Hi all,  I'm a bit of newbie to skoda and a lot of a newbie to fitting my own parts to my car.  I thought i'd post a guide to what i did.

 

I never really liked the radio that came with my Rapid Sport.  It was clunky and not very intuitive.  I've got lots of mp3 music like the rest of you and i have trouble with usb sticks and getting this to work.  It all seemed very dated.

 

Skoda quoted me £1200 to fit a satnav (kenwood).  Rather a lot!  Looking around, it seemed that the hole in the dash for the radio was a fairly standard size.   Sure enough, the fascia unclipped to reveal a similar picture to what i had seen on lots of other forums.  Getting a replacement fascia for the right shape took a bit of time, but all done now.

 

So, this is what i did.

 

 

Feeling under the fascia, you should feel the edge.  It gently pulls away.  Try a credit card if its stubborn

 

 

 

 

Once the fascia is off, the factory fitted radio is held in with 4 torx screws.

 

These unscrew and the bulky radio will then slide out, tethered by its cables. 

 

 

 

 

 

The ?aerial cable pulls away easily, but the electrics are held in by a quad lock.  Squeeze the little tab and the back and it will release the lock.  The hinge will open and you can pull the cables out (as a block).  The old radio should now be disconnected

 

The new radio was sourced from satnavdeals on ebay:   http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261496824794?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

It arrived within 48 hours of buying it (from Lithuania)

 

It comes with a satnav aerial which simply plugs into the blue socket on the radio.

 

Other people have run the satnav module under the passenger glove box.  It seemed lot of work to do this.  Fortunately, with the old radio removed, i could see a small space above where the radio used to be, behind the upper air vents and hazard lights button.

 

 

 

A spot of adhesive onto the back of the module (and a bit of duct tape while it went off) and the module seems to be snugly in place.

 

 

 

We're now ready to start reconnecting.  Very easy, the quadlock pushes back in (it does need a good push though) and the aerial is straightforward.

 

The radio powers on and asks for the code.  I left it for a while to check the satnav part was working ok

 

 

 

Once done and working, the radio can be pushed back and the screws put back.    It took a while for the satnav map to update, but working ok now and showing 8 satellites when i last checked.

 

 

 

Last job, clipping in the replacment radio fascia (part 5JA858415, available from skoda dealers for less than a tenner).

 

 

BUT!  The MFD is not recognising the satnav unit so i will have to try and find a friendly VCDS chappy in the Gwent area to do this last tweaking for me.

Can you please post what is the firmware version (SW) and HW version of yours Columbus ? Thx

Cool, I was looking at the Amundsen but given the cost versus a Columbus I'm tempted now I know it'll work.

 

Got an elegance with steering wheel controls, bluetooth etc, not sure if I'll have any problems beyond the coding needed for the mfd sat nav info, guess I'll find out.

Can you please post what is the firmware version (SW) and HW version of yours Columbus ? Thx

Should be then from the eBay info from that seller:

HW:10

SW:5270

I can confirm, hardware H10, software 5270

 

Quick update,  Bluetooth (comes with Sport) works fine, in fact works a dammed site better than on the old radio.   Absolutely love the unit, the voice control is a joy.  It'll take me a bit of time to get to grips with it all but delighted by it so far.  Downloaded the instruction manual to study over the weekend  :sun:

Edited 25 July, 201411 yr by dubdee1000

Looks great

I was thinking to upgrade to the Amundsen but having seen this and i know the Columbus from a previous Octavia its well worth the change.

Glad all is well.

Have you sorted the MFD out. and does it work with Maxidot and as MU7 wheel controls crucon if all work i be getting one. Should work with the Amundsen+ as well ?

No, the simple install above does not allow it to work with maxidot. I have seen an Amundsen unit working with maxidot and this with what I've seen in other forums makes me think its just a matter of vcds coding. Everything else works great though, media, Bluetooth, voice control etc. We let the satnav guide us to an obscure airport in Worcestershire today and it was spot on. One tip - when putting music onto an SD card for the unit, it keeps things tidier and easier to use if you arrange your music into folders - artists, albums, tracks etc. And another advisory, the satnav unit does not display every minor road if you just have the map on, but if it's giving you directions, it will show them.

I can't see a reason why the Amundsen+ unit shouldn't work, unless the aerial is different for dab, bit I really doubt that.

Lovin it!

Did the one you received have 'video in motion' active? Did some reading today and realised it's illegal to even have it installed in this country, let alone use it.

The video in motion is turned off and will remain so.  The unit is distracting enough without this - very easy to lose attention to change a track or something and drift across lanes.  I've even seen youtube clips of people installing DVB into the columbus and driving along watching the TV.  If you're parked up, then fair enough, but i do wonder how tempting it may be to turn it on on a long journey to relieve the boredom.  This is perhaps part of a wider debate about technology in cars and how far we go.

It should just be a matter of coding the car to get it to show in maxidot.

 

You have to tell the car that it has navigation, then code the Columbus to the correct CAN protocol and then code the Columbus to tell it which type of display is in the car.

 

Phil

Just had the vcds coding done by a very helpful and friendly member of this parish (adamal). Well worth doing as the maxidot integration with the Columbus is very good.

Finally got round to fitting mine. Easier than expected

 

Steering wheel controls work fine. I can also now skip tracks over bluetooth, which I couldn't with the swing radio (android phone). The maxidot now shows track info where before it just said "Bluetooth Audio".

 

Sat nav is ok, but I do prefer the PID I had in my citigo, even if it was a smaller, cheaper screen, it was more intuitive.

 

There is a little issue with the microphone not feeding the headunit, only the bluetooth module. I'm not sure I will ever use voice commands on the unit so might leave it for now. And still have to get some coding tweaks done.

dubdee1000 and anmu7...

do climate control and park sensor information work "out of the box" on the radio? can you post some pictures please? thank you

dubdee1000 and anmu7...

do climate control and park sensor information work "out of the box" on the radio? can you post some pictures please? thank you

i do not know about climate control but parking sensor info does

 

Parking sen

 

dubdee1000 and anmu7...

do climate control and park sensor information work "out of the box" on the radio? can you post some pictures please? thank you

No climate control information, I know some of the pioneer headunits do it, and it makes sense on a car with CC and no display for it, but I can't see the benefit in this car.

just wanted to say thanks to dubdee1000 for taking the time to write this up. with this guide, i managed to get my columbus fitted in no time. thanks heaps. 

Ok, but does it work with the 3 sensors in the back. Most cars have 4 sensors.

Ok, but does it work with the 3 sensors in the back. Most cars have 4 sensors.

Yes mine has 3  post 18

Thanks to dubdee1000 for the great write up.

 

We have installed a Columbus HW:H60 with firmware 5238 (updated from 3984) and all functions well after VCDS coding.

 

Cheers