Audi A3 Radio Code

Every Audi A3 from 1996 to 2012: which radio was fitted, where its serial number hides, and what we can do with it.

Your code comes from the serial number of the radio, not from the car — so the first job is getting that number off the unit. The table below is your A3, generation by generation.

Already have the serial? Type it in and we will tell you straight away whether we can answer it.

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That does not look like a Audi serial — check the table below for where to find it.
We never ask for the code you are missing — only the serial.

Which radio is in your A3?

GenerationRadios fittedSerial Where to read itWhat we do
8L
1996–2003		 Concert, Chorus, Symphony AUZ… label on the top or side of the unit Instant if it is in our database
8P
2003–2012		 Concert II/III, Symphony II/III, Chorus, RNS-E AUZ… label on the top or side of the unit Instant if it is in our database

Radio names are what is written on the fascia, not the name of the company that built the unit — a “6000 CD” or an “RCD 300” is what you see in the car. Unit fitment varies by market and trim, so treat the list as the usual case and let the serial decide: it is the serial that determines the code, not the model.

About “in our database”. For these units the code is not calculated from the serial — there is no formula, the code lives in the radio's own memory. Every service that answers by serial, ours included, is reading a collected database. Most serials are in ours; when yours is not, we say so on the spot rather than guess at four digits — and there is nothing to pay for a code we do not have.

How to enter the code in your A3

  1. Switch on the ignition and the radio — the display shows SAFE, then four zeros.
  2. On button-operated units (Gamma, Concert, RCD 210/300/310), preset buttons 1–4 each set one digit: press button 1 until the first digit is right, then 2, 3 and 4.
  3. Press and hold button 5 (some units: OK or SEEK ▶) for about two seconds to confirm. On RNS touchscreens, type the code and press OK.
  4. If the display shows SAFE 1:00, the unit is in its waiting hour: leave the ignition on and it counts down.

Careful: most units lock for good after about ten wrong attempts. If a code does not take, stop and email us before trying again.

Other Audi models

A4 A6 TT