125 Tsi owners / buyers

[Tigga1]

stereo upgrade

I am currently on holidays at Gold Coast, and was hoping to get the APR ECU and Haldex upgrades done while down here. As it turned out, APR is still working on the remap for my particular ECU and, as you may have gleaned from Guy's post on this forum, turned out it didn't fit the Tig ;-[

But they did install the torque arm insert FOC; thanks Guy and Glen!

So, to not come home with an empty Tig, I looked at upgrading stereo (thanks Vincent, Pullstarter for your inspiration!). Ended up with Alpine reference series 6.5" splits and PDX amp, as well as a Focal Bus20 8" boxed sub. Both amp and sub are mounted under front seats, wouldn't know they're there.

It rocks, the sub-controller rotary switch is discretely mounted in the stowage area in middle of centre console and, depending on which media you listen too, can be easily adjusted to just the right blend. And apparently, the sound will only improve as the speakers loosen up.

Also had the front doors dynamatted, amazed and how much improved the front soundstage is now. If you're in the area, go and see Jason @ GC car soundin Tweed Heads, very professional!

Also, extra plug for Guy H and Glen from Eurotune, hope they come up to FNQ for a fishing trip (and my ECU reflash) soon!

cheers

Tigga1

[Pullstarter]

Have you got the AB model ECU Tigga? I think that one is a send away job. Luckily mine is AA, just don't have the funds at the moment

Holy crap Vincent! They tore half your car apart!! LOL Does make a noticeable difference though for sure.

[Guy_H]

We will have the AB software code ready next week (just out of time for Tigga's - looks like a fishing trip (tuning trip) up to Cairns shortly!

[qsilverza]

Marty is well known in the audio world and I have many friends and distributors who think very highly of him.

Guys Hi – just picked up my new Silver Leaf Tig this week. This is a 125 manual – absolutely base model good value one. The only options I paid the dealer for was the metallic paint and a shaped polystyrene boot tray to collect mud, spills, etc.

Why a 125 you might ask ? Well partly this is our third car in the family so we didn’t want to spend too much but more to the point my eldest son will be driving it a bit and he is on P plates so his licence here in NSW will not permit him to drive the 147 but he can get an exemption to drive the 125. We decided against a diesel as the ten per cent premium for the diesel vehicle made no sense to us given the high price of diesel fuel and the 125 has such a great low down torque it performs really well.

Maybe when my son is off his P plates in another year or so I will look at chipping the engine. We seriously considered the Subaru Forrester but once we found out we could get a Tig for not much more there was no question. Our drive-away price was tremendous value at $34k.

Anyway enough history.

First stop was to Roof Rack World for a pair of the sleek Rola roof racks and a Thule collapsible weatherproof luggage carrier to go on the roof, known as a Ranger 90. This is because we have a business in Thredbo and might need extra carrying capacity as we are downsizing from a ten year old Merc ML320. Mind you I just learnt my Tig back seat moves forward/back in seven click stop adjustments which will help a bit – varies the depth of the luggage space by about 230mm.

After researching this site for suggestions I decided to go with the AVC 9000-1 as a new in-dash audio/bluetooth/nav unit and had the audio job done by the small FHRX Studios in Sydney.

I have to say Marty and his team were keen, clearly knew a lot about VW including Tiguans, knew the VW Canbus system and cared ! Marty said the 9000-1 was pretty good (had the sorts of adjustments needed by them) before he heard the price and then said that was amazing at the price and he really likes the radio quality and this camera for a tidy job.

AVC 9000-1 from Auspack Electronics works just fine – audio responds to steering wheel buttons, iPod works well, does music and satnav at the same time, Bluetooth quality is fine, etc. Have not has much time to play with all the other functions but maybe as we drive to the snow next week.

Reversing camera (the VW Tiguan specific one which goes where a number plate light was) is great – comes on automatically when reverse gear selected, etc and the camera works really well in the night. The grid/guidelines for the vehicle are all there on the screen - much better than just having reversing sensors as on my wife’s Golf GTI.

The vision of the camera is 170 degrees wide and goes from 15 cm behind the car and then for several metres behind the car. The actual grid lines are fixed and seem to mark out an area the width of the car and an area starting 30 cm behind the car and then for the next 60 cm – if there is a way to change the calibration I have not found it yet.

I had FHRX install Dynamat sound deadening put in the front doors and boot area - a highly sensible recommendation - and as I was doing that got carried away a bit and decided to also have the front door speakers upgraded.

