I have bought a 51 plate Octavia vRS and I am extremely happy with it, I know my way around the oily parts of a car well enough and I am confident with that side of things.

But.

I have never had a car before that was this nice on the inside and I have never done any kind of ICE fettling on a car.

I understand that I can retro-fit a multi-function steering wheel and cruise control and I have fixed the air-con that was broken when I got it so my thoughts now turn to the stereo.

I have this unit in it at the moment:

The sat-nav looks like an etch-a-sketch and the 6 CD multi changer in on the way out and is currently a 3 CD changer.

What I want is a double-din head unit that will fit in the slot properly and not look too "aftermarket", I would like a modern 3D image capable satnav system with full postcode entry.

I would like it to play home-made CDs from the dash and have some sort of aux-in so I can do away with the changer.

In a perfect world I would also like bluetooth compatibility and to be able to control it with the steering wheel (when I retro-fit one).

So, I know that is a long list but I think it is do-able, until recently there was a Octavia I compatible version of this:

1053 7" LCD TV MONITOR MP4 VCD DVD PLAYER SKODA OCTAVIA on eBay, also Monitors, DVD Players Monitors, In-Car Entertainment GPS, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 29-Apr-09 22:00:00 BST)

1053 head unit but now I can't seem to find it.

I e-mailed the retailer of this:

New 7 Car DVD GPS Navigation Skoda Octavia DUAL ZONE on eBay, also DVD VCD Players, DVD Players Monitors, In-Car Entertainment GPS, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 28-Apr-09 21:19:31 BST)

to see if it was Octavia I compatible and he said it was but I am not convinced, it doesn't look "square" enough.

So, what are my options?

Do you have any recomendations?

I know I can go with the Kenwood DNX5240BT or DNX7240BT with the CAW1320-00 and get what I want, but that is about £1200 and a system like this deserves better speakers, an amp etc...

That is a bit much, I was thingking of about £650.

Sorry about the massive post but I like giving adequate detail.

Fill yer boots Car Audio Direct for car stereo, navigation and audiovisual electronics.

At the end of the day it will be down to personal preference. I fitted an aftermarket JVC DVD unit to my Mk 1 Elegance with no problems, the only thing I had to do was swap the yellow and red power cables to maintain power to the unit.

Wow, I blatantly know nothing about this stuff.

Thank you for the help.

I assume all of the units on that page will require both a mechanical and an electronic adaptor to fit the dash and retain steering wheel controls?

The Mk2 Octavia has a quadlock adaptor for the stereo head units. The Mk1 uses an ISO loom so no need for an adaptor. You can however buy an adaptor harness that swaps the two 12v feeds over and eliminates the K line issue (this is where 12v can be shoved down a wire that can pop the dealer diagnostic tool and cause hassle with the car) AUTOLEADS PC2-69-4 VOLKSWAGEN / SEAT & SKODA ISO HARNES on eBay, also, Terminals Cabling, In-Car Entertainment GPS, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 19-Feb-09 15:42:09 GMT)

You would need an aerial amplifier as the OEM unit powers the amp in the antenna: New VAG Aerial Booster Amplified Antenna Lead VW Cars on eBay, also, Terminals Cabling, In-Car Entertainment GPS, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 10-May-09 21:03:40 BST)

As the slot is double DIN you shouldnt have any problems with an aftermarket unit.

You may need an adaptor for any steering wheel controls but I don't know much about that on the Skoda as I did it last on a Xantia with a minidisc player

I havent driven a Mk1 since early '06 so I am trawling my memory on this one. There are others who have done this more recently which may have more specific info on steering controls etc.

A rummage through the search facility will turn up some good info but I think I have covered most points

Thank you for that.

I have found a lot of info on the retro-fitting stuff, the K line issue and the boosted aerial problem.

The issue I have had is with composing a suitable search string to get the info I need.

There is so much info on this forum that the good stuff is drowned in a sea of info that isn't relevant.

So as I understand it now:

My vRS has an ISO loom so I can directly attach any ISO double-din head unit.

I will need to sort the K line, either with an adaptor or by modding the loom and the RF amp.

The front of a double-din unit is the same size as the front of my current unit (19cm x 11.5cm) so I don't need a space-filler for the dash.

If I get a head unit it is then up to me to get an adaptor (if needed) from the manufacturer to make the steering wheel controls work with the new unit.

I know it is the pricey option but I am leaning towards waiting a month and getting the Kenwood DNX7240BT, the only problem is it is worth 60% of what I paid for the car...

The Kenwood is certainly a pricey little devil. I would be worried about its desirability from the perspective of thieving little twunts.

The harness adaptors are peanuts and although not needed they usually come with bullet crimps in the two 12v supply lines so they can be swapped over to maintain the head unit's memory.

They also allow for the disconnecting/swapping of the K line cable, this is usually the same pin as the 12v electric aerial output on aftermarket units although some now make allowances for the K line. Bottom line is it allows you to keep the factory wiring harness 'un-butchered'

It also makes the install a bit easier as the factory harness connections can be tucked away so as not to interefere with the fitment of the aftermarket unit.