as im coming from a 2010 polo not sure ill need to delve into that sort of fancy thing quite yet The only real motivator may be if i were to sell the car, potential buyers may be somewhat dissuaded if the nav/radio isnt functioning as it should. Of course i can change this down the line if/when i come to sell the car but always best to know in advance!


Ill stick to waiting for the car to arrive on British soil before doing any more digging around into possible options. Im going to have a nosey into the FSC coding side of things to see what the story is in the near future too. Once it shows up if i have any burning questions ill be sure to drop u a message. Cheers again mate!

[AstroZ]

If you have a CIC, it should be possible to have it converted to ECE (european) by having the firmware replaced. This requires taking the unit out and sending off to someone who has an ICOM interface and know-how.

Find someone in the know who is local to flashing the CIC using ICOM.

this thread has mixed reports of success:
https://cartechnology.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=36976

good luck

[SimonO]

Originally Posted by redking1

That is very interesting indeed... glad to see someone else has already been in the same boat as i am in right now with this query. I actually have pics of the dash/interior of the car already and - after a quick google search - i THINK the car has CIC opposed to CCC (two slots for CD and DVD opposed to one).

Worst case scenario i suppose ill be down £240 for a performance headunit which makes me feel slightly better about the whole conundrum. Not honestly sure how much of dealbreaker not having radio stations/navigation is considering ill probably just use my phone for these purposes (the youth of today - am i right?)

The MMI box is another option... certainly brings the interior of the car up to date with current designs, as im coming from a 2010 polo not sure ill need to delve into that sort of fancy thing quite yet The only real motivator may be if i were to sell the car, potential buyers may be somewhat dissuaded if the nav/radio isnt functioning as it should. Of course i can change this down the line if/when i come to sell the car but always best to know in advance!


Ill stick to waiting for the car to arrive on British soil before doing any more digging around into possible options. Im going to have a nosey into the FSC coding side of things to see what the story is in the near future too. Once it shows up if i have any burning questions ill be sure to drop u a message. Cheers again mate!

Any update buddy? I'm about to pull the trigger on a 2011 from Japan also!

[redking1]

Originally Posted by SimonO

Any update buddy? I'm about to pull the trigger on a 2011 from Japan also!

Sorry mate just saw this. As of yet i havent purchased anything... ive found using my iPhone works as a good substitute lol. Funnily enough the only radio station my car picks up is BBC radio 2 Not sure if thats an 'easy' frequency to pick up or if japanese fellas just really like Jeremy Vine...

Sorry i couldnt offer more help but id imagine the headunit in a 2011 may be differnent? is it an e9x?