VW factory fit Sat Nav - will it work in France and Spain

[Grittzio]

Hi, we bought a 2015 Ex demo with all the fancy bits including the factory fit Sat Nav, on its last service I asked if we could have all the map updates as we are due to go on a mini European tour, only to be told by VW that the Sat Nav will not work in Europe - really!?! Sure won't be paying for this as an extra when we upgrade, why would you sell a Campervan which undoubtedly will be taken on tours outside of the UK with a satnav that only works in the UK - and not very good at that, someone please tell me the guy at the garage got it wrong?

 

[Hotel California]

Depends on witch version is on your sat.nav , but would be unlikely it is a only UK-version.
Should think it's a european version.
Pretty simple to test , give in a location outside the UK ....

 

[ArunAlec]

Hi, we bought a 2015 Ex demo with all the fancy bits including the factory fit Sat Nav, on its last service I asked if we could have all the map updates as we are due to go on a mini European tour, only to be told by VW that the Sat Nav will not work in Europe - really!?! Sure won't be paying for this as an extra when we upgrade, why would you sell a Campervan which undoubtedly will be taken on tours outside of the UK with a satnav that only works in the UK - and not very good at that, someone please tell me the guy at the garage got it wrong?

What radio/ sat nav do you have?

 

[Grittzio]

RNS 510, have done as Hotel California suggests and it appears to be able to get us to France, thanks for the help, it seems the guy at VW was talking rubbish, they're supposed to be VW Cali experts, starting to have my doubts now, although still think we might take the Tom Tom with us as a back up.

 

[Hotel California]

RNS 510, have done as Hotel California suggests and it appears to be able to get us to France, thanks for the help, it seems the guy at VW was talking rubbish, they're supposed to be VW Cali experts, starting to have my doubts now, although still think we might take the Tom Tom with us as a back up.

If you have an updated TomTom , do use that instead the RNS510 ...i do thesame...
The RNS510 was 2500€ option and not worth that money !

 

[Grittzio]

Yes, thanks for the advice.

 

[WelshGas]

If you have an updated TomTom , do use that instead the RNS510 ...i do thesame...
The RNS510 was 2500€ option and not worth that money !

But must Disagree. Properly set up and updated the RNS510 will get you anywhere in Western Europe. For Eastern Europe you need the Eastern Europe Map Data DVD.
It got me from South Wales to Nordkapp without a hiccup. Couldn’t say that for my Garmin which throws a hissy fit if a Tunnel is over 2km long, unlike the RNS510 which reverts to Inertial Guidance when the GPS signal is blocked by a Km of rock.

 

[WelshGas]

Yes, thanks for the advice.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the RNS510. Unless it has been updated since the vehicle was first registered it might be worth updating it. The DVD can be ordered from your Dealers Parts Dept. About £90. You can get it cheaper on eBay but these are copies and you use them at your own risk.
You can install additional POIs, Points of Interest, such as Archie’s 32,000 European campsites which haven’t failed me yet.
If you didn’t have the RNS510 it would be a different matter, but you have and it is an excellent piece of kit if kept updated and you learn how to use it effectively.

 

[Hotel California]

@WelshGas , mine has been updated and still there are sections of road in France witch i do every year , every time i pass those places with the RNS510 they still are not on the map and you are driving in nomanslands looking at the screen and on my 125€ TomTom the road is visible .
An not talking minor roads but tollroads...!
Only one example , have compared the two next to eachother many times and the TomTom is way better .
So therefore my words the RNS510 was not worth the 2500€ it was on the optionlist.
Also a TomTom is way much easyer in usage.

 

[Gasgas]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the RNS510. Unless it has been updated since the vehicle was first registered it might be worth updating it. The DVD can be ordered from your Dealers Parts Dept. About £90. You can get it cheaper on eBay but these are copies and you use them at your own risk.




We have had the built in sat nav on our T5 and now on our T6 and really like it ,however does anybody use the gps coordinates as when we have tried this option it doesn't seem to recognise them also french postcodes,do we have to set it up or should it just work ?

