Mk8 Golf rear camera retrofi

[J3 hnn]

Hi would just like to share my retrofitted reverse camera for my mk8 Golf Gti, I fitted this today and coded using Obdeleven pro. I bought the camera from AliExpress costing £165 which came with a wiring loom, pretty straightforward installation as I previously done it on my Rline Tiguan.

[Tractor Dave]

Well done. Looks quite complex to me so I'm glad my R has one already.
I think you could make a good living fitting these for people 

[Adam T7]

Interesting read and a fantastic job. First option box I ticked on my GTI was the rear camera, looking at the work you put in, I’m so glad I did.

[Guzzle]

These really should be standard fit at the factory in this day and age.

I have one on my Mk7.5 and it's one of the best features of the car.

A relative of mine just picked up a brand new Hyundai i10 and the rear camera is standard across the range. That car cost £16k, so VW charging over £300 extra for it on a car with a list price that is more than double feels tight fisted to me.

[joe6]

These really should be standard fit at the factory in this day and age.

I have one on my Mk7.5 and it's one of the best features of the car.

A relative of mine just picked up a brand new Hyundai i10 and the rear camera is standard across the range. That car cost £16k, so VW charging over £300 extra for it on a car with a list price that is more than double feels tight fisted to me.

Totally agree. My grandson's i20 2020 has it as standard. Did have to retrofit an autodimming rearview interior mirror though. for £30 so why not that standard as well! Some interesting bean counter decisions by manufacturers?

[fredgroves]

Bean counters.... the thing is, a few hundred quid here and a few hundred there and you end up with something costing a lot of money...

Which then means people won't buy it.

At the bottom end of the market few will pay for "options" and if you make those things baseline they won't buy it at all.

Ever wondered why you can't spec the glitzy features on a Corsa? Because they will never sell them to Corsa buyers.

Conversely, in models further up the tree, the options are there to be milked. A 60k base car you can easily get those customers to spec another 10k of options, maybe more.

But because of the way that car manufacturing is structured (most components made by third party suppliers and you have to commit to volumes of units) having an option nobody ever orders is bad for the business. So you need to judge your customers correctly or lose money hand over fist. Which is why you see VW regularly delete options on Golfs...nobody ordered them sufficiently and they were losing money.

One of the things though that has happened, as well as some features becoming "must haves" to sell a car (eg sat nav and ACP/AA) is that the law requires all sorts of technology now. From air bags to adaptive speed limiting.... it all adds to the cost.

[Hertsman]

These really should be standard fit at the factory in this day and age.

I have one on my Mk7.5 and it's one of the best features of the car.

A relative of mine just picked up a brand new Hyundai i10 and the rear camera is standard across the range. That car cost £16k, so VW charging over £300 extra for it on a car with a list price that is more than double feels tight fisted to me.

Love rear view camera after being skeptical when they first came out, would not buy car without, but the VW rear view cameras are particularly good, my BMW 128Ti camera is completely second rate compared to our 2019 R, its much lower definition, and as exposed to elements, always having to clean the muck/water droplets off it. The hidden design of the VW is to be applauded.

[Hertsman]

Bean counters.... the thing is, a few hundred quid here and a few hundred there and you end up with something costing a lot of money...

Which then means people won't buy it.

At the bottom end of the market few will pay for "options" and if you make those things baseline they won't buy it at all.

Ever wondered why you can't spec the glitzy features on a Corsa? Because they will never sell them to Corsa buyers.

Conversely, in models further up the tree, the options are there to be milked. A 60k base car you can easily get those customers to spec another 10k of options, maybe more.

But because of the way that car manufacturing is structured (most components made by third party suppliers and you have to commit to volumes of units) having an option nobody ever orders is bad for the business. So you need to judge your customers correctly or lose money hand over fist. Which is why you see VW regularly delete options on Golfs...nobody ordered them sufficiently and they were losing money.

One of the things though that has happened, as well as some features becoming "must haves" to sell a car (eg sat nav and ACP/AA) is that the law requires all sorts of technology now. From air bags to adaptive speed limiting.... it all adds to the cost.

Excactly, VW sell imagine 10 m cars a year, so for every £1 cut, that's £10m saving, which includes now, the reduced cost on switches, dials and anything with a mechanism, even your old glass holder, so what is a daft and minor reduction in part or quality to us, is always £ x by 10m to VW.

The under seat draw was my biggest annoyance, so useful, but we obviously can live without it, and once past the initial moans, everyone soon forgets.

The one area that can bite into sales, is material quality, it definitely put me off what was then serious consideration to Polo GTI for wife, the interior materials were shocking, especially when it was replacing a Audi A1 S Line, the comparison was certainly not favourable on the newer car. Wife eventually ended up with a 2019 R, much cheaper and obviously far superior in every aspect there is.

As the aforementioned R was having its MOT and oil service last week, had a good pour over the MK 8 R sitting in showroom, and know folk love how they drive, and have got used to interiors to like, for my new eyes, interior did feel cheaper materially, and it was too minimal, so hope the MK 8.5 does up the quality for what are premium car prices these days,

[Adam T7]

These really should be standard fit at the factory in this day and age.

I have one on my Mk7.5 and it's one of the best features of the car.

A relative of mine just picked up a brand new Hyundai i10 and the rear camera is standard across the range. That car cost £16k, so VW charging over £300 extra for it on a car with a list price that is more than double feels tight fisted to me.

Love rear view camera after being skeptical when they first came out, would not buy car without, but the VW rear view cameras are particularly good, my BMW 128Ti camera is completely second rate compared to our 2019 R, its much lower definition, and as exposed to elements, always having to clean the muck/water droplets off it. The hidden design of the VW is to be applauded.

Totally agree, the last car I had with a camera was a D4, camera useless after a even shortish fast road journey in wet conditions.

[fredgroves]

Excactly, VW sell imagine 10 m cars a year, so for every £1 cut, that's £10m saving, which includes now, the reduced cost on switches, dials and anything with a mechanism, even your old glass holder, so what is a daft and minor reduction in part or quality to us, is always £ x by 10m to VW.

Its not even that though - its not always about the OEM saving money. They can add the cost of the items to the car, but a £20k car becoming a £25k car is seriously damaging to competition with their rivals.

Inflation is a real thing and they have to find ways of reducing their costs too though. Although the price of a Golf has risen quite a bit (crazy if you ask me) if they hadn't reduced things like paint thickness or interior trim....

Its always a balance, they definitely could make the Golf you desire, with every feature known to man, but you wouldn't be able to afford to buy it in sufficient quantities to warrant the capital investment VW put into it.

An estate agent once told me a story about a guy who had the most amazing 3 bedroom house he'd even seen. The owner had poured money into it. Such 3 bedroom house were typically worth £300k here, but this guy had spent probably another £300k doing every possible thing to it. But it was still 1000 square feet of a 3 bedroom semi. The estate agent said they'd never be able to get more than 300k for it.

A Golf is the same thing and I think VW have reached the point at which the performance models are a £600k 3 bed semi that nobody will pay for, despite all of the cost cuttings.