Android Satnav replacement

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Android Satnav replacement

Postby Suff » 28 Jul 2025, 20:20

For those who are interested, I bought the following with a Can Bus adapter which was certified to work with my car.

this type

I selected the 8 core 8Gig+128 with reversing camera, mic and tools.

The car had this in it.

Image

What it looks like when replaced.

Image

Almost every button works, steering wheel controls, etc, the bluetooth connects within 20 seconds normally although sometimes I have to connect my phone twice. This is an update from my previous experience where the Peugeot device would take up to 15 separate attempts to connect and I had to disable and re-enable bluetooth regularly on the phone.

It was a bit of a faff to set up because the manual was not quite explicit about which code I needed to set up the factory settings, nor that I needed to write down the name of the Can Bus module and select it on the left of the menu when presented. The manual went into detail about setting up a VW which was totally different to my car. Fortunately I recognised the name and didn't have to disassemble the car.

Feeding the cables was also not trivial because of the lack of space behind it. In the end I took out my multi tool and chewed out a large chunk of totally useless plastic to make room for them to come through.

In the end the experience is night an day from what I was suffering with the Peugeot. Not least the 1999 mapping, which I could not update because the stereo head unit was ancient, had a 4GB SD card in it which was failing and it would not configure a new card.

A full replacement, second hand, stereo head unit was over £300. Just to get the same crappy Peugeot mapping services and £99 a year for new maps.

I use TomTom on my phone now under Android Auto. Yes I have to launch it before I drive, but at £24 a year I'll put up with that. The phone sits happily on the seat next to me, charging and the display does the rest as you can see. This is Android Auto split screen mode.

Just don't reset your touch settings as I did. That menu on the left vanishes and you have to go back into touch settings to reconfigure it.

Also I recommend swiping it to a fairly clear screen, touch with all 5 digits and calibrate the screen when it asks.

I count this as a result. It wasn't super easy, it does obscure the vents a bit but doesn't overly lose cooling ability. As you can see the thing is extremely reflective and that can cause an issue in the evening with low sun. I'll be looking into glare free film at some time but it's not on the front burner as I have only had the issue once.

My 2012 508 is much more comparable to my 2019 C4 with this. In fact connecting the media on my phone to my C4 is, needless to say with PSA tech, bloody annoying. Connecting Android Auto is even more annoying and if I want to fast charge instead of the USB1.1 power it gives, a total nono.

With this unit my phone sits cabled to a 60w fast charger in the cigarette socket and connects to AA via bluetooth. Something PSA will not do.

Thought I'd share.
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