Will it be fairly straight forward to swap out my Audience head unit for a 2011 Bolero(octavia) in my 2006 Octavia ?? Also, I have the soundsystem, if it makes any difference.

Cheers in advance.

Yes, but you may have compatibility issues.

I fitted a 2011 Bolero to a 2006MY Octavia and had a few issues:

You will need to upgrade your CAN Gateway or you will have a flat battery in a matter of hours

If you have MFSW your buttons are unlikely to work anymore

If you have Maxidot you will lose the Audio display (2011 Boleros use BAP, and pre-FL Maxidot will not support this)

If you have a boot mounted CDC it is unlikely to work with a 2011 Bolero - they don't support external CD Changers any more

You will have a very dim screen on the Bolero unless you turn the headlights on and off - the backlight doesn't seem to kick in on pre-FL models with a 2011 Bolero

Can't think of any other issues at the mo.......

For reference, I fitted a 2010 Columbus and have none of these issues apart from the CAN Gateway, and yes, everything was coded correctly with VCDS.

If you get an earlier Bolero (non-Delphi) most of the above goes away, apart from the CAN Gateway issue.

Thanks Andy, that's exactly the type of info I was after. There is one on ebay at the moment for reasonable money but I wouldn't want the grief that you have just outlined.

Cheers.

If you can find an earlier model you will be fine, but the later Bolero's made by Delphi have a completely different firmware and feature set than the earlier units.

The only problem is the earlier ones are like hens teeth as most Boleros seem to come out of new cars from the factory when a Columbus upgrade is fitted either by the dealer or owner.

If you can afford it a Columbus is the way to go! It only took me going from Stream to MFD2 to Stream MP3 to Bolero to Columbus to work that out! All in 18 months LOL!

what year columbus should I be looking for and how much will it cost me ??

I think any should work - there may be a bit of fiddling about with firmware versions and a fix to get older Maxidot and MFSW working with newer firmwares.

I haven't tried one of the later LED screen ones in a 2006 car though.....

Have a search on ebay for price.

Firmware is readily available and downloadable from certain forums for the Columbus.

I've got a 2010 Bolero in my 2006 Octavia (can't remember if it's a Delphi one, probably not)

For a 2006 car you'll definitely need a CANBUS upgrade (£60-80 + VAGCOM Magic time) but I did it all myself and it's been working perfectly.

Do you have multi func wheel in your elegance and does it still work ?? I notice you have LED interior light mod..............what bulbs did you use ?????

I don't have the MSFW wheel in my car so that wasn't a problem.

I bought ones off ebay for a few quid, just measured them and looked on the bay - 44mm festoons I think and bought W5W for the reading lights.

You won't need to worry about CANBUS so don't waste money on "error free" ones as all internal lighting isn't part of the canbus system anyway.

You'll need them for the rear number plate light area though (I bought CANBUS ones for those, they've got resistors on them)

Makes a nice difference. I want to do the puddle lights

I've got a 2010 Bolero in my 2006 Octavia (can't remember if it's a Delphi one, probably not)

For a 2006 car you'll definitely need a CANBUS upgrade (£60-80 + VAGCOM Magic time) but I did it all myself and it's been working perfectly.

Does your CD Changer work with it - if it does, it is unlikely to be a Delphi model. IIRC the earlier Boleros had a light sensor (like the Columbus) in the facia to control the backlight brightness. The Delphi one I had didn't, and the backlight didn't come on unless you turned the headlights on and off. Plus, it didn't support the CD Changer. When you tried to code anything to do with the CD Changer with VCDS it threw an error that the coding was out of range.

Hi Mate,it won't work ... Did the same on mine,tried swapping the Audience for one,All lit up,the touch screen worked and what have you but since my car's built with the factory option sound system like yours no sound came what so ever,at work the guys tried to do updates by VAS but nothing happened.If you found out how to make it work kindly let me know as my Bolero is still here in the garage for nothing ...

Cheers ..

Ivan, I have tried to reply to your message but since the site upgrade some things are not working properly. I think I will give up on the idea and keep listening to CD's

Does your CD Changer work with it - if it does, it is unlikely to be a Delphi model. IIRC the earlier Boleros had a light sensor (like the Columbus) in the facia to control the backlight brightness. The Delphi one I had didn't, and the backlight didn't come on unless you turned the headlights on and off. Plus, it didn't support the CD Changer. When you tried to code anything to do with the CD Changer with VCDS it threw an error that the coding was out of range.

Ah, then it is not a Delphi. My CD Changer works a treat with it (CD7-12) and I don't have any dim screen issues - so must have a light sensor

Ah, then it is not a Delphi. My CD Changer works a treat with it (CD7-12) and I don't have any dim screen issues - so must have a light sensor

The earlier ones were better IMHO, once you got the firmware upgraded so they could index the SD Card in less time then it took to drive to your destination!

Hi Mate,it won't work ... Did the same on mine,tried swapping the Audience for one,All lit up,the touch screen worked and what have you but since my car's built with the factory option sound system like yours no sound came what so ever,at work the guys tried to do updates by VAS but nothing happened.If you found out how to make it work kindly let me know as my Bolero is still here in the garage for nothing ...

Cheers ..

That should be fixable with VCDS - the Bolero needs coding for SoundSystem.

Im looking at getting a 2010 Bolero system. I have a 2005 (55) octavia VRS with sat nav and a CD changer at the moment, would the bolero be a straight swap and a CAN update going by the info in this thread? Also will the CD changer still work?

thanks

Yes, you'd need a new CAN on a 55 player car - mine is an 06 car and the CANBUS was way old.

Bolero is a straight swap otherwise, but you'll need to buy an Aerial adaptor as well (on eBay)

CD Changer will work on the OLDER bolero units apparently. Works perfectly in mine.

thanks for the info, do you have a link to a specific aerial adaptor?

I am looking at the older bolero model made by Blaukpunkt if that is the older one.

Blaupunkt seem to be making the 2011 ones as well - there should be a date of manufacture on a sticker on the unit, try and aim for a 2009 or earlier one if you can. Not sure if the 2011 ones support CDC as I haven't seen one .....

If its the same as the Columbus then the aerial adapter you will need is this http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=180662955007&index=2&nav=WATCHING&nid=04270036240

Sorry if that's the link for the mobile site but I'm doing this on the phone.

Sorry if that link doesn't work try this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FAKRA-Antenne-RadioADAPTER-RCD510-RNS510-Diversity-RNS-/180662955007?pt=UK_CE_GPS_Accessories_Software_ET&hash=item2a1059ebff#ht_2337wt_1060