Advice needed - Upgrading 05 Golf comfortline stereo

Demosthenes

As the title says. I've a 05 Golf comfortline, current CD player is all jammed up from previous owner. Current stereo looks like this:



Can I purchase an aftermarket stereo on eBay and replace/upgrade or is there more to it than that?
I have been reading something about battery drain issues related to this..

The stereo I am looking at getting is this:

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/8-Car-DVD-Stereo-Touch-Player-GPS-Radio-Bluetooth-For-VW-Golf-MK5-Passat-Seat/292319756020?hash=item440f9d7ef4:g:HdAAAOSwZtlaAEAh

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

tossy

It's not as simple as pluging out one and plugging in another unfortunately.

You will need a fitting kit for the new radio i.e a new radio cage (sometimes the one supplied with the aftermarket headunit will work sometimes it won't) you will need a fascia adpator to fit around the aftermarket radio and most importantly you'll need a wiring harness to plug everything in.

You can get all these as part of one kit from places like this https://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/

There is also an issue with mk5 Golfs needing a switched live 12v feed for after market headunits (i think)

So some googling of MK5 golf forums will help.

Lastly i would stay clear of charlie cheap Ebay touch screen units - disaster, either upgrade to a better VW factory sat nav or buy from a reputable brand like pioneer,sony, etc .

Demosthenes

tossy wrote: »

It's not as simple as pluging out one and plugging in another unfortunately.

You will need a fitting kit for the new radio i.e a new radio cage (sometimes the one supplied with the aftermarket headunit will work sometimes it won't) you will need a fascia adpator to fit around the aftermarket radio and most importantly you'll need a wiring harness to plug everything in.

You can get all these as part of one kit from places like this https://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/

There is also an issue with mk5 Golfs needing a switched live 12v feed for after market headunits (i think)

So some googling of MK5 golf forums will help.

Lastly i would stay clear of charlie cheap Ebay touch screen units - disaster, either upgrade to a better VW factory sat nav or buy from a reputable brand like pioneer,sony, etc .

Thanks for the reply.

I'm on a miniscule budget so charlie cheap is my only route in this instance.
This isabetter option than the one I previously linked (Android > Win CE) in case anyone is looking: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/For-VW-PASSAT-GOLF-MK5-6-TOURAN-CADDY-JETTA-9-Car-Radio-Android-6-0-GPS-sat-nav/232555439225?hash=item3625626479:g:WWAAAOSwSwVaULSX

The example I have listed is built to Golf dimensions so by my understanding would not need a fascia kit. And it comes with a wiring harness.

My issues are predominantly related to the whole wiring area, I'm reading a lot about all this but theres just a few bits that I can't wrap my head around.
This page http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170712 seems to be implying that the extra power cable is only required if there is no additional canbus adapter, which my linked head unit also seems to have.

I suppose my main question at this point is, with the linked stereo system (in this post) would I need additional wiring and/or would I need to upgrade the canbus in the car?

Or - is this canbus upgrade requirement only an issue with oem stereos? http://www.my-gti.com/1101/upgrading-2nd-generation-radios-rcd-300-rcd-500-to-3rd-generation-rcd-210-rcd-310-rns-310-rcd-510-power-drain-issue

Guy:Incognito

tossy wrote: »

It's not as simple as pluging out one and plugging in another unfortunately.
.

Are you sure? I've put an eonon custom stereo in the missus touran and it's a straight fit. The one the op links to looks the right shape. Do the golf radios not fit the same as the caddy and touran, with the 4 screws in the tabs shown in the pic?

No fascia adaptors or cages needed on the caddy and touran.

tossy

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Are you sure? I've put an eonon custom stereo in the missus touran and it's a straight fit. The one the op links to looks the right shape. Do the golf radios not fit the same as the caddy and touran, with the 4 screws in the tabs shown in the pic?

No fascia adaptors or cages needed on the caddy and touran.

Yeah no fascia adapters needed for those ones designed to fit a specific model, sorry for the confusion.

colm_mcm

Do you need the CD player bit? Maybe spend the money on a Bluetooth aux in

Demosthenes

Went with one of these in the end, will update once it has arrived and been fitted.

To clarify for anyone interested, as others have stated, no faceplate is needed as long as it is a model specific stereo.

Also make sure you measure your existing stereo, it would seem some mk5 golf stereos are 215mm across the bottom and some are 210mm. Newer variants and gti seem to be the 215mm, mine being a 05 was 210mm.

The canbus issues I was reading so much about were cleared up for me on another forum. The canbus updates to prevent battery drain are only required if you have an older canbus (serial number is the indicator) and are looking to upgrade to a newer OEM VW stereo. Aftermarket products are apparently unaffected.

Demosthenes

colm_mcm wrote: »

Do you need the CD player bit? Maybe spend the money on a Bluetooth aux in

It usually pays to read the article before commenting on the headline