options to upgrade from standard radio to satnav on 2009 Exeo

[formby1]

just wondering what options are available to upgrade to satnav. i have the standard radio cd unit. trawling internet there seems to be a lot of systems for VW Audi seat from (£180 - £240) but which ones would fit my Exeo ( 2009 plate). don't want to spend funny money ( Zenec £700 )but would like close to the OEM look.
also will any VAGcom be required to pair a unit to the car

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

I've just been through this myself, was tough to pick especially as certain bad things heard about non mainstream aftermarket. Would have love to go down the route of a Pioneer Android Auto unit - but by the time I had got all the cables it was going to be £550+. Ended up getting a Android 4.4 HU (Chinese aftermarket) despite the horror stories. Got it from a UK seller (iceboxauto) to give myself a bit more comeback and installed it last week. I'm still working through some of the teething issues, but I am very happy with it and iceboxauto have been really quick to answer my questions and send me one additional cable. I went for their A6964 unit but there are other ones which look more OEM. Was a quick install and am using Nokia HERE for mapping (free), bluetooth works etc. After I installed it I did more of a search and found out some other favorable feedback on the same unit!

 

[bencook]

Mr B - Would you mind posting details on what you needed to buy to get the steering controls working? How easy is the install? Does google maps work ok?

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

All the cables came with it (I'm just being sent an upgraded aerial cable), steering wheel controls worked out of the box (and is easily programmable). You just need stereo removal keys. Fitted it in 2 45 minute bursts, hampered by it taking 25 mind to get the stereo out (never done it before and was bending the keys the wrong way). Second 45 mins was so long as trying to pull wires in the pouring rain.

If I did it again, I could do it in 15 mins!

Google maps works if you have your phone at to WiFi hot spot.

 

[bencook]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm thinking of getting one myself. They seem so much better than the standard (Kenwood etc) head units, and are very well priced.

Have you tried a hands-free call using the built-in mic? Any good?

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Yeah, I did a test call whilst stationary and was told it was as clear as through the car's Bluetooth.

 

[formby1]

will have a look at that one before taking the plunge

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Had more of a journey over the weekend so can comment more. Main negatives that I would comment on are that the boot up time of 35 odd secs is a bit annoying (albeit I understand most aftermarket units do have a bit of a boot up time) and the loading of CDs is a bit slow. Also although there is a setting to adjust steering wheel controls I don't seem to be able to do that - I think the car phone bluetooth may be interfering in some way. That said the controls do work other than the speak command button. My new aerial cable came today so going to install that later.

 

[bencook]

The boot up time does sounds a bit annoying. I just ordered this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/151888526280
Similar to yours but looks like the RNS-E. I also ordered this for a fiver:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/201369998989
It should hopefully allow me to use Torque for engine diagnostics via the head unit which seem ms pretty cool. Demo here: http://youtu.be/Q_A7u1SqddI

So the plan is to use google maps for navigation (tethered to iPhone) and run Spotify in the background for music.

All in £265. That's a lot of tech for the money. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[bencook]

Yep I've had the same thing. It seems genuine as they said they'll ship direct from HK or I can wait until the new stock arrives and have it sent from the UK. I've opted for it coming straight from HK and they shipped it this morning. They've said there won't be any import duties so we'll have to see if that holds true...

So I guess it'll be here in the middle of next week.

 

[bencook]

Mine just arrived. Will hopefully get a chance to install this weekend.

 

[bencook]

No, looks like it came straight from Salford. Weird.

I've installed at and first impressions are pretty good. There were no instructions whatsoever but it's not difficult. It probably only took 10 mins. Everything seems to work with one exception. The dash display constantly says "Audio muted" even though it's not. The mute button on the steering wheel mutes/unmutes the audio, but the display doesn't change.

Google maps working well on wifi, couldn't test tethering as phone signal poor here. Spotify good on wifi too. Torque app not tested yet. Radio working well. Haven't checked audio quality yet. Volume from rear speakers seemed very low.

 

[bencook]

Which phone button? What's an SWC?

Did a couple of hours driving with this today. Overall I like it. I'll do a more in-depth write up once I've played with it some more.

The "Audio Muted" message I was seeing has sorted itself out which is good. The one thing I can't get to work is internet access when tethered to my iPhone over Bluetooth. All the other Bluetooth functionality works (phone, music) but I can get the Internet to work. I have personal hotspot enabled on the phone. It works when tethering over wifi. I tried another iPhone and got the same issue. More fiddling needed.

 

[bencook]

That button opens up the Bluetooth app which is where you can dial contacts. Not sure if you can voice dial at that point, I'll take a look when next in the car. Note that you can remap any of those buttons to a number of standard functions.

Update on getting internet when tethering to a mobile phone over Bluetooth: This isn't supported and won't work. You have to tether over wifi for internet access. It's a bit odd as that means connecting to the phone via Bluetooth for calls and music streaming, and wifi for internet (I use this for google maps). I haven't tried this yet so hopefully it'll be ok.

 

[bencook]

I just plugged the unit straight in. No buzzing.

I've not tried the built-in sat nav as I love the live traffic updates Google maps gives me. It's great in London.

 

[bencook]

My MFD was blank the whole time for me, and the audio muted thing went away so yep it was a glitch.

Do you know the password to get into the factory settings bit?

 

[bencook]

Thanks for the info on those attenuators.

How did you get dab working?

 

[Gizmo98]

Anyone fitted an rns 510 into the Exeo/Audi?
Miss mine from the Passat,the rnse is pi** poor compared to the 510

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Good going Caldi, you've done a lot I've got so busy that I didn't get around to finishing mine. I need to get one of those hi lo converters for my rear speakers.

Annoyingly my obd2 one, which cost three times what you paid (!) doesn't seem to work. Says it's connected but then won't find ecu. World's fine with phone though.

Another useful tip is mine came set up for a left hand drive so the fader was wrong, I.e.press driver and it went to partner. In the factory settings menu there is an option called rudder which you want to tick to change this.

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Ok, making better progress now, ordered a hi lo converter and got my OBD working (you just needed to go into the settings, OBD2 settings and pick the actual device - been working hunky dory since then).