Allroad: Touchscreen Bluetooth Radio options

[vtraudt]

What radio options do we have for our Allroad that 'fit the bill' below?
Install photos?
Links?
Make/model?
Prices?

Looking for Symphony 1 replacement (died) for my 2001 Allroad.

Desired:
- good match to dash lights and interior
- good fit into existing opening
- easy install
- bluetooth
- works with Android app Torque
- back up camera option

[a4kamila6]

Think theres the audi RNS or some kind of bluetooth touchscreen radio of OEM quality, but its expensive i imagine. Then theres aftermarket route, and that isnt cheap at all. some say once changing head unit, might as well put in amp and probably new speakers to get full effect of system. If you already have the bose system, which i think is good enough, you should try finding the nav unit thats supposed to be in our cars. Someone who has one will definitely chime in.


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[vtraudt]

RNS-E is overpriced for its capabilities.
Factory GPS that came with our cars is a joke today (some arrows pointing you were to go, pack lunch if you want to enter a destination address). Well, its 15 years old, so no surprise.
Some aftermarket look cheesy, they don't even TRY to make it look decent (non matching black trim, poor fit, etc).

The added features (toys) cannot justify any ugliness.
If it doesn't even look decent (OEM quality look and fit), may as well get a used OEM and stay with the Symphony 1.

[mr_dave]

How about something like this? https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/AppRadio

[4rings2turbos]

You can get gen I RNS-E for 3-400 and gen II for 8-900. It cannot be bested for quality, fit, integration and cool factor. You can have bluetooth, satellite radio, live traffic updates and automatic route changes to avoid traffic, backup camera, play movies, watch TV, build in hdd style music with the two SD cards up to 64GB and all controlled from your steering wheel.

Pretty solid option.

Touch screen seems like a good idea but imagine you're on a bumpy road and you're trying to press a button a flat screen, also it requires looking at the screen unlike hard buttons that can be found by feel. The screen is placed too low IMO to be looking down there for touch screen buttons.

Just my thoughts, otherwise there in an Android based RNS-E-ish unit that B7 guys use a lot if you must go the touch screen route.

[alien_brain]

torque is great on my android head unit

[R490]

There's a lot of great options out there,

There's also a lot of horrible options out there. Don't buy ANY Jensen head unit. I had one in my A6 for less than a month before I got extremely frustrated by it being a piece of shit and ripped the thing out and dumped it in a box somewhere. This was after taking an entire day to install it while being poorly advised by Crutchfield onto how to solder the harness to get it to work on the car that they already said it would work on.

/Rant

[Racin2redline]

I vote appradio4
I hate aftermarket stuff but this is the cleanest option I've seen

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[alien_brain]

i think this is the a6 version of the one in my a4:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/S160-1080P-Q...kAAOSwAKxWanTV

[4rings2turbos]

That's the one I was thinking of ^

[julex]

Full android ebay radio, this is with enfig kit (hard plastic on 01 hard plastic center console and yes, I like apples):

[LakeTahoeQuattr]

Full android ebay radio, this is with enfig kit (hard plastic on 01 hard plastic center console and yes, I like apples):

I spy with my little eye a meth controller. I wanted to put mine there

[julex]

Yeah, I don't smoke so I don't care about ashtrays .

[tewnick]

We're you able to keep the steering wheel controls working with this radio?

[julex]

We're you able to keep the steering wheel controls working with this radio?

I would if I invested in about $100 more of stuff from enfig. Considering the radio was just a hair over $200, and the fact that I don't care for allroad clumsy buttons anyway, I decided to not implement this at this point of time. .

[a4kamila6]

Hey julex the meth controller is for a water/meth injection kit? how long does the mixture last you, and if you run out, what happens? Sorry for my noobness but i was wondering how this type of thing works.


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[V1nny]

You can get gen I RNS-E for 3-400 and gen II for 8-900. It cannot be bested for quality, fit, integration and cool factor. You can have bluetooth, satellite radio, live traffic updates and automatic route changes to avoid traffic, backup camera, play movies, watch TV, build in hdd style music with the two SD cards up to 64GB and all controlled from your steering wheel.

Pretty solid option.

Touch screen seems like a good idea but imagine you're on a bumpy road and you're trying to press a button a flat screen, also it requires looking at the screen unlike hard buttons that can be found by feel. The screen is placed too low IMO to be looking down there for touch screen buttons.

