[dinu2506]

The Audi A4 B8 35TDI has been my all-time favorite daily drive car since I bought it in 2016. Ticked all the boxes with respect to refinement, grunt, efficiency and overall feel-good. It had all the needed bells and whistles that included 6 airbags, rear curtain, moonroof, front and rear parking sensors (no camera), Bluetooth telephony (no streaming). Had a nice crisp color display between the dials and a basic 7 inch dashboard screen (non touch) showing basic information in two or three colors with basic text. I really felt short changed when my daughter bought a Grand i10 Nios. Though 3 or 4 segments down, it still had features that I started to miss in my Audi - Apple Carplay, Android Auto, Rear Camera, Touch screen and the stuff. I had to mount my phone in the holder whenever I wanted Google navigation, had no option to play music from Spotify and stuff. I was sure I was not changing the car, so started the search for options to upgrade. I wanted to retain the stock looks which meant it had to be bolt on kit and I wanted to ensure that none of the wires need splicing. There were many on Aliexpress but also wanted a good installer who is experienced in this. Finally chanced upon Evo Retrofits in Bangalore and I knew Satya, the owner, since many tears. Went over to him last week and got all my queries cleared and got the confidence that this could be entrusted to him. This is the link to the product

https://www.evoretrofits.in/product/...g-guide-lines/

Took the car to him last Friday by noon and got it all done by evening. Everything was flawless and all that I wanted on the car came to life. Thanks to Evo and Satya for a great job done. I've now got Android Auto (wired), Apple Carplay (Wireless), Reverse Camera with adaptive guidelines. The biggest surprise (that even Satya did not know) was that the kit included a touchscreen layer that could be fixed on the existing screen making it a touch screen. This too worked flawlessly. All steering controls works and can be used to navigate the numerous menus. There is an option to add a front camera as well but did not as the car already had front parking sensors, but this is something I can add on later more as a fancy. The front camera comes on when shifting to D from Reverse and can be programmed to stay on for 10 seconds after moving off. My rear fill speakers on the doors had konked off earlier and used the opportunity to add on couple of basic coaxial Infinity speakers in the stock mounting. All in all, a great day.

The stock setup






The work in progress














The final outcome

[mugen_pinaki27]

Absolutely tasty mod, Sir. I am also intending to upgrade my car's media interface in the near future. I've heard of the Infinity series by Harman and was blown away while listening to the sheer aural power on a drive in my friend's Tata Nexon. How is the audio experience in this one? Do let me know. Cheers!

[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by mugen_pinaki27

Absolutely tasty mod, Sir. I am also intending to upgrade my car's media interface in the near future. I've heard of the Infinity series by Harman and was blown away while listening to the sheer aural power on a drive in my friend's Tata Nexon. How is the audio experience in this one? Do let me know. Cheers!

Thank you. As I had mentioned, my intent was not to enhance the audio experience, rather adding the missing features that the came did not come with, in the first place. The stock audio quality of the A4, I would rate it a notch above average, and that's good enough for me. The current setup sounds the same, no complaints. Coming to the Infinity rear fills, it is just a basic coaxial 6" speakers that went into the stock position inside the stock casing. I would say, it sounds like the original.

[GTO]

Sweet upgrade! And getting it from a shop you trust is the icing on the cake. One issue all of us old-German-car-owners face is the lack of Android Auto / Apple CarPlay, and sometimes other stuff. Like I would love a front camera in my BMW F10. I see they have two options for the F10 and now you got me all tempted.

Another thing I'd be keen on is upgrading the speakers + subwoofers. While the stock system is pretty darn good, all the newer cars I TD have superior sound setups.

Congrats on making your Audi "up to date". This goes a long way in happily holding your car for more years, saving big money in the long run.

[cooldude1988765]

Originally Posted by dinu2506

https://www.evoretrofits.in/product/...g-guide-lines/

Congratulations on a truly functional upgrade and thank you for sharing this link. Have forwarded it to my friend who had similar concerns as you regarding a retro fit.

Originally Posted by GTO

Another thing I'd be keen on is upgrading the speakers + subwoofers. While the stock system is pretty darn good, all the newer cars I TD have superior sound setups.

Rainbow has model specific speakers that are designed to work with your existing head unit and amplifiers.

BBW Gurgaon were the distributors earlier (they still might be) you might want to check with them for more info.

[vinu_h]

Originally Posted by dinu2506

The front camera comes on when shifting to D from Reverse and can be programmed to stay on for 10 seconds after moving off.

Great way to stay up to date. Front cam is really cool though. Is there a way to have it come on at the press of a button ? Can be really useful in tight spots.

[anandavinash]

This is exactly the thing I have been looking for! Great upgrade. Someone earlier already recommended that I go to Evo and your post with pictures now only reinforces that suggestion. Will have to go and talk to the guys at Evo soon.

