Radio upgrade

[gfromleeds]

Morning guys my next question is
My prefaclift w204 has the basic radio (no satnav small screen)I'm wanting to upgrade it to the larger motorised screen with satnav!
Mainly because I do alot of miles and don't own my own satnav (last car had it built in) so it's going to be £100/£150 either way but would pay the little extra for the tidiness of built in!
Firstly are the radio unit and or the screen coded to the car in anyway, i.e., is it plug and play or will an expensive trip to the steelers be required?
Secondly how and where can I update the map and is it even worth doing?
Cheers

 

[sl500amgsport]

https://www.commandonline.co.uk/Mercedes-Retrofits/

All the upgrades professionally fitted....

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

 

[mioba]

"pay the little extra" he says. I think it may cost a fair amount.
If you plan on keeping the car for ever then go for it.

 

[gfromleeds]

I can get the complete set, radio, screen and vents for £250 so if there plug and play I'd pay that but if they then need programming.... well that's a different story!

 

[sonic]

Depending what sat nav you go for you could also be paying up to £100PA on upgrades.
I use my iPhone on WAZE in a cradle, its free & certainly a better performer than the MB one.

 

[Chrishazle]

The pre-facelift 204 has NTG4, for which there are no map updates after 2018-19, but a HDD upgrade is needed to install anything after 2015. Guess how I know!! The HDD upgrade alone was £400 including installing the latest 2018-19 maps, at the time I had it done it was thought that MB would issue later updates but that has not happened. Only saving grace if you decide to go ahead is that the update DVD's are re-useable so can be bought "second user" on Ebay or forums for not a lot of money - and sold on after installation. However, it is an old system.

There are aftermarket solutions made to look original, many chinese made and supplied, seems some are OK others are problemmatical, but they are a lot cheaper than the Pioneer or similar that comandonline will supply and fit. These will probably be android and have far more facilities than NTG4. I'm sure I've even seen threads on here or t'other side about retrofitting NTG4.5 to a 204 - but how you get past the need for a VIN specific Pin to install map updates on NTG4.5 or later I don't know.

IMHO I would not bother trying to upgrade Audio20 to Comand NTG4, you'd be better getting an aftermarket unit with Android Auto, Apple Carplay, DAB etc and, if you have continuous internet access on your mobile, maybe mirror Waze or similar from your phone. With the correct unit you can I believe also keep functionality of the steering wheel buttons.

BTW, don't forget you'd need a new dashboard with the big hole for the pop-up screen!

 

[c15htn]

I must admit I'm looking closely at the Chinese type direct swaps that are full android for about £130 inculcate a rear camera and full steering wheel integration.

Oddly they don't come with DAB+ but have the facility to do it with about £50 more hardware..... herself is grumbling about "decent satnav" as my car has full android / Google etc so she's feeling a bit miffed.

 

[Chrishazle]

Research well before going for a Chinese direct swop unit, there are reports of success but also of total failures, and for example comandonline will not only not supply them, they will not fit customer supplied ones as there have been so many problems after fitting. There are many posts/threads on here and t'other side (forums.mbclub.co.uk) on this subject.