Hi All,

I have ordered my VRS, pre-built and sat in the showroom so I can't change the spec. It's pretty well spec'd to be honest, but it has one glaring omission, and that's the climatronic, which makes the dash look a lot better (especially as it has the sat-nav unit underneath!). Is it possible to retro-fit this? I'm not all that technical, but just want to know if anybody knows if it's possible.

Thanks.

Not without costing a lot of money no.

anything is possible - how much cash have you got!

I really wouldnt bother. The Climatronic unit may look pretty but its ancient tech (VAG have been putting this unit in cars since the MK4 Golf) and is a pain to use. I'd have it if it came with the car of course (wouldnt turn my nose up at it) but I definitely wouldnt spec it as an option. Climatic does the job just fine and thats what I'll be having in my vRS when it turns up.

You'd be mad to spend what will be loads of money to retrofit it, will be a dash out job and it will never be the same again, probably never work properly either.

Edited 23 March, 201115 yr by pipsyp

Agree as above you'd be mad to retrofit if it is indeed a 'dash-out' job - car will not be the same and will likely be plagued by rattles.

Have to disagree with it being a pain to use tho. It is quite annoying if you have it set to 'Auto' mode as constantly varies fan speed and turns it up too fast/loud. Have discovered however if you simply switch auto off and select the airflow and fan speed to your own liking it will still happily maintain a perfect cabin temperature - same end-result/functionality as the climatic manual system but looks 100% better in the dash than the old-school rotary switches.

To my mind when you spend this kind of cash on a new motor it should really have a digital climate control display...

Agree as above you'd be mad to retrofit if it is indeed a 'dash-out' job - car will not be the same and will likely be plagued by rattles.

Have to disagree with it being a pain to use tho. It is quite annoying if you have it set to 'Auto' mode as constantly varies fan speed and turns it up too fast/loud. Have discovered however if you simply switch auto off and select the airflow and fan speed to your own liking it will still happily maintain a perfect cabin temperature - same end-result/functionality as the climatic manual system but looks 100% better in the dash than the old-school rotary switches.

To my mind when you spend this kind of cash on a new motor it should really have a digital climate control display...

Fair shout, just personally found it really fiddly to use and a real distraction when trying to set the correct temp and fan speed whilst driving, no such worries with the old school climatic. We had the same unit in an Ibiza and didnt really like it back then...went wrong and was going to cost a bomb to fix too.

Fair shout, just personally found it really fiddly to use and a real distraction when trying to set the correct temp and fan speed whilst driving, no such worries with the old school climatic. We had the same unit in an Ibiza and didnt really like it back then...went wrong and was going to cost a bomb to fix too.

Maybe they have updated it since the last one you had (?) as I never have to touch the thing at all when driving. I set it up on the correct settings I wanted a couple of weeks ago and haven't had to fiddle at all, just maintains perfect cabin temp with a nice low fan speed. Setup doesn't seem to alter or revert back into a standard mode when ignition not on either. Overall I'm really pleased with it now I've switched off the nannying auto mode so now works in a lazy 'set-and-forget' manner!

N.B hear what you are saying re repair costs, wouldn't like to fit the bill if it went bust out of warranty period....