Thanks to Dan for the dongle rental! Just wanted to share my thoughts for the benefit of any wagon owners:
I programmed my Helix yesterday. I have a 2018 Alltrack SE and the Helix is sitting beneath my spare tire.
It's difficult to compare the sound because you have to run to the trunk and reprogram, and there's a 5-second pause where there is no sound. After much deliberation, listening to different songs again and again with different settings, I actually settled on code 57. Here are my impressions:
- The Golf 4-door has big bass and a nice mid/treble. I could not tell any difference between the 1.0, code 57, and the 2.0 version for reduced power supply, 97. The bass can sound a little too loud or muddy at times but I think that's simply a volume issue and can be adjusted in the EQ settings.
- The Golf Estate (wagon) codes have significantly less bass and significantly harsher midrange. I know others have noted the harshness. I could not tell any difference between 60 and 98. At first I thought the 98 might sound a tad cleaner but I think it was just my imagination.
The wagon is obviously longer than the Golf/GTI/R so the spare tire well is maybe a foot farther back. That is so minor a difference that I don't think any bass delay programming differences between 57 and 60 make much difference. There are of course other acoustic differences between the interiors of the two body types, but I think any benefit from going with the wagon programming is outweighed by the harshness of the mids. Even adjusting the EQ did not help the harshness that much. Not sure why they made such different EQ programs between the two body types, but it's there.
My advice to anyone programming the Helix for an Alltrack or Sportwagen is try 57 and 60 both and choose which sounds better in the driver seat.
