Evening All,
My next upgrade is to fit an Android head unit - I’m currently looking at the pumpkin octacore android 8 unit and the corresponding Xtrons unit. Intrigued to find out who has what, why you got it and what you think of both it and the service you had.
All opinions welcomed!
Cheers
I have a pumpkin Android 7. It does a lot for the money but is a little buggy. In terms of flexibility it’s hard to beat though with wifi, Bluetooth, multiple us b ports etc.
Cheers for the info - when is it buggy?
Hi my friend, the one main thing to look out for is PRE AMP. Because our cars have the Bose amplifier installed, you will not be connecting the speakers to the replacement audio units line out wires. Instead connections will be via a multi wire single connector and the bose speakers will need to rely on a high value voltage signal from your new audios pre out.
The pre out voltage is best to be above 3v. Any lower than this, or no pre-out at all, then the speakers sound will be compromised or no sound at all.
Personally i would not purchase a Chinese audio unit for fear of the poor customer service that many have reported. I would be tempted to get Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood. Sony is good but tends to only work well with their own accessories.
Good luck.
Chris
The clock keeps resetting is the main one. They need to spend a bit more time with the user interface because there are lots of things it could do, but can’t.
The customer support is good too.
Hi again, this link will take you to an American website who specialise in specific car audio. There is an option to search equipment which will work with the Bose amp.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Apd9WrTmWuo/?
I fitted a Pumpkin universal 32gb/2gb head unit approx 2 months ago into my mk3.5 with Bose. I did quite a lot of research and put this off lots of times for various reasons…would it work with the Bose? Yes, just ensure you buy the right harness. Will it fit the fascia? Not straight out of the box, amost every Chinese head unit needs a mod to the fascia trim but wasn’t difficult and looks perfect. Would it sound ok? Yes, no hum or buzzing as I have read in other reports. Sound is actually noticeably better than the stock head unit. I went for this model for a few reasons, main one was the interface and particularly the fm radio app, which is more up to date than most, inc the octocore units when I was looking at these. The unit I put in is RDS and displays the additional radio info in scro txt, eg art/song depending on the station. I also wanted a physical volume knob, the steering wheel buttons work ok, but I prefer a traditional control to turn vol up or down quickly. Unit is currently £174 +£17 shipping from Germany (4 days and no tax to pay) on AliExpres
i was expecting some issues with it but it’s been fine. Very pleased and as this is android any apps run which you can’t do with most if not all the big brands.
It seems like a few of us are doing this recently!
This weekend, I fit a Pumpkin Octacore Unit (Android 8.0) to my NC.
It really does look incredible and the sound quality is brilliant. Only ever heard FM radio on the Bose unit, but wow the Pumpkin unit really does sound amazing.
I’m just about to update my old post with pics and guide on the install, since this was my first time ever fitting something like this and so much research went into it and SportTech who posted above helped clarify some things too - definitely feel way more comfortable now 
The pic quality doesn’t do the screen justice - but the display is crystal clear and plays 1080p video with no issue. It’s probably capable of 4k to be honest, though it wouldn’t make much difference with the unit’s resolution. The unit itself runs everything very well! No lag at all.
Installed Pumpkin unit. Still need to fit the fascia designed for the MX5 as it needs to be filed down first to fit around the Pumpkin. Going to do this tonight!
Sorry for lack of fascia in this one - took the picture before fitting it.
More pictures and install guide to hopefully help if you decide on this unit: https://imgur.com/a/swhiHM8
I have just ordered the pumpkin unit after lots of reading around, it’s the octocore 4gb, 32gb android 8 Oreo unit. Ordered from the uk site to make sure there are no customs charges.
I ordered the 2din center console bit from Aliexpress as they had one on there that’s the right size as these units are a little different from standard 2 din, 178x100. I’m not expecting this to arrive for a week or 2, but will feedback on how it fits when I get it!
Planning on swapping the rear aerial out for a combined dab / fm one, so will need to route some wires for that when I do it.
Will post some pics etc when I get all the bits and do the job.
Ben
Do they not fit flush.
I notice Natalies appears to be protruding a little.
Thing is, there’s a lot of wires to contend with, that can hinder getting the head units in flush. When I fitted my single din pumpkin with motorised screen, you have to get creative with all the wiring. From OEM harness plug, there is the adapter loom, from the other end of that to the head unit plug and loom, SWC adapter unit, external microphone lead, aerial lead, GPS lead, rear camera lead, USB Lead (possibly two) if you have ll that gubbins. Mine had a cubby under, in the double din slot so effectively double din. It took some routing of wires/plugs to get it to fit nicely. Once in properly, jobs done. AndyH aka b0builder made a great job of his, very neat and flush.
Barrie
Newbie here!
Stumbled across this link on Google as I’ve been looking at this headunit for a little while and after reading your comprehensive guide, I bit the bullet and ordered one (albeit, my NC is a non BOSE unit, so needed a different connect2 wheel control), along with the cage & fascia. Trouble is, the fascia I ordered is different to yours and would require a lot more trimming to make the stereo fit, so was wondering which fascia you went with?
Thanks
I’d be interested to know how you get on with this. Upgrading to a DAB radio is on my list of future jobs, but I don’t like the idea of having a windscreen aerial (I know they work well, but aesthetically speaking… ) So I’ve been wondering where exactly the existing wires run, and how easy it would be to run the additional one needed for the new aerial.
So aesthetic is the reason I went with an external antenn along with the fact i have heard mixed reports about the reception on the wimdow ones.
Its fitted now, and I have tested it on the drive and it works great for both DAB and FM. Not been for a drive yet but am going to Milton Keynes tomorrow so will give it a good cross country test.
I followed the wires through a small opening in the boot the cabin behind the drivers seat. Then instead of following them under the seat, I diverted off and went under the center console and straight up by the radio. All the trim comes off pretty easily.
When I’m near my computer instead of my iPad I’ll upload some pics of how it looks and a small modification I had to do to make it fit.
Ben
As promised, some photo’s.
1st Up the head unit installed in the car.
The combined DAB / FM Antenna installed (please excuse the dirt, it needed a wash…)
Looks good, those aftermarket aerials seem pretty much indistinguishable from the original (maybe a bit shorter, even? But that might just be the angle).
Its fractionally longer, and not as flexible. It’s angled back a little steeper, so I doesn’t look any taller than the original.
More aerodynamic then innit? Makes the car go faster
They can fit flush, see my photo above.
To help I actually made my own loom by solering the wires from the pumpkin iso adapter to the Mazda isoadapter I bought, thus removing 2 big chunky connectors, which helped a lot with the space behind the unit!