VW Head Unit After Market Replacement

Cocksure

Alas I'm now having to move pretty fast in regards my planned purchase of a VW T6 HighlineTransporter so my planned factory order is no longer possible, with all sorts of cuts being made as a result

One of these was for the sat nav system, so instead I now need to look at after market versions. I've changed plenty of head units before and fitted amps etc so I'm not worried about that side of things.

My concern is how the head units are all integrated into the vehicle systems nowadays which I have not had to deal with before.

Can any VW/T6 owners tell me how much of things I would lose by changing the head unit etc? I think the rear parking sensors are done via the head unit, but I'm not sure on that? No idea what else is linked to it either

rousetafarian

The VWOC forums will have a wealth of info for you I’d suggest.

Cocksure

Brilliant, thanks I'll Google them now

imightbewrong

You shouldn't lose anything by switching if you get the right head unit.

We have a T5 and I've researched changing the head unit a few times and always concluded I can't be bothered.

I use my phone as a satnav - free apps available, works well, has traffic etc

outoftheknow

Yes but then you lose out on the colour changing facia effects and helpful scrolling text advising which of the almost identical sounding mega boost bass (voice clarity ‘On’) modes you are in whilst the map secreen fails to load properly. Also you miss out on the hours of fun finding out why the rear view camera function doesn’t work as expected and the steering wheel controls work back to front after you replaced the fully functioning factory fitted unit that had one or two possibly not so essential features you wanted missing, that you have in your phone already......

imightbewrong

Yep you've got some good points there.   The other thing you miss out on with the phone approach is the fun of updating your satnav via CD or something - you just get the latest maps all the time over wifi for free

PSM1

Maybe look for the higher model VW stereo going secondhand on places like eBay. A lot of current VW stereos are a separate screen and control unit and they are sort of interchangeable so may be able to keep current screen and just change the electronic box to give you the extra features.

AMc

My experience is with a Mark V Golf GTi so quite a few generations back but the head units were shared across of broad range of VAG cars and were more or less plug and play.
Plenty of Skoda branded units in VWs etc.
Might be worth trawling eBay and owners forums to see what is and isn't available and directly compatible.

I used a facia adapter and ISO loom convertor but I had no cameras or wheel controls to worry about.

Cocksure

From the replies I've got in the VW forums, the only issue seems to be possibly the loss of radio data/nav instructions in the display between the rev and speed needle, steering wheel controls and rear parking sensors work fine with the after markets, so I can live with that.

There are plenty of units on eBay, but it seems from what I can tell that they will still also need to be coded for the centre display to work also, so I might as well stick with an after market make

jono987

Go for a top spec android auto / Apple car play head unit? Then you get sat nav etc through your phone. I have an android auto one and Google maps on the head unit is the best sat nav you can get imo.