Question - Replace Vito W447 Head unit (Audio 15) or add DAB, NAV & Camera?

[Golich]

Hi,

I just took delivery of my brand new Vito Sport crewcab 116 yesterday. There are a number of items I want to upgrade 1st off; The headunit. I want DAB and now that I've driven the long wheelbase over our older W639 compact which has much bigger and thus better mirrors, I need a rear camera for this new long Vito!

A nice to have would be an integrated SATNAV instead of my current stick-on window Garmin. I don’t rate GARMIN and TOM TOM’s algorithms for route finding in country areas. I had no idea how bad it was until I went to Wales and worked in Linconshire. I resorted to Google maps – infinitely better. Is Becker any good?

So pricing up the following from the stealer comes up to stupid money e.g.

OEM rear camera & two bits of additional wiring over £600+VAT! I may need more parts? (excludes labour for any coding – if needed? I can do all the wiring / fitting myself)

DAB there doesn't appear to be a MB dab upgrade for the Audio 15 headunit? So aftermarket options from an Auto express review was circa £150 (excluding labour)

Becker NAV can be bought for circa £300-£400. I believe a simple plug and play for my head unit? The socket is preinstalled in the glovebox.

The standard headunit Audio 15 is ugly with the old style radio dial.

The dealer offered the following alternative OEM unit is the following:

“The MB Audio 40 Unit can be supplied as an alternative, which has 7” colour LCD display; DAB+/FM/AM radio tuner; Pioneer satellite navigation; Android Auto and Apple® CarPlay; Bluetooth® compatible for handsfree phone and audio playback; 2xUSB, AUX-in. This can be user-fitted. However, reverse camera is not included.

This is £995 plus VAT (£1,194) supplied and takes 3-5 working days to arrive from MB Germany.”

I assume the above would only work with the MB rear camera at circa £600?

I believe the Audio 40 unit is made by Alpine? Comparing the price to VW’s approved Kenwood DNX unit (circa £1200) which I have in my Caddy and it is quite poor. The phone and ipod interface have both stopped working after just 3yrs. The phone was never great – a common complaint. It uses GARMIN’s poor SATNAV algorithm and the DAB radio reception can be a tad patchy. Not what you expect as an VW approved upgrade in the stealership showroom! However, the Kenwood rear view camera is only circa £80. So I could look at getting my Kenwood repaired. Unknown cost?

What to do???

 

[SportEddie]

I'm in the same boat. Just got a 2016 116 Sport and very disappointed to find no DAB on the audio 15. Looking for a solution to give me DAB, touchscreen and preferably Android Auto integration. I have looked at the Pioneer Audio 40 but can't find a price online. I have also found the Alpine Alpine x800d-v447 but I can't really justify spending £1599. What solution did you come up with for your upgrade?
Any pointers would be very welcome.
Eddie.

 

[Jacasino]

Hi,

I just took delivery of my brand new Vito Sport crewcab 116 yesterday. There are a number of items I want to upgrade 1st off; The headunit. I want DAB and now that I've driven the long wheelbase over our older W639 compact which has much bigger and thus better mirrors, I need a rear camera for this new long Vito!

A nice to have would be an integrated SATNAV instead of my current stick-on window Garmin. I don’t rate GARMIN and TOM TOM’s algorithms for route finding in country areas. I had no idea how bad it was until I went to Wales and worked in Linconshire. I resorted to Google maps – infinitely better. Is Becker any good?

So pricing up the following from the stealer comes up to stupid money e.g.

OEM rear camera & two bits of additional wiring over £600+VAT! I may need more parts? (excludes labour for any coding – if needed? I can do all the wiring / fitting myself)

DAB there doesn't appear to be a MB dab upgrade for the Audio 15 headunit? So aftermarket options from an Auto express review was circa £150 (excluding labour)

Becker NAV can be bought for circa £300-£400. I believe a simple plug and play for my head unit? The socket is preinstalled in the glovebox.

The standard headunit Audio 15 is ugly with the old style radio dial.

The dealer offered the following alternative OEM unit is the following:

“The MB Audio 40 Unit can be supplied as an alternative, which has 7” colour LCD display; DAB+/FM/AM radio tuner; Pioneer satellite navigation; Android Auto and Apple® CarPlay; Bluetooth® compatible for handsfree phone and audio playback; 2xUSB, AUX-in. This can be user-fitted. However, reverse camera is not included.

