[Beddie]

Hi all,

As with the MK4 & MK5 platform VW models, oem sat nav upgrades for the A3 8P are becoming increasingly popular due to the availabilty of units via ebay and the like and the large cost saving compared to speccing nav from the factory,

Audi nav units go by the 'RNS-E' name and have mostly the same features of the 'MFD2' units found in VW/Skoda and Seat cars albeit with the addition of a motorised screen panel which allows access to the navigation DVD and 2 SD card slots for MP3 media,

I've retro-fitted an RNS-E unit into my A3 and it's a fairly straightforward job, mostly being 'plug n play' with the exception of some Vag-Com coding changes to enable full functionality with my MFSW/Bose etc...

I found www.navplus.us to be a great resource for info, hopefully here will become just as good in time [Y]

 

[blackmagic20vt]

Fitted a few myself they seem pretty straightforward to install TBH.. If you dont have the double din already and have the orginal climate then rather than changing the climate to the thinner lower version I have finally mastered in cutting the orginal one down to a 'T' saves paying an exta £150 or so for a cliamate control unit. They seem to be fetching good money on ebay at the moment..

 

[kalu]

Do you have any pics mate of what it looks like once cut and fitted?

 

[blackmagic20vt]

[quote user="kalu"]

Do you have any pics mate of what it looks like once cut and fitted?

[/quote]

TBH mate done quite a few never taken any pics of them. TBH you cant tell from the original factory fit solution done a couple for some audi forum members not had any compalints yet.. Next one I do will take a pic for you..

 

[bigburd]

www.satnavsystems.com not the cheapest but ... this is an extract from an email they sent me

"The navigation systems come straight from factory and are covered with 3 years warranty. The warranty is only valid if wwe install it for you, the price is 1199 GBP and it includes installation, all the cabling, gps aerial, manual, 2007 original software for western and eastern europe and 3 years warranty plus our service is mobile which means our engineer will come to you at your convenience"

 

[pablos]

Just a quickie, the Navplus site has been incoporated into the Audi Forum US, so most links to old Navplus RNS-E stuff don't work yet,

New site - http://audiforum.us/rns-e/

 

[blackmagic20vt]

Here are some pics of a RNSE I have just finished installing for a mate in his A4 it included trmming down the AC unit not installing a new one as it was ridiculus price for a new one just like the A3:-

 

[kalu]

That fits perfect, Nice work

 

[ryanstewart9]

Sorry to hijack the thread but do you have to have the Shark fin antenna in order to get all the options of the RNS-E?

Also what is the Sharks fin for as I'm guessing its not for the radio stations.