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Vito W447 ‘21 terrible radio reception.

B

Bikedibley

New Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2023
Messages
7
Location
Abergavenny
Car
Vito W447 2021 Crew Premium L2
Hey all, first time poster here.

I’ve had my 2021 Vito Crew Premium since new (2years) and the interior build quality is very poor. But if that wasn’t enough to stop me buying another Vito, the terrible stereo is!

The speakers are utterly abysmal…to the point it’s actually unusable thanks to the tin-like sound and trembly speakers at any sort of volume. But if I were to upgrade the speakers (can I without changing the head unit?), the FM radio reception is even worse!!

When it hops from DAB to FM, there’s a 2,4 or even 10 second pause in reception. I live in the countryside and so driving into town 15 minutes away means if I can put up with the speakers, I will only get about 5 minutes of listening time anyway.

Meanwhile, our 2015 VW Golf match managed to deliver perfect DAB audio all day long.

Given the current antenna seems to be embedded into the windscreen, What is my option to significantly boost radio reception without drilling a hole in the roof (bonus points for speaker solutions)?
 
Bikedibley said:
Hey all, first time poster here.

I’ve had my 2021 Vito Crew Premium since new (2years) and the interior build quality is very poor. But if that wasn’t enough to stop me buying another Vito, the terrible stereo is!

The speakers are utterly abysmal…to the point it’s actually unusable thanks to the tin-like sound and trembly speakers at any sort of volume. But if I were to upgrade the speakers (can I without changing the head unit?), the FM radio reception is even worse!!

When it hops from DAB to FM, there’s a 2,4 or even 10 second pause in reception. I live in the countryside and so driving into town 15 minutes away means if I can put up with the speakers, I will only get about 5 minutes of listening time anyway.

Meanwhile, our 2015 VW Golf match managed to deliver perfect DAB audio all day long.

Given the current antenna seems to be embedded into the windscreen, What is my option to significantly boost radio reception without drilling a hole in the roof (bonus points for speaker solutions)?
Click to expand...
I agree. It’s P!ss poor for such a brand. I went for a 2022 Vito to replace my 2016 Vito thinking it would be better. It’s sh!te

I’m looking into new head unit and upgraded speakers.

My mates mostly have Transit Custom Limited/Sports. 10 speaker systems with much better sound quality. 🙄
 
HappytalkAgain said:
I agree. It’s P!ss poor for such a brand. I went for a 2022 Vito to replace my 2016 Vito thinking it would be better. It’s sh!te

I’m looking into new head unit and upgraded speakers.

My mates mostly have Transit Custom Limited/Sports. 10 speaker systems with much better sound quality. 🙄
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’ve had a Transit Ltd Custom for the last two years for work and like you say, the stereo system is great really. Interior build quality (and body paint) is far superior.
 
Bikedibley said:
Yeah, I’ve had a Transit Ltd Custom for the last two years for work and like you say, the stereo system is great really. Interior build quality (and body paint) is far superior.
Click to expand...
I ordered a spec’ed up factory build custom back in Feb 2022 but the build date was never confirmed in over 8 months so opted for the Vito because I needed a van. 😤
 
HappytalkAgain said:
I ordered a spec’ed up factory build custom back in Feb 2022 but the build date was never confirmed in over 8 months so opted for the Vito because I needed a van. 😤
Click to expand...
Haha, such a similar situation for me. Ordered two transits at once. A standard Custom Ltd 130 H1 L1 and also a H1 L2 fully optioned with the fastest engine and a tailgate. The former arrived in about 4 weeks, the latter was never confirmed so likewise, ended up with a vito.

The Vito drives well, but the interior and tech is such a let down. Im intent on making it better.
 
Bikedibley said:
Haha, such a similar situation for me. Ordered two transits at once. A standard Custom Ltd 130 H1 L1 and also a H1 L2 fully optioned with the fastest engine and a tailgate. The former arrived in about 4 weeks, the latter was never confirmed so likewise, ended up with a vito.

