Author Topic: Wanting to upgrade my head unit  (Read 5298 times)

Offline Lofty_MK6_GTI

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Wanting to upgrade my head unit
« on: 08 October 2015, 13:14 »
Hi guys, I'm looking into changing the head unit in my car.

Currently I have a pretty naff after market unit that was in the car when I bought it.

I have a Mk6 GTi and I'm after either a genuine VW unit, or one that is a factory upgrade such as Kenwood etc.

I would ideally like it to have all the possible features, DAB, Bluetooth, SatNav etc.

Any help and advice on where to get one from would be greatly recieved.

Thanks, Lofty  :smiley:

Offline jv

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Re: Wanting to upgrade my head unit
« Reply #1 on: 12 October 2015, 12:45 »
Good old ebay I reckon. Either that, or somewhere like http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head-units/satellite-navigation/kenwood-dnx525dab-7-0-wvga-navigation-system-with-built-in-dab-tuner-for-vw-skoda-seat for the Kenwood one. Depends how happy you are doing the install yourself, if not, find a recommended local installer.
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Offline Lofty_MK6_GTI

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Re: Wanting to upgrade my head unit
« Reply #2 on: 13 October 2015, 20:32 »
Good old ebay I reckon. Either that, or somewhere like http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head-units/satellite-navigation/kenwood-dnx525dab-7-0-wvga-navigation-system-with-built-in-dab-tuner-for-vw-skoda-seat for the Kenwood one. Depends how happy you are doing the install yourself, if not, find a recommended local installer.

Cheers for the reply, any ideas to what original VW head unit I should be looking for? One that has DAB, Nav, Bluetooth, the works basically?

Thanks, Lofty

Offline jv

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Offline BadcarEurope

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Re: Wanting to upgrade my head unit
« Reply #5 on: 30 October 2015, 11:17 »
Yeah, eBay is ok :) There is no need for spending about £1k... I know, it looks massive and cool but... The original ones are good too :)
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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: Wanting to upgrade my head unit
« Reply #6 on: 31 October 2015, 13:33 »
The RNS510 with DAB and navigation will just plug and play (unless youhave Dynaudio installed then you'll need to do a bit of coding on the head unit so it doesn't blow the amp up!) and you can pick them up for a few hundred quid. Plus, because it's OEM it's more appealing when you sell the car. Also, don't worry about getting the latest revision, few people on the mk5 Golf GTI forum have reported there's little difference at all between the revisions apart from the middle period ones having LED backlit screens which look nicer. Save some money and get a mid life revision (H-P should be good if I'm correct).

The Kenwood DNX525DAB is a direct factory upgrade available direct from VW but as mentioned, pick on up off eBay and fit yourself to save hundreds of pounds. Again, the unit supports all OE features but has the advantage of being able to work with full audio upgrades (external amps and subwoofers ect.) but if you're not going to go nuts with the speakers then you're likely be better of getting an RNS510 unit.

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Offline Lofty_MK6_GTI

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Re: Wanting to upgrade my head unit
« Reply #7 on: 15 November 2015, 18:41 »
Hi guys

Thanks for the replies, I've not been online for a while so only just reading them tonight

I've been looking on eBay at OEM RNS units and have found quite a few. The only thing slightly putting me off is them not having codes and them not working? Is that something I should be wary of? Or am I just being overly paranoid?

Thanks for any help, Lofty