This is £995 plus VAT (£1,194) supplied and takes 3-5 working days to arrive from MB Germany.”

I assume the above would only work with the MB rear camera at circa £600?

I believe the Audio 40 unit is made by Alpine? Comparing the price to VW’s approved Kenwood DNX unit (circa £1200) which I have in my Caddy and it is quite poor. The phone and ipod interface have both stopped working after just 3yrs. The phone was never great – a common complaint. It uses GARMIN’s poor SATNAV algorithm and the DAB radio reception can be a tad patchy. Not what you expect as an VW approved upgrade in the stealership showroom! However, the Kenwood rear view camera is only circa £80. So I could look at getting my Kenwood repaired. Unknown cost?

What to do???

Just taken delivery of a 114cdi (2016) and I’ve stuck a Pure Highway 600 in it but I really want to put Apple Car Play in, if I do take the Audio 15 out and install (probably a Kenwood) double din am I going to have to go to an MB dealer to get it coded or is it a straight swap please?

 

[Ryanvitosport]

You say you were offered the new audio 40.
Can you just buy off Mercedes and it will work straight out of the box
I have a Vito 119 2016 and already have a rear view camera installed.
Do you think you need any other peripherals for this to work.

 

[Mikevito13]

Is there a parts list and how too on fitting a reverse camera ? Was going to buy a stand alone unit but thought I'd see what's involved in utilizing what's there.

Just got a 2018 LWB Vito 111 CDI with what I assume is the 15 head unit installed not to fussed on sat nav but the reverse camera would help

 

[Jacasino]

I had an auto electrician fit a Pioneer DA230DAB head unit because I wanted Apple Car Play, the Pioneer has a passable user interface, far better sound quality than the Audio 15, used a fitting kit from InCarTech (£90.00) with sketchy fitting instructions and a Pioneer ND-BC8 reversing camera, it’s a neat installation but the camera doesn’t come on when reverse is engaged, I suspect the van needs to go to a MB dealer to have the camera coded in, I haven’t been able get any answers on here & the nearest main dealer is a 70 mile round trip, I am going to try an independent MB specialist to see if they can code it, will report back.
For anybody planning to go down this (non genuine head unit) route by the way a word of caution, to fully enable the steering wheel controls (change radio station, skip tracks) you have to select audio in the cockpit display, that means you lose the central, digital mph display and end up trying to use the circular (clock style) speed display which is largely hidden by the steering wheel and not really fit for purpose.
The other oddity is the steering wheel mute button does just that (mutes the radio etc) if you press it once but if you press it again (to cancel the mute) it selects the next source, repeated pressings takes you through all the sources, ok once you get used to it but a bit disconcerting at first, it’s a pity that the very expensive installation kit from InCarTech doesn’t include a set of operating instructions though.

 

[T40rth]

I had an auto electrician fit a Pioneer DA230DAB head unit because I wanted Apple Car Play, the Pioneer has a passable user interface, far better sound quality than the Audio 15, used a fitting kit from InCarTech (£90.00) with sketchy fitting instructions and a Pioneer ND-BC8 reversing camera, it’s a neat installation but the camera doesn’t come on when reverse is engaged, I suspect the van needs to go to a MB dealer to have the camera coded in, I haven’t been able get any answers on here & the nearest main dealer is a 70 mile round trip, I am going to try an independent MB specialist to see if they can code it, will report back.
For anybody planning to go down this (non genuine head unit) route by the way a word of caution, to fully enable the steering wheel controls (change radio station, skip tracks) you have to select audio in the cockpit display, that means you lose the central, digital mph display and end up trying to use the circular (clock style) speed display which is largely hidden by the steering wheel and not really fit for purpose.
The other oddity is the steering wheel mute button does just that (mutes the radio etc) if you press it once but if you press it again (to cancel the mute) it selects the next source, repeated pressings takes you through all the sources, ok once you get used to it but a bit disconcerting at first, it’s a pity that the very expensive installation kit from InCarTech doesn’t include a set of operating instructions though.

Did you figure this one out?

I'm looking at replacing the Audio 20 unit with a new Sony double din unit from InCarTech, and combine it with their after market reversing camera