— Sentiment

Ever since BMW launched the 1 series facelift and EfficientDynamics on quite alot of cars in their range in 2007, BMW also has started to use LEDs in different places to replace the old incandescent bulbs.

One such location are the license plate lights.  BMW employs for all their recent models now a version with two integrated LED bulbs which give a whiter kind of light, even with a hint of blue.

Tuning and styling fanatics of course wanted to mimic this new style (and the use of LEDs on competitors such as Audi’s headlights) and a few aftermarket options are already available for the BMW range.

However, if you get the correct parts, the OEM BMW parts can be fitted on cars which did not come with the LED versions of the license plate lights.  This can work for pre-facelift 1-series and pre-EfficientDynamics 3-series cars, but also for 6-series and even the previous model Z4.

I recently bought a VDO Dayton MT5011 TMC box.  In 2003, I bought my first VDO Dayton satellite navigation system, after seeing it used at one of my previous jobs, and driving up to Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, to get a secondhand one.  Now, in 2007, I bought my first TMC box, to receive traffic information on my VDO Dayton MS5000 mounted in my current company car.

I’m just putting this up as a personal reference, but what I always missed in my Audi was the ability to have a flip-down satnav screen.  The MM5000 was always mounted on top of the dashboard, and last year it even got stolen.