alex.baker89

Hi all,

New to the forum and have been reading extensively on the various retrofit modifications people have carried out over the years.

My 2003 530i (UK) comes with the M-ASK system (presumably M-ASK I) with standard audio and small screen, no nav or Bluetooth. I've trawled the forum threads on upgrading to CCC or CIC, along with the differences between the two. When it comes to what's actually required to perform either retrofit, most of the threads suffer from link rot, so I can't access linked documents / PDFs that outline how it's done, etc.

At first I thought it would make sense to upgrade to the CIC iDrive because of all the extra functionality on offer, however the price of all parts here in the UK are quite expensive, being north of £1,000. That just doesn't make financial sense for me given how much I paid for the car. The next best thing (no pun intended) is to look at CCC. This would presumably give me an easier pathway to voice commands, Bluetooth phone connectivity and some other extended features including navigation (more of a nice to have on such an old system).

Can anybody point me to a document that still works which outlines the hardware and cables / extra loom required for this? The prices for the hardware here is much cheaper than the CIC system. I can pick up a CCC module, screen and iDrive wheel for around £350. I understand that on top of this I'd need cabling, as well as a Bluetooth module to mount in the boot if I wanted to add this. Is that right?

As a side note, if I decided just to retrofit a Bluetooth module to the existing M-ASK setup in my car, I'm assuming that's also possible?

kd7iwp

I apologize for not directly answering the question, but I strongly urge you to consider aftermarket. I did the MASK to CIC upgrade and there was basically no additional wiring needed, so I doubt going to CCC needs much of anything. I only had to replace the video display cable and move a few wiring pins. I also already had the newer idrive knob which helped.

I find the built in voice commands completely useless. The Bluetooth only does calls, no audio, so also useless. I got an aftermarket mmi box that does CarPlay/android Auto and it is soooo much better. They make ones that work with MASK and CCC as well. Go that route. I have the Mr12Volt system right now but plan to switch back to my old generic MMI box as I preferred it.

alex.baker89

Thanks.

That route isn't completely out of the question, but first I'd like to upgrade so that I have the full-sized display rather than the small MASK display currently in the car. Unless of course, your MMI box comes with a new display with higher resolution as well?

kd7iwp

If you want higher resolution and OEM, you will need to retrofit CIC. If you just want larger CCC will do that. Or you can get something like an Avin unit. I used to have one when I had MASK. It’s a high resolution touch screen that also works with the idrive knob for CarPlay. I felt it was a little far out of reach for touch and I didn’t like it being a non OEM screen since the built in brightness settings didn’t work for it. Not a big deal for most but I hate losing OEM functionality. However, this may be your best bet as it gets you a larger, higher resolution display and cheaper than additionally retrofitting CCC. I had the Avin 8.8” display.

Bendogggg

I have a cic unit and screen with the cid video cable and a Combox for sale if you’re interested.

alex.baker89

I would be interested, would it not be for the absolute nightmare experience I've had with the E60 I bought. I haven't posted an update on here since, purely because of how busy I've been but essentially I got ripped off with the car and it's basically scrap. I'm trying to take action against both the seller and the mechanic who gave the car a completely advisory free MOT, as he has already admitted over the phone that this was done as a favour for a friend. Either way, it's turning into a long and painful process! I've already passed the car on for spares at a third of the price I paid...