Hi all,
The thing I found most annoying about my Mii (62 plate) is that it is not up to date with modern smartphone connectivity. The Maps and More system has obviously been long forgotten about rather than providing a useful upgrade path. Even new models have a fairly limited support since the screen is too small to support CarPlay or Android Auto.
I actually went and bought a brand new 71 plate Seat Ibiza with a 9.2" wireless Android Auto system built in. It was great for the whole six and a half weeks I had it before a BMW driver wrote it off while it was parked outside my flat. I had given the Mii to my dad to keep until my brother can drive it, and new car prices and wait times are ridiculous. Rather than buying a new car at the inflated price for immediate availability, I decided to go back to the Mii and wait for a replacement to arrive some time next summer.
There are a few tutorials about on fitting head units to the Up/Mii/Citigo. The hard part was the choice of head unit, as the majority of name brand models that support CarPlay/Android Auto are 1. double DIN and 2. very expensive. It seems that most of the single DIN models then assume the display can go above the slot, which would conflict with the heater/air conditioning controls unless you commit to doing a lot more bodging.
I had seen some pictures of Joying head units but some of them looked a bit cheap and didn't have any physical controls. What I didn't realise until I went on the Joying website is that they sell a pretty wide variety of screens that can (I think) all connect to the same head unit base. That means it's possible to get the latest features (like Android Auto) with a small 7" screen which won't be too big for the car. And, their screens are connected via a ribbon cable and some moveable clip connectors, so you can shift the screen up and down a bit to fit the dashboard.
I decided to buy some of the add-ons for the Joying head unit, as well as going on the safe side when it came to adapters and cables. I'd rather have bits I didn't need than to dismantle the radio and find I need to order another bit over Christmas, when I'm planning to use the car.
From dynamicsounds.co.uk:
CONNECTS2 CTKSK01-ISO SEAT MII 2012-2019 SINGLE DIN CAR STEREO FASCIA WIRING FITTING KIT
This is a kit containing the plastic single DIN adapter plate, a DIN wiring harness converter and two aerial adapters (Fakra to DIN and DIN to ISO)
CONNECTS2 CT22AU01 - SEAT ALL MODELS STEREO REMOVAL KEYS
CT22BE01 PC5-93 AUDI TT A3 A4 A6 RADIO REMOVAL KEYS
From Joying's eBay.co.uk page:
7" Android 10.0 DSP Single 1 DIN Bluetooth Car Stereo GPS Sat Navi USB 4G WiFi
Joying AHD 1080P reverse camera Night Version Car Reverse Camera Backup Camera
From Joying's website joyingauto.eu:
Joying VW Harness For Android Car Stereo Plug And Play Wiring Cable - With Canbus Box
(note - with Canbus box)
Joying DAB+ Digital Radio Brodcast Receiver For Android Head Unit
Joying Latest Dash-Cam Car Radio Front Camera Recording DVR
The things from Joying's own website were shipped by air from China. I ordered them on Saturday the 4th of December and they arrived on Monday the 13th of December.
I was able to do a first try fit of the head unit today. I just wanted to get it working with the bare minimum of features, rather than fiddling about with extras.
Removing the existing head unit was a little bit more finicky than I had anticipated. My plastic pry tools were meant for phones and were too delicate, so I had to use a credit card. The buttons either side of the heater controls need to be pried in the right way to come out easily. This website (workshop-manuals.com) seems to have the complete Up! workshop manual online, but it's pretty buggy and hard-to-use. Still, it's what I read and it seemed to work fine. The stereo wiring harness seems quite tight in my car, and I needed to use a screwdriver to click the Fakra aerial connector to disconnect it.
The reason I got the Joying wiring harness with the Canbus adapter is to prevent me from needing to do any manual wiring. It seems to have worked. All I've done is connected things together and the head unit seems to turn on and off in a sensible way. It knows when the headlights are on and it knows when the car is in reverse. If the car had steering wheel controls I think it'd be able to use them too, but my car doesn't.
The bundle of cables is pretty big so I'll need to do more fiddling when I work on fitting the other accessories to make the unit fit properly. However, it seems to be working fine. For Android Auto and CarPlay, it's necessary to plug in the phone with a USB cable (at least for first-time setup). The only USB ports on the head unit are at the back, but it comes with two USB extension cables. Using a fibreglass cable pulling rod I was able to get a string from the head unit down to the right hand side of the passenger footwell where there's a gap underneath the dashboard. The USB extension cable they give is long enough for the USB port to reach down here, which will do until I sort out a better solution.
