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Brought a Polo Match Edition (12/2017) on a '67 plate for my daughter, but now I'm told she needs a car with sat nav(!)
My question is (you guessed it) how easy is it to have this upgraded? It's got touch screen mirror link head unit which the iPhone connects to via Apple CarPlay (and you can use maps etc) but we're trying to promote the idea of having the phone tucked away when driving so it's not a distraction - and it also has an infotainment unit in the glove box. (Sorry but I'm not really down with the technical talk on VW's). I'm guessing it's not a simple case of getting a NAV unit from eBay or the likes and swapping over. I got the car from a main dealer and they previously mentioned a Kenwood upgrade for about £600 (but that wasn't on the car I ended up getting) so just wondered if there were any other avenues to go down before just going for the Kenwood thing.
On Sept 10th last, member 'hutch' started a lengthy discussion on this. His contribution was entitled '6C Sat Nav'. Other contributions to that particular topic included 'Andy1273' and me. Hutch subsequently declared he was going to buy and have fitted the VW-approved Garmin/Kenwood hardware upgrade unit. However, despite me having PM'd hutch in early October, to discover how things worked out, I received no response from him whatsoever. Anyway, you might care to scroll to the bottom of the list of topics for the Mk8 and Mk9 forums and go back in time to September's postings and find that discussion. I think you'll find it useful. Alternatively, just enter '6C Sat Nav' into the Search box at top-right of screen.
I myself drive a 2017 Polo 1.2 TSI Match Edition. The Garmin/Kenwood piece of hardware is really the only solution of its kind now feasible on 6C Polos that were bought with just the basic Infotainment unit. It's my understanding that, yes, satnav can be had on these Polos via ApplePlay and an iPhone, but that's not of course going to give a totally integrated, non-distracting solution to satnav. In my personal opinion, the Garmin/Kenwood is the better solution, and is something that an average DIYer can install him/herself.
I suggest you also go to YouTube and do a search for 'Advanced InCar Technologies', which is a UK firm that sells the Garmin/Kenwood kit and also offers an installation service. That firm does a couple of videos explaining why and how to fit the unit. If you search carefully enough on the Kenwood website you can also download a PDF explaining, with pictures, how to do the installation on 2014 - 2017 Polos.
I spent many weeks studying what this Garmin/Kenwood unit offers but in the end I decided to put aside the prospect of getting satnav because (a) there were chargeable ongoing costs (software/map updates) for the unit (or at least it seemed so), and (b) finding a good enough spot, somewhere around the windscreen/dashboard, to locate the satnav antenna, was all but impossible. The best place for a satnav antenna is as part of a sharksfin antenna combo on the Polo's roof, but whilst the more upmarket 6C's have that, anyone retrofitting the Garmin/Kenwood unit would ideally need to add that to the roof. Part of the reason for me PM'ing hutch in October was (assuming he'd actually bought the said unit) to find out where, on the Polo, the supplied satnav antenna ended up being fitted, and whether a good enough signal resulted.
My wife's Polo has a Kenwood fitted. It is a lot of trouble: we had to pester the dealer to get a booster from Kenwood to receive traffic info, and the map updates are expensive and difficult to obtain. If you go the Kenwood route make sure the unit is mounted in a place where the SD card slot is accessible - the glove box has to be removed to access ours!
Had we known this we would have gone for a stand-alone unit with lifetime maps; we would probably have paid for a bit of wiring work to avoid the untidy cable in the lighter socket.
Almost certainly, the reason why you got such weak reception of the traffic news (which incidentally isn't specifically a feature of satnav itself) is that the separate antenna for that is just a length of wire that the fitting instructions say should be tucked into the upper rubber surround of the nearside front passenger door. This is about the worst possible place for it because it's still then within the inner side of the car's shell and it therefore is electromagnetically screened from radio reception. Again, the correct solution is to have a proper, roof-mounted antenna if you insist on having traffic news reports, or maybe lay the wire across the width of the dashboard, underneath it so it's out of sight, near the inside face of the windscreen where there's only glass between the interior of the car and the exterior.
