Car stereo advice

Ive got a 2002 Passat and its about time I sorted the stereo out.

Its a double fascia, with stereo above and 6 cd changer below, I really dont care about losing the cd changer and quite happy to chuck a blanking plate there.

Now, in an idea world what I would like is a system that can sync via BT or wifi to my home connection and keep the onboard music collection up to date with my server, however, I would be happy with any rear usb stereo so I can use the space where the cd changer was to shove a 2.5inch HDD to store music on.

Havent got a clue really where to start, saw this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-CDX-GT929U-USB-CD-MP3-IN-CAR-STEREO-AUX-IPOD-NEW_W0QQitemZ330296970010QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP?hash=item330296970010&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

which is currently £180 in halfords and looks like itll do the trick...

...HELP!

looks like a bargain

yeah, thing is, i need to get hold of the blanking plate as well, plus i dont know what sort of adapters etc I might need.

You can get the blanking plates from halfords. It comes as a pocket for cd's normally. The connector plugs are iso so they will plug straight into the sony lead. Althougth the red and yellow cables on the sony lead will need swapping to keep the memory. These two cables are on bullet crimps normally. Also, the aerial supply on the original VW plug will need cutting or it will damage the sony unit by putting a 12v supply into the unit. When the VW connectors are plugged into the sony lead the aerial cable well be the blue one on the sony end, just cut it and isolate both ends.

For wireless sync with home collection you're talking serious amounts of time and/or money, and really means a car-pc for the flexibility you're talking about. I use a 2.5" USB drive setup on a half-decent stereo and this works well for me.

Beware that the USB socket on that Sony you linked to is a front-input one, not a rear input, so won't really do the job you want, you'd end up with a lead sticking out of the front of the faceplate waiting to be snagged and broken. I wouldn't personally go with Sony for car-audio anyway, not that I've used one for years, so they might have got better, but I'd recommend Pioneer, followed by Kenwood and Alpine.

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ and http://caraudiosecurity.com/ are good dealers and http://www.ukpassats.co.uk/ is a good place to start if you have questions relating specifically to the Passat, as is the info on http://www.nexxia.co.uk/Car_Stereo_fitting_kits/volkswagen/passat.htm (you don't actually need the harness adaptor though if mine and Saintoli's advice is followed, saving you money as well as making it easier to squeeze all the wiring back in when you fit it).

You could get a single-DIN size blanking plate (which is usually taken to mean a cover), or better a 'cubby hole' (dash pocket / storage tray / whatever you want to call it). You can get a generic DIN cubby hole from Halfords, however the proper VW part will fit the locating lugs in your dash a bit better, so you might want one of these if you're fussy.

Saintoli is correct about the permanent live and ignition live wires needing to be swapped on the new stereo's loom (on any head unit bought in the last decade there should be bullet connectors aready in place to allow you to swap these easily). I've got a spare sitting around that you could have but it would depend whether you wanted the stereo in the top slot or the cubbyhole in the top slot.

The bit about removing the blue wire from the stereo connector is also true (although you don't need to cut any cables, you can leave the red wire in the car's connector block and remove the blue wire from the stereo's connector block). You'll also need to remove any wire from the stereo connector that goes to the location of the grey+white diagnostic wire next to this on the car's connector. If you want to retain decent radio reception you'll also need an aerial power supply adaptor such as the PC5-90 in the nexxia link above, this is because the VW aerial has an amplifier built into its base, and the factory stereo supplies 12V down the aerial cable, but an aftermarket one won't. You won't be able to get MW stations or weaker FM signals unless you use one of these.

Is your factory stereo the retro-looking "Gamma" radio-cassette? And do you have steering-wheel controls that you'll be wanting to keep? I've done this all before (although closest being a Bora not a Passat) and have the necessary tools so give me a shout if you want a hand. Coincidentally I was planning to get in touch with you about php rates anyway...

As for the USB stuff, beware of older USB units that could only support smaller size flash drives at the time. Newer models from the last couple of years should support FAT32 on larger flash drives and up to 2.5" hard drives. You may also want to check the tech specs for whatever one you consider buying, against the size/structure of your music collection, because most will theoretically support eg a 160GB drive, but then will only be capable of accessing eg the first 4000 files or 500 folders etc, meaning you oly get to use ~30GB if you're using 192kbps MP3s (figures plucked out of the air but they shouldn't be far off). So make sure you're happy with the limitations before you buy. It's worth bearing this in mind if you're considering going down the 2.5" drive route, as are both of the following:

- use a drive with some kind of anti-shock design, as most hard drives aren't really designed for use whilst driving over bumps at speed

- you may have problems with some combinations of stereo + 2.5" drive, because some stereos will only put the standard 500mA power through the USB socket, but some 2.5" drives draw more than this in order to spin up, meaning you'll need to use the shortest USB cable possible, and if this still doesn't work then you'll need to wire in additional power (straightforward enough), or try a different drive.

I could have asked questions rather than trying to cover all this in one post. But that would mean paying my fiver.

Try playing R&B music loudly with the window down at traffic lights. To get the full effect from pedestrians you need to ensure your head is shaved beneath the baseball cap. Add a grimace and draw some zits on your face and you're good to roll.

I have a Fiat Grande Punto at the moment, and want to upgrade the radio from the standard one to something like this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/pioneer-avicf700bt-p-6667.html

Although I don't want to go ripping the radio out and replacing it myself, so wondered if there is anywhere I could get it done, apart from Halfords cause I have heard a few tales about dodgy fittings and what not.

My only concern is that it currently has a Blue & Me system built in with steering control etc, but the iPod connector doesn't play .aac and has to be a Windows formatted iPod.

So any ideas on the best way to go about it?

Cheers