Stock M5 headunit?

[e28blackbeauty]

When my dad bought his M5, it has some crappy Sony Xplod deck, with the stock BMW Sound speakers. He is thinking about trying to find the origional headunit, beacuse the radio is never on, and the Sony deck looks awful.

Can anyone snap a pic of what the STOCK headunit from a US M5 would look like? Were they the same from any other BMW's/E28's or was there a special one for the M5's?

thanks,

Matt

[monty23psk]

I am pretty sure its the same as other e28's from the same year.

[e28blackbeauty]

The reason i ask, beacuse I have the "Complete book of bmws since 1950" and in one picture (pg128) they show the interior of an E28 M5, and the headunit has a CD player, and has the //M right on the headunit. So i thought maybe there were specail headunits for the ///M cars.. maybe im wrong. Does anyone know anything about this?
thanks

Matt

[monty23psk]

First i heard of this. Some people have gotten the unit from later version cars and put them in. Around 88 I dont even think car radio had cd players unless paid big money for it.

[rcbmw]

I am only able to post a brief reply to this query. If more information is desired please write back and I will submit more information when I am able to do so.

First it should be noted that the E28 M5 in other markets used different radio configurations than those offered to North American (USA and Canada) buyers. Additionally, it should be noted that the E28 M5 was delivered to North American dealers with two radios. The first is the in-dash cassette, BMW/ Alpine CM5907 radio with Anti Theft, Dolby Digital, and weather band functions. This radio is not unique to the M5 model and appeared in other E28 5 series models. It is little known that a second Pioneer KE-81ZBM-02 radio was used in North American spec DC93 E28 M5s. Both radios are marked only with the BMW Roundel (and Dolby) markings. There are no other North American radio variations other than the aforementioned models--any other other radio is not correct.

Best,
RCBMW

[lscc]

Mine came with the cassette deck mentioned above

[DRP535]

With all due respect, it's pretty silly to be trying to obtain the "original equipment" factory headunit, because there really isn't such a thing. The headunit is easily replaced and a relatively high value item. As such it was common for the cars to be shipped to their sale markets without a headunit installed at all. This enabled the local distributors/dealers to fit their own locally sourced headunit thus adding "local content" value to the cars and minimising some import duty and taxes. This was the case with UK delivered cars for sure.

UK cars had Becker & sometimes Pioneer units installed at time of original sale. Australian E28s (though not the ///M5 since it wasn't sold in Australia) had either Eurovox or Becker Mexico units. I would be surprised if the same situation didn't exist with US delivered cars too.

The choice of headunit was to some extent left up to the dealer who sold it and he usually just put in whatever he had most of in stock or was cheapest and actually made a noise. Very little concern was given to quality or fitment, just as long as it filled the hole, didn't look too out of place and worked.

This is why the radio operating instructions are not included in the car's owner's manual proper. The authors of the car simply didn't know what radio it would have in it when it was finally sold. So trying to restore the original headunit is a bit of a pointless exercise to be honest. It would be like wanting to restore the original tyres on the car - another item that commonly changed for cheaper/locally sourced versions instead.

[rcbmw]

I would like to respond to the incorrect information posted by DRP535. In my previous response the information is explicitly correct as it pertains to DC93 E28 M5 models sold in North America (United States and Canada). There should be no other interpretation of what was written.

In regards to the information posted by DRP535--All DC93 E28 M5 models were delivered to North America with the BMW/ Alpine CM5907 or Pioneer KE-81ZBM-02 radio. Additionally all DC93 E28 M5 models were delivered to North America with two separate operating guides for the BMW/ Alpine CM590 series radio. The first document was titled "BMW Anti-Theft Radio Owners Manual". A full color photograph of the BMW/ Alpine CM5907 Radio is shown on the cover of this handbook. The second document was titled "Anti-Theft Radio Program Instructions and Identification Cards". This booklet is only marked with the BMW Roundel in the upper right corner. Both of these documents have individual part numbers and may be ordered through your local BMW Center.

Best,
rcbmw

P.S. All DC93 E28 M5 models were delivered with 225/50-16 Pirelli P700z tires and there was no variation in the original equipment tires.