The Vito drives well, but the interior and tech is such a let down. Im intent on making it better.
Click to expand...
Damn Ford and their waiting times eh?? 😤

The only thing that saves the Vito ,for me anyhow) is its awesome towing capability and healthy GTW compared to the auto transit.

TRANSIT Auto:
Towing 1800kg
GTW 4350kgs

VITO Auto:
Towing 2500kg
GTW 5550kg

Best towing van I’ve ever had. I tow tipping trailer 50% of the time.
 
HappytalkAgain said:
Damn Ford and their waiting times eh?? 😤

The only thing that saves the Vito ,for me anyhow) is its awesome towing capability and healthy GTW compared to the auto transit.

TRANSIT Auto:
Towing 1800kg
GTW 4350kgs

VITO Auto:
Towing 2500kg
GTW 5550kg

Best towing van I’ve ever had. I tow tipping trailer 50% of the time.
Click to expand...
Ah interesting. Should I ever need to tow or carry a load more than a few bikes, I'll know I'm in good hands.
 
I don't even think mine switches from DAB to FM, just shows up no signal on my Audio30 unit, and i son't think there is an option to set this up in the radio settings, like there is on other makes. Also doesn't show station logos either.

Having said that, i may not have left it long enough before i stabbed at another preset to tune into a National dab station.

I agree, the audio system is awful and i have booked in to have a quote to replace the head unit and speakers with something better.

Only thing is, one installer said that they sometimes have issues using the factory fit reverse cam working on aftermarket units.
 
Update to this, popped into an audio shop and the guys said that the Kenwood should be ok with the original reverse cam and it was mainly the Alpine units that had serious issues.

They don't do Pioneer so couldn't comment.

Also asked them to price up fitting a shark fin aerial as he said the built in Vito ones are 'shockingly bad'.
 
I've been reading this with interest, on the reception matter that is.
I'm on my 4th 639 and the windscreen FM antenna's have been woeful. In part I blame it being close to so much electrickery and that causing rf interference. Then I've added the dashcam, 2x QI chargers on the dash, and an Android HU. How much they have further affected the FM I couldn't say.
I tried clip on ferrite tubes to no advantage.
My present Viano had the shark fin at the rear, but while there are 2 leads out only the GPS was connected. The GPS was a good reliable signal.

A week or more ago I replaced the shark fin with an FM / DAB amplified antenna. Sadly the FM was worse than the windscreen antenna, but the DAB is pretty good, certainly far better than the screen stuck on antenna that came with the DAB+ receiver.

So now I have the GPS antenna inside the document pod above the dash. The DAB is fed from the antenna that is where the shark fin was, and the FM still from the windscreen. But I haven't finished experimenting.
 
Don’t some shark fins just do fm/dab etc and not gps?

I got no idea!
 
It’s strange how we’re experiencing different issues on the same Vito’s.

My FM/Dab signal never drops out. I listen to many different Radio stations throughout the day. 🤷‍♂️🤔
 
I suppose in fairness, i live on a county border between two transmitters and the van will drop out when i cross the border to the next county along.

Having said that, previous vans/radios transitioned very smoothly and was almost practically unnoticeable.
 
jasons6930 said:
I suppose in fairness, i live on a county border between two transmitters and the van will drop out when i cross the border to the next county along.

Having said that, previous vans/radios transitioned very smoothly and was almost practically unnoticeable.
Click to expand...
Aye, fair point. I have a very compact working radius I never venture far.
 
and I'm in a poor reception area. But when travelling further afield the continual reselecting of stations is a pain.
I've yet to experience if DAB will be an improvement of that.

I'm using the DAB Z app, and where I already see a potential issue is that DAB tunes in locally, when i travel I'll have to do another station search and that may confuse those stations already registered.
With FM the 6 stations of Band A is local, Band B is N. Wales, Band C was travelling south. But travelling south I give up and play my own music library.
 
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