English Stereo Replacement (Xanavi system)

 As a new owner of the E52 one of the very first upgrades that is required is to update the audio system.  As a Japanese only car the Elgrand has no settings to change the language so you are stuck with the Japanese speech and text, so unless you know the language it is a priority to resolve!  There are range of options to choose from but they all have compromises, all range in price and all have a varied level of difficulty.  I will cover some of the options you could go for in a future post, but for now this update is about the one I selected.

There is a company in Lithuania who offer replacement car audio boxes for us Elgrand drivers which is a real Nissan solution, it is easy to fit and you wouldn't know that it wasn't fitted at the factory.  It is a bit more expensive than some of the other options but I felt it was worth the extra money.

In the E52, the car audio system is split into sections, so there is no easy single or double DIN solution.  The screen in the dash is just that, it is only a touchscreen unit with a main cable that connects to the car audio control box at the bottom of the central dashboard.  The DVD/CD drive in your E52 is built into the main unit, so that is where the main box is located.  In my E52 I also have a rear monitor screen that is connected, and BOSE amplifier and subwoofer in the boot area that is also cabled to the this main box.  This central box of magic is the part that Xanavi sent me to replace.

Fitting is super easy for us 52 owners as it is a straight swap of one box for another. The box itself is behind the trim in the front down at floor level below the cup holders, and it took approx 10 minutes to get to the box itself. You have to remove the DVD/CD faceplate, and then its just a few bolts and screws that hold it securely in place. Unfortunately there isn't much length on the cables so the box only comes forward about 20cm and you have to then work in a tight space to lever out the plugs. (Do remember to unclip the black wire on the front of the box as you won't be able to pull it forward at all!) Plug back in all cables, ignore the ones you do not have a socket for (Japanese TV aerials, toll system, etc) and you are good to try it out before fitting it all back in. Fitting it back is a simple reversal of the above. Fully fitted perhaps 2-3 hours. The pic here shows shows the two units and you can see how many of the cable sockets are missing.

With this system my car now has a full English Satnav with updated maps, it has English voice recognition for most functions, and English screens for tyre pressure, driving economy, etc. The radio works on all frequencies although it doesn't have features like DAB or RDS.  The BOSE speakers and subwoofer are all working great, and the system offers the controls for the surround sound center speakers as well.  It also plays UK DVDs on the front screen (I believe even while the car is moving) and on the rear screen as well. You can also have a film on the rear screen and satnav on the front. It plays MP3s really well and DIVX movie files from a USB stick and all the selection and menus are now understandable, and Bluetooth streaming from my phone is spot on.

What are the downsides then for this solution... it has the Nissan Music Box which is rubbish, no way to copy MP3s to it, although that is a general complaint for the Nissan car stereo systems. Movies from USB can be in DIVX format only which is soooo out of date and requires long conversion if you want to use that.  The Satnav has no traffic available, although it is a very good system apart from that. Lastly the radio is quick basic, just a frequency really with no DAB or RDS.

I would definitely recommend the Xanavi replacement system to anyone, it provides a European language based solution that looks and feels like a real Nissan option.  It would be nice to have Android or Apple car play, but the car is 11 years old and wouldn't have that at the time anyway.

I have put some pictures below of my system to show you how the screens look, and also the Xanavi videos that demonstrate the system and the fitting.