Someone recently asked a similar question over on the Golf R forum - specifically in relation to installing the mk8.5’s illuminated heating control panel below the infotainment screen in a mk8 Golf, rather than the mk8.5’s main infotainment screen itself.
The AI response to that question was posted which was;
‘It is not directly possible to swap the illuminated Mk8.5 Golf heating controls into a standard Mk8 Golf.The illuminated slider bar is integrated into the new, larger infotainment system, not a separate component that can be swapped, and the hardware and electronics differ significantly.’
So it seems the answer to your question is probably not, if the ‘electronics differ significantly’. If it were possible, then I’d expect some of the VAG retro-fitting companies would be offering it as I dare say many mk8 owners would like to have illuminated heater controls.
I can vaguely remember reading a few years ago on another forum of someone who’d bought some cheap small luminous glow in the dark ‘dot’ stickers that they fitted to the slider panel to make it easier to locate in the dark, so that might be something to consider as a low cost quick and easy solution.