[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by GTO

Like I would love a front camera in my BMW F10. I see they have two options for the F10 and now you got me all tempted.
Congrats on making your Audi "up to date". This goes a long way in happily holding your car for more years, saving big money in the long run.

Yes, I was really tempted to get the front camera for an additional 3-4k, but thought I would space out my desires. The good thing is that it can be added anytime without much of an hassle, just the glovebox needs to be taken down by releasing the 4 bolts to access the Evofit box that's mounted between the glovebox and dashboard. Might do it soon as my confidence has improved with the added stuff working well. Pretty nifty unit I would say, eg: the stock cartoon display for the front and rear parking sensors are also replicated in the rear view camera view on the side. So you still get the audio alarm, cartoon display and the camera view all in one screen front and rear.

Originally Posted by cooldude1988765

Congratulations on a truly functional upgrade and thank you for sharing this link. Have forwarded it to my friend who had similar concerns as you regarding a retro fit.

Hope he/she benefits

Originally Posted by vinu_h

Great way to stay up to date. Front cam is really cool though. Is there a way to have it come on at the press of a button ? Can be really useful in tight spots.

It's possible, its mentioned in the link I shared. Quoting here - "The front view camera can be activated by holding the Option button for 2 seconds. In order to exit the camera mode, you can just press Back. It can also be set up to appear automatically on the screen when the gear is shifted from Reverse to Drive (the time how long the front camera picture is shown can be set in the menu for 0-10 seconds)"

[OffRoadFun]

Wow. Congratulations!
This is looking very good and interesting.
I have 2010 AUdi Q5 (8R) and had been looking for the Android Auto/Touchscreen upgrade for a long time but was not sure of competent people who could do the job. Had a
Looks like you are very happy with the upgrade!

[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Wow. Congratulations!
This is looking very good and interesting.
I have 2010 AUdi Q5 (8R) and had been looking for the Android Auto/Touchscreen upgrade for a long time but was not sure of competent people who could do the job. Had a
Looks like you are very happy with the upgrade!

Thanks, I see a similar unit for the Q5 8R in the website. Maybe you should check it out, and as GTO said, bring your ride "up to date"

Originally Posted by GTO

Congrats on making your Audi "up to date". This goes a long way in happily holding your car for more years, saving big money in the long run.

Could not resist posting this. The old lady posing with her new-found youth in the evening Bangalore rains. Ain't she a looker? One of the cars, I feel, that age really well.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by dinu2506

Finally chanced upon Evo Retrofits in Bangalore and I knew Satya, the owner, since many tears. Went over to him last week and got all my queries cleared and got the confidence that this could be entrusted to him. This is the link to the product

Very nice upgrades, these changes really enhance the feel and motivates you to keep the car for more years.
Even I had upgraded the head unit of Octavia from EVO and overall experience was flawless, had put 10 inch unit with wireless Apple play and all canbus functions were integrated seamlessly. Definitely recommend them, mainly if you own a German car.

[dinu2506]

Evo has uploaded this particular install on their channel. Please do have a look, you get a good picture of the features

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkWl067Dp6g

[OffRoadFun]

Originally Posted by dinu2506

Evo has uploaded this particular install on their channel. Please do have a look, you get a good picture of the features
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=GkWl067Dp6g

Hello,
I had one a query, appreciate your answer.
Did you have an AMI port either in glovebox/center console or elsewhere which was used for BT and other media?
The reason I am asking is I do not have extra AMI port in my Q5, have an AUX port in center console but whenever I connected any media device using AUX cable, the sound output was bad (similar to a phone call and I could see not all stock speakers were being activated). So I am worried whether even after going for this upgrade, whether my sound quality will remain the same (which is very good as of now). If he could do it in your case without the AMI port, then probably it will work in my case also.
Regards.

[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Hello,
I had one a query, appreciate your answer.
Did you have an AMI port either in glovebox/center console or elsewhere which was used for BT and other media?
The reason I am asking is I do not have extra AMI port in my Q5, have an AUX port in center console but whenever I connected any media device using AUX cable, the sound output was bad (similar to a phone call and I could see not all stock speakers were being activated). So I am worried whether even after going for this upgrade, whether my sound quality will remain the same (which is very good as of now). If he could do it in your case without the AMI port, then probably it will work in my case also.
Regards.

Yes, I have the AMI port inside my glovebox where I had earlier connected my pendrive using the MMI to USB cable. Now the AMI port is used by the upgrade but they have provided an additional USB female port for me to use my pendrive, that I have routed to my armrest. Of course, if you use Android Auto, this USB port gets used up to connect the Android phone, but if it is Apple carplay, the connection is wireless and you can still use the USB port for pendrives and the like. So, the basic input for the system is from the AMI port. Hope this clarifies

[parathmaniraja]

Originally Posted by dinu2506

The final outcome

This looks clean and looks stock, especially with CarPlay . I saw many android devices in BMW, but it looked cheap and not gel with the quality interior.