How do I know if I have Canbus

[Blue Devil]

Hello
This has probably been asked before but how do I know if my car has Canbus. To be honest I had never heard of it before I got the Golf as everything I have owned before ( mainly GM) never had it. I have a 2006 Golf GT 140 with the RCD 300. I am looking to upgrade it but at the moment have no idea to what but am open to suggestions, but need to understand the Canbus first.
Any help/advice appreciated
Thanks

[xjay1337]

What do you mean "does your car have canbus"?

CanBus is a communication network that the car uses to communicate it's internal functions... so yes, your car has canbus.

 

[Blue Devil]

I have seen it mentioned quite a lot when people have talked about stereo upgrades. Some have mentioned battery drain and tapping in to a live feed in the fuse box, also some manufacturers say Canbus compatible which is why I was wondering

[golfmk5]

Yes, your car uses CAN bus. Basically, all controllers in your car is connected to each other in a network, or a bus. If you click a button somewhere then a message will be sent out on the bus to notify all other controllers of this event. Most of the controllers will ignore this message, but depending on what the message is there could be other controllers that want to act on it. E.g. you select the next track on the head unit and the multifunction display shows the new artist and title. The very same protocol is also used for diagnostics on newer cars, including the Volkswagen Golf mk5.

http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/canbus.html

[Blue Devil]

Ok that makes sense did say it was a stupid question I am used to it being called BCM.
Thanks for your help