Morning all,

 

So I recently (last week) bought a MkII 61 plate Fabia Elegance TSI, it currently has a Swing radio in, which, whilst it does what it needs to, I would like to have bt connectivity and if possible, and cheap enough, sat nav, although this is not deal breaker as I can use Google maps via bt if neccesary.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations for what to switch to? Or any experience of doing this themselves? And how easy is it to change the unit?

 

Any help would be very much appreciated

Graeme

if you pick up a Columbus unit second hand it has a Sat Nav and takes about 5 minutes to replace the Swing with no extra parts needed

What price range are you looking at?

Recently installed a Android Head Unit in mine which will have all you need and more on it. Works like a charm as long as you're a little bit tech savvy they're easy to use and set up

I have a 2011 Fabia Elegence tsi with a swing as well , my chosen option was a Pure dab+ 600, £150 fitted. And use my phone as a satnav but considering getting a separate satnav.

On 04/05/2017 at 16:10, abaday789 said:

What price range are you looking at?

Recently installed a Android Head Unit in mine which will have all you need and more on it. Works like a charm as long as you're a little bit tech savvy they're easy to use and set up

 

I just bought an Android headunit to replace my Swing, it's due for delivery on the 9th so I will report back to let you know how it shapes up. From the description and talking to the seller all the functions should work on my Fabia

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/VW-Skoda-POLO-GOLF-5-6-PASSAT-CC-JETTA-TIGUAN-TOURAN-Fabia-Caddy-skoda-superb-fabia/32621985431.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.N5IYJs

 

 

On 06/05/2017 at 17:05, Dr_Frankesntein said:

 

I just bought an Android headunit to replace my Swing, it's due for delivery on the 9th so I will report back to let you know how it shapes up. From the description and talking to the seller all the functions should work on my Fabia

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/VW-Skoda-POLO-GOLF-5-6-PASSAT-CC-JETTA-TIGUAN-TOURAN-Fabia-Caddy-skoda-superb-fabia/32621985431.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.N5IYJs

 

 

This is what I got for mine a couple of weeks ago. Only thing to beware of with yours is that it's a 1GB RAM unit rather than 2GB. I went from a 1GB unit and installed a more recent 2GB unit and difference in speed and performance is phenomenal in comparison. Especially when it comes to the use of Waze and Spotify etc. Plus not having to wait 30+ seconds for it boot each time the car has been parked for more than 30 mins

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XHJZJVZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

On 08/05/2017 at 08:09, abaday789 said:

This is what I got for mine a couple of weeks ago. Only thing to beware of with yours is that it's a 1GB RAM unit rather than 2GB. I went from a 1GB unit and installed a more recent 2GB unit and difference in speed and performance is phenomenal in comparison. Especially when it comes to the use of Waze and Spotify etc. Plus not having to wait 30+ seconds for it boot each time the car has been parked for more than 30 mins

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XHJZJVZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

 

Yeah can be a little sluggish but Google maps works really well. I will look to upgrade once the prices of the 2GB models reduce.

 

You may be able to help me out! I can't for the life of me get it to turn off when I remove the key from the ignition, did you wire yours up any differently as I found it had drained my entire battery after not using the car for a day.

There might be something in the settings for the unit. When you take the key out the ignition it should shut the screen off and the go in to a low powered state for a set amount of mins which can be adjusted in the settings. If you need to access the factory settings the password should be 128 I believe. But if not I have read somewhere that you might need to change some of the wiring so that it's running off of a 12v ignition wire rather than a 12v constant. Mine was pretty much plug and play with only a few settings needing to be adjusted once installed to my preference

Just reporting back in on the Headunit I posted earlier. As abaday789 said the unit can sometimes be a little sluggish due to the limited memory but Google maps etc all do their jobs fine. I actually plugged a very cheap Three branded ZTE MF112 3G dongle into it and it works great when out and about, I am using their free 200mb per month SIM inside so free internet and get live traffic info.

 

As noted earlier I did have the issue where the unit drained my battery. It turns out after emailing the seller that I just needed to unplug the permanent 12v cable and bobs your uncle the unit now turns on and off with the car.

 

I had to pick up a separate double fakra adapter as the Fabia has dual aerials and the headunit only came with a single connector version, this meant I only picked up a few radio stations. Now its working just like the original.

 

The unit works perfectly with steering wheel controls for skipping tracks and volume in Play Music.

 

The only feature I have yet to try out is bluetooth calling and I am trying to get 'OK Google' working so I can give it commands while driving.

 

Overall I am very happy with it and it cost me about £180 all in, not sure if this is as 'Cheap' as you would like but seems to do the job.

 

 

Hi.

Can anyone help please. I have a skoda fabia manual 1,6 tdi 2013. Great car but.... i have just swapped the swing radio for a RNS510. The satnav asks for a disk so i will have to get one. I would like to use hands free for my phone and be able to use voice if possible, i would also like to fit a Steering wheel with buttons on so i can control things.

I would like to know what additional things i need, eg,,,, bluetooth  module,  wiring harness, steering module etc, does anyone know what things i need.

Many  thanks.

Rob 

 

 

Hi can anyone give me some advice about radio replacement for 2012 Fabia 1.2 TSi Elegance I have looked at this unit but wonder if it will work and how difficult it is to fit?

www.aliexpress.com/item/840114102.html?gps-id=pcDetail404&_t=gps-id:pcDetail404

 

Any advice /alternatives?

 

Thanks

 

Roland

On 24/08/2020 at 19:55, Robgiles said:

Hi.

Can anyone help please. I have a skoda fabia manual 1,6 tdi 2013. Great car but.... i have just swapped the swing radio for a RNS510. The satnav asks for a disk so i will have to get one. I would like to use hands free for my phone and be able to use voice if possible, i would also like to fit a Steering wheel with buttons on so i can control things.

I would like to know what additional things i need, eg,,,, bluetooth  module,  wiring harness, steering module etc, does anyone know what things i need.

Many  thanks.

Rob 

 

This is exactly what I am looking into. Especially to have buttons on steering wheel, my current steering wheel doesn't have any.

My radio is just the old ones, would love to put a SatNav radio, cash is limiting right now.