Alien8d

If it had been dirty, I'd probably have agreed with you. The car gets cleaned regularly (handwash), and given there were no visible signs of dirt on the sensor I was somewhat surprised at the failure (does water count ? In which case, we've a problem in the UK ! ). I now just wipe the sensor down once a week (or after a particularly long drive). The tech I spoke to at Skoda said they were exceptionally sensitive systems, but it's still a poor design IMO.

@666djb See my first post. I own a manual transmission, so to allow for gear changes I need to put the cup holders at the back of the centre console and have the armrest up else I can't change gear. Probably fine in a DSG model. Either way, daft design choice IMO

@bigboss - I did wonder what that weird shaped slot was for. Makes sense, except if (like me) you keep your car keys with your front door key, work keyfob, alarm key, work keys etc, it's bl**dy useless..... Also, from that PDF, need to check if we've got the umbrellas (if so, the dealership completely omitted that one from the walkround). Will also get the BT checked out, as I've had complaints from more than one person. @BoxerBoy I'm assuming you got the auto then ? I was tempted, but not a fan of automatics, even with the DSG gearbox (which I will grudgingly admit is better than most). I still enjoy changing gears far too much, even at my advanced age..... @Gizmo Nope, wasn't dirty, just had rain on it. Since wiping it down (as @Bignij did), it's been fine. I do make sure I clean it once a week though now.

Ordered a Kodiaq back in April and had it delivered mid-June. Model was the Edition 2.0 TDI 150PS 4x4 with ACC, tri-zone CC, front/rear parking sensors, rear camera, heated front/rear seats/windscreen and space saver wheel. This is my 3rd Skoda (Superb Mk I, Superb Mk II), so a fan of the brand and well aware of how good/bad Skoda can be in terms of support (and knowledge !). Am now 2 months (and 2,100 miles) into ownership and thought I'd share my experience on the vehicle to date. The good Excellent spec for the price (as it should, it's a Skoda ) Good visibility, and comfortable ride Decent boot space, even with the 2 extra seats. Toys/Gadgets mainly work very well (exception, see below). The ability to connect multiple phones to the system concurrently is a nice touch, especially for someone who uses the vehicle to commute. The bad Poor turning circle, which I was surprised at given it's shorter than either of my previous Superb's. Appears the wheelbase is longer though, which explains it. Mobile reception in the "mobile" cradle is terrible - much better in the centre console. Limited centre console storage (nowhere to put a morning coffee without having the armrest up), and nowhere obvious to put the car key (I'm not dumping it in with the mobile) Seats are overly firm for my liking, although I'm hoping they'll soften up in time I've had frequent complaints that audio quality from the handsfree is poor. Seems to be irrespective of phone or person I'm speaking to. Maps aren't nearly as up-to-date as they could be and navigation search is poor general. A postcode will often just end up in an area with no way to pinpoint a location. Often had to switch to Google/Waze to find a location, then calculate from there. The ugly : ACC "failed" after 1,500 miles (mid journey). Apparently due to poor visibility from the front grill mounted sensor. A quick wipe over of the sensor sorted it fortunately, although Skoda informed me there were only 4 centres in the UK that could repair it had it been faulty. Utterly gutless (and peaky) engine - If I wasn't leasing it, I'd have re-mapped it within the week. Given it's a 2 litre, it's shocking how poor it is. Negatives aside, overall I'm pleased with the car, but there are some quirks that weren't apparent in either reviews or my test drives. I generally prefer diesel cars, but given the current downer on them and the poor performance of the engine in this model, I doubt I'll get one again. Maybe they'll have a decent hybrid by the time it comes to swap the car. The part I was really disappointed about was the ACC failure though. I certainly hope the improve it moving forward, as for it to stop working within 1500 miles of mainly motorway driving is not good in my view.

