Hi, was just wondering if anyone knew if I could swap my rns 510 from a skoda fabia straight into a vw caddy van as I may be looking to get a van but would like to keep the sat nav if possible. It would be a fairly new caddy, no older than 2012. Thanks.

Should be.

The buttons will be different colours wont they? Skoda - green, vw- red?

RNS510 is the VW version with red button illumination.

Columbus is Skoda version with green.

If you want a colour change to VW colours I can sell you a VW faceplate. It's a fairly simple swap over procedure. Or if you're not confident then send it to me and I'll do it for you.

Just out of interest, how much is the faceplate? Also, obviously it will still come up skoda when it loads up but can this be changed as well? Not a massive issue for me if I'm honest. Does the unit link up with your phone if the car doesn't have bluetooth connectivity? 

The startup logo can be changed to almost anything. There is a thread on here about it.

The unit will boot up with the Skoda logo, and have Skoda colouring for the lights, and have Skoda green for the colour scheme. Changing the boot logo will change the skoda boot screen. Changing the faceplate will remove the Skoda branding from the plastic, and will also change the button lighting to VW red colors (instead of green). The colour scheme can also be converted to VW but it will need Service tools and firmware update to do so. Depends how far you want to go with it.

 

I'd do a replacement screen and faceplate for £100, and replacement would be a simple matter of 4 torx screws, and disconnect a couple of ribbon cables, then reverse fit. You'd get a complete front end for that price which is a real bargain as the screen alone costs about that to buy new, the circuit board is £75 second hand on Ebay, and the actual faceplate is a few quid aswell. And you don't need to dismantle the screen to replace the board. And the board is what has the green led lighting on it.

 

If you want the whole thing rebranding (boot logo, screen colour, and complete colour scheme) then it's got to come to me and have it done. But overall I reckon it'd be cheaper and easier to sell yours and buy a VW branded one. If you're canny then that could well be cost neutral.

I think I may go down the ebay route if i am doing anything, sell the old one and buy a new one with vw. Not sure if it really bothers me that much tho.

The VW RNS-510 units do seem to be cheaper than Skoda Columbus ones. No idea why.

As said above, you could actually gain money by selling your Columbus and buying a VW one.

Hello again everyone, I know this is a skoda forum but the parts are the same for vw, skoda and seat so thought id try here to see if anyone can answer my query. I am looking at retrofitting original VW  bluetooth to my caddy van as I liked the convenience of having it in my fabia vrs. I was wondering if anyone knows if you need to have the maxi dot display and multi function steering wheel to enable this or can it just be operated through my rns 510 head unit as I only have the low line white instrument cluster that comes on the caddy. Also just wondering if VCDS is the same for all members of the VW group as it may need coding to get it to work and I know a few people on here who have helped me with VCDS before. Thanks for your help.

VCDS will work for all group cars. If you get the full version rather then the Micro Can anyway, as that's somewhat limited on which models it'll work on.

 

You don't need the maxidot or steering controls, the unit works as a standalone unit.

I had a Columbus (RNS-510) working with VW BT module and didn't have Maxidot or MFSW. So it can be done.

All controlled from the head unit or voice control.

Thanks guys that helps. Just need to find out where to put the module in the van and a guide on how to install it. I have a good idea of how to do it but just a few bits i need to understand a bit better. If you know of any guides then i would be grateful.