MDI is equipped with new RNS510-equipped cars, such as the SportWagen we bought last summer. The MDI essentially enables you to connect any mp3 player or USB device and fully control it from the head unit itself or via the multifunction steering wheel controls. Folder structure on the connected device is recognized and fully browseable. Not only that; with the correct included cable, you can also connect an iPod if desired, and there is also an auxiliary input that allows you to connect any 3.5 TRS plug connector to play audio from said device. In short, there are few things you wouldn’t be able to plug and play music from with this thing.

The unit itself lives inside the center armrest. It basically replaces the meager storage the armrest provides with a sleeve that is connected to the back of the head unit through a long wiring harness. The sleeve itself has sufficient storage space to house a USB cable, the actual MDI-to-USB cable (or MDI-to-iPod cable) and an average sized mp3 player (or in my case, a 250GB USB-powered, portable HDD). This enables me to access basically my entire music collection at the touch of a button and I must to say,  being able to listen to any song I want (provided that it’s already part of my collection) at any time while driving, is pretty damn cool.

Installation itself was a process that had to be spread over a two day period- There are simply not enough hours in a day. The swap of an A/C duct that feeds the vents into the rear seats had to take place in order to accommodate the MDI unit in my car. This process involved taking the driver and passenger seats out of both of our vehicles in order to freely remove the center armrests and center consoles. The cabins looked completely gutted out and the garage appeared to be a clandestine chop-shop operation. Then the necessary pieces could be swapped between cars. After both of the cabins were put back together and all was said and done, the unit works beautifully and all the pain was worth it. I also took the opportunity to install an European-spec cup holder that OEMPL.us sent me (I owe you one Rich…)

Thanks to Brian Ricker for building the custom wiring harness that basically got the unit working and all the support provided during the installation process. As an admittedly wiring-challenged person such as myself, it was most welcome to have him as a resource.

The previous OEM navigation system (known as MFD2) is adequate for what it is: Navigation. Media compatibility and integration were always either non-existent or frankly sorely lacking. The optical drive basically became unusable since the map DVD had to be loaded at all times in order for the navigation system to, well… function. There was the option to have a CD changer stashed in the arm rest but integration with the navigation unit was always rudimentary and track information was not available on the screen, let alone on the muti-function display between the gauges.

Then you have the stock head units. While good at what they do and all capable of playing mp3 CDs and integrated satellite radio (with paid subscription), there’s not much else they can do. For almost three years I had no major issues being able to satisfy my needs music-wise, but navigation became a necessity and I resorted to an aftermarket system (as described on this post) which worked well for the most part. However, I never truly felt comfortable with it. I swapped the location multiple times and even getting the dash tray to make it look and feel as unintrusive as possible left something to be desired.

Fast forward to Summer 2008: When the time came for my wife to upgrade her aging 2001 Honda Civic, she decided to switch over to the dark side and buy a Volkswagen (finally). Being interested in the Jetta SportWagen (new model for 2009), I sought the opportunity to finally bring the GLI’s in-car entertainment and media capabilities, not to mention navigation system and integration, into the current decade. And since the cost of these units is rather prohibitive (over $3,000.00!!), we decided to order her car with it for the option invoice price so that I could retrofit the unit into my car. And so the journey began.

Doing the research itself took longer than I thought. I was basically unable to do the swap until a couple of months after the purchase, which only made it difficult as my wife became more and more attached to the unit. I had to keep reminding her that she was not even interested in it when I suggested it and the only reason why we got it was so I could swap it out. Then the complications doubled, as not only did I have to figure out how to successfully swap the RNS-510 into my car but also how to make the GLI’s Premium 7 head unit fully functional into her car. After some brainstorming with some pretty knowledgeable people over at VWNavi.com, I had gathered all the necessary instructions and parts to get to work, at least as far as the head units was concerned (Media-IN or MDI for short, will have to wait; look for its own dedicated entry when I get around to it).

I won’t bore myself going over every single technical detail but let’s just say that the head unit swap itself was rather easy. After having acquired the correct antenna adapters and a GPS antenna with a FAKRA connector, it was all a matter of disassembling the dashboard (something I’m getting exceedingly quick at) and simply exchanging them out. The rest was all a matter of Vag Com magic. The P7 was also rather easy to swap into my wife’s new wagon, thankfully.

