I know all of this has most probaly been covered before but ive spent sometime searching the forum and i cant seem to find what im looking for, im new to the site and dont 100% know my way round all the forum yet.

Ive got a 2006 octavia vrs how can i tell if it has maxidot what are the differences between the maxidot and non maxidot display, also i want to fit sat nav to the octavia been locking at aftermarket ones but i want to keep it oem, i like the idea of replacing the stream unit that is in it now with the columbus RNS 510 with the touch screen, dvd and built in HDD.

So i was wondering if anyone could tell me if the columbus would fit and if so is it a straight plug and play fit or do i need to alter the wiring or need a facia adapter ETC...

if anyone could help me out on these couple of questions it would be very much appreciated.

Maxidot is a full height LCD information display in between the rev counter and speedo. The digits will be grey-ish white on a dark background. None Maxidot will be half height and look like a normal LCD with black digits, which has a green background when the light are on.

A Columbus will fit instead of a Stream. It should just plug and play, but you might need to swap an earth wire round if you get "hissing"/poor sound quality when playing CD's in the multi changer Not that thats such an issue with the HDD!

You may also want an arial adapter as the Columbus uses a twin arial system (if you want both AM & FM) & you will need a GPS antenna. These can be found on the net, the latter often supplied by the seller of the Columbus.

Finally some who have done the swap have found that they did need to code it via VCDS so that it fully works, especially if they have fitted the OEM bluetooth system, where others haven't needed to do this.

HTH

Maxidot is a full height LCD information display in between the rev counter and speedo. The digits will be grey-ish white on a dark background. None Maxidot will be half height and look like a normal LCD with black digits, which has a green background when the light are on.

A Columbus will fit instead of a Stream. It should just plug and play, but you might need to swap an earth wire round if you get "hissing"/poor sound quality when playing CD's in the multi changer Not that thats such an issue with the HDD!

You may also want an arial adapter as the Columbus uses a twin arial system (if you want both AM & FM) & you will need a GPS antenna. These can be found on the net, the latter often supplied by the seller of the Columbus.

Finally some who have done the swap have found that they did need to code it via VCDS so that it fully works, especially if they have fitted the OEM bluetooth system, where others haven't needed to do this.

HTH

Thanks for the info that has been very helpfull by the sounds of things i have got maxidot then. the swap to the columbus sounds straight foward enough so i think il be going that route for oem sat nav.

From what ive found on the net there seems to be two versions of the columbus is this correct?? if so what one should i be looking for?

Also probally are really stupi question but what is coding it via VCDS?

Thanks again for the fast reply.

Mike thank you very much. that has been a masive help, and those links are spot on! looks like its time for the upgrade.

I had an 06 vRS which I put an RNS510 into last year,

I didn't need to change the can gateway or code with vagcom, worked perfectly when I put it in, I had the 1z0 version in mine, although when I put the RNS into my '07 golf gti this year it needed to be coded, so you might get lucky

However, my brother bought a later 3T0 version and it didn't work properly with the maxidot, he tried everything with vagcom but couldn't get it to work 100%.

If I was you, I'd get the earlier 1z0 version with updated firmware/maps etc.

I bought a few of them in the past (skoda and vw versions) from a guy called jarastech on ebay. very good seller.

You will also need to get a fascia adapter from skoda as the RNS is a different shape to the stream, it's less than £20 though.

It's a great upgrade, so much better than the stream, HDD is brilliant, no more looking for cd's!!!

Edited 26 September, 201015 yr by mark_eire

The 3T0 unit is no newer than the 1Z0 unit, they both date from the same time. The 1Z0 if for the Octavia MK2, and the 3T0 is for the Superb MK2. The 3T0 does not work properly in the Octavia at all, Maxidot, Steering Controls, Stalk controls do not work in the Octavia with a 3T0 unit.

The key is in the Skoda car model ID's, Octavia 1Z= Octavia MK2, Superb MK2 = 3T.

The 1Z0 unit is the one you need for the Octavia, and the only version that will work correctly with all the controls and Maxidot.

The 3T0 unit is no newer than the 1Z0 unit, they both date from the same time. The 1Z0 if for the Octavia MK2, and the 3T0 is for the Superb MK2. The 3T0 does not work properly in the Octavia at all, Maxidot, Steering Controls, Stalk controls do not work in the Octavia with a 3T0 unit.

The key is in the Skoda car model ID's, Octavia 1Z= Octavia MK2, Superb MK2 = 3T.

The 1Z0 unit is the one you need for the Octavia, and the only version that will work correctly with all the controls and Maxidot.

True for a pre-FL Octy MK2 but not the FL model. The retro-fitted 3T0 unit works perfectly in my FL. I believe FL's with factory fit nav come with 3T0 units installed.

Hi g60peck, just noticed this thread, if you do go ahead with the RNS 510 upgrade and need any coding doing drop me a pm and i'll do it.

thanks to everyone for their replies, very helpful

Hi g60peck, just noticed this thread, if you do go ahead with the RNS 510 upgrade and need any coding doing drop me a pm and i'll do it.

Thanks for that chriskite, im hopefully going to be doing it this side of christmas if funds allow me to, if it doesnt work out that way and i end up doing it in the new year is it ok if i still drop you a pm

New CAN gateways are available on eBay. This link is to the seller I got mine from, and is the latest AD version

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAN-GATEWAY-1K0907530AD-AUDI-VW-SKODA-MFD-RNS-UPDATE-/170479880670?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_GPSSystems_GPSSystems&hash=item27b16489de

This is not plug and play, it will need fully coding to tell the car what is fitted and what isn't, and then a whole load of fault codes (produced when the new uncoded CAN gateway is fitted) will need to be cleared. I changed mine myself, and it took about half an hour to recode.

This is very helpful I've been thinking of updating my CAN Gateway, but been put off by the cost & difficulty :'(

Don't suppose you have a procedure that could be followed do you or any photos? I've access to a mates VCDS, but... neither of us would say we were fully up on using it for anything other than basic stuff! If it's more than problematic, i'll end up bottling it!