Who doesn't love an RS6? This customer brought us his so he could enjoy it for his many long distance business trips. To find his destination more easily he brought us an RNS-E radio/nav unit to install. To find some good tunes he brought us the correct matching Sirius satellite radio control unit. To find those who wanted to find out how fast he was going he purchased an Escort Passport Qi45 radar detector system and an Escort Passport ZR4 laser detection and shifter system.

To spice up the install we were instructed that the radar and laser system must be as hidden from view as possible. Further, it was discovered that the used RNS-E he had purchased from an internet forum was incorrect for the RS6 in that it had an A4/S4 faceplate and also that it was a European market unit which would not function with USA nav DVD's. Unfortunately A6/S6/RS6 faceplates for the RNS-E are extreme difficult to find and expensive, so we were challenged to make do with what we were supplied. Check out the individual stories in the albums below and captions on the photos for detailed information.

The RNS-E is a great upgrade over the older VAG nav systems, and a better radio as an added benefit. The large LCD screen and the ability to read the latest nav DVD's for updated maps and points of interest make it much easier and to use. When the upgrade is performed properly it maintains the ability to provide turn-by-turn and distance count down display in the red LCD in the instrument cluster. The RNS-E also features two SD card slots for loading thousands of MP3's to listen to.

In this case our customer purchased his RNS-E used from an internet forum. Unfortunately this is sometimes a risky method and in this particular case our customer made a significant investment in a part that wasn't fully functional and didn't properly fit his car. Because it wasn't returnable he elected to have us do what we could to make it work.

The first issue was that the face was the A4/S4 version which does not fit in an A6/S6/RS6 dashboard. It is both too tall and too narrow. The face is not very hard to change, but the A6 style face is hard to find and when you do find one they are quite expensive. After investigating we found that there was enough extra material that we could cut the face to the proper height, then using an aftermarket radio install kit we were able to fabricate parts to fill in the gaps on the sides.

Next, this RNS-E was a European version. They function essentially the same, but the European navigation software can not function in North America with North American map DVD's. The Sirius radio also is not availible with the European software. This time the internet forum comes to the rescue - somebody out there has made a software tool and provides the files to convert the software to the US version. After converting the software the European RNS-E functions exactly like a North American unit.

Finally, when we attempted to test it's functionality we discovered that the navigation system would not pick up any satellites. After some diagnostic work we discovered that the provided satellite antenna was non-functional. After we replaced it the system functioned wonderfully and now picks up 8 out of 8 possible satellites when outside, and even showed 6 of 8 when inside our thick concrete building.

While installing the RNS-E we also installed a Kufatec Fiscon BlueTooth system. As always, rather than simply stuffing the microphone wiring in the A-pillar trim we completely remove the A-pillar trim so we can be certain our wiring does not interfere with the side curtain airbag. We noticed that the microphone was in a somewhat large, ugly, plastic casing that just didn't fit anywhere in the RS6 interior. To hide it as much as we could we removed the mic from it's case, making a much smaller object to hide, then hand painted it black so it would blend in. Without knowing where it is most people are hard pressed to find it.