 

[leightonjthomas]

I have had three TomToms over the past fourteen years and I love them. I still carry one as a spare and always use it when I hire vehicles.
BUT, in the Cali I always use the 510 and have done for over five years. Like all satnavs it has its little quirks but, overall, I think it’s great and have never regretted getting it. We’ve used it in fourteen countries to move from campsite to campsite, usually using latitude/longitude co-ordinates from the ACSI website on our iPad, and often putting in stopovers using POIs. My wife always has an atlas on her lap just in case as it gives a better perspective when following the route.

 

[ArunAlec]

I have had three TomToms over the past fourteen years and I love them. I still carry one as a spare and always use it when I hire vehicles.
BUT, in the Cali I always use the 510 and have done for over five years. Like all satnavs it has its little quirks but, overall, I think it’s great and have never regretted getting it. We’ve used it in fourteen countries to move from campsite to campsite, usually using latitude/longitude co-ordinates from the ACSI website on our iPad, and often putting in stopovers using POIs. My wife always has an atlas on her lap just in case as it gives a better perspective when following the route.

The one gripe I have with the 510 is the traffic information, which seems to be imprecise or slow. This is probably more to do with the source of the data rather than the fault of the 510. The example I use is the A27 westbound around Chichester. This is often shown as congested when it's clear. When I look at the list of traffic warnings it says there is congestion between Fontwell and Havant (about 15 miles) when in reality there might be slow traffic over a couple of miles around the Chichester by-pass.
Seeing you are local I'd be interested to know if you notice the same?

 

[Amarillo]

@WelshGas , mine has been updated and still there are sections of road in France witch i do every year , every time i pass those places with the RNS510 they still are not on the map and you are driving in nomanslands looking at the screen and on my 125€ TomTom the road is visible .
An not talking minor roads but tollroads...!
Only one example , have compared the two next to eachother many times and the TomTom is way better .
So therefore my words the RNS510 was not worth the 2500€ it was on the optionlist.
Also a TomTom is way much easyer in usage.

Only three issues in 33 European countries and 50,000 Km of European driving.
1. New motorway in Greece not mapped.
2. Road junction layout recently changed in Poland.
3. Very significant road closures near Slovakia Poland border.

There are some quirks related to dynamic routing and also it will not tell you if a road is paved or unpaved.

I have no prior experience of car sat nav, having dumbed down in March 2017 from paper maps and hand held hiking/cycling GPS.



Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[leightonjthomas]

The one gripe I have with the 510 is the traffic information, which seems to be imprecise or slow. This is probably more to do with the source of the data rather than the fault of the 510. The example I use is the A27 westbound around Chichester. This is often shown as congested when it's clear. When I look at the list of traffic warnings it says there is congestion between Fontwell and Havant (about 15 miles) when in reality there might be slow traffic over a couple of miles around the Chichester by-pass.
Seeing you are local I'd be interested to know if you notice the same?

Yes, I’d agree with that. We don’t use it too much locally but there are times when it has diverted us successfully and we’ve been grateful to avoid a jam and other times when the information hasn’t been sufficiently accurate.

 

[Amarillo]

Yes, I’d agree with that. We don’t use it too much locally but there are times when it has diverted us successfully and we’ve been grateful to avoid a jam and other times when the information hasn’t been sufficiently accurate.

I happened to drive westbound along the A27 Chichester bypass on Friday between 5.45 and 6pm on my way from Sevenoaks to Emsworth via Horsham and Pulborough.

I have the Sat Nav connected to the Car's MiFi for live traffic flow.

On leaving Sevenoaks at 4.30 the ETA was 6.14. By Pulborough this had slowed to 6.24, and that was our arrival time. The traffic flow estimate on the A27 was spot on.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[WelshGas]

@WelshGas , mine has been updated and still there are sections of road in France witch i do every year , every time i pass those places with the RNS510 they still are not on the map and you are driving in nomanslands looking at the screen and on my 125€ TomTom the road is visible .
An not talking minor roads but tollroads...!
Only one example , have compared the two next to eachother many times and the TomTom is way better .
So therefore my words the RNS510 was not worth the 2500€ it was on the optionlist.
Also a TomTom is way much easyer in usage.

