Scirocco Central

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the world of VW cars (and this forum!) - I bought a late 2011 Scirocco 1.4 122 about a month ago - It's a brilliant car, easily the nicest I've ever owned.

The car appears to be a base model (no steering wheel controls, low-line dash, manual AC etc). It's currently fitted with the standard RCD510 stereo with no bluetooth module. This unit is fine, but I really want to have navigation built into the car, rather than the fairly rubbish TomTom portable unit I've been using. I've done a bit of searching, but I can't find a definitive answer to what I'm asking about.

So, my question is this: If I bought a used RNS310/315 from eBay or similar (with a security code and GPS antenna) and swapped it in, will the Sat Nav 'just work' or does the car need to be told that it now has Sat Nav, as it has never had it installed before? As mentioned - the dash is Low-Line, with no compass direction visible anywhere. I'm not expecting the directions to appear on the MFI (I think that's right!).

Can functions like MDI connection/Aux/Bluetooth be turned on and off on the 310/315 unit directly without needing to change any coding?

Sorry if this seems a bit basic!

Great forum by the way guys!

The sat nav should work without coding. Your bluetooth wont work, cos as you said, you dont have the module. The other connections should work fine too I suspect; you can always operate them directly from the unit as you said

Excellent - Thanks!

I've now ordered the 310 unit and will have a crack at fitting it. I may look at getting a bluetooth module later, but as long as the Nav, MDI and Radio functions work, I'll be a happy man!

Thanks again.

Just thought I would throw in a quick update, for those searching the forum in the future.

My car is a late 2011 car with Lowline dash and no steering wheel controls. It came fitted with an RCD510.

Bought a used RNS310 from eBay that came with a new GPS antenna, Code and maps CD. Bought a set of trim removal tools and some Torx keys, also from eBay. Found an old 4GB SD card laying around at home.

Popped the trim off, removed the 510 unit. Removed the vent assembly and mounted the GPS antenna above the vent aperture, just below the dash. Stuck it down with heavy duty velcro. Routed the cable around the side to meet the rest of the stereo cabling. Cable tied the excess up.

Plugged in the 310, checked it powered on, then put everything back together.

That part all went totally fine. I then put the SD card in and installed the maps to it from the CD. Everything was going fine, until I tried the navigation. Blank map. No roads at all, plus a repeating error message about being outside the available digital road network. The GPS also showed as not having my current position...

I was about to pull everything out and check my work, when I thought I'd have a drive around to see if that helped the GPS pick up a signal. Lo and behold, 5-10 mins later, it locked on and started working perfectly. I've done 500 miles since then, and the navigation and routing has been perfect - including the traffic re-routing stuff.

No coding required for me, and everything is working as it should (MDI, AUX, Radio etc.) - Worth noting that the RNS310 (and probably the 315 too) disables the Aux port on the centre console and makes you use the one on the unit itself.

I'll throw in an opinion too - The RNS310 unit is much more intuitive and easier to use than the RCD510. The central 'Jog Wheel' makes navigating the menus really easy.

Anyone want to buy an RCD510?

The reason you didn't have to code anything is because you have a low line dash, the high line get navigation directions on the MFD etc (which is why you have to enable it in the 'installation log' for the instrument cluster to see it.)

See here for ref:

Might be wrong but doesn't the 310/315 have bluetooth built-in?

Yes it does, but if he has a low line cluster, he wouldn't get caller ID on the MFD, and he already said he doesn't have a MFSW so again wouldn't require coding.

The RNS310 unit I have doesn't have bluetooth built in. I think it was optional on the 310, standard on the 315. I may get the module installed later, but for now, I'm just happy to have sat nav!