sat nav retro fit

[Archerv6]

Hey guys I'm hoping someone can help my boss out!He has an 09 2.0 cdti Sri insignia with a standard cd300 fitted. He has asked me to source him a gen vauxhall sat nav which I have found but not purchased yet, but after asking the seller if it's compatable, he told me the wiring looms are completely different. Is this correct or is there a way round the wiring issue? Or do I just tell him to wait a year and get a new one with built in sat nav??Thanks for your advice guys

[Woody]

This is so difficult for anyone to answer easily and simply.

You don't mention the model number of the unit you have sourced, or how much your boss would consider as a "reasonable cost" to do what he would like to achieve. Or for that matter, the original cost of the vehicle, current mileage and estimated resale value.

One significant fact is that he is driving a Vx Insignia 09 2.0 CDTi Sri at present (not an especially high value company car such as a BMW 6 Series or Mercedes AMG or, or, or, or) so this is either not the car of a boss with a particularly high car budget, or the car of a boss that doesn't want to spend excessively to achieve a minimal result.

Certainly if a new car is only a year away, then any significant spend now to upgrade the existing car will not be recovered when it is sold a year from now (in fact it will almost certainly never be recovered).

If I were in your position/predicament then I would politely suggest that your boss gets hold of a TomTom (2nd hand to reduce cost because he won't need it on his new car in 12 months), but add that he can take advantage of the TMC system with certain models which will give him the realtime traffic/route data to give him a realistic route planning time in real live traffic terms. This as opposed to the financially unattractive option of upgrading a car at disproportionate cost now, when a new car is only a year away

Brownie points earned, generous pay review and future career prospects assured for you

WIN WIN for Everyone (and you probably get to keep his "old" TomTom when he gets his new car with factory SatNav even if you do only end up selling it on eBay)

Good luck

Woody

[Archerv6]

Thanks for your reply,

The unit i have sourced is a navi 600. Its £350 for the screen, the radio fascia and the radio unit. there is some wiring included but its to be used as a 'guide'.

Although its my bosses car it isnt a company car, its his personal car he uses for work. He bought it 2nd hand 2 years ago and usually changes every 3 years but as this still hasnt reached 60k and coupled with the fact that hes retiring in 18-24 months, the chances are he will keep this much longer especially if it gets sat nav fitted. He already has a parrot bluetooth so isnt fussed about the bluetooth option but after seeing my signum with the built in sat nav he wants to upgrade his 1st edition TomTom Go, as it is now extremely dated!

Also i should point out that he has a 'proper' handbrake not the electronic one. Ive seen some on the bay with a joystick mounted next to the handbrake button, would this also be required??

Unfortunately even tho brownie points can def be earned, there would be NO chance of a generous pay review! lol

[Sebastian]

If say if he's retiring soon stop sucking up to him and get a Tom Tom

[MrDerv]

Yes, you'll need the joystick. A friend of mine has the same unit in their 2011 Insignia with the e-brake, and they use it to operate the satnav, and the other functions that require the display too.

[davedrinks]

you don't have to have the multi-function control next to the hand brake to control the nav unit - it's just easier than reaching to the centre of the dash (I know this because we had a batch of mis-builds where the ever efficient plant built a couple of hundred before they remembered they were supposed to fit them! )

What I would say is that the Navi 600 is a more recent version with the SD Card, whereas from the sounds of things this is an earlier Insignia so would have come with the CD based (although you downloaded selected maps to a 1 or 2GB flash memory in the unit so you could still listen to audio CDs) CD500 Nav.

My concern as previously mentioned is that the required wiring loom would not be in the car (some of the looms on the Insignia are vehicle specific and are built for the individual vehicle iirc) plus you would need access to an MDI (the replacement for Tech2) that works with Insignia onwards to be able to completely reflash the multiple ECUs in the car

I would be interested to know if you manage it, but would perhaps suggest that starting this project on your bosses car might not be the best career move if you have not done it on another car first! as you will need to dismantle the entire dash to change from the 2 line display to the full colour one so would require all the appropriate surrounds, mountings etc.

As others have said, a tom tom/garmin etc might be the best solution - I know others have proved that just about anything can be retrofitted to the Vectra, but tbh I've not heard of many people doing major mods like this to an Insignia (we once had a mis-build Meriva B that had no radio fitted, and it was going to cost us in excess of £3000 in parts - excluding labour - just to put a basic radio/cd unit in, so would expect an Insignia to be at least as expensive!)

Just my humble opinion, but I think even the technicians here at VX head office would think about doing this mod unless it was absolutely vital for the company - it would be easier just to order another car!

Sorry for the long reply!

Dave

[merikiito]

Get a Tomtom live version, it has speed cameras, live traffic, google search etc. So much better than an inbuilt unit. Tomtom are doing maps for life offer at the moment as well

[Archerv6]

Thanks for the opinions/replies. After telling him that a good chunk of dash would have to be removed just to fit a sat nav unit he's decided not to bother with built in nav now and is going to stick to his archaic tomtom go. Thanks again though