I've searched pretty thoroughly, so apologies if this is a dead horse.

I'll be installing either an F90BT or an F700BT in a 2004 VW Passat with the monsoon system (double-din). The accessories involved will be an iPhone (not 3g), iPod Classic 30 gig, and iPod Touch 2.0.

My questions are:

1. Which dash kit do I need, if any? I can't find a straight answer. Some have used the Pioneer kit, but I'm not sure on the part #. Can this go in without, or do I need one?

2. What harness adapter is best? This car has no steering wheel audio controls. There's a big difference between the PAC C2R-VW and a plain wiring adapter in price. I don't mind spending it if the PAC adapter is better for something, but again, I can't find a good answer.

3. If I wanted to do a steering column control, is the Sony the best unit, or is there something else that you like better?

4. Crutchfield says it doesn't fit. Any experience on this one? Will there be depth for the unit plus space for the wiring somewhere?

5. Can I put the GPS antenna behind the dash somewhere, or is external the only way to go?

6. Where's the best place for the mic? Is there a viable internal mic on the unit, or should I use the external?

7. Do I have to use a Pioneer rear view camera? My fiancee's brother gave her a license plate frame cam. Can I wire that up? I'll edit in the brand when I can figure out where she put the thing.

FWIW, I have decent experience installing these things. I did a full system on my MK3 Supra some years ago, taking out most of the interior to run 4AWG to the trunk, custom speaker mounts and modified door panels up front, trunk mt amp, and (of course) a head unit. I don't have any experience working with newer cars that have a sensor for seemingly everything.

Your help is appreciated, and apologies if I'm asking very common things. Please feel free to PM if needed.

I've searched pretty thoroughly, so apologies if this is a dead horse.

 

I'll be installing either an F90BT or an F700BT in a 2004 VW Passat with the monsoon system (double-din). The accessories involved will be an iPhone (not 3g), iPod Classic 30 gig, and iPod Touch 2.0.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Which dash kit do I need, if any? I can't find a straight answer. Some have used the Pioneer kit, but I'm not sure on the part #. Can this go in without, or do I need one?

 

2. What harness adapter is best? This car has no steering wheel audio controls. There's a big difference between the PAC C2R-VW and a plain wiring adapter in price. I don't mind spending it if the PAC adapter is better for something, but again, I can't find a good answer.

 

3. If I wanted to do a steering column control, is the Sony the best unit, or is there something else that you like better?

 

4. Crutchfield says it doesn't fit. Any experience on this one? Will there be depth for the unit plus space for the wiring somewhere?

 

5. Can I put the GPS antenna behind the dash somewhere, or is external the only way to go?

 

6. Where's the best place for the mic? Is there a viable internal mic on the unit, or should I use the external?

 

7. Do I have to use a Pioneer rear view camera? My fiancee's brother gave her a license plate frame cam. Can I wire that up? I'll edit in the brand when I can figure out where she put the thing.

 

FWIW, I have decent experience installing these things. I did a full system on my MK3 Supra some years ago, taking out most of the interior to run 4AWG to the trunk, custom speaker mounts and modified door panels up front, trunk mt amp, and (of course) a head unit. I don't have any experience working with newer cars that have a sensor for seemingly everything.

 

Your help is appreciated, and apologies if I'm asking very common things. Please feel free to PM if needed.

I would try reposting this over in the Car Audi forums on VW Vortex (www.vwvortex.com). Those guys will be able to answer your VW specific questions.

 

I would try reposting this over in the Car Audi forums on VW Vortex (www.vwvortex.com). Those guys will be able to answer your VW specific questions.

Thanks, I actually did find that forum after this. From what I can tell, you can use the regular harness adapter from Scosche or Metra, but it doesn't tap into the CAN bus, so you don't get some of the various sensor wires. Namely, you'd have to get illumination and some of the accessory wires elsewhere. The C2R-VW helps with this.

On a B5.5 Passat like this one, though, the reverse and brake sensors aren't on the CAN bus, so the C2R-VW isn't useful for that. Have to tap the fuse box for reverse. I figure I'll just ground off the parking brake wire as a bypass.

The dash kit is necessary. It didn't used to be, but sometime midstream on the AVIC Z3 production, they stopped including it.

Also found that you can use other cameras for this. Apparently it's just a composite input?