MIB3 USB audio

[Andy1979]

Just thought I'd share in case helpful to others. TLDR version: make sure you format your USB stick using 'exFAT' not 'FAT32'.

In my 2017 Tiguan SEL (MIB2) I had all my music on a 64gb SD card in the glovebox. Mixture of MP3s and 256kbps AAC from iTunes, with some .M3U playlists. All worked fine.

My 2020 Tiguan Elegance has the new MIB3 system, which just has the two USB-C ports in front of the gear selector. At first I tried the original SD card using a USB-C to USB-A adapter and a sandisk card reader, which worked fine but looked rubbish. Most USB-C flash drives are a bit longer than 'standard' USB ones as the smaller plug size means you can't fit any circuitry inside the plug itself. The neatest solution I could find was to buy a small USB C to A adapter and I already had a tiny 64gb Sandisk USB 3.0 flash drive as follows:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/nonda-Adapter- ... 173&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ultra- ... 4119696677

At first it was really slow and buggy, taking ages to browse, tracks randomly pausing and just general instability. I tried another USB adapter to no avail. Then I reformatted my USB stick from FAT32 to exFAT and now it works perfectly. Turns out my original SD card was already formatted to exFAT.

The only annoying thing vs old version is that it seems to keep forgetting what it was last playing, so when I restart the car to drive home, it plays the first track on the USB stick. Anyone know a way around that?

Lastly, can confirm that with MIB3 you finally get the time displayed on the driver's AID.

[Andy1979]

So after trying various combinations of USB-C adapter, micro SD card reader, the end result was always that music would restart from the first track on the USB stick, even after ample time for it to finish indexing.

This week I've tried a new Sandisk flash drive that has a native USB-C connector (and an old-style USB-A plug at the other end). So far, this works a treat (formatted as exFAT) and resumes where I left off. Also doesn't stick out too far:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ultra- ... 516&sr=8-6

[phope]

Thanks for that - I meant to reply to you earlier as I was having the same issue with it not resuming from last song played

Have given this a go and it works

[mrew42]

It's a shame that you lose the SD card slot. Nice and out of the way like that. VW seem to be lower on the "usability" scale than the previous model.
Does it charge your phone any quicker? e.g. support the QC protocol?

[Andy1979]

Glad it worked for you Phope.

I preferred the SD-slot too, and the space in the glovebox is still blanked off (assume the system's 'brain' is still located there), so it's not like it has freed up cabin space like in the new Golf. To be fair to VW, my 2015 Jaguar XE only had one USB port and no CD player, so it's not just them. New Seats and Skodas are the same too, so affects all VAG brands. I think all the manufacturers just expect you to use carplay/android now, but I don't want the distraction of my entire music library or a streaming service.

I've not actually tried charging the phone in the car yet, as wireless carplay works well and I've not done any journeys longer than 50 miles due to being in Tier 3/4. In theory should be faster, but a lot depends on cables with USB-C.

The mildly other annoying thing it does is show all the music on my phone within my 'library', combined with that from the USB stick. Doesn't seem to be an option to disable that, without disabling wireless carplay, but you can just browse the stick as with the SD card before. These MIB3 units are a little too clever for their own good, or maybe I've become 'tech senile' since entering my 40s

[Dylan Jones]

Hi
Ordered the pendrive recommended by Andy1979 but it takes an age (20 mins) to upload artists and most recent uploads onto the pendrive are last of all to upload.
Am I just trying to to upload too many?

Have a similar problem with Bluetooth as well...

Any help is welcome

Thanks

[Sootchucker]

Does anyone know if the rear USB socket on the Tiguan is charge only or data as well ?

[Tricky]

From other posts it's apparently charge only.