Strangely, as the thread title says

I'm contemplating getting the proper MDI lead to connect up to my MFD3, with either the ipod or USB connection.

Is anyone out there using one, and, if so, are they worth the money ?

I had a test in a Golf in a VW showroom and it worked well enough to convince me to order MDI for my Octavia (the car's not here yet).

The ability to display track names and navigate folders through the head unit and steering wheel controls is important to me, and the MDI seems to do the job. Reckon it'll be even easier on the touch screen stereo than it was with the standard Golf stereo I tried.

I had a test in a Golf in a VW showroom and it worked well enough to convince me to order MDI for my Octavia (the car's not here yet).

The ability to display track names and navigate folders through the head unit and steering wheel controls is important to me, and the MDI seems to do the job. Reckon it'll be even easier on the touch screen stereo than it was with the standard Golf stereo I tried.

That's just what I was hoping to hear - thanks

They are a bit tight BTW, only letting you test the car in the showroom - I'd never consider buying a car without taking it out on the road - it's a wonder you didn't hit anything

Did anyone find out the price of these and the part numbers? I'm sure I saw it somewhere, but can't find it. Ideally like to use it with an iPhone 3g, the alternative is to use the bluetooth a2dp if I ever get my BT kit sorted out.

The MDI kit is expensive due to the poor € to £ exchange rate, its on the Kufatec.de website. Sometimes the MDI is also listed on ebay.

The MDI kit is expensive due to the poor € to £ exchange rate, its on the Kufatec.de website. Sometimes the MDI is also listed on ebay.

It's listed in the options list for VW and Skoda at £150 for the media lead plus £25 or so for the ipod or usb connection. I know others are available, but from the little I know of them the factory lead is the best way of guaranteeing full integration.

VW Skoda Seat Media MDI USB IPOD Intergration RNS 510 on eBay (end time 27-Jul-09 11:27:50 BST)

VW Skoda Seat Media MDI USB IPOD RNS 510 ****FITTED**** on eBay (end time 28-Jul-09 12:33:05 BST)

KUFATEC GmbH - Volkswagen MDI Multimediabuchse MEDIA - IN Golf 5 V 36219

There is also a cable version that you run to the glovebox, but its not much cheaper.

Quite a keen price, considering:

VW Media-In MDI Interface RCD310 RCD510 RNS510 ipod usb on eBay (end time 09-Aug-09 09:36:28 BST)

I had been considering one to go with the Bolero I've retrofitted, but with 16Gb SDHC capability, I'll spend £17 on one of those cards instead and copy what I want on there Shame the MFD3 only has support for 2Gb cards really.

Steve

Am I missing something here...these Ebay units appear to be more expensive than the OEM fitted units!

Steve

They are OEM units, and retrofiited will always cost more than having them as an optional extra. The RRP of the non cable ones on ebay is £399+vat if you were to buy the parts and fit them yourself.

They are OEM units, and retrofiited will always cost more than having them as an optional extra. The RRP of the non cable ones on ebay is £399+vat if you were to buy the parts and fit them yourself.

The MDI cable I'm interested in is definitely £150 inc VAT - that was the price quoted by both VW and Skoda dealers. You then have to buy the USB or ipod connector lead for £25 inc VAT. You then either fit it yourself or pay the dealer extra to fit it.

I'm not sure what these £399 + VAT ones are - add another £150 to that and you could buy the MFD3 unit itself !

I might end up sticking to DVD mp3 discs and a few 2Gb memmory cards - but I do like the thought of having access to my whole music library in one unit.

Quite a keen price, considering:

VW Media-In MDI Interface RCD310 RCD510 RNS510 ipod usb on eBay (end time 09-Aug-09 09:36:28 BST)

I had been considering one to go with the Bolero I've retrofitted, but with 16Gb SDHC capability, I'll spend £17 on one of those cards instead and copy what I want on there Shame the MFD3 only has support for 2Gb cards really.

Steve

The post by Steve shows the cable option, which is £150 and is the one you really want as its the easiest to fit.

The post by Steve shows the cable option, which is £150 and is the one you really want as its the easiest to fit.

That's the one - I think I could fit it myself, especially considering what a dealer would probably charge.

Can't believe nobody is running one at the moment.

Maybe I ought to post something similar up on the Superb 2 forum - there must someone there who's got one

Oh yeah, it's a straightforward DIY fit - no way I'd be going anywhere near a 'specialist' or dealer to sort this. It's still quite a new interface, especially to the Skoda family, so will take people a while to catch up - especially with retrofitting.

Steve

I'm interested in adding one, but have read on vwnavi that problems exist if you also have the OEM bluetooth kit fitted...

I'm interested in adding one, but have read on vwnavi that problems exist if you also have the OEM bluetooth kit fitted...

That wouldn't bother me too much, as I don't do bluetooth

Don't bother with Bluetooth, unless your phone meets certain criteria it won't work with it anyway & we all know that using a phone driving impairs your driving abilities, through lack of concentration, best thing of all leave the phone switched off.

If the call is important then they'll call back. Be safe not sorry.

Sorry to hi-jack the the thread but if we were to go to the dealer and order the parts required what would we be looking at paying?

And also if the 16GB SDHC cards are working with the Bolero will the bolero play tracks which have been bought from the Itunes store?

will the bolero play tracks which have been bought from the Itunes store?

Nope, the Bolero will only play MP3 and DRM free WMA files. AAC files from the itunes store are not supported, you would need to convert them to MP3/WMA before playing on the bolero from SD card. This is why the MDI is a good idea, because using this you can hook your ipod straight in.

For £150 ish it looks like a winner, I will be ordering mine in the morning.....

Ok guys I have ordered the required parts from my local TPS and I'm going to be retrofitting it into my FL octavia vRS with the Bolero radio.

I hope this works as the parts have cost me £150, Does anyone know if anything needs to be done in terms of hooking the car up to VCDS to activate the MDI?

I will also be taking pictures as I go to hopefully make a How To... thread for other members to use.

I bought the parts from that ebay link myself a few months back, turns out to be one of my local VW dealers

the car will be needed to hooked up to VCDS

make sure you have a few paper clips to bend to release the pins from the quadlock connector, otherwise its a right pig

other than that its just a case of intergrating the MDI loom into the existing loom for the headset,

any questions or problems, let me know

Ok guys I have ordered the required parts from my local TPS and I'm going to be retrofitting it into my FL octavia vRS with the Bolero radio.

I hope this works as the parts have cost me �150, Does anyone know if anything needs to be done in terms of hooking the car up to VCDS to activate the MDI?

I will also be taking pictures as I go to hopefully make a How To... thread for other members to use.

Hi Paul, i've been advised it's too late to add the MDI kit to my octavia VRS even though they've not even started making it yet! Did you have any success with the kit you bought? I'd be interested in having a chat about if you don't mind?

Been using the usb cable (£25) and factory fit mdi (£150) with 250gb iomega hd for about 6 months now.........and it works a treat.

Edited 30 April, 201016 yr by schmang

I believe that they are essentially a waste of money. In my case it's a Aus$100 charing cable for my iPhone. The MDI interface gives no real control over an iPhone or iPod and it's far better to buy a 16 or 32GB SD card transfer your songs to that and just have that in the Bolero or Columbus the whole time.