Just my thoughts, otherwise there in an Android based RNS-E-ish unit that B7 guys use a lot if you must go the touch screen route.

I think this is pretty much nails it down, except second generation could be found for little less on ebay, if you patient. My favorite feature on Gen II RNS-E is TMC, real time traffic updates, no monthly fees. Also I sort of disagree that touch screen is just a matter of taste. To me its a safety issue, and I would prefer not to be hit by someone paying too much attention to touch screen selections while distracted from driving. Physical buttons are great, especially with RNS-E layout, you do not need to look at them, all basic function could be controlled based on your tactile feedback, due to positions of buttons and knobs of two different sizes. Lastly, second generation of RNS-E is 5 year old technology, not 15, and QNX operations system its running still the best. Wish someone ported Torq to run on it (should be possible just like Blackberry being able to run Android apps).

[julex]

To me it is a matter of cost really... Do I put $1500+ unit into $3k car or simply do generic chinese item for $300 after said and done. I could not reasonably make myself to buy newest RNSE and have all the head aches of properly installing it which is another project to do properly. Sure the RNSE units are nice but only the new ones, old ones, let's face it, are pointless to install imho unless I could get it for $100 or something.

After having full android unit in my car for most of this past year and having access to any app and functionality you can imagine, I can tell you what I used it for the most.... pandora streaming with my phone as teether. With very occasional FM radio usage... NO OTHER USE.

I have satellite radio in my wife's car but not using it at all since I really don't like inferior quality of it (my ears cringe) and the blackouts when any concrete is over my head. Sure it probably works fine for rural settings, but not for me, thus not having it is not a problem for me and even it is was an option with android, I would never ever pay for it lol.

I still prefer phone for navigation by far because it is simply much easier to use, I just talk to the thing and it does everything without touching it and so on. Kids are watching their own stuff on drop down monitors in back anyway, and I have my music.

So.... what I am getting at is: just make a choice based on what $$$ you have available. Can't go wrong with any option.

[4rings2turbos]

As a devout BlackBerry user I appreciate the credibility you've given them, as well as actually knowing anything about the brand's capabilities and systems they own/use.



They used to be $1500 a few years ago but they're much less, I guess even less than I thought according to Vinny. I understand only spending a couple hundred when more is out of the budget or you won't use the features, but I do want to clarify that if you have an 02 on and get the correct harness then installing a gen II takes as much time as removing old headunit, plugging car pigtails into the quadlock harness then quadlock harness into the nav. Done.

When we decided to put RNS-E into our then family hauler we did it because touching your phone is illegal in our state as well as potentially dangerous and we had our firstborn on his way. We needed fully integrated bluetooth and quality navigation integrated. One of the best features is the phonebook and navigation directions in the DIS, don't even have to look down at the somewhat low main screen. For bluetooth and navigation it's simply the best and most integrated option bar none. Also beautiful clean.

^personal experiences and opinions there, certainly understanding where you're coming from Julex.

I'm a details guy and one final nail in the aftermarket coffin is that I CANNOT STAND the BS robotic voice on aftermarket and phone navigation systems. I'm a calm guy and those make me angry. They also drone on and on about the same information. I.E. if I enter a highway on ramp aftermarket will tell me to merge with the highway at the end of it. I DO NOT NEED THIS INFORMATION, THIS IS A GIVEN AS IT IS MY ONLY OPTION. For crying out loud.

OP is getting more information than he bargained for, but he'll make one heck of an informed decision lol.

[alien_brain]

Full android ebay radio, this is with enfig kit (hard plastic on 01 hard plastic center console and yes, I like apples):

could you possibly provide links to your selections please? thank you!

[julex]

http://forums.quattroworld.com/allro...3.phtml#228542
http://forums.quattroworld.com/allro...4.phtml#229455

Bottom line is that the exact model I have I cannot recommend (it has problems) but there are LITERALLY 100s of 2 din models to pick from as far as android units go. Just browse A/V forums and ebay and get some headache pain killers ready (way too many to choose from). Anything rectangular 2din unit will fit in with enfig face/cage kit.

[s2carlo]

i think this is the a6 version of the one in my a4:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/S160-1080P-Q...kAAOSwAKxWanTV

Meanwhile the S4 got swapped for an A6 4.2 with a lot of options.

for this car, this was what I am looking at as well to replace the factory RNS-D, but they did not get it to work with the steeringwheel controls.
Also automatic on/off with ignition (canbus) did not go....

