dbskoda

Hi, I'm looking for some advice pls. We have a 2010 suberb SE with Columbus fitted & the columbus has gone bust. No display, no sound... As my wife uses the car now & she didnt use the HDD/bluetooth/phone functions of the columbus & has a separate garmin nav, she just wants an straight forward CD/radio. So, I was thinking of a £50 pioneer unit from Halfords with a facia adaptor & wiring harness. Is it just as straight forward as that? does the columbus output straight to the speakers, or is there an external amp I need to consider? We've got a local auto electrician who can (he says) code out any error messages we might get. Thanks for any advice. This is the facia adaptor I was looking at: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-SUPERB-2008-to-2013-BLACK-SINGLE-DIN-STEREO-FACIA-ADAPTOR-PANEL-FASCIA-/361589543430?hash=item54306a9206:g:j9UAAOSwtJZXWTf7 Head unit we are thinking of is Pioneer DEH-1800UB

I had one fitted by Red Cap garage when I got my 60 plate back in sep 2010 http://www.trailersandtowbars.co.uk/ I was put onto them by the Skoda dealers in a town nearby. They had the job done when they said & it seemed ok. I didnt have the towbar preparation fitted on the car (owned it from new) but that wasnt an issue for them. Ive noticed the tailgate has been rubbing slightly on the top of the bumper, but its only noticable when its open (and clean!) I've had a problem with water collecting in the spare wheel well & that I think was down to a grommit that had come loose where tha cabling leaves the car & goes out to the electrics socket. I refitted the grommit & it seems ok now. I hav the Fixed Westfalia bar fitted with a 13 pin socket & cant fault it. When the alarm is set on the car, its activated if the caravan is disconnected, it disables rer fogs on the car so you dont get blinded by the red shining on the caravan. It also disables the rear parking sensors so that dosent anoy you when reversing. Im due to change the car this year & if I get another Superb I'll probably get Red Cap to fit the bar again. The Superb is fantastic for towing, set the cruise for 60 & I sometimes forget the van is on the back - thats with the 140, with a 170 Im sure you'll have no problems.

Didnt see the parachute on the options list when I ordered my Superb - Maybe its a 3rd party thing??

Ive got a FIXED westfalia on my estate & no probs with the reverse sensors. It is a swan kneck rather than a flange & cost me about £400ish and that was with coded electrics as well. Company was Redcap garage in Blackburn (NTTA approved as well), no hesitations about recomending them, they did a fantastic job, a neat cut under the bumber as well. - they really were top class. The local Skoda dealer told me where to go to get it fitted, aparently they send their cars there for them to be fited. Mine has the 13pin electrics & I tow a caravan with it, so the electrics also check the 'vans bulbs & so you dont get the beep beep when the indicators are on. Also its monitored on the alarm, so if the van is attached & the alarm is set, if you disconnect the vans electrics it triggers the cars alarm. All in all another fantastic toy on a fantastic car. oh, and in the columbus, you get a pic of the 'A' frame of the van, & it disarms the reverse sensors when connected. Also stops the rear fogs coming on the car when its hitched. Really really clever. I know what you mean about the £'s, but it really is money well spent. Shop around, look at the ntta website for someone in your area & also see if they'll code the car. I think Skoda were going to charge ~£30-40 for that, so factor that into the cost. I like the idea of a fixed, as it give my car parking sensors for other people in carparks, if they park too close to the back, they need a new bumper When you get it fitted, get the rear bar back from the fitters (like Phil has said) so that if you do take it off, you can put the car back as standard.

+1 here as well if at all possible? Really appreciated.

I've not noticed that, but when we had a cold spell the other week, (not too cold, but down to about 4C) I had to have the heater on full to get any sort of useable warmth out of it. This was from the start, but on a half hour journey it didnt get hot, & just put it down to the body of the car being cold & a lot of space to warm up - I'm not looking forward to driving in the winter though! I was quite envious of our Scandanavian freinds with their remote control heaters .

Hmm, <from memeory> on the MFD , go to the phone menu, scroll down to bluetooth & select, then find media player. You then need to do the pairing malarky. Once connected; on the columbus press setup & I think there was an option to enable bluetooth media (or something like that). To stream via bluetooth, just press play on your phones media player & it makes the connections & switches the radio (or whatever is playing) to it. like I say, thats from memory, so it might need a bit of playing with. I play podcasts from my HTC Desire, I dont use it as a phone (in the car) I've got my works Nokia for the phone, so I dont know how you'll go on with the phone/mediaplayer in one? Good luck!.

