Cuzoe
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Los Angeles
I suspect part of the "use the A on older cars" isn't so much a recommendation as much as just how things happened. The A's were the only thing available at first (obviously, haha) so earlier cars all had the A version. There is a non-lettered version that we won't speak of, that I believe does not have the ability show maps. As VW transitioned from A's to B's it was found that cars of a certain newness had issues with the A's. At that time you could probably still get A's, and they were probably less expensive than a B.
So for those doing this retrofit the sentiment became "Get an A for an older car (because we know it work and it's probably cheaper) while you must get a B for newer cars." Updating from A to B is not a proposition that makes much sense. You're buying another cluster, or spending the 8 hours for nothing, most likely. Now you can only get the B, which will likely be fine. If there are issues I would bet you could sell a used, low-mileage B for very near what you paid for it.
As an example of VW getting rid of old letter versions in their inventory, and also not removing them from inventory once sold out... When I went to order the camera module for 360 Areaview VW still listed a B version as available, and it was discounted to something silly like $130. The C was available, not yet discounted and the D was available and current. Both the C and D were over $400. I tried ordering the B from at least 5 places, knowing I could update the software to C or D myself. All eventually responded that they were no longer available.
So for those doing this retrofit the sentiment became "Get an A for an older car (because we know it work and it's probably cheaper) while you must get a B for newer cars." Updating from A to B is not a proposition that makes much sense. You're buying another cluster, or spending the 8 hours for nothing, most likely. Now you can only get the B, which will likely be fine. If there are issues I would bet you could sell a used, low-mileage B for very near what you paid for it.
As an example of VW getting rid of old letter versions in their inventory, and also not removing them from inventory once sold out... When I went to order the camera module for 360 Areaview VW still listed a B version as available, and it was discounted to something silly like $130. The C was available, not yet discounted and the D was available and current. Both the C and D were over $400. I tried ordering the B from at least 5 places, knowing I could update the software to C or D myself. All eventually responded that they were no longer available.
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