As for access to the SD card, there's an SD-connection extender cable available for the Kenwood unit (see website of Advanced InCar Technologies), the user end of which can be just tucked away underneath the glovebox, next to the carpet. Anyone contemplating having one of these Kenwood units should therefore plan that in. So no, if a proper job of installing the Kenwood unit is done, there'll definitely be no need to remove the glovebox every time you want to apply a software or map update.
I'm not sure what you mean, Dave_C, by "we would have gone for a standalone unit with lifetime maps". There is no such alternative unit that can be integrated fully, hardware-wise, with the basic VW infotainment system. The only separate, alternative is the iPhone/Apple Car Play route, as far as I know. But that isn't what tr1cky wants.
And BTW, you don't necessarily need to provide a 12v supply to any other 'standalone unit' by using the cigarette-lighter socket; it can be done instead by tapping off a 12v connection instead from the dashboard's fusebox. Of course, in the case of the Kenwood unit, there's no such messy wiring work involved; once the back of the infotainment player is accessed, you merely plug in revised inter-device looms that are supplied, and consequently all parts of the loom, if installed correctly, should give you a functioning new system. The looms end up behind the infotainment player and behind the upper end of the carpeting on that side, out of sight. I'd never recommend a VW workshop retrofitting the Kenwood unit, even though VW dealerships themselves sell it, as VW technicians don't appear to be experts in this field and in most cases seem to rush the job and take shortcuts. Best to do the job yourself, if you have the confidence and skills; otherwise, get a firm like advanced incar technologies to install it for you; they can, apparently, in some cases provide fitters near to the end-customer.
I too was really interested in the Kenwood upgrade unit and was looking forward to seeing how 'hutch' had gone on with his installation, but as mentioned we've heard nothing back from him?
For the money £600 plus the future update costs and signal issues ivd now decided against the idea. For what I use sat nav for, which isn't very often I'm just going to stick with using Google maps on my android. It would be nice to have a integrated sat nav system but for all the costs issues it's not worth it in my opinion.
My question is why spend money on a new unit, when you can use the Apple carplay? Why not instead teach your daughter to be responsible ( I'm sure she already is, I don't mean anything by that) and not touch the phone while driving.
I've no experience with that generation of polo as I have the 2014 6R, but in the carplay radio in my golf I only get carplay through my phone via connecting my phone directly in my glovebox, which is brilliant not that I really touch my phone just keeps it tidy!
The Kenwood upgrade via Volkswagen is a good unit, but units from £600+ are more designed for audio enthusiasts like myself who put in aftermarket speakers amps and subs. You'll get a great unit under £300 that'll offer more than you or your daughter will need. I recommend the Pioneer SPH-DA120, might not be suitable if you dislike finger prints etc I run Waze maps on mine as I don't bother with traffic info as Ireland doesn't have it, so Waze shows you were Accidents are as well as police and speed cameras.
"For the money £600 plus the future update costs and signal issues ivd now decided against the idea. For what I use sat nav for, which isn't very often I'm just going to stick with using Google maps on my android. It would be nice to have a integrated sat nav system but for all the costs issues it's not worth it in my opinion".
At the website, in the VW section of advanced products, look for "Kenwood Navigation System for Composition Media". The unit is often given the label "GVN-MIB1". It's VW part no. ZGB5G0051259. AdvIncar's price for it is £579 inc VAT. You can buy an SD card-reader extension cable from them for £25, I believe.
Looks like that e-Bay seller had a couple of them at one stage but has since sold them.
Edit: now here's a thought. I think those two may possibly have been made for the German market and therefore might currently contain maps only for that country. It might be that, to bring the unit fully up-to-date, any buyer would need to obtain and apply the very latest software and maps updates - in particular the requisite maps for the UK - from Garmin/Kenwood. If so, some further monetary outlay would doubtless be involved. Just a theory, though. I'd personally be wary of anything like this sold as new at a knockdown price, as usually there's a catch somewhere.
