Premium Bluetooth

[u752181]

Just thought I would update you all on the saga of my Premium Bluetooth kit.

Picked up my R32 with RNS 510 in late February and was advised that the Premium Bluetooth compatible with the RNS510 would be a couple of weeks.

Anyway time has gone by and I still don't have it despite constant follow up with the dealer and VW Australia.

Included in the purchase price was an amount of $901.81 plus GST for "Factory Bluetooth Kit".

Less than thrilled to be told last week that the kit will be arriving real soon now but would now cost me an additional $1,000. What the . . . !

Advised the dealer that seeing as he has had $1,000 of my money for almost 3 months (on which I have been paying interest) he could go back and have another think about this. $2k for integrated Bluetooth? If I take it I am also going to have to pay it myself as I can't go back and renegotiate my lease.

They did offer me the option of the Parrot kit with a separate colour screen for the $1k I have already paid but I wanted it integrated not a separate screen mounted on the dash.

As I say less than impressed.

Cheers

Steve

[DAN682]

Just thought I would update you all on the saga of my Premium Bluetooth kit.

Picked up my R32 with RNS 510 in late February and was advised that the Premium Bluetooth compatible with the RNS510 would be a couple of weeks.

Anyway time has gone by and I still don't have it despite constant follow up with the dealer and VW Australia.

Included in the purchase price was an amount of $901.81 plus GST for "Factory Bluetooth Kit".

Less than thrilled to be told last week that the kit will be arriving real soon now but would now cost me an additional $1,000. What the . . . !

Advised the dealer that seeing as he has had $1,000 of my money for almost 3 months (on which I have been paying interest) he could go back and have another think about this. $2k for integrated Bluetooth? If I take it I am also going to have to pay it myself as I can't go back and renegotiate my lease.

They did offer me the option of the Parrot kit with a separate colour screen for the $1k I have already paid but I wanted it integrated not a separate screen mounted on the dash.

As I say less than impressed.

Cheers

Steve

Thats not good!

The premium bluetooth is good from what I have seen.

The Parrot Kit is the 3200LS and costs about $240 on ebay so that was nice of them... NOT

I own the 3200LS in my CX-7 and my dad has one in his 300C they are a brilliant kit but nowhere near $1000!

[Maverick]

Just thought I would update you all on the saga of my Premium Bluetooth kit.

Picked up my R32 with RNS 510 in late February and was advised that the Premium Bluetooth compatible with the RNS510 would be a couple of weeks.

Anyway time has gone by and I still don't have it despite constant follow up with the dealer and VW Australia.

Included in the purchase price was an amount of $901.81 plus GST for "Factory Bluetooth Kit".

Less than thrilled to be told last week that the kit will be arriving real soon now but would now cost me an additional $1,000. What the . . . !

Advised the dealer that seeing as he has had $1,000 of my money for almost 3 months (on which I have been paying interest) he could go back and have another think about this. $2k for integrated Bluetooth? If I take it I am also going to have to pay it myself as I can't go back and renegotiate my lease.

They did offer me the option of the Parrot kit with a separate colour screen for the $1k I have already paid but I wanted it integrated not a separate screen mounted on the dash.

As I say less than impressed.

Cheers

Steve

Get them to give you the $990 back and you'll organise it yourself, they should do this.

The parrot is crap, absolute crap and a complete ripoff for the $900-$1000 that the dealers are charging for this.

I've just installed the proper factory bluetooth that integrates perfectly into the car and uses both the MFD and the RNS510 as a touchscreen, offers excellent voice commands (that work) and great sound for less then $600.

If you're handy and can follow instructions you can install it yourself, if not take it to someone who can install it and pay them a few hundred. Your dealer should be able to install it for you and do the necessary code changes but they may be hesitant when they can charge you $2000 for the same thing.

I'll be putting up information on my kit install in the next week or so but I purchased it from this guy. http://www.octavia-vrs.com/technical/bluetooth.html

[Logzy]

The dealer obviously didnt have a clue.
You would not get the "Premium" Bluetooth for that price you would only get the standard which is still good.

