Ok. I've managed to put it all together, and it all works. The confusion in regards to the FM antenna is a 50/50 split between me and the instructions. At first, I completely ignored the black antenna cable that comes with the kit because looking at the diagram, it has a line pointing to a connector in the middle (which the black cable plug could not possibly fit into). This is why I was trying to remove the Fakra connector from the white plastic housing. Putting more light onto the back of the unit (still working with underground lighting), I noticed the Radio hole for the black cable connector in the bottom left of the unit. The other end of this cable fits perfectly into the fakra connector (with the plastic clip). It was that easy. Obviously, things will be different from VW model to model (in regards to what stock cabling you have), but if this helps anyone else with an my12 gti, then my pain was worth it. The FM reception was perfect.

I sort of solved the issue with what to do with the usb cable. I just plugged my thumb drive into the connector and dumped it all into the back of the cavity. Of course, I'll need to take the whole thing apart if I ever want to change the music on the drive...

I haven't really played with the SatNav much, but it works, so that's good. I love the fact that it actually shows GPS Speed. My old 370Z's satnav didn't. Oh, and I did find a place in the back of the cavity, in the roof of it to place the gps antenna (I'm glad it has the sticky stuff).
In regards to the touch screen, it seems to have reasonable response. Thank christ there aren't too many screens that you need to finger swipe to scroll.

The one bad thing I've noticed is that the plastic trim does not fit flush anymore. I noticed this on an earlier post from someone with the same car as I. The trim sticks out a little in the top left corner. -

Quote Originally Posted by 70RTY View Post


I might have to look to see if can sand off some of the plastic on the trim.
A few minor gripes about the screen navigation (e.g. setting up a satnav skin, but then having to go BACK through every screen you just came from), but nothing major. If I had to make a complaint, it would be on the song screen. I don't know if it's the same for ipod and SD card, but the USB song title (and probably a few other lines) only show about 12 characters. I'm sure this could be increased (lot's of space on the screen). The 3rd line seems to alternate between all the remaining mp3 tag info (year, comments, etc), by blanking out the line and then showing the next info. It's kind of like a slow flashing effect. At night this would be distracting for me because you would notice this out of the corner of your eye.

Overall, for the money, it's a no brainer swap for someone who doesn't have the VW satnav unit. The installation would have been a lot simpler if it wasn't for the FM antenna balls up on my part. I'm very glad I made the purchase.