Been browsing this forum a lot recently as last week I purchased a 3 month old 15 plate ex demonstrator Polo GTI from Swindon VW in the UK.
I have a few questions, mainly for 6c owners who already have mirrorlink working, while driving, and whether they think it is worth it or not?
As my car was an ex demo, I had no say whatsoever in the optional extras, so I don't even have an arm rest
Personally, if I could have waited for a brand new one, I had quotes that matched the price I paid for the ex demo, but including all optional extras I wanted (arm rest, climate control, cruise and park pack), but unfortunately I couldn't wait 16 weeks as my old Mazda died a very sudden death and was not worth paying £3600 to get it back up and running.I read a lot about mirrorlink, and how it has been added and removed as an option over the last few months, but it seemed that it was working, as long as you had a phone that it liked. I realise only certain apps work while driving, so I wouldn't be able to use my usual Waze / Google Maps Navigation / CoPilot premium, but I was happy to use Sygic as it seems pretty good and uses TomTom maps. I also have a HTC One (the original, I believe it is technically the M7 although it was never described as such like the new M8 is.), so the HTC Car app is supposed to work nicely with mirrorlink. Can anyone confirm if MirrorLink currently works with the HTC One M7? The M8 is listed on mirrorlinks website, as is the M7 Dual Sim (mine isn't dual sim as far as I know). I have already purchased the activation key from amazon, and I have been in contact with my local VW dealer (Loughborough), who originally told me it was not possible to retrofit, but after calling VWUK directly they confirmed it can be activated, and they then agreed to do it, at the cost of an hours labour as I already had the key.
I did ask how much they charge for the activation key and labour, because the only reason I went to amazon for it was it didn't say anything about needing a main dealer to do the upgrade, so was hoping to do it myself. After checking how much the part was, she then said there was a note on the part to say that it was no longer available, because there were not enough devices that supported it, and so VW were issuing refunds to owners, plus £100 good will payment (£250 in total), even if you didn't specify this as an option. She did say they could try and get it working, but they can't guarantee it will work with my phone, and if I've used the key to activate it I won't be able to return it to Amazon.
So, my question is, is it worth the risk? Can anyone confirm if MirrorLink works, while driving, with a HTC One M7? I would like a SatNav solution of some description, but £600 for a Garmin retrofit seems very steep, and I am used to using my phone on my old car as I had a decent phone holder that didn't have to use a suction cup on the windscreen.
If I am eligible for this £250 payment from VW, I can put that to use on some parking sensors, or cruise control retrofit, which would be helpful, and I am planning on getting both of these in the near future. If this was my option, can anyone recommend a decent phone holder, near the centre console? I've tried the Kenu AirFrame, and a UK equivalent of the iMagnet, both of which attach to the air vent, but I'm not liking these at all as I just can't get it angled correctly so I can actually see the phone screen when it's sunny.
Cheers
Stu