Everything Maverick has said is correct.
Alot of dealers are trying to pass off the parrot as oem and as someone has already said, its a rip off what the dealers are charging for it.
Do as advised, get your money back off the dealer and buy the bluetooth module yourself.
Installation is relativley wasy, i have it in my vehicle and its great.
The only difference between the premuim and standard is the RSAP profile.

[Maverick]

The dealer obviously didnt have a clue.
You would not get the "Premium" Bluetooth for that price you would only get the standard which is still good.

Everything Maverick has said is correct.
Alot of dealers are trying to pass off the parrot as oem and as someone has already said, its a rip off what the dealers are charging for it.
Do as advised, get your money back off the dealer and buy the bluetooth module yourself.
Installation is relativley wasy, i have it in my vehicle and its great.
The only difference between the premuim and standard is the RSAP profile.

That's a good point, what I refer to as the premium bluetooth (and many others) is in fact the standard bluetooth in Europe.

The premium is around $400 more and gives you the rsap profile which basically means that the SIM card is taken over by the car kit and gives you the ability to receive (and I think send) SMS. The premium I believe has a gsm phone built in and it takes over from your phone whilst in the car.

One of these bluetooth kits will be coming to Australia (sometime) but the dealers call it premium but I suspect it will be standard.

Hope this kind of makes sense, the dealers seem to not have any idea and I doubt that VW is passing along any useful information. A few weeks ago in Melbourne there was training and it covered some of this, not sure how many VW salesmen went or if they spend much time on the bluetooth side.

The link I provided is for the standard unit, I can provide the link for the premium but it's a fair bit more as I said. Probably worth it given that it's still less then the parrot crap. I understand that the parrots cost VW money as they get so many returns, something like every unit is replaced twice under warranty on average.

BUT whilst we can buy the unit for around $600 delivered (skoda unit) you can bet as you found that by the time VW Australia add on their bit and the dealers cover their (should be under 2 hour install once you do a few) install it will be around the $2000 area. I wonder if it will be a factory option?

I wish VW would do what BMW do and offer packages like a luxury pack that includes bi-xenons, sat nav and bluetooth for $4500. The benefit would be less variants of cars and a better chance of getting a car you want coming in on a ship without having to wait 4 months.

[Maverick]

Just thought I would update you all on the saga of my Premium Bluetooth kit.

Picked up my R32 with RNS 510 in late February and was advised that the Premium Bluetooth compatible with the RNS510 would be a couple of weeks.

I just noticed that you are in Brisbane, have a talk to Guy at Harding Performance (www.hp.net.au) as he can install the standard vw car kit for around $1500* if you don't want to install it yourself. He doesn't provide the Skoda part but the VW part* (essentially the same but the VW part can have less problems I understand with compatibility) and offers a warranty* on the kit*/install*.

*I only briefly talked to him about this so my price and/or information may be incorrect.

The kit is highly recommended, I can't recommend it enough (especially as the voice control actually works).

[gordon]

Just thought I would update you all on the saga of my Premium Bluetooth kit.

Picked up my R32 with RNS 510 in late February and was advised that the Premium Bluetooth compatible with the RNS510 would be a couple of weeks.

Anyway time has gone by and I still don't have it despite constant follow up with the dealer and VW Australia.

Included in the purchase price was an amount of $901.81 plus GST for "Factory Bluetooth Kit".

Less than thrilled to be told last week that the kit will be arriving real soon now but would now cost me an additional $1,000. What the . . . !

Advised the dealer that seeing as he has had $1,000 of my money for almost 3 months (on which I have been paying interest) he could go back and have another think about this. $2k for integrated Bluetooth? If I take it I am also going to have to pay it myself as I can't go back and renegotiate my lease.

They did offer me the option of the Parrot kit with a separate colour screen for the $1k I have already paid but I wanted it integrated not a separate screen mounted on the dash.

As I say less than impressed.

Cheers

Steve

I've been waiting on VW officially releasing the Premium Bluetooth for months. The last time i spoke to them they said official release would be June but they were not sure of price.

I expected about $1500, but $2K is steep.

What dealer in Brissy asked you for $2K? (PM if you don't want to go public)

[gordon]

Get them to give you the $990 back and you'll organise it yourself, they should do this.

The parrot is crap, absolute crap and a complete ripoff for the $900-$1000 that the dealers are charging for this.

