General Questions for MK8 owners. PLUS help with VIN please.

[mark2jag]

Good evening All. I am just in the process of buying a VW Golf MK8 estate Style 150TDI DSG. I should know better as I have rejected successfully 2 faulty VW Golf MK8's previously for some pretty bad software issues including multitudes of warning lights and features not working. I am only buying a new one because I have been told that as its a 2021 version the software issues have now been resolved. I still cannot get a straight answer regards the travel assist function allowing predictive cruise control in conjunction with dynamic road sign assist,by which i mean the car setting itself to a posted speed limit without me having to physically set it each time the limit changes.

I am not sure if the dealership has also got its knickers in a twist but its telling me the 2021 versions now have WIRELESS android auto. I suspect this not to be true, and they are confusing it for WIRELESS Apple Carplay., but unless someone here knows I guess i will have to wait till its too late and i physically take delivery of the car.

I also asked the dealer to confirm when exactly my car was built, and all they can or will tell me is it is 2021. The VIN is WVWZZZCDZMW503633.

Could anyone check this for me, as i just signed up to this now, and there are several VIN checkers but none seem to have the info I need.

I'm very grateful for any help I might get, and am hoping I dont have to reject my 4th car with VWFS..

Can anyone help?

 

[Handydave]

Yes, there is predictive cruise control which can be set to react to either or both the speed limit from the dynamic road sign assist or according to the road layout ahead.

However, there is a flaw in the way it operates with speed limit assist. Say you’re travelling on a B road and you’ve set the ACC to your comfortable speed of 50mph. If you pass through a village, the ACC will automatically reduce your speed so you’re travelling at 30mph by the time you enter the speed restriction. So far so good. However, when you leave the village and pass the national speed limit sign, it sets the ACC speed at 60mph rather than the original set speed of 50mph which was the comfortable speed for the road.

You can switch this off if you don’t like it.

Sorry, I can’t help with the car actual date of build or Android Auto wireless. Mind you, the latest brochure does say: Wireless connection for Apple ‘CarPlay’ / USB connection for Google ‘Android Auto’. Let us know if your car has Android Auto Wireless once it arrives.

 

[Wheaty]

I have an 1.5 eTSI DSG delivered on 12th March. Software issues still exist but don’t seem to be as bad as some others report on older car. Certainly WiFi connection is patchy (yet to try the ‘open the door’ trick) and car play also seems iffy - Google Maps completely froze on me yesterday - probably linked to the WiFi connection problem. Occasionally failed to connect with BT. Otherwise, not too bad.

 

[Massimo 2323]

Can anyone confirm with software 1788 if they have Android Auto wireless?
If not there could be a way to activate it , because in countries like France , Italy and Germany those With 1788 have this working.
So it is disabled in the infotainment unit just like the maps on the dashboard.

 

[SRGTD]

@mark2jag; Courtesy of forum member DanDuda48 over on golfgtiforum.co.uk forum, which should help determine your car’s precise build date. Last 6 digits of their VIN have been blanked out to prevent potential fraudulent use!

‘If you open the driver's door you will find a black sticker at the bottom right, which among other things contains the chassis number. On the right side, there are three lines with combinations of numbers and digits.
The first three digits of the last line (just below the engine code) contain the calendar week and the construction day.
In my example the engine code is DLBA (GTI PP) and the three digits are 102.
The first two digits are the calendar or build week - here 10.
And the third digit is the construction day.
The 1 stands for Monday. So here we have the 2nd day (Tuesday) of the 10th week.
And the letter "J" in the VIN tells you it is 2018.’

The 10th letter in the VIN is the build year. As ‘J’ is the year identifier for a car built in 2018, then the equivalent for a mk8 Golf will either be ‘L’ if it was built in 2020 or ‘M’ if built in 2021.

 

[Massimo 2323]

If your build week is 47 or less then you have the 816B (Pro and Media share same hardware) infotainment models with 16xx software.
Also the early 2020 Build have only the Pro 816 Infotainment system.
The build week model 48 and up have the 816D (Pro) or 820D (media) with 1788 software.
The 10th letter in the Vin indicates the year model so you have L for the My2020 and M for the My2021
My car is a My2021 built in November 2020 so I have the M letter.
Also from build date 48 there were changes in the control units like Front Radar, Side Assist Radars , Park Assist Control unit, Gateway, ecc.

 

[Handydave]

Hi Massimo - do you know the difference between, say, the Pro 816, 816B and 816D?