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-   -   Review: RCD 330G. VW's 2016 Head-Unit for the Polo, Vento & Ameo (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/173375-review-rcd-330g-vws-2016-head-unit-polo-vento-ameo.html)

VW recently updated the HU on the 2016 Polo and Vento to a 5 inch touch screen unit. There is not much info available on this unit. Below is a short review that captures the different options and screens. From the pictures shared so far, the Ameo also is expected to get this HU. But there is a point of confusion. The Ameo is expected to come with Reverse Cam support. From what I have seen of this unit in the Polo, it does not seem to have that option. So the unit in the Ameo may be a slightly different one. Will need to wait for further clarity with regard to the Ameo. Moderator Gannu_1, with whom I had a quick chat on this feels that there should be a slot for camera video in that is currently left empty and has said that he will attempt to get the wiring diagram and pin details from the service center when it is feasible. Thanks Gannu.

Special thanks to my friend who just got delivery of a GT TSI with the new HU and let me fiddle with the system and take these pictures. This unit comes in the Highline variant (GT TSI as well as Manual MPI and TDI)

Pro's

• The 5 inch screen, Color Display and couple of additional features like Mirror Link and full fledged address book integration makes it better than the previous RCD 320 unit.
  
• Reasonably good touch experience, felt it better than the Philadelphia 835 that I have.
  
• Overall simple and easy to use.
  

Con's

• Not too many customization options. Fairly basic functionality.
  
• No support for Video, Navigation or Reverse Camera (for the Polo and Vento).
  
• Mirror Link support is poor. Very few phones and Apps support it. Makes this functionality meaningless for most users.
  
• Expensive. This unit along with the Rain Sensing Wipers and Auto IRVM has resulted in a 30-40 K Increase in price. Would have been better to provide a full fledged AVN system with Reverse Cam support as opposed to this one.

MirrorLink

Note: I was unable to test MirrorLink on this unit due to the multiple dependencies it has. More on that below.

Summary of MirrorLink

• MirrorLink is an initiative of Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC). The CCC is a non-profit organization of automakers, smartphone vendors and aftermarket car electronics providers who believe there should be one simple way to connect any device to any car. To that end, member companies have created MirrorLink, a standard technology for drivers to simply connect and ride.
  
• It is a technology based on which a mobile phone can be connected to the Head Unit via the USB Port.
  
• Snapshot of the Car and Phone manufacturers that support this initiative.
  
  
  
  
  
• Requirements. To use the MirrorLink functionality, 4 conditions have to be satisfied.
  
  • The Head Unit should support MirrorLink.
    
  • The Phone should support MirrorLink
    
  • Both Phone and HU should be on same MirrorLink version (currently 1.1)
    
  • There should be Apps that support MirrorLink. Apps need to be certified by CCC.

The above is where the problems start. As you can see these are a lot of preconditions. In my case, condition 1 is satisfied. But the list of phones that support MirrorLink is very limited. Currently pretty much restricted to the flagship phones from Samsung, Sony, HTC and LG. If you do not have one of the phones in this list, then the whole concept of MirrorLink is useless. Even if you do have one of the listed phones, currently only this list of Apps are certified to work with MirrorLink. Most of these are currently useless for majority.

In my case, none of us among the immediate circle had a phone that supported MirrorLink, couple of acquaintances who did have a supported phone, did not have any app that would work (And I did not want to force an install).

The below image and demo video shows how MirrorLink will work. Once a compatible device with compatible Apps is connected, the HU will display the compatible apps. There is also said to be a direct access mode which will mirror the phone screen on the HU, but can be used only when the vehicle is stopped.


Request other members who have this HU and the supporting phones and apps to update the MirrorLink Behavior specific to this unit.

Final Thoughts

This new HU is a definite improvement over the previous RCD 320 (Which will continue to do duty in the Comfortline variant of the Polo and Vento). On the downside, If you keep aside the MirrorLink, there is nothing much the unit adds in terms of functionality. The Color display and 5 inch screen does make everything better and easier to use, but VW has jacked up prices by up to 40K for this (and the Auto IRVM and Wipers). In my view, they should have gone full out and provided a full AVN system (like the Philadelphia 835) or at least introduced an (O) or "Plus" variant which provided this. In fact the 2015 Vento had a Highline Plus edition that brought in the AVN system and some other tweaks at a small price. That should have been the way to go. If one has a phone that supports MirrorLink, the unit gives more value. With MirrorLink expected to get more prevalent, number of supported apps should increase and it will be a nice to have feature.

This unit supports OPS/reverse cam display as per these Russian folks (source)



Google translating the highlighted bits:

Another image that mentions it:


(Source: polosedan.ru)

I suppose VW is still using the OPS module without the canbus inputs so while slotting into reverse gear, only the beeps will be heard without any display on the screen. Upgrading to one of those 4K modules (costs less than 2.5k) with the canbus support will enable the display on the HU/dim the music - plenty available on Aliexpress (eg).

BTW this looks like an imported unit:



Will see if the local service center has one of these newer Polos for test drive. Can safely open up the unit and check the rear for the connector type, pin-out diagram etc.

For the basic folks this should suffice, though for someone with a bit of ear to music these stock units are usually worthless. Even then I think this is a step in the right direction and with a speaker upgrade the system should sound much better imo. The general lack of preouts and subwoofer out is a big downer with stock systems. The speakers that came with my vento, I guess will be the same used here too, are very basic and give you a sound fatigue very quickly. Nevertheless step in the right direction.

Thanks for sharing.

Hi Team, I found this.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Genui...4-1838129e4ee3

This has photos of the rear. Sadly, I could not locate the camera input.

Is this upgrade advisable for Jetta/Passat with RCD510.

The Delphi RCD510 is not very high quality and Bosch (w/ Camera support) is super expensive. MirrorLink is nice to have.

Feel that a flush fitting screen would have looked more upmarket than a sunken screen with questionable screen surround material. Not to mention screen resolution is most car HUs being light years behind even the most basic smart phones!

It could be an independent module that works with the rcd330 via the CAN.
Saw this on alixpress.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/OEM-R...7-b05c4e497747

A reverse cam retrofit might require something like this. Because there doesn't seem to be any port in the rcd330g for the reverse camera.

Who is manufacturing these head units? I think Harman maybe?

AFAIK Harman is the OEM for the Discover and MIB II systems used in Golf and the top-end models, maybe the new Jetta launched here as well. I think I read somewhere it is LG for the entry level systems.

Don't take my word for it though! :p Will share it here when I come across some info.

Instead of jumping to car play and android auto VW is just dealing incremental updates. Not having a reverse camera and feed to screen on a 14L highline version is a sin from VW.

Thanks for the detailed review of the new system in VW Polo/Vento/ Ameo.
Did you get a chance to fiddle with the mirrorlink functionality? If yes a few pictures and your thoughts on it would benefit the readers.

In the meantime you can buy the new system from Vagtune.in. I saw it advertised in their website.
http://www.vagtune.in/volkswagen/vw-...uetooth-detail

Will it be a 'plug & play' upgrade ? Or am i missing something here ?

It won't be plug and play as it requires the canbus cable pair (CAN +, CAN -) to be connected to the OPS module's connector. This will relay the signals from the sensors to the head unit when the reverse gear is engaged.

Thanks Gannu ! Since the new polo is coming with electrically folding ORVM's do you think we can enable 'Auto folding' via VCDS ?

Please find the information below, its confusing though. I'm guessing it could be 2 different ways for the same thing

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...g-Instructions

http://www.uspmotorsports.com/downlo...structions.pdf