I've recently parted with my Superb, but when I had it, I'd make the following observations. System had about 14Gb of Music loaded, with the upgraded speaker system and the 6 CD changer as well Speakers are good, sometimes too good, as they can cause the doors to vibrate on anything above about half volume. Sound dampening from the doors is excellent, so if you're someone looking to impress the locals with windows down, bass pumping, don't bother, they won't hear you I subdivided my music by genre, then by artist (and album if more than 40 or so songs to make it easier to search). Shuffle works well, but only within a single folder. You can't use it the way you would an MP3 player / Media streamer and "shuffle all" CD changer is good, easy to use, and sound quality is reasonable. I suspect this may be more to do with cabling as the built-in HD gave better sound reproduction Aux input (in the armrest) was excellent, and often preferred choice of playback. I don't own and iPod so can't comment on the MDI interface SD card was also very good, and was easy to use. Ripped most of my stuff using a combination of WMA / MP3 at 192kb/s, and for nearly all types of music, it was perfect quality. Bear in mind you're in a car with ambient noise, I can't see any point in ripping much above 256, and with sufficient music, you'd run out of space anyway.

Just a quick update on my original post (blimey, was it really 18 months ago I did that !). I've noticed (as have some other posters here) that with some HTC model phones, if you try to download the contacts (ie, using rSAP), then phone will connect / disconnect on a regular basis, and is effectively unusable. A workaround I found was to use a spare Nokia phone I had lying around. Procedure was Insert SIM card into Nokia, and (in my case) using Outlook, update the Nokia phone with my phone list. Create a connection to the Columbus with the Nokia phone Download your contacts list to the Columbus when requested Turn off the engine, and swap SIM card to the HTC phone Now, create a new pairing with your HTC phone, keeping the same connection name (which should be fine, as it's the same SIM card). When the HTC connects, it should now be able to view the contacts you downloaded with the Nokia, despite having swapped phones. Voila, you now have a correct contacts list, using your HTC phone instead. Yes, it's a pain, but as anyone who's used the GSM III setup knows, it's basically designed to work best with Nokia phones, and other systems are invariably a botch job.

v5 DVD ? I can't even get my local dealer to get hold of a copy of v4. Ever feel like the poor relation when it comes to support from SUK ?

In a word, No. The "Connected to RSAP" message is a function of the RSAP module, and short of someone re-writing the original code, it can't be removed.

Definition of "normal" ? If I put up the volume more than about 60%, then the doors vibrate, but you can also hear the stereo from about 50 feet away.

Nope, but I'd have to ask why it would make a difference. Surely the sensor should simply be looking for a lux level reading, not trying to be clever and working out whether I'm in bright sunlight but the sensor is in the shade ?

Nope, strictly within the limit (it's a 60mph zone, but single track with double whites) Added to which, they stay on, and will come back on even if I turn them "off", leave for a bit, then back to Auto.

Only noticed this the other week, and wondered what would cause it. I know the light sensor is located on the windscreen, but I've had a number of instances recently when the lights have activated when driving into direct sunlight. Only thing I could think of was does the sensor have a light angle monitor ? ie, if the sun is too low in the sky, the sensor activates the lights to improve your chances of being seen by oncoming cars blinded by the low sun ? Any techies out there got any ideas ?

Probably - I've never tested it, but the solution should work on that too. Out of interest why are you running WM5 ? Nearly all WM phones should have an upgrade available to WM6(.1), and if it's an HTC phone, you can get free ROM updates from the XDA developers website.

There's 3 people who drive my car. Male - 5'10" with a "lazy" style of driving (back, low, seatback reasonably reclined) Female - 5''7" seat in mid position (I guess about average for most people) Female - 5'2" seat in "can I see over the steering wheel" position (high, forward, almost upright) None of us have any problems with the position of the seat (front/back) or reclining setting, and the system remembers all 3 positions fine. Does that mean we have a faulty unit, or is there more tolerance in ours ?

Well, I've been using it for the last 4 months, and can attest that it works perfectly. Must admit, hadn't seen the FAQ where it said VW/Skoda wasn't supported, but I suspect that's out of date. Here's a screen shot of the DVD once mounted (using Daemon Tools), and it recognises the disc quite happily. Also, here's a link to a thread where I put down what software I use to do my own disc's http://briskoda.net/superb-ii/new-superb-columbus/129195/#post1527491 As I said before, excellent post by Argee, and if you're doing this on a budget, it's the only free option available to you.