PoloDriver

Not content with his new Polo GTI’s standard RCD 310 radio system or the factory-approved Volkswagen add-on Bluetooth Touch Phone Kit, owner Courtney Pettet has fitted an upgraded RCD 510 DAB-tuned unit along with a Nokia CK-100 Bluetooth car kit. The CK-100 has no screen, just a small button that can be located between the gear knob and the cup holders. Not a fan of the non-OEM look, in our first ‘How to’ article, Courtney describes how he did fitted the Bluetooth upgrade

Tools and parts needed:

• T-20 Torx wrench
• Special ‘trim tools’ (or an expired credit card)
• Ignition sense telemute loom as below
• Nokia CK-100 (or other ISO loom-based hands-free car kit)

Do an eBay search for INTELLI-SOT-8502 (pictured below). It may have changed since I wrote this. This loom includes ignition sense. Important as the Polo (and other recent VAG vehicles) doesn’t have a switched ignition lead. It looks similar to the one in the picture below. Also look for the term ‘fully populated’ – this means the secondary cables run all the way through the lead. VAG cars before 2010 had these smaller cables that clipped out the main loom so you didn’t need the loom to be fully populated.

Below: Nokia CK-100 – make sure you get the one with the ISO lead. Cost varies from £60-£100, depending on where you get it.

Fitting the Intelli-Sot-8502
Step 1: take the stereo out. Easily done, just take the trim surround out using an expired credit card like the one pictured below.

Step 2: get a lever on it then pull from the bottom. Gently!

Step 3: undo the four torx bolts.

Step 4: unplug the stereo. Don’t worry about the code as the unit is coded to your own car. Unplug the loom and aerial lead. It should look like this:

(Picture taken from a Škoda Octavia vRS, but the Polo does look very similar. Thanks to octavia-vrs.com.)

Step 5: take your new telemute lead and connect it to the end of the Fakra connector seen in the picture above.

Siting the microphone
Step 1: take out the side dash panel, easy with the credit card!

Step 2: unscrew the bolts holding the glovebox in – three on the top and two on the bottom.

Step 3: jiggle the glovebox around and it should move down an inch or so to give you room to manoeuvre behind and above it. Take the ISO lead that comes with the car kit and connect it to the loom. You can only do it one way, it’s quite straightforward. Run that along the crevice above the glovebox. Take the mic and site it where you want. I like it on the alarm ultrasonic sensor myself. Plus I’m lazy and went for the easiest part to remove!

Step 4: grab the ultrasonic sensor panel and pull it. It comes off very easily.

I liked it here as there is a little cutout to thread the wire as below.

Step 5: get an straightened old wire coat hanger or a kebab skewer and sellotape it to the plug end of the the mic cable then stick it through the space above the dome light till it arrives at the edge of the windscreen. Pull it all the way through and put the alarm sensor back in. Feed that wire inside the headlining until you get to the A-pillar. Feed that through the A pillar to the door side. I would normally remove the A pillar trim but found it very little stiff and didn’t want to force it. It should just unclip though.

Once it’s on the other side you can run it down behind the rubber seal trim and into the void behind the glovebox.

Step 6: then remove the gear lever surround – easy this one.

Step 7: pull it up towards the knob.

Step 8: put the button where you like it.

Step 9: take the cable end and your wire coat hanger again and feed it around the front of the transmission tunnel underneath the cup holders till you find the void above the glovebox. Attach all your cables to the box here (see picture in ‘Siting the mic’, step 5).

Step 10: put the box in the void above the glovebox. Reconnect the radio and test everything. If it all works, then refit the radio as well as all the trim panels. Job done, grab a beer. I’ll gladly assist anyone to fit a similar kit over one weekend, although it really is easy.

Volkswagen’s Bluetooth Touch Phone Kit with 2.8″ colour display touch-screen and voice command function is available from Volkswagen Retailers – part number 000 051 473 A – £230 fully fitted. The RCD 510 touch-screen radio system – part number 3C8 057 195 A – with in-dash MP3-compatible 6 CD autochanger, AUX-IN socket, SD card slot and DAB tuner* is available for new Polo models, replacing the RCD 310 standard-fit system, and costs £285 including VAT, or £950 fully fitted. Download the new Polo accessories brochure here.