Having bought a VRS today and being rather surprised to see it had a tape player in it (!!) I've been wondering what to repplace the HU with.

The main thing is it must support an Ipod and you must be able to browse the songs/playlists etc.

With that in mind has anyone tried one of these:

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4679 (CDE9850RI)

Looks great allthough the colour scheme is totally wong. I'd like a Becker Mexico but I can't justify the cost really.

My last none OEM HU was a Blaupunkt Woodstock 54 so I'm after that level of quality really.

Which vRS. if its an octavia there should be a cd changer in the boot. If its missing chances are the previous owner forgot to put it back in when they put the original stereo back as it was standard fitment.

For controlling an ipod, a work colleague used a sony headunit with an ipod interface. This then treats the ipod as a cd changer and displays the track names and cd info on the display. But, if you have a lot of tracks on your ipod then navigating is a nightmare.

The new Alpine headunits with built in iPod compatibility are supposed to be really good. Sound quality is excellent. For the price its a good unit. I'm gonna get a Becker though, as I've had quite a few different Alpine units, and i want to try something different.

Yeah I like the look of the Becker Grand Prix, would need a demo before spending that cash though!

Becker, Alpine or Pioneer, in that order, IMHO

Kenwood and Sony are less reliable than Pioneer (in my experience, anyway).

Becker Grand Prix I reckon. The Alpine doesn't really fit in with the rest of the colour scheme & the lights

You can get an ipod adaptor for the standard HU which connects up via the CD changer socket.

yeah I believe so. I have one for my alfa and its a pain trying to navigte the pod without being able to see the track listings etc

Might be a good stop gap though...