Hi everyone. Having installed both the replacement head unit and dashboard bought on Aliexpress, I thought I'd share my thoughts.
Looks:
1. The head unit instantly updated the interior of my 2007 QP. Even my girlfriend was very excited when she saw the difference. This is mainly because our OEM head unit was just so appalling in design and screen resolution. There are 3 difference versions of the LCD head unit on Aliexpress. A full length one that gets rid of the OEM AC buttons, an almost-full length one (mine) that still gives you a vertical screen but preserves OEM AC buttons, and a half length one that uses a horizontal screen and replaces all the OEM head unit buttons with a rectangular button design that resembles the later Chrysler-era Maserati buttons. Personally, I prefer to keep the round OEM head unit buttons, and keep the AC buttons, hence my choice.
2. The LCD dashboard made a much smaller visual impact. I think this is mainly because our OEM instrument dashboard was very classy and pretty - blue background, white lettering, red needles with chrome accents. The LCD dashboard, whilst new, looks.... generic, overall. It's a visual change from the OEM for sure, but it certainly doesn't feel all that special to the eye. Newer isn't always better.
Good functions:
1. Head unit - Carplay will change your life, if you've never used it. If you have, then you know what I am talking about. The music, the navigation, all transitions seamlessly from your phone to the head unit. The vertical screen allows for a quad split in Carplay - Google maps on top, music to the lower left, nav instructions and calendar to the lower right. Perfect. The size of the screen mean the icons are large and easy to touch.
2. LCD dash - displays a few more data points than the OEM: transmission temperature, oil pressure, battery voltage and speed limit. It also masked the P0100 error of the TPMS - I suspect this would solve many people's TPMS module problems. My tyre pressures now display correctly DESPITE the P0100 error still being present (present only if you scan it). No more annoying beeps about a malfunctioning TPMS! It also masks the "System Not Programmed" error that occurs after you replace the OEM head unit - perfect!!!
Problems:
1. Head unit - it's an Android unit, and it goes to Sleep when you switch the car off. This means additional battery drain. If you turn it off completely, then the clock is reset each time you turn it back on. And because the head unit controls the time for the whole car, your centre clock will adjust itself erroneously on start up, and the LCD instrument will also display the incorrect time as a result (it appears it's a case of last-to-boot-wins-the-time-setting battle - the LCD dash boots quicker than the head unit, so the OEM clock will adjust itself twice - first time correctly by the LCD dash, second time incorrectly by the head unit - when this happens, the LCD dash also gets updated incorrectly by the head unit). The time is only correctly updated when you connect the head unit to the internet (or if you update it manually).
2. LCD - a few problems and bugs. The most obvious: there is no displaying the status of the "massage" "adaptive" or "ventilation" functions of the seat. So you don't know if they are active or not. It does display "heated 1/2/3" when you roll the heated seat button. Other big issue for me is the coolant temperature display is now by bars - each bar corresponds to 10-20 Celsius of change - not good enough to allow you to spot a rising temperature problem quickly. In addition, it insists on displaying a parking sensor diagram when the parking sensors are activated and is apparently sensing obstacles when none is in sight! My 2007 QP doesn't normally display parking obstacles on the dashboard, so this is all probably software for the GT, so it's just displaying rubbish on my QP. Also, these units are made in China, so the door open information is swapped around on my RHD car.
Overall, I am very happy - the HU enhanced the functionality and updated the appearance of the car significantly, and the LCD dash "masked" the TPMS and System Not Programmed issues.
Biggest gripe - the clock resetting issue on the HU, and the unpolished feel of the LCD dash software.
![Land vehicle Vehicle Car Speedometer Motor vehicle]()
Looks:
1. The head unit instantly updated the interior of my 2007 QP. Even my girlfriend was very excited when she saw the difference. This is mainly because our OEM head unit was just so appalling in design and screen resolution. There are 3 difference versions of the LCD head unit on Aliexpress. A full length one that gets rid of the OEM AC buttons, an almost-full length one (mine) that still gives you a vertical screen but preserves OEM AC buttons, and a half length one that uses a horizontal screen and replaces all the OEM head unit buttons with a rectangular button design that resembles the later Chrysler-era Maserati buttons. Personally, I prefer to keep the round OEM head unit buttons, and keep the AC buttons, hence my choice.
2. The LCD dashboard made a much smaller visual impact. I think this is mainly because our OEM instrument dashboard was very classy and pretty - blue background, white lettering, red needles with chrome accents. The LCD dashboard, whilst new, looks.... generic, overall. It's a visual change from the OEM for sure, but it certainly doesn't feel all that special to the eye. Newer isn't always better.
Good functions:
1. Head unit - Carplay will change your life, if you've never used it. If you have, then you know what I am talking about. The music, the navigation, all transitions seamlessly from your phone to the head unit. The vertical screen allows for a quad split in Carplay - Google maps on top, music to the lower left, nav instructions and calendar to the lower right. Perfect. The size of the screen mean the icons are large and easy to touch.
2. LCD dash - displays a few more data points than the OEM: transmission temperature, oil pressure, battery voltage and speed limit. It also masked the P0100 error of the TPMS - I suspect this would solve many people's TPMS module problems. My tyre pressures now display correctly DESPITE the P0100 error still being present (present only if you scan it). No more annoying beeps about a malfunctioning TPMS! It also masks the "System Not Programmed" error that occurs after you replace the OEM head unit - perfect!!!
Problems:
1. Head unit - it's an Android unit, and it goes to Sleep when you switch the car off. This means additional battery drain. If you turn it off completely, then the clock is reset each time you turn it back on. And because the head unit controls the time for the whole car, your centre clock will adjust itself erroneously on start up, and the LCD instrument will also display the incorrect time as a result (it appears it's a case of last-to-boot-wins-the-time-setting battle - the LCD dash boots quicker than the head unit, so the OEM clock will adjust itself twice - first time correctly by the LCD dash, second time incorrectly by the head unit - when this happens, the LCD dash also gets updated incorrectly by the head unit). The time is only correctly updated when you connect the head unit to the internet (or if you update it manually).
2. LCD - a few problems and bugs. The most obvious: there is no displaying the status of the "massage" "adaptive" or "ventilation" functions of the seat. So you don't know if they are active or not. It does display "heated 1/2/3" when you roll the heated seat button. Other big issue for me is the coolant temperature display is now by bars - each bar corresponds to 10-20 Celsius of change - not good enough to allow you to spot a rising temperature problem quickly. In addition, it insists on displaying a parking sensor diagram when the parking sensors are activated and is apparently sensing obstacles when none is in sight! My 2007 QP doesn't normally display parking obstacles on the dashboard, so this is all probably software for the GT, so it's just displaying rubbish on my QP. Also, these units are made in China, so the door open information is swapped around on my RHD car.
Overall, I am very happy - the HU enhanced the functionality and updated the appearance of the car significantly, and the LCD dash "masked" the TPMS and System Not Programmed issues.
Biggest gripe - the clock resetting issue on the HU, and the unpolished feel of the LCD dash software.
