Golf MK6 Apple Carplay Head Unit

[angrycheese]

Wishing to have apple carplay feature in my car, vw golf mk6 2013. Has anyone tried one of these?
Volkswagen Golf MK6 Wireless Apple Carplay Android Auto Head Unit Car Stereo 2009 - 2013 9 Inch | GTzone

From their website, they claimed that it supported youtube and netflix. Not sure is legit or not, they quoted me extra $80 for installation service, is it very easy to install? Plan to DIY if these things are good.

[Lucas_R]

I havent used the GTZone one personally, but by far the most popular option for the Mk5 and Mk6 Golfs is the RCD330 which is a genuine VW unit with Apple Carplay. Being genuine, you know that it will work well and integrate with all the other items like the reverse camera, steering wheel controls and parking sensors etc.

VW 6.5" RCD330 Plus 6RD035187B (No Name) Radio for VW Golf MK5 MK6 Scirocco R Tiguan Passat Polo Caddy

[angrycheese]

I havent used the GTZone one personally, but by far the most popular option for the Mk5 and Mk6 Golfs is the RCD330 which is a genuine VW unit with Apple Carplay. Being genuine, you know that it will work well and integrate with all the other items like the reverse camera, steering wheel controls and parking sensors etc.

VW 6.5" RCD330 Plus 6RD035187B (No Name) Radio for VW Golf MK5 MK6 Scirocco R Tiguan Passat Polo Caddy

It says MK6 Including, will this fits MK6 all years? including 2013 Golf? Is it just simply plug and play?

Sorry if I have too many questions

[Lucas_R]

Yes it fits all Mk5 and Mk6 era cars. So it will fit your Mk6 no issues.

And yes its a plug and play upgrade, so very easy to do yourself with basic tools. I would recommend adding the option of the wireless Carplay dongle which works great and saves you having to physically plug the phone in all the time to use CarPlay.

[angrycheese]

Thanksss mate, but I have a concern about the dongle, people said it has the connection problems, keep disconnected while driving, does it happened to you before?

[Lucas_R]

I had one in my Mk7 GTI for about 2 years (have now sold the car) and it worked flawlessly. I had the one that VWCentral sell.

There are lots of cheap ones for sale on ebay etc so i cant comment on how good/bad those ones are, but the one from VWCentral was good in my experience.

[steavenbc]

I got one from GT Zone last year for MK6 and the installation was neat. However, it did have typical disconnection issues both in Wireless and dongle-connected mode.

I did a firmware upgrade over Wifi, and it seems to be fine now. I never had to use the dongle since then.

[angrycheese]

That sounds pretty good, may I know which one you bought from GT Zone?

Was it this one?

RCD330 RCD340 RCD360 Plus carplay android auto Original Genuine Noname Volkswagen VW Head Unit | Shop Now | Free Shipping Across Australia
– GTzone

[angrycheese]

Ok guy CASE CLOSED, I bought mine from the first link, and it works really well with the navigation and spotify. I never got the disconnection problem, no dongle needed for this model. I've rate it an 8/10 rating for Gtzone, it was super shock that I received no installation guideline in their parcel. But I managed to find the tutorials online, so still alright.

[roguester]

Hey all,

Just sticking my nose in. Having a look at the Gtzone stereo for my Passat. Do you know if it still uses the factory microphone? Just can't deal with endless repeating myself due to a bad quality mic in a unit.
I have tried to reach out to them but get very little in terms of input.. more like a point to the unit on their website and the end.

Thanks

Pete

[The_Hawk]

I have an 7" Aliexpress version I got for ~$230 a few years ago. It has built in Wireless CarPlay and works reasonably well. Virtually no drop outs (compared to a USB dongle in another car), although occasionally you need to reset the Bluetooth connection from the phone before it wants to connect. Volume controls suck compared to our Mazda which sets and remembers different value levels for phone, music and nav vs the single control I have on my unit. This means I have to turn it up massively for calls (which otherwise work fine) then smash it back down when I end a call before the music blares out too loud! Also... the screen barely bright enough in direct light...

But, for the price it works acceptably enough that I haven't bothered replacing it... I consider it, but not enough to spend money.

I did need to replace the OEM reverse camera (used for the factory RNS510) for a version that does composite connection instead. It's a step down in quality going from RGB to composite, but it gets the job done well enough... it's not like you need super high def reversing camera... and if you go down the RCD330 route it uses that same composite camera anyway.

That GT Zone unit looks like it also does wireless CarPlay (or Android Auto) out of the box now too... I'm tempted to have a look at how it treats volume control and how the screen works in daylight. It would also be a step up from 7" to 9" which is always nice.

From an installation point of view, even the stock units are 95% plug and play (except maybe the reverse camera depending on how it's triggered) for these types of units. You don't typically need VCDS (or similar) to code them in.

On the mic side, if it the unit has it's own Bluetooth (which is does for Wireless CarPlay/Android Auto) it won't be using the factory mic since that's connected to the Bluetooth unit under the seat. If the unit has an external mic input you *might* be able to repurpose the factory mic (or at least install a better something in its place).