Smartlink £200 really???

[scottukvrs]

I have finally contacted my local dealer to have Smartlink enabled on my16 Octavia vrs. They have quoted me £158 for a part (I thought it was just a code) and £39 to have it fitted.

I see figures recently of £145 ish. So £200 all in seems a bit much to me,  Am I missing something?

Any advice would be greatly received 

Edited 9 July, 2023 by scottukvrs

[Kirky2k2]

On 09/07/2023 at 09:30, scottukvrs said:

I have finally contacted my local dealer to have Smartlink enabled on my16 Octavia vrs. They have quoted me £158 for a part (I thought it was just a code) and £39 to have it fitted.

I see figures recently of £145 ish. So £200 all in seems a bit much to me,  Am I missing something?

Any advice would be greatly received 

I'm after this too, my local dealer quoted me £158 (no mention of an additional part though?) I refuse to believe someone out there doesn't know how to obtain these secret magic codes that only Skoda dealers have? I'm very technically minded having messed around enabling a ton of stuff via VCDS that is disabled from factory so enabling smartlink to allow me to use Android Auto and Apple Car play is a must for me.

[RossMacGill]

Specialists are cheaper for enabling this, or you can do it yourself depending on your equipment with an MIB toolbox  from github 

7 minutes ago, Kirky2k2 said:

I'm after this too, my local dealer quoted me £158 (no mention of an additional part though?) I refuse to believe someone out there doesn't know how to obtain these secret magic codes that only Skoda dealers have? I'm very technically minded having messed around enabling a ton of stuff via VCDS that is disabled from factory so enabling smartlink to allow me to use Android Auto and Apple Car play is a must for me.

[Kirky2k2]

8 minutes ago, RossMacGill said:

Specialists are cheaper for enabling this, or you can do it yourself depending on your equipment with an MIB toolbox  from github 

Cheers, I've just done some googling and it doesn't look straight forward...

 

so you download the toolbox software to an sd card but you need to enable green menu first?

 

Then once toolbox is installed you can somehow enable smartlink?

 

Someone should put a tutorial together...

[langers2k]

You might want to checkout this video on youtube:

 

[Kirky2k2]

6 minutes ago, langers2k said:

You might want to checkout this video on youtube:

 

cool so that is a tutorial on how to use the toolbox to enable smartlink, now I just need a tutorial on how to install the toolbox

[langers2k]

If only google existed to help folk find this stuff

 

Same chap as the other video.

 

[Kirky2k2]

8 minutes ago, langers2k said:

If only google existed to help folk find this stuff

 

Same chap as the other video.

 

Cheers, I'll make a written tutorial and post it here once I've done it

 

So far I think the steps are:

 

1. Enable developer mode - simple enough just use VCDS go to 5F infotainment > enter security access > go to adaptation > search for dev > set to enable

2. Install the toolbox, download the zip from github and extract to sd card, follow the above youtube guide

3. use the toolbox to enable smartlink, apple car play and android auto

 

The only bit I'm not sure about is the MIB FEC/SWaP Code side of things, looking at the youtube videos, a code isn't needed.

 

I'll let you know how I get on

[Kirky2k2]

I'm back.

 

Happy to report, I've successfully upgraded my MIB2 infotainment system to MST2_EU_SK_ZR_P0253T from MST2_EU_SK_ZR_P0245T. It was dead easy, no idea why I put it off for so long. 

 

The only change I've noticed is the bluetooth seems to connect a lot quicker to my phone now whereas it used to take a good few seconds before, this could be placebo though so not really too sure.

 

I used a Kingston 16GB class 10 micro sd card with full sd card adapter to do the firmware update then I used a bog standard class 4 8GB micro sd card to install the toolbox.

 

After the firmware upgrade, which took 10 minutes in total with 3 or 4 reboots, I activated green screen developer mode via vcds then I installed the MIB2 standard toolbox. It all went OK, the only thing I got wrong was the GEM version in my car being 3.5 which meant I had to overwrite some cpu files on the root of the sd card to get the scripts to run.

 

I then ran the patch tsd.mibstd2.systemSWAP and generate EL

 

It all went ok and one reboot later I can now activate smart link without it demanding I take my car to my dealer to get an activation key.

 

Fantastic or so I thought until I tried to connect my android smart phone using a USB cable. 

 

It tries to connect and even knows what phone I'm trying to use - I've tried my Samsung S20 Ultra and my wife's Mi 10T Lite both do exactly the same thing: "connection will be established via mirrorlink the device can no longer be used as a source in 'media'" it will do that for 10 to 15 seconds then it will say "unable to connect mirrorlink is not supported by the mobile device"

 

I also do not have android auto and apple car play logos on the welcome to smartlink screen - I only have mirror link available.

 

Help appreciated.

 

Dan

[Kirky2k2]

Sussed it 

 

This is the video that showed me how to fix it.

 

 

Only difference is I was able to do the same thing via VCDS.

 

So now I can use apple car play and android auto in my car and its actually quite good.

 

I'm really pleased with myself that I've been able to do it and save myself £150. Not to mention all the other changes I've made via VCDS.