CarPlay for Volkswagen

Decoders that add wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to the factory Volkswagen screen. The collection covers RNS 510 and Discover, MIB, MIB2 Discover Pro and RNS 850 for the Touareg. The head unit name decides, not the year.

CarPlay for Volkswagen

2 products

CarPlay modules for Volkswagen: RNS, MIB and Discover Pro

Volkswagen is more straightforward than Audi, but one decision settles everything: RNS 510 or MIB. They are two eras of VW infotainment with nothing in common electrically.

Identifying the head unit

RNS 510 is unmistakable — a 6.5" touchscreen with a CD/DVD slot directly above it and a column of hard buttons on each side. It appears in the Golf 5 and 6, Passat B6 and B7, Tiguan 1, Touran 1, Jetta, Sharan and EOS.

MIB replaced it from 2014. Composition Media, Discover Media and Discover Pro are all MIB, and usefully all three take the same module — which makes the Golf 7 one of the safest retrofits in the range. The Touareg 7P is separate again, using RNS 850.

Beware the similarly named RCD 510: smaller screen, no navigation, no disc slot above the display. Different unit, different solution.

Cars outside the range

Škoda and SEAT sit on the same MIB platform, so the VW MIB module covers the Octavia, Superb, Kodiaq, Karoq, Leon, Ateca, Ibiza and Arona.

The VW Up is the exception we cannot help with. For most of its production VW fitted a removable phone cradle rather than an integrated head unit, so there is no factory screen to sit behind. A portable screen is the realistic option there.