I've just installed the proper factory bluetooth that integrates perfectly into the car and uses both the MFD and the RNS510 as a touchscreen, offers excellent voice commands (that work) and great sound for less then $600.

If you're handy and can follow instructions you can install it yourself, if not take it to someone who can install it and pay them a few hundred. Your dealer should be able to install it for you and do the necessary code changes but they may be hesitant when they can charge you $2000 for the same thing.

I'll be putting up information on my kit install in the next week or so but I purchased it from this guy. http://www.octavia-vrs.com/technical/bluetooth.html

I'm keen to see your set-up!

[beejay]

Parrot Bluetooth

I have a MY07 Jetta and paid through the nose for a Parrot kit
I can confirm that I am one of the "average" users who have had the unit replaced twice under warranty. The dealer (VW Osborne Park WA) has been more than helpful in getting this resolved clearly explaining the issue with VW Head Office and these kits

The kit now works like a charm.. touch wood

You have to be fair by saying that there are some dealers who will assist when things go bad

cheers

[DAN682]

I have a MY07 Jetta and paid through the nose for a Parrot kit
I can confirm that I am one of the "average" users who have had the unit replaced twice under warranty. The dealer (VW Osborne Park WA) has been more than helpful in getting this resolved clearly explaining the issue with VW Head Office and these kits

The kit now works like a charm.. touch wood

You have to be fair by saying that there are some dealers who will assist when things go bad

cheers

Ossie Park FTW

They have been great to me so far. They are a very professional dealership with some great people working there.

[OPVW]

Dealer Update: As of today we've still had NO news on what bluetooth kit upgrade is going to be sent our way for people with the RNS510 units. Highly frustrating as myself and other consultants here are depserate to get peoples cars working the way they expected them to.

I'll let you all know what info comes our way as soon as it arrives.

[OilBurna]

getting beyond a joke toyota are offering bluetooth on a 15k yaris...

[gordon]

Dealer Update: As of today we've still had NO news on what bluetooth kit upgrade is going to be sent our way for people with the RNS510 units. Highly frustrating as myself and other consultants here are depserate to get peoples cars working the way they expected them to.

I'll let you all know what info comes our way as soon as it arrives.

Interesting - so is my dealer talking sh*t when he says Premium Bluetooth for my RNS510 will be available in July?

Sorry to say this but VW are coming across as complete clusters with the support (lack of) being offered for Premium Bluetooth & RNS 510 in general.

[Guy_H]

Just to help out & help you try to understand how VW AUS works with these things We sell Nav units & accesories including genuine German bluetooth interfaces).

The word "PREMIUM" is not an official term for any bluetooth kit - its a slang word that has been tagged to everything from $100 kits to the $1000 + German kits.

There is a VW Australia official kit which partially integrates with your car - my understanding is it is still based on a Parrot brain, but with a can bus interface. It is sold (and warranted) through VW dealers. As you may see on the forums, its not without its issues. I believe this sells for less than a grand.

We import a "High End" Bluetooth that is actually a stand alone processor & is fitted to some VW's through Europe. There are about 5 versions of this, and they range from around $1100 to about $1800. Some are built by Temic (a division of Siemens / Continental) - some by VDO.

So please don't take it all out on the dealer - VW Australia give them a list of approved accesories to sell with warranty & support & what they are talking about will be a Parrot based unit with a new interface to the can system that supports the RNS 510. It seems that the dealer can only pass on the release dates promised by VW Australia.

[Logzy]

The word "PREMIUM" is not an official term for any bluetooth kit - its a slang word that has been tagged to everything from $100 kits to the $1000 + German kits.

In Europe you can get a genuine VW Bluetooth either standard or premium.
This is not a 3rd party device they are selling. It is proper original VW with a VAG sticker, proper part number, etc.

The difference betewwn them which alot of us are already aware of is that the premium kit uses the RSAP profile and can also do txt messages.
The premium kit has a IMIE number as it is in itself a phone that borrows the SIM id through the RSAP profile.

Premium therefore is, AFAIK, an official term when it comes to VW bluetooth.

Alot of dealers and accessory fitters here though are using the word premium just to make it sound better. This is whats causing the confusion.

Here is the proper VW standard bluetooth kit
Here is the proper VW premium bluetooth kit