Hi Reece,

I used them for having front parking sensors fitted on my S5 in 2012.

My car came with rear sensors only (and because of that, didn't display the car graphic on the MMI screen or have the parking sensor button on the dash). I wanted everything installed as if it was specced from new, but Audi gave me the same response they gave you! All Audi could offer would be ill fitting front sensors! It was Audi Coulsdon that recommended satnavsystems as the people they would use if a customer wanted options retrofitted per factory.

I used them and they installed the front sensors perfectly, including the button on dash, enabled the graphic when sensors engaged etc...you wouldn't know it wasn't done in the factory.

I'm actually due to collect my pre-facelift R8 in a week or so and have been back in contact with them about how to get iPod / iPhone support into the car...am weighing up a Bluetooth streaming option (car already has phone prep) they offer or a complete RNS-E upgrade (plus AMI) - I would definitely trust them with either, but the latter is quite an expensive route for what you get...

 

Thats good to know, as i want the newer RNSE, and getting know where with happy dayz.

 

Oh really, what's happened with HazzyDayz? I actually thought they were one of the few people to explicitly state prices on their website, which seemed like a good sign...though I was a little confused over which bits I would need using the site.

I have been wondering how easy the RNS-E upgrade would be to do myself, since I've seen it referred to as plug and play by some people, but not sure how true that is...even if I did that I'd still have someone do the AMI part as would want that like factory.

 

The retrofit is easy, as just unit out and unit in. Worst case with a new antenna for the GPS. Would need coding by Vagcom, but ive done a few before, and thats not hard.

They just never get back to me, as ive emailed them twice to no avail.

 

Thanks all.

The guy I spoke with at SatNav Systems who was very knowledgeable and helpful with some golden nuggets of info/pricing others may find useful. Summary of my discussions are as follows but might be worth calling them to double check:

- Front and rear parking sensors are £1,495 including VAT and a 3 year warranty
- Audi Music Interface (for iPods) isn't available for my 2009 R8 apparently (which is odd as I'm sure I've driven an '09 with AMI!!) but there is a bluetooth streaming option available for £350. Didn't sound appealing though.
- However you can get AMI with the updated Sat Nav system - the Sat Nav upgrade costs £2,395 but if they retain the old unit, they'll charge you £1,500
- The upgraded Sat Nav also gives you the ability to have the rear parking camera installed as well
- It also allows memory cards up to 32Gb in size - the original unit can only read cards up to 2Gb
- Bluetooth fitted in £695

 

I believe that's true about AMI only being an option on cars with the newer RNS-E - very annoying!

I had the same thoughts as you about spending £350 just to add Bluetooth streaming, but with no track info and still having to use your phone to control music. That was my initial reaction, but now I may be warming to that option.

To get AMI is an additional cost to the upgraded RNS-E cost of £1.5k though...so all in you're looking at around £2k. What I don't want to do is go for the Bluetooth streaming option and then decide it's not good enough and then get the upgraded AMI and RNS-E...I'm going to try to live with the AUX-in for a couple of weeks and see how strongly I feel having come out of a car with full iPod control.

 

I'm going to see how it goes. It has a 2Gb card slot so will load that up and see if I can get by with that and the sound of the engine

 

I was half way through a reply to your original post but have to re-write it now! Without trying to be critical, I was going to suggest spending a few weeks with the car then prioritise / agree on critical upgrades. It's all too tempting to plan upgrades before you even have the car; I've done it myself on a few occasions and I looked back later and I thought 'Did I really need to spend all that dough?'. And in some cases the answer is no. Add up the cost of all those user interface / user friendly upgrades in your previous post and it's a lot of coin with close to 100% depreciation. I agree though the satnav is pretty poor - it's fine for giving a graphical indication of where you are, and zooming in and out but route planning, even moving around the map it's a pain. Northern Ireland is a small place so it's not critical to me.

One thing : you can retrofit a reversing camera to the old RNS-E system - Audiofile Incar did that for me in Bishops Stortford. It works fairly well but does not have the guidelines (which are not that useful anyway). Can't remember the cost, not cheap as it's a right pain to route the cables from the engine bay through the bulkhead etc, maybe £800. You will also need to shield the cables as they will be close to the exhaust. So if you can manage without the front parking sensors maybe a reverse camera would suffice in place of F+R sensors.

Did you check if your car has an aux-in under the arm rest? The 2GB cards work fine but I guess we are all used to higher capacity memory devices these days, and the aux-in works fine from any phone with a mini jack-plug. You might have the format the cards first before transferring the songs across - should be some older threads on this.

By the way well done on finding the car.

Off-topic, but did you check the age of the tyres? If they are Pzero and 4+ years old they are going to ride like cart wheels. I've spent a fair amount on car upgrades / changes (as you know!) and replacing the original 09 Pzeros, which still had plenty tread, with new Goodyear Eagles was THE single biggest improvement in car performance - much more compliant ride, better traction & grip in colder conditions and more forgiving at the limit.

cheers

s

 

I'd recommend Ash @ Audi Retrofits for this type of thing: audi-retrofits.co.uk

 

Thanks, they seem the cheapest vs. Hazzydayz and SatNavSystems (the most expensive). For other info:

Item - Audi Retrofits/Hazzydayz/SatNav Systems

Bluetooth - £400/£444/£695
Sat Nav upgrade to higher resolution model - £750/£1434/£1,500
Reverse camera - £750/£1194/DNE*
Parking sensors - DNE*/£1194/£1495
AMI** - DNE*/£450/£650

* Did Not Enquire
** Needs the Sat Nav Upgrade

 

It's worth noting that Audi Retrofits are not brand new RNS-E units, but units from A3s which will be adjusted to fit your R8 fascia etc...I'm still considering them though due to the significant price difference.

 

So are the others as well!

New units are £2500 approx

 

When I enquired to SatNav Systems, I'm pretty sure they said they would trade in your old Sat Nav, reflected in the £1,500 price - it's £2,395 if you keep your existing unit. But I thought the pricing for both was for a new unit?

 

Why would they want your old unit though :grin:

Happy days is definitely a recon unit

 

Maybe worth speaking to Pete at Huets in Shoreham done all my mods in three different cover car TTs, great bloke and they have done loads of top end cars, and local which is a bonus.

Personally I would rip out the Audi system and replace with a more modern one from Kenwood or the like, more features better sound and ½ the price, steering wheel controls will still work so all good really just looks a bit different to the RNSE