Did anyone get a similar unit to work with all options in the car?

[julex]

Meanwhile the S4 got swapped for an A6 4.2 with a lot of options.

for this car, this was what I am looking at as well to replace the factory RNS-D, but they did not get it to work with the steeringwheel controls.
Also automatic on/off with ignition (canbus) did not go....

Did anyone get a similar unit to work with all options in the car?

contact enfig, they make control modules that will translate audi's signals to resistance style control that generics use.

[glennda5id]

I have a pioneer unit and it is mounted and hooked up with the enfig mount and adapter. It works very well. The volume and up/down on the left of the steering wheel work. The left/right at bottom do not do anything. Enfig said it was supposed to answer the phone but it doesn't.

The radio stays on after you turn the car off until you pull the key out.

It works great with factory bose and should work with non bose amp.

Now that I have all of the equipment adapters I can change out my head unit easily as new tech comes along. Win/win in my book.

[LakeTahoeQuattr]

I have wanted this one for days. Problem is I think the faceplate will not work since it is for an a4. There are also a bunch of different ones on alibaba that fit the a6. Problem is that there are very few reviews on them. I have talked to a few people who have owned them and they have been some what happy with them but I hear often that the sound quality is not very good also.

http://r.ebay.com/Dm4ert

I would rather have this over an rnse, but it looks like I will end up getting an rnse because it will fit better

[LakeTahoeQuattr]

Also looking at this one:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detai....30.141.3AwjB7

I just don't want to make a $400 mistake and order some POS thing and have it not work well or have the face plate be a different color.

[a4kamila6]

You can get a radio, a face plate, the whole 9 yards. Will steering wheel controls work? Probably not. Would the system sound better with all new speakers and new amp? Yes. Just changing the head unit for aftermarket is kinda pointless in my opinion. For me its rnse, symphony 2, or full blown soundsystem with headunit, amp, speakers, extra battery maybe, a sub. to each his own though. crutchfield should have the faceplate adapters in stock.


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[alien_brain]

Also looking at this one:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detai....30.141.3AwjB7

I just don't want to make a $400 mistake and order some POS thing and have it not work well or have the face plate be a different color.

i think youll be happy with how it works, maybe no so much the build quality. the knobs are somewhat squirrely. the color is spot on. ive never noticed bad sound tho.

[LakeTahoeQuattr]

i think youll be happy with how it works, maybe no so much the build quality. the knobs are somewhat squirrely. the color is spot on. ive never noticed bad sound tho.

Post a picture of yours. You have this same one?

[4rings2turbos]

Forgot to mention but the gen II is a really nice sound upgrade from Symphony II with Bose.

[glennda5id]

You can get a radio, a face plate, the whole 9 yards. Will steering wheel controls work? Probably not. Would the system sound better with all new speakers and new amp? Yes. Just changing the head unit for aftermarket is kinda pointless in my opinion. For me its rnse, symphony 2, or full blown soundsystem with headunit, amp, speakers, extra battery maybe, a sub. to each his own though. crutchfield should have the faceplate adapters in stock.

The main reason to update to a newer head unit is bluetooth integration, both for calling and music streaming.

4/6 steering controls work with Enfig cable. Maybe more depending on head unit.

[a4kamila6]

Right, for the calling feature i guess you need a new radio but if you just want bluetooth integration, they make adapter kits for our symphony radios. I was itching to get an aftermarket unit and after doing my research i figured im better off finding a nice second gen rnse. The good aftermarket radios cost almost as much if not as much as rnse. Not saying you cant get a 250 dollar radio and call it a day.


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[beardman]

I vote appradio4
I hate aftermarket stuff but this is the cleanest option I've seen

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How do you like the appradio? How well does it work with navigation like waze? Can you use any iOS app on it or only specific CarPlay published ones?

[Racin2redline]

it's not mine, its my friends but he loves it and yeah it mirrors your iPhone display because apple carplay


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[alien_brain]

Post a picture of yours. You have this same one?

i have one made by the same company. they are all manufactured by the same company and rebranded and sold by fly by night companies... i think they dont pay google to use android.

[julex]

i have one made by the same company. they are all manufactured by the same company and rebranded and sold by fly by night companies... i think they dont pay google to use android.

all made by HuiFei