RCD 330+ Upgrade
I thought I’d add to this thread rather than starting a new one since I’m pretty much on topic.
I installed a “no name” RCD 330+ earlier this week to replace my RCD 510 and have to say I’m very happy. I bought it from Jacky, one of the vendors on the RCD330PLUS website, with the 5518 firmware upgrade. Good price and it arrived via Chinapost in 16 days. This is a stock radio removed from a 2016 Chinese market Passat and is in perfect cosmetic condition.
Trickiest part of the install is to remove the stock trim around the radio without damaging it. You need trim removal tools and a bit of care. The two top inner catches are the toughest. The rest is a screwdriver and plug and play.
Everything except the MFD works as per stock, just as promised on all the storefront advertising. Steering wheel controls, Apple CarPlay, FM radio, hands free Bluetooth, speed sensitive volume. It looks more like it belongs in the car than the RCD510 did, faceplate matches perfectly, onscreen graphics look classier, the chrome accents mimic the chrome around the air vents above. Maybe, just maybe, the chrome has a slightly higher lustre but perhaps that is age and wear.
Sound is IMHO better than the RCD510, at least listening to radio. And now for the two hidden benefits that got me really excited:
A) the screen can be set to automatically turn completely off after 10 seconds of no adjustment with the unit still playing. No more covering the screen when driving at night.
B) turning the ignition off has NO EFFECT, the radio keeps playing until the key is removed.
Disclaimer: I have already upgraded my body control module to run the AFS headlights and my cluster country setting is something other than Canada, can’t remember if I left it on Germany or something else. With metric instruments there is no obvious difference between countries.
