Hi All,

Buying a superb shortly and have a few questions i was hoping you guys could help with...all the comfort specs i've seen have a tape head unit and autochanger in the boot.

* can i upgrade the head to a cd tuner and keep maxidot and steering wheel remote? can i do it with any third party stereos?

* can i get an aux in on any standard stereos so i can plug my ipod in and keep my autochanger?

* what's the head unit with a tape deck fitted to the superb's called?

cheers all!

ric

You can probably get an interface to some aftermarket stereos to work with the steering wheel controls , but not the maxidot.

If you want something OEM with a cd player then you might be able to get a cd head unit from a passat that works with the maxidot.

The standard one you have is the symphony

might be a daft question but do all the VAG family (A4? golf mk 5?) head units swap in? what's all this about them being keyed to a particular car?

i'm thinking ebay...

No , not all will fit , though most will have the right connections.

The superb uses a standard DIN sized stereo with a second DIN slot below that you could use IIRC , so nothing from a Fabia or any of the newer generation cars like the golf MK5 will fit as they are all odd shapes.

Best bet is a GAMMA tape head unit and cd player from a passat that you could get off ebay

remember If you go for any of the other VAG group headunits other than Skoda your illumination will be the wrong colour.

The Symphony head unit from a superb is a single slot cd player that will work with maxi-dot and steering controls, it sounds suprisingly good really think it's made by a company called techni-sat? dont know who they really are though!

I took mine out and put in a kenwood (which u can get a steering control interface for but not maxi dot) then took that out and put a MFD navigation system from a Passat in, dont really notice the red illumination on the buttons as being odd as it matches with the Superbs red instrument needles and cat vision LED's. the sound quality of the MFD is MUCH worse than the Symphony though!

depending on how much your willing to spend (

The Symphony head unit from a superb is a single slot cd player that will work with maxi-dot and steering controls' date=' it sounds suprisingly good really think it's made by a company called techni-sat? dont know who they [i']really[/i] are though!

Only in the Classic trim. And that trim does not have the multidot or steering controls as standard. The Comfort has the tape player and CD changer in boot with the multidot and controls. So did the Elegance up until early this year when they changed it to make the sat nav system standard.

I had a great deal of difficulty finding anybody who would supply an adaptor they would guarantee would make the steering wheel controls and multidot work with a Blaupunkt. Skoda UK say it is not possible because the wiring on the Superb is Can-bus, which is digital I think. One or two suppliers said yes probably for the steering controls but none would do anything about the multi dot.

depending on how much your willing to spend (

Only in the Classic trim. And that trim does not have the multidot or steering controls as standard. The Comfort has the tape player and CD changer in boot with the multidot and controls. So did the Elegance up until early this year when they changed it to make the sat nav system standard.

I had a great deal of difficulty finding anybody who would supply an adaptor they would guarantee would make the steering wheel controls and multidot work with a Blaupunkt. Skoda UK say it is not possible because the wiring on the Superb is Can-bus' date=' which is digital I think. One or two suppliers said yes probably for the steering controls but none would do anything about the multi dot.[/quote']

Sorry but I dont think thats correct, many of my colleagues have classic/comfort and elegance trim, you are correct in stating only newer elegances came with nav as standard, but all the others have the single cd Symphony head unit & cd changer except the classic where the changer was an option. it is only manual classics that dont have multidot and steering controls, autos have both.

There are probably about 30 Superbs on our fleet now of all trim levels and ages and not one has been supplied with a cassette player, the cassette player in the Octavia is also called a symphony though which is where the confusion comes from I believe.

There is only one version of the Skoda nav system, there are about 4 or 5 of the VW version though the main 2 being version 'D' or 'G'

The only way to get steering and multidot functions with the MFD system is if you buy both the Skoda MFD and the Skoda TMC box to communicate with the can-bus system that the controls and multi dot use. no one as yet has found a reliable selection of VW MFD's and TMC's that enable it all to work, there are so many slightly different models!

I've got a manual Classic (although its optioned to the eyeballs) so I didn't need to worry about the multi dot or steering controls

I've just recently (last week) bought a Superb Elegance. It's 8 months old and the old spec, sunroof but no sat nav although it already had the full leather as an option. The head unit is a Symphony but with a tape player and CD changer in the boot. I was actually dreading this as I had the same in my old Octavia and it was garbage, even with new speakers, but in the Superb it's...well...superb. I don't use cassette though (who does). I want to keep maxi dot and steering controls and would rather have 2din (or 2x1din) to get rid of the storage drawer. What would be the answer. I could be interested in sat-nav or at least a TV. On another note, I'm no fan of the wood effect console, is there any after market kits that match the brushed steel effect of the air vents which look great.