You keep quoting the cost but that doesn’t just include the SatNav. On mine it is DAB radio, a 30 G hard drive, DVD/CD player to watch DVDs, SD card reader, USB media input, Voive Control and a much larger screen. Seeing as I use all the other functions a lot. In fact by my reckoning the SatNav function costs about £250 of the total cost, and I’ve never had a problem with places not showing unless built within the last year. Most SatNav Map Data runs about 1 yr late.

 

[Hotel California]

I'm just saying a 125€ thing preforms thesame or even better than the 2500€ option the RNS510 was on mine....regardles what else you get with it it's still 2500€ one could have spent better.
Anyway i did not chose that option as it was on mine allready as is was an showroommodel . I did not get to chose any option . But i'm a bit disapointed with the way it works compared to the price .

 

[WelshGas]

I'm just saying a 125€ thing preforms thesame or even better than the 2500€ option the RNS510 was on mine....regardles what else you get with it it's still 2500€ one could have spent better.
Anyway i did not chose that option as it was on mine allready as is was an showroommodel . I did not get to chose any option . But i'm a bit disapointed with the way it works compared to the price .

Well in the U.K., according to the Brochure, if I hadn’t chosen the RNS510 I would have ended up with a FM radio with CD player . Couldn’t have a reversing camera and none of the other things I wanted. Choosing the option that had better speakers, reversing camera DVD/CD/MP3 FM/DAB was £250 cheaper than the RNS510. So my conclusion is that the SatNav function does NOT cost 2500€ but about 300€ more than the lower spec ICE system.

 

[Tom Downie]

Hi, we bought a 2015 Ex demo with all the fancy bits including the factory fit Sat Nav, on its last service I asked if we could have all the map updates as we are due to go on a mini European tour, only to be told by VW that the Sat Nav will not work in Europe - really!?! Sure won't be paying for this as an extra when we upgrade, why would you sell a Campervan which undoubtedly will be taken on tours outside of the UK with a satnav that only works in the UK - and not very good at that, someone please tell me the guy at the garage got it wrong?

Put in a French destination and see what happens. My 2016 demonstrator worked in al EU countries and has free updates for life.

 

[Trebor]

Caligirl operates iPhone 6 with Google maps for us with route direction / traffic over Bluetooth to 510 . Map only on 510 useful as an overview on closeup . Works really well .

 

[Volkywagen]

Can anybody advise me on how to input long and lat co ordinates into Vw sat nav. Sorry to hijack

 

[Amarillo]

Can anybody advise me on how to input long and lat co ordinates into Vw sat nav. Sorry to hijack

This is purely from memory.

Inputting a new destination you have three options:

1. search
2. address
3. map

Select map and click on long and lat to input coordinates. This works very well for finding ACSI inspected campsites from the book or app. Using the address is often hopeless.

 

[leightonjthomas]

Can anybody advise me on how to input long and lat co ordinates into Vw sat nav. Sorry to hijack

510:
New Destination
Map/GPS
GPS
Enter latitude/longitude in degrees, minutes, seconds.
The beauty of ACSI is that they list lat/long for every site in the right format. You just have to check carefully when you cross over from east to west, or vice-versa, in France.
Other organisations such as Caravan and Motoring Club list them in decimal format so you have to convert to degrees, minutes, seconds.
Hope that makes sense.

 

[Amarillo]

510:
New Destination
Map/GPS
GPS
Enter latitude/longitude in degrees, minutes, seconds.
The beauty of ACSI is that they list lat/long for every site in the right format. You just have to check carefully when you cross over from east to west, or vice-versa, in France.
Other organisations such as Caravan and Motoring Club list them in decimal format so you have to convert to degrees, minutes, seconds.
Hope that makes sense.

Your sat nav works slightly differently from mine.
This is my sequence: