Based on some older threads on this very forum, I just paid £200 on eBay for a (new) stereo unit which runs Android:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-Android-8-1-Car-Stereo-GPS-DVD-DAB-VW-PASSAT-SHARAN-GOLF-V5-CADDY-JETTA-SEAT/302121603028?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Fitting to my Mk5 GTi was straightforward. Judging from the broken clips and missing screws, I am not the first of my car's 9 owners to take the dashboard apart ... there were even some cables running from behind the stereo to the boot for an amp, which I hijacked for the reversing camera (haven't finished fitting it at the back yet - it was a slight surprise that the unit came with it).
Here's what the unit looks like in my car:
First impressions...
- Phone call quality seems fine using the built-in microphone - not brilliant but certainly not worth pulling trim apart and messing near airbags in order to fit the external mic
- The sat nav on the unit does require the supplied GPS antennae fitting in order to work. I stuck mine in the middle of the dashboard in front of the central vent / sunlight sensor, and it gets a fix nice and quickly
- The unit takes a little while to boot up after you turn on the ignition - not outrageously long but a bit irritating
- I'm using Google Maps rather than the built in navigation app, because it does live traffic too
- Bluetooth to my phone for contacts etc. works. I could play media from the phone over bluetooth too, but since the unit runs Spotify et al natively, I haven't bothered yet - pair to my phone in WiFi hotspot mode for an internet connection (needed for traffic updates anyway), and it Just Works.
- The media navigation buttons on the left don't wake up the screen, but the volume annoyingly does (but the star button next to the volume control is for blanking the screen)
- Its adapter only took one side of the twin cable for the radio antennae, but FM works fine with just that
- It comes with the right can bus decoder to avoid the battery drain! This also seems to interface with the car well enough for the unit's car info app to tell you how many litres of fuel you have left, what doors are open, etc. Sadly it doesn't seem to pick up any detailed TPMS information, so I still just have to top all my tyres up when the light comes on
All in all, I'm pleased with it. Maps keeps popping up an annoying alert about "failing to interface with Google Play Services" but seems to work fine anyway, and I'm hoping a software update or two will kill that in due course.