There are probably well over half a million Golf 7 models in Europe, and some of them are lacking in the navigation department. Volkswagen recently introduced a 9.2-inch screen with gesture controls together with the mid-life facelift of the car.
But rather than have that retrofitted, we suggest looking at the aftermarket experts Alpine. You see them at every tuning show with their big speakers, but this year, they also launched a "Style Product" for the Golf 7 family.
We're talking about a 9-inch screen that fits neatly into the dashboard, keeps all the factory features and adds some new ones.
"When we at Alpine decided to develop a high-end infotainment system for Golf 7 drivers, we had only one goal in mind: to create a high-end system that exceeds all available media products for the Golf 7 available to date," the company boasts.
The 8-minute installation video shares more details than we'd ever want to cover, but the gist of it is that it requires a lot of work. The technician removes the hazard button between the vents, followed by the plastic trim around the nav, the shelf behind the shifter and part of the tunnel. After that, it's wiring spaghetti, so you might want to hire a pro if you don't want to turn the project into a headache.
The Alpine Style Navigation comes with its own set of buttons that surround the screen, so a new dash trim piece had to be created. The downside is that these features will give it away as a non-stock Golf, possibly hurting its resale value.
Multiple features have been added. For example, there's now a screen for the climate control system so that you can adjust the temperature from the dash too. The high-resolution screen is ideal for watching movies. We all know how much you Golf GTI owners like to romance your girlfriends at the end of a long drive.
The sound setup menu provides access to common adjustments as well as professional equalization features. We found the X901D-G7 system listed online anywhere from €1,400 to €1,800 including the DVD player.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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