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The thing I found most annoying about my Mii (62 plate) is that it is not up to date with modern smartphone connectivity. The Maps and More system has obviously been long forgotten about rather than providing a useful upgrade path. Even new models have a fairly limited support since the screen is too small to support CarPlay or Android Auto.
I actually went and bought a brand new 71 plate Seat Ibiza with a 9.2" wireless Android Auto system built in. It was great for the whole six and a half weeks I had it before a BMW driver wrote it off while it was parked outside my flat. I had given the Mii to my dad to keep until my brother can drive it, and new car prices and wait times are ridiculous. Rather than buying a new car at the inflated price for immediate availability, I decided to go back to the Mii and wait for a replacement to arrive some time next summer.
There are a few tutorials about on fitting head units to the Up/Mii/Citigo. The hard part was the choice of head unit, as the majority of name brand models that support CarPlay/Android Auto are 1. double DIN and 2. very expensive. It seems that most of the single DIN models then assume the display can go above the slot, which would conflict with the heater/air conditioning controls unless you commit to doing a lot more bodging.
I had seen some pictures of Joying head units but some of them looked a bit cheap and didn't have any physical controls. What I didn't realise until I went on the Joying website is that they sell a pretty wide variety of screens that can (I think) all connect to the same head unit base. That means it's possible to get the latest features (like Android Auto) with a small 7" screen which won't be too big for the car. And, their screens are connected via a ribbon cable and some moveable clip connectors, so you can shift the screen up and down a bit to fit the dashboard.
I decided to buy some of the add-ons for the Joying head unit, as well as going on the safe side when it came to adapters and cables. I'd rather have bits I didn't need than to dismantle the radio and find I need to order another bit over Christmas, when I'm planning to use the car.
From dynamicsounds.co.uk:
CONNECTS2 CTKSK01-ISO SEAT MII 2012-2019 SINGLE DIN CAR STEREO FASCIA WIRING FITTING KIT
This is a kit containing the plastic single DIN adapter plate, a DIN wiring harness converter and two aerial adapters (Fakra to DIN and DIN to ISO)
CONNECTS2 CT22AU01 - SEAT ALL MODELS STEREO REMOVAL KEYS
CT22BE01 PC5-93 AUDI TT A3 A4 A6 RADIO REMOVAL KEYS
From Joying's eBay.co.uk page:
7" Android 10.0 DSP Single 1 DIN Bluetooth Car Stereo GPS Sat Navi USB 4G WiFi
Joying AHD 1080P reverse camera Night Version Car Reverse Camera Backup Camera
From Joying's website joyingauto.eu:
Joying VW Harness For Android Car Stereo Plug And Play Wiring Cable - With Canbus Box
(note - with Canbus box)
Joying DAB+ Digital Radio Brodcast Receiver For Android Head Unit
Joying Latest Dash-Cam Car Radio Front Camera Recording DVR
The things from Joying's own website were shipped by air from China. I ordered them on Saturday the 4th of December and they arrived on Monday the 13th of December.
I was able to do a first try fit of the head unit today. I just wanted to get it working with the bare minimum of features, rather than fiddling about with extras.
Removing the existing head unit was a little bit more finicky than I had anticipated. My plastic pry tools were meant for phones and were too delicate, so I had to use a credit card. The buttons either side of the heater controls need to be pried in the right way to come out easily. This website (workshop-manuals.com) seems to have the complete Up! workshop manual online, but it's pretty buggy and hard-to-use. Still, it's what I read and it seemed to work fine. The stereo wiring harness seems quite tight in my car, and I needed to use a screwdriver to click the Fakra aerial connector to disconnect it.
The reason I got the Joying wiring harness with the Canbus adapter is to prevent me from needing to do any manual wiring. It seems to have worked. All I've done is connected things together and the head unit seems to turn on and off in a sensible way. It knows when the headlights are on and it knows when the car is in reverse. If the car had steering wheel controls I think it'd be able to use them too, but my car doesn't.
The bundle of cables is pretty big so I'll need to do more fiddling when I work on fitting the other accessories to make the unit fit properly. However, it seems to be working fine. For Android Auto and CarPlay, it's necessary to plug in the phone with a USB cable (at least for first-time setup). The only USB ports on the head unit are at the back, but it comes with two USB extension cables. Using a fibreglass cable pulling rod I was able to get a string from the head unit down to the right hand side of the passenger footwell where there's a gap underneath the dashboard. The USB extension cable they give is long enough for the USB port to reach down here, which will do until I sort out a better solution.
