mackie

My 2p. I've had my car (2010 vRS TSI DSG) for a couple of months and 1500 miles or so and my trip computer average is 36mpg. I do quite a few really short trips which read 20-25mpg but when going longer distance the average is around 40mpg with the motorway sections being comfortably over 40mpg. That's running on V-Power.

If I wanted to install wiring for satnav how would i got about locating a free ignition switched fuse slot? I gather this is possible without having to add any circuits but I'm not sure how to work out which slot(s) would be suitable.

I actually negotiated a spare into the deal but they forgot to put it in the car on delivery. I'll probably swing by and pick it up this weekend but it never occured to me that there'd be no jack or brace! One to confirm I think. I've got proper tools at home but I don't want to cart a trolley jack and breaker bar around all the time.

Random eBay seller does not have the outrageous buying power of Amazon though. I'm actually in the market for one of these units but I'm having to ask myself how people are letting them go for so little. Around 600 notes seems ok but half that for "as new" items seems a bit cheap, barely more than the dodgy clones.

Yes they are overpriced on the options list. However to allow it to sell for so little (since you can set a reserve or a buy it now price) implies that it was obtained for very little outlay and since "official" sellers (i.e. not eBay sellers but companies like OEM Retrofits) are charging at least £600 the price would seem off. So it's either nicked or the seller managed to buy it from a scrappy for £150 somehow. Who knows?

Another one went for just over £300 on eBay. That is too cheap IMO.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment and having a wife who runs a business and has gone to a lot of effort to secure supplies at low prices I'm not surprised they wouldn't want to pass on details of where they get their units from as it's could weaken their business if they do so. They aren't a faceless eBay seller, people have dealt with them face to face and had these units fitted. Pretty risky if you're knowlingly dealing in moody goods. On the flip side I would be interested in knowing how many faulty RNS-510s do get replaced across Europe and what official VAG agents do with them. There will be a supply of legit recon units but it will only be related to a small percentage of VAG sales. Then again how many vehicles do VW, Seat and Skoda sell every year in Europe? A million? Even with conservative estimates of how many sat nav units are ordered and then how many require replacement that's still in the order of hundreds of potential recon units coming back onto the market. Sure some are nicked and some are fakes but a good proportion will be geniune recon units. If only there was a simple way to prove authenticity.

I've been emailing the OEM Retrofits guy and apparently they get them direct from a refurbisher in Germany. I too wondered how they were so many cheap ones available. I guess they stop working, get replaced and the faulty ones go somewhere to be fixed and resold at a cheaper price. Maybe they're just unreliable? Anyone had any problems not related to brick-making firmware updates?

All being well my Monaro is going today and being replaced by a vRS petrol. A bit of a step down in performance but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still kind of in two minds. I do still want the Fiscon bluetooth kit fitted but I'm not 100% sure about the navigation. The alternative would be a TomTom GO Live 1005, has anyone wired in a charger cable permanently?

I take it you know something I don't?

One just went for £305 on eBay. Bargain! (if it's not nicked) I'm getting oemretrofits to do mine.

Cool. I've got the springs sitting at home so I think I'll wait until I can afford the other bits and get them all fitted at the same time as that should keep the labour cost down vs doing them as separate jobs, esp since it'd need the alignment doing each time otherwise. What kind of increased insurance premiums are people getting for fitting these suspension mods? I'll probably get it done in April, Fiscon bluetooth and Columbus are top of the list once I get the car delivered (tomorrow!)

Have you got Eibachs or similar on there too? I'm considering the WALK and RARB too, seems like a simple way to really improve the car.

EBay, buy it now for £45 or starting bid of £25. Noone had bid come 1 minute to go so I did, for that money it was a no brainer! From the pic they look like new with just a bit of flakey paint where they sat in the seats.