Added Nokia 6500 classic. I've also got my HTC Desire connected as a media player for streaming over Bluetooth - so so cool

The SE does have the cornering lights on it and yes they do make a difference - its another nice touch on the Superb. You will however have to explain to people that 'no you dont have a faulty fog light - its supposed to go on & off like that' Enjoy it when it comes. When I first got mine, the seats were really firm, but now, 5/6 weeks & 2500 miles further on & its actually quite comfy. When my wife sat in it for the first time she hated the seats & said can you send it back? - Errr NO. She quite likes it now, but its difficult to get her to admit it.

linking to photo- upload your photo to photobucket.com & click share (or something like that); this will give you a load of url's, copy the one for forum use, then when you're posting on here, click the insert image icon & paste the link into there - I think thats how I did it?? As for the colour, it looks more like the amethyst its supposed to when its in bright sun, on an overcast day (and when the car is mucky) it looks more browner somehow, somtimes almost a light bronze colour. One morning there was some dew on the roof & the morning sun was shining on it & it looked like real amethyst sparkling in the sun. I'll try & get a pic if circumstances allow again. I'm running 2 monitors on my pc at the momnent & even the colour in the pic changes depending which monitor its shown on. Its one of the colours you really need to see in the tin. I've seen the Cappuchino on a saloon & it looked really smart.

1800 miles on my 140CR Estate (SE) & thats showing just over 51 on the MFD, real is about 49.5ish. Thats about half/half urban roads & Motorway (M60, so some of that is @ <20mph at times grrr). Acording to the Skoda website, the max torque is @ 1750-2500rpm, which is bang on for the motorway, at 70, its doing about 1800rpm.

hmmmm, I was previously towing with a 1.8 petrol Laguna (100k on it!) so I think I might notice aq bit of a difference Heading over Blubberhouses to Harrogate, we were down to 2nd gear - not funny really, good job there was a crawler lane.

Lovin it! I got it early Sept & I'm still getting used to it. Recently been driving (mainly) Pasat hire cars for about 18months! The seats (alcantara/leather edges) are firmer than I was used to but If you get them in the right position they are fine. Not quite as comfy as the Passat r-life ive been driving previous. The engine is delightful, oodles of torque (its a 140CR), you need the rev counter to check its still running! at idle,its ~900rpm, at 30 in 4th its doing about 1150rpm, hardly being used, 70 is <2000rpm. The gear change indicator is useful on the motorway as I keep forgetting about 6th! I think the problem is it sounds like other cars @ 70 when its in 5th, but then gets quieter when in 6th. Motorway speeds are quiet (a LOT quieter than other estates I driven). The cotrols on the cruise are not quite as good as the Passat I gave back in Sept, but I think thats just me needing to adapt to them. After 3weeks of driving (~1500miles) they're getting second nature now. I went for the Columbus upgrade (on SE) plus the bluetooth phone kit. It is fantastic. Brilliant piece of kit. lack of 7 digit postcodes is a slight niggle, but the other benefits more than make up for it. A feature that brings a massive smile to my face is when someone sends a text message, you can either read on the Columbus,on the MFD, or the Colubus can read it out!!! Totally amazing . MPG is good as well, currently showing 51 on the MFD, actual works out to be 49. I'm happy with that on a new engine. The main downside (if you can call it that) is the p.... taking at work about the size of the car, comments like "wheres your 'Long Vehicle' sticker", "do you know your taking up two spaces with that car", "have you got ropes fornt & back to moor it? Its the size of the Queen Mary!", Oh and because of the sunset glass & the colour in the bright sun, it gets called the pimpmobile I used to have a Scenic as a company car - awful...truly awful car. The worst car I've had (and I used to own a Marina years ago!), then been in Vectras & Passats for 19 months whilst I got sorted with the Superb. It was worth the wait. Overall, its got the right name - it IS what it says on the tin!

Well, I went for the fixed bar in the end, it was more expensive than the other fitter, but I felt better about the guys that did it (Redcap garage @ Blackburn) plus if there are any problems, theres only one place to go back to. Really neat job as well. So far, no interference with the reversing sensors - fingers crossed it will stay this way

Yay HH, thats what I'll be dragging as well, got my towbar on today (fixed Westfalia) - looking forward to the next few weeks