Sorry but I dont think thats correct' date=' many of my colleagues have classic/comfort and elegance trim, you are correct in stating only newer elegances came with nav as standard, but all the others have the single cd Symphony head unit & cd changer except the classic where the changer was an option. it is only manual classics that dont have multidot and steering controls, autos have both.

There are probably about 30 Superbs on our fleet now of all trim levels and ages and not one has been supplied with a cassette player, the cassette player in the Octavia is also called a symphony though which is where the confusion comes from I believe.

There is only one version of the Skoda nav system, there are about 4 or 5 of the VW version though the main 2 being version 'D' or 'G'

The only way to get steering and multidot functions with the MFD system is if you buy both the Skoda MFD and the Skoda TMC box to communicate with the can-bus system that the controls and multi dot use. no one as yet has found a reliable selection of VW MFD's and TMC's that enable it all to work, there are so many slightly different models!

I've got a manual Classic (although its optioned to the eyeballs) so I didn't need to worry about the multi dot or steering controls [/quote']

I have a 53 Elegance with Symphony tape player and CD changer. I have the 2004 price list for the Superb which shows that the Comfort and Elegance came as standard (then) with the "Symphony radio with cassette deck with 6 CD auto changer" - their words not mine. I also have the 2004 brochure showing a photo of the tape player and saying it is standard on Comfort and Elegance trim. Finally to bring it up to date the price list for the 2005 Superb is here http://www.skoda.co.uk/skoda3g/content/showroom/superb/price.pdf. Note the Classic has the single Cd whereas the Comfort still has the cassette deck and CD changer.

You won't buy a Skoda sat nav unit for

Thats very strange then, I dont doubt you are correct but every one of our Superbs (about 30 in total) has the single cd player and in most cases the 6 disk changer too, maybe its just something our local dealer specifies but even the executive cars in full elegance trim have the single cd + changer if not the navigation.

With regards to the Skoda MFD navigation you will get one for considerably less than

all skoda units are equivalent to a 'D' version by the way. the VW 'G' versions have slightly better and faster route planning and predictive text entry for spelling road/town names.

Sorry but this statement is incorrect :-

Skoda have used both versions, Skoda version b of the VW G is used in Superb's from late 2002 ish with predictive text.

The earlier Skoda version a was fitted to Octavia's and early Superbs and used a different steering control module a single remote lead on the navigation unit and did not use the Can bus.

Its weird regarding your fleet that has the cd player with a multichanger, never seen this option. My elegance had a tape player and 6 disk multichanger as has my friends comfort and all the brochures I have seen. Maybe yours cars are not UK sourced?

Thats very strange then, I dont doubt you are correct but every one of our Superbs (about 30 in total) has the single cd player and in most cases the 6 disk changer too, maybe its just something our local dealer specifies but even the executive cars in full elegance trim have the single cd + changer if not the navigation.

With regards to the Skoda MFD navigation you will get one for considerably less than

Strange isn't it with your fleet. Skoda don't even list the single CD plus CD changer as an option for the superb. The only upgrade for a Classic is to the cassette player with cd changer. I suspect that this is a dealer mod because he thought it would sell better - probably correct cos who uses cassettes nowadays.

I did see new cheaper versions of the VW sat nav unit on ebay at the time - the seller was based in Poland I understand but when I emailed him asking if they would be OK on the Superb the answer was "don't know - I only specialise in VW". So did not buy. The company I referred you to before states the unit will fit the Superb (and are willing to fit it for you) and also sells on ebay (that where I got their details from I think) Wish I had seen the Skoda units you mention going when I was looking cos I would have bid, but too late now because I am happy with my PDA system.

The problem appears to be that nobody is absolutely sure what will and wont fit on the Superb and work all the controls until they try it, not even Skoda (unless you want to buy their original

I agree the TMC unit was as useful as chocolate fireguard in the UK - better in Europe I am told? I only wanted it to work the steering controls

Maybe Skoda just raid the VAG spares bin when they are building the cars and fit anything that looks OK and meets the minimum spec they advertise - I can't remember them ever boasting of predictive text on their sat navs for example, What's Chezc for hey we've got some old units - bung em in.

Things get stranger cos as mentioned in a previous post about there being 2 skoda MFD versions' date=' we have 3 new (55 plate) elegance Superbs with navigation and none have predictive text like my VW 'G' unit?

[/quote']

That is interesting - by predictive text I assume you mean only the valid next characters of a town or street are optioned and all other characters are greyed out, thats what I mean by predictive text this is how my Skoda Navigation unit performs.