The unit performs admirably well. It plays CDs, DVD audio and DVD video (although not while the car is in motion for the latter). It also has an SD card slot in which you can carry not only music but POIs (points-of-interest) that the navigation unit can grab and copy to its local database. It also comes with an integrated HDD with about 20GB of capacity (meh but ok) to which you can copy mp3 files for playback. The optional MDI (which will shortly find its way into the car) also allows you to connect any USB based storage device, be it an mp3 player, a thumb drive or a portable HDD and use it as storage for music; anything connected to it is fully browseable through the unit’s touch screen and multifunction steering wheel. The optional iPod cable lets you connect and charge your iPod and use it in the same manner.

Navigation is where the unit really shines though. I must admit, getting used to it took a little work coming from a simplistic yet exceptionally functional Garmin Nüvi. Yet, integration with the audio system and MFD between the gauges is nothing short of impressive. Audio quality is also stellar. At first I was a bit disappointed in that the unit did not seem to speak street names. However, it does. It just doesn’t in the same context as Nüvi. For example, Nüvi units will tell you the name of the street in which you should turn, etc. On the RNS-510, it will also do it, but only when the context is necessary; it will say “turn left in 500ft towards Seattle” while the name of the road you’re on is highlighted both on the screen and on the MFD instead of simply saying “turn left onto I-5″.

So far however, it has not led me astray- and that’s a challenge considering how completely disoriented I can become, particularly in the dark. The screen functionality is also amazing; map zoom levels are fully customizable and very responsive, for instance. You can navigate from several hundred feet up in the air or almost corner by corner and controls are quick and intuitive enough that you don’t need to distract yourself unnecessarily while driving; it all comes naturally after using it for a while. VW truly did their homework on this thing. Audio controls are incredibly intuitive as well. The balance and fader controls are represented by an image showing a birds-eye view of the cabin. Clicking anywhere in the image with your finger on the touch screen will make the sound biased towards that end of the car. Neat. DVD video quality is also quite amazing; it almost looks like a high-def display. Blacks look good and not washed out and although I don’t anticipate to use this feature too much (simply no opportunity) it’s still a neat addition for those folks that would like to have it. Maybe I’ll find myself using it on a long ferry ride if I ever need to.

DVD audio is something I’m particularly pleased about. Burning a Dual Layer DVD disc holding 8.5GB of music could mean that you could haul around your entire music collection in a handful of discs at all times and simply swap as necessary since the navigation maps are installed into the HDD making the optical drive available for use. Plus the added benefit of having an SD card slot for music playback and importing of POIs is just the icing on the cake… and I haven’t even delved too much in the added functionality that MDI will signify…

I’m extremely impressed and happy with this unit. As Ferris Bueller would say, “If you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up…”

The troubleshooting and technical know-how was figured out by several members on VWVortex.com. Thankfully we have several rather technically inclined members on the board that are willing to tackle these sorts of projects successfully. Once most things were figured out, I ordered the parts and got to work. With some help from Brian, I got the module installed in relatively short order.

Installing this module involves removal of the front passenger wheel, wheel well liner and removal of the stock alarm module and mounting bracket by drilling out the rivet that holds the bracket to the body of the car behind the wheel. Sounds worse than it is. Then one has to fish a wire through the firewall to the area behind the glove box and another wire to the fuse box to power the new module.

Then, the real pain begins (at least for me). Removal of the glove box is necessary in order to gain access to the control module necessary to power the siren. This in itself is not that difficult. The hard part comes when it’s time to re-attach the glove box to the car and to make sure the AC duct that feeds air into the glove box (for those times when keeping sushi cool is a must) is correctly re-installed. It’s rather painful. Prepare to bleed.

After the above has been completed, all it takes to enable the module is a few keystrokes with Vag Com and not much else.

Once all is said and done, you’re left with a much more civil “chirp” when locking and unlocking doors:

Locking doors:

Of the two possible configurations for the active siren, I chose to go with the loudest possible sound. It certainly didn’t disappoint. Hearing this in person makes your ears bleed and is likely why these modules were discontinued in this country:

I’d say it’s probably twice as loud as the smoke detectors in our house, if that gives you any idea. Overall, this was a must-do modification for me. Unfortunately it took a long time to come to light but fortunately it’s here now.

When thinking about a navigation system, features and ease of use for the money was absolutely one of the most important things I was looking at. I could not justify spending several thousand dollars on an aftermarket system, mainly because I am pretty satisfied with the stock audio performance and I don’t see the need to do away with a perfectly good OEM head unit with an mp3 6-disc in-dash changer. The OEM navigation system was my other possible option but it’s still rather expensive and not as user friendly or feature packed as some of the aftermarket options out there.

