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Great, that's useful info. I was calculating 10% of 31 days of March ;-)

Hi,

I was taking a look at some after market HUD units which connect to the OBD2 port. I wanted to check with those of you have it built in (like in 320d sportline) whether you find it useful or does it distract your driving? How is the daylight visibility? Did BMW give any anti-reflective film to be stuck on the windscreen for better visibility or does it work fine even otherwise?

Has anyone gone for any these after market HUDs?

Here's are some of the options I was looking at:

https://www.amazon.in/Head-Up-Displa...ateway&sr=8-22

https://www.amazon.in/OBD2-Interface...FJP3EN5NHP8QC3

Pls share your thoughts.

I have it stock on my 328i.
Personally, I love using it. It is quite useful when driving around given the number of speed cameras up in Mumbai.
Have faced no visibility problems in day light, and it projects directly on to the screen.

I have the HUD in my 330i GT. To answer your questions:

1. I think the windshield glass is different for HUD enabled cars in BMW. There is no additional film required. Whereas the aftermarket HUDs require a film to be stuck on the windshield as the reflection may not be good enough on the windshield glass.
2. There is no distraction during driving. It is in the line of sight and when you shift your focus to the road, it goes out of focus and does not distract.
3. Visibility during day time is very good as well. In the BMW, the HUD display brightness adjusts according to ambient light. If there is direct sunlight in the front, the brightness increases automatically.

When it comes to aftermarket HUDs, the performance will mostly depend on the transparency of the screen and how well they are able to project the image on a transparent screen.

Of the two products you posted, I think the one with its own reflection board will be a better choice. Can't comment on how good the performance would be, though.

I was also looking for an HUD for my 320d sometime back (after experiencing the HUD in a friend's 328i, I realized how cool it was and I desperately wanted one), and I bought something very similar to your second link, also from Amazon.in.

It turned out to be a decent product, pretty much as per the description. It plugs into OBD and gives accurate information, so that part worked well.

It does give a minor double image, which is a bit of an irritant. I did not want to apply to the supplied film (which would apparently eliminate this double image issue), so I can't blame the product for that. I wanted to keep my windshield clean and hence ignored this film, The double image is not a severe thing and you will get used to it in a couple of days.

The HUD image is pretty good in the daylight - not too bright to distract you and yet easy enough to read. I liked it a quite a lot. However, in the night, even in the least bright setting, it was a bit too bright for me and it certainly became a distraction in the night.

However, the real reason I stopped using this is that the device would keep on sliding on top of the dashboard. And given that it is wired into the OBD port, the whole wiring would keep on sliding and twisting, and it was a bit of a mess. They give a sticky pad at the bottom, but that would not stick to the 320d dashboard at all. It did not even mildly stick - it was just as if there was no stickiness at all. This random moving around of the unit became a deal-breaker.

One could solve this, but that would mean permanently gluing or somehow attaching the unit to the dashboard. I thought that would spoil the dashboard, and I did not want to to that. Therefore, eventually after playing with it for a few days, I removed it and it still stays packed up in my glove-box.

Thanks. Yes, my worry was also the double image and the film looking ugly on the windscreen. Give it one more try by buying this magnet:

https://www.amazon.in/Plateforce-Uni...2QDA1836SMGTEJ

Stick the magnet on the dashboard (where we have the gap for the HUD) and the circular iron sheet onto the HUD unit. I think it will hold on.

Do share the link to the HUD if you have it. Also, do let me know whether fuel consumption is shown as kmpl or lit/100 km (which is what most units are showing in their images)

Cheers!

Thank you for this link and the suggestion. This still requires the magnet to be stuck on the dashboard, and I not sure if that will come off cleanly if required. However, I will think about this. Thanks again.

Here is the in link:

https://www.amazon.in/Head-Up-Displa...ateway&sr=8-11

This particular one does not show fuel consumption at all. I mainly wanted HUD only for the digital speed readout. The iDrive Trip Computer shows all other information already (including fuel consumption), and I was happy with that. Therefore, I wanted a very minimalist HUD that shows only speed and maybe RPM. I did not want too much clutter of HUD information.

I was looking for the HUD readout exactly as shown in the picture below, from their product page:

Yes I could see the instrument cluster showing 800 Kms life left on the current brake pads but there was no as such warning or alarm received .

The dealer says that in 320i the discs usually are worn out at the same time as pads and he says that 40k is the maximum life of discs in BMWs . I somehow don't find his statement correct . I am somehow not able to digest that discs and pads wear out at the same time in BMWs .

Can other owners please confirm on this ...

I just had my pads changed at Carsmith Bangalore at 32KM.
The discs are alive and well.

A couple of FNG guys have told me that if you are out of warranty you can have the discs skimmed and reuse them.

In my experience, discs last 80K+, however if sand or a pebble has got it it scratches it. Although automatics are a bit hard on brakes.

What was the cost of replacement, did you replace the sensors as well? Where they genuine BMW OEM parts?

No Brembo pads.
Yes sensors come with the kit.
Cost is about 30-40% of Navnit price.

Ask them for the disc thickness in mm, and ask for the minimum thickness advised by BMW. With that you will know for sure. BTW is this your first change of pads? 40k is a lot for pads to last.

The brake pads in my car were also changed around the 35 to 40k km mark. The car has complete 55k kms as of today and there isn't any talk of the brake discs being changed. Rather they mentioned that the same would be most likely done when the next change of brake pads is scheduled which is still some 25k kms away as per iDrive.

They might be trying to fleece the OP as I assume the car is not under a BSI pack.

So normally with BMWs, the discs last 2 pad changes. But that's why its best to check the thickness of the disc, and in case it has reached minimum thickness it would be prudent to change.

My wife’s 320d already has a brake pad change sign. The car only did 15000 kms roughly. I agree that out of the 15k, 10k are from highway travels but didn’t expect them to run out so quick.