The 310 factory Blaupunkt head unit and Blaupunkt speakers were not bad – indeed quite good – but now the sound is seriously good (and I am one of hose folks who read Stereophile magazine – I mainly listen to vocals, detailed acoustic, etc so I am fussy about instrumental detail and sound staging) with the benefit of the 9000-1 in combination with Hertz MLK165 6.5 inch speakers / ML28 tweeters and a professional installation.

Give me 2 weeks or so and I will post detailed photos on the kit, the camera install, etc. Anyone know someone who wants a pre-loved ML 320 going cheap ?

Thank you to the many posters here for their useful information which over many hours helped me in the decision making - and lightening my wallet !

[Guy_H]

We will have the AB software code ready next week (just out of time for Tigga's - looks like a fishing trip (tuning trip) up to Cairns shortly!

Actually the one I have here today is not an AB code - its the 147 kw Auto (another different code) - we should have a 125kw Auto here tomorrow though.

[Pullstarter]

So there's another one as well as AA and AB?

[Guy_H]

So far we have 7 different petrol Tiguan codes......

I wish VW would just stick to one, then I could go fishing for 6 days a week instead of working 6 days a week

[Pullstarter]

7?!?!?!?! Jeebus that's insane!

[vincent]

Rola Roof Bars


Hi

Have now uploaded photos of the Rola roof bars.

Quick background :

I chose Rola due to their low profile and as they don't overhang the side rails. They have a European channel in the bar and take all the Thule range of accessories and I imagine most other brands as well. The colour matching for the 125 rails is excellent.

I had ordered them without the locks which gives an even lower profile but Rola were recalling those end bits. I might paint the lock ends black if I don't swap back to the the lower end bits. Locks are not really needed as you need a tool to put the bars on or remove them. I had the guys use shorter bolts than standard to minimise protrusion below the rail and I will touch up the bottom of the bolts/nuts with black paint - these racks are going to stay on permanently!

I have similar racks on my ten year old merc 4wd - they are pretty colour fast. I drove down to Thredbo and back this weekend and there was no apparent wind noise.

Vincent


http://s808.photobucket.com/albums/z...20Roof%20bars/

[Pullstarter]

They look excellent Vincent, I'm also keen on these because they don't overhang. Colour match really is good

[Tigga1]

Hi

I chose Rola due to their low profile and as they don't overhang the side rails. They have a European channel in the bar and take all the Thule range of accessories and I imagine most other brands as well. The colour matching for the 125 rails is excellent.

I had ordered them without the locks which gives an even lower profile but Rola were recalling those end bits. I might paint the lock ends black if I don't swap back to the the lower end bits. Locks are not really needed as you need a tool to put the bars on or remove them. I had the guys use shorter bolts than standard to minimise protrusion below the rail and I will touch up the bottom of the bolts/nuts with black paint - these racks are going to stay on permanently!

[/URL]

Vincent, where did you get them, looks like the bars for me! Also, @ what cost?
Don't like the big VW bars @ all

had my doors dynamated as part of my stereo upgrade, awesome.
I have the reversible rubber/carpet insert in back, hoping it does a similar job to your rear dynamat!

cheers
Tigga

[vincent]

After market VW Reversing Camera for Tiguan with AVC 9000-1

Hi back home now for one day before off to Qld for work and some R&R at Sunshine beach....

I have started to load up some photos of the aftermarket camera (see original post in this thread for details).

It utilises the same cavity and screw holes as the existing number plate lights so is a cinch to fit to the body.

The camera has a pretty good sensor with heaps of detail especially at night.

Mind you this morning it wasn't performing as well - but the car had driven nearly 1,400kms including in rain with the camera on - all it needed was a wipe with my finger to clear the water drops/dust off the lens.

The factory camera position is different - photo of it on the red Tiguan included for comparison.

http://s808.photobucket.com/albums/z...sing%20Camera/


Vincent

[vincent]

Hi
Tigga - Hi - Rola are sold most places but I got mine from Roof Rack World in Artarmon Sydney - they also fitted them free and I got the Thule Ranger 90 there as well. $299 from recollection with the locks but web search will confirm.

cheers

[Sanman]

Excellent work Vincent - thanks for the photos of both racks and camera installation. I ordered a Passat camera yesterday, as my original Auspack one died - I think Auspack Rob is still overseas.

[mattyb]

Hi Vincent

thanks for the awsome write-up. Do the steering wheel mounted buttons work for the BT.


A bit off topic.... Have you had to drive the Tig on any Snow/ice covered roads yet? Saw your pics of the roof racks with the snow in the back ground, just wondering how it went.


Matt