The last remaining option was to go with a portable solution; the advantage of this is two-fold: First, you are able to remove the system from the car and minimize the risk of having it stolen. Secondly, it can be used with different vehicles if needed be. One also has a greater variety to select from and prices are dropping every day. Unfortunately, this option has a pretty ugly side to it. And when your car’s aesthetics are important to you, this is a big one. More often than not, these things end up looking like a very obvious foreign contraption, protruding out of the windshield or wherever they’re mounted on. Very utilitarian looking certainly, but often clashing with a well designed interior, like the MkV GLI happens to be.

After researching my options as thoroughly as possible, I bought the Nüvi 350. This Garmin system has a lot of advanced features and one of the quickest and most accurate chip sets in the market today (meaning it can acquire satellite signal extremely quickly and can retain it even on places where older systems would lose connection (such as parking garages or indoors – read more on SiRF technology). It is also extremely portable and low profile which was important to make it as unobtrusive as possible. However, I still wanted the cleanest install I could achieve without making the unit appear out of place and without sacrificing functionality; problem is that short of cutting a custom cubby hole on the dashboard somewhere and molding it in, there are not a whole lot of options. Often people resort to hiding it somewhere like the ashtray which actually makes the unit almost look built in, but somewhat sacrifices functionality making the unit lay out of your field of vision which is something I wanted to retain, if at all possible.

I decided to do away with the dashboard vent/diffuser and installing the European/Canadian market dash tray. For cars with Climatronic like mine, this is supposed to be impossible because the light/temperature sensor for the cabin is mounted on the diffuser and the tray has no way to accommodate the sensor. Indeed this has proven to be the most difficult hurdle to overcome when taking on this little project. The tray eliminates any space underneath it replacing it with surface space for the tray itself, which makes accommodating the sensor underneath short of impossible. The issue is, while the sensor itself is small enough, the sensor housing is a rather bulky piece of translucent dark red plastic (which makes it appear almost black) which allows certain degree of light to pass through therefore telling the car whether it’s daytime or nighttime. This data is then used by Climatronic to adjust the temperature inside the cabin. This makes the bulky housing an integral component of the sensor itself. Due to this, I have yet not figured out a way to retain sensor functionality and build it into the tray. The sensor/housing combo is just too large to sit at top of the tray, not to mention it would look hideous. I resorted to tucking the sensor inside the dashboard. It is still there, it works and I get no fault codes (which I would have gotten had I left it unplugged) but Climatronic now thinks it’s permanently dark. The consequences of this are basically non-existent, as far as I’ve been able to tell. The system operates pretty much in the same manner as before with the exception of the initial blast of air that Climatronic is known for upon starting the car during the day; now the system starts at the same speed setting as it was left upon shutdown. I really don’t mind.

The hard wiring process was rather simple had it not been for the aforementioned tragic error. Running the power chord to the fuse panel was not as hard as I anticipated and made much easier thanks to the earlier installation of the mini-glove box that sits under the headlight switch. I also ran the OEM Auxiliary audio input cable from the back of the head unit, to the tray itself. I then drilled a couple of holes on the corner of the tray to accommodate the wiring.

The adhesive disc for the Nüvi mount was then glued to the tray itself, right in the middle of it. This was the best position possible to allow free motion of the unit within the ball joint mount and maintain it aligned within the drivers’ view. Previous to this, I traced the outline of the disk to the rubber tray mat and then carefully followed that outline with an X-acto knife. I also cut a small slit on the mat right over the previously drilled holes to allow the power and audio cables to pass through it but also allowing the rubber mat to act like a stop to prevent the wires from sliding back and forth.

In my opinion, the results are the best I could achieve. The tray has sufficient enough depth to hide the mount from view by the driver or the passengers, making the silver-edged Nüvi appear almost as if it was floating atop the dashboard. It is within perfect field of vision while driving, making it easy to glance over for directions. It is also within arms length for easy operation. The tray itself still has sufficient storage space for small items even though I don’t use it for anything else. The audio input allows me to connect the Nüvi to the head unit and hear directions through the car’s audio system. Since the unit itself is also an mp3 player, you can use it to play music and still get directions through the car’s audio system; the music simply mutes for a second while the Nüvi announces directions.

Overall, I am pleased with the results. The navigation system itself is still portable (I have an extra cigarette lighter power chord) while remaining as best integrated as possible without going into custom fabrication or dashboard surgery. Many thanks to Rony for taking the time to make the pixel version of my GLI utilized on the custom start up screen.

Thanks to Brian for the help. :)