Not strictly a Polo question, but I'm hoping someone on here is a VW guru and can provide the answer...

In the boot of my uncle's Up! - where the spare wheel would normally be - is a circular black plastic box, with electrical wiring going to it. He doesn't know what it is, and the local VW garage staff couldn't tell him...

Has anyone got any idea what it is ?

Cheers,

J.R.

I don't own a UP! But maybe its a subwoofer as my friends brand new golf has a sub in the wheel well.

I'd agree on subwoofer. My mom's mazda had one with the bose stereo option.

Look like this?

The wiring diagrams show no option for a subwoofer but it could be the parking aid control unit? as it's the only thing in the boot area

It does look a bit like the thing in the Mazda picture... There's no spare wheel, but whatever the plastic thing is, it's held down by the same central spigot and big plastic nut that the spare wheel would be. I hadn't thought of it being a sub-woofer, but it doesn't look like any speaker that I've ever seen ( but I am old ! ). I think it's a bit big for a control box for parking aids - the one in our Polo is about the size of a cigarette packet. Apparently the sales guy looked in the boot of all the ones at the dealer - some have this black plastic box thing, and some have a spare wheel - none have both...

Tyre inflator?

Or gps unit if it has sat nav?

Some new cars that don't have a spare wheel have an inflator and a tyre weld gel thing, very useful if your in the middle of nowhere and have a piece of metal through your tyre ... All to save a few quid in production. Stupid idea really.

If you can get a picture up of it then I'm sure between the knowledgable folk on here we can figure it out?

Sorry - I should have taken a picture when I had the chance... The car is about 150 miles away now...

It seems too big to be either a tyre inflator or a GPS receiver and appears to be (semi) permanently wired in - it has a multi pin plug and a power lead. I'm guessing it's a sub-woofer - I intend to try it out by taking a good loud CD next time I visit...

However - I reckon it looks something like this...

http://www.volkswagen-accessories.com/en/product-ranges/infotainment/plug-and-play-soundsystem.html

:)

soinds like he has the groove up! witch has the fender sound system in it the box is as fender sub

Edited 29 October, 201411 yr by pavos

So... Turns out that yes, it is a Fender sub-woofer...

Next question - does anyone know if it's possible to just take it out and put a spare wheel in its place? I'm assuming that it won't affect the stereo if it's just not there...

There is what appears to be a plastic "bin" underneath it: is it possible that the top section - the actual sub-woofer itself - will fit inside the spare wheel if the lower bit is removed?

I'm only asking on here because I got more sense from this forum than my uncle got from the VW dealer

best bet is to disconnect it and make sure it doesn't bring up and faults on display or cause the radio to not work properly or anything. If it doesn't just remove it, if theres any exposed wires tape them up individually but being a factory fit item it should just be a plug