Any Halfords employees? 2015 Golf question Apple carplay

[jdmini]

Hello All,
I have a 2015 Golf cabrio. I’m very happy with it but the only thing I’d be happier with is having a carplay stereo installed.

In early august I ordered a stereo and fitting kit to be installed by Halfords

It keeps being delayed, apparently the company that supplies the additional wiring could not source the kit to control the stereo from my steering wheel controls. Then in early November I was told the wiring was available but they could not find the fascia/faceplate. I asked if they could order the wiring for me if I order a faceplate myself from eBay and was told that the suppliers will not release the wiring without a fascia or vice versa

I appreciate delays are likely caused by covid but I’d have thought with vws/audis/Skoda being so common does this seem like a long time to be waiting?

I’m just wondering if there are any employees of Halfords that do the stereo installations on here who have experienced the same supply issues and not been able to work on similar cars?

The cost of the stereo and installation is approx £350. I’ve looked at some other places but they only seem to work on more valuable vehicles than mine and have quoted around £700 minimum which I can’t afford.

Lastly, does anyone on here do these type of installations that could quote?

Thanks everyone.

[jdmini]

I should have added. I’m a bit rubbish at working on cars and I’m scared of damaging anything!

[mrbig]

My wife has the same car. We fitted a Chinese OEM unit with carplay built in. Its quite a common change in europe now, the unit is known as an RCD330. Its a 10 minute job to change it, it works with all the existing features in the car and cost us about £200. I'm just trying to find a picture. If you are local to me (Midlands) I'd be quite happy to give you a demo.

There are some lovely units available from Alpine and Kenwood, but they are the thick end of £1k which is a bit rich for us!

[mrbig]

Before:


After:

[Adambt]

I was also going to suggest an RCD330 if carplay is what you're after, that's what I put in my 2011 Touran a few years ago and overall pretty happy with it for the price OEM so optical parking sensors etc still work fine.
I think prices have crept up a bit over the years but they used to be around £200 on ebay. Dead easy to change yourself, pop the surround, four screws, swap plugs, done. Only downside is the radio is not as good as it's not DAB and its lost the double aerial.