Gabbo

Am I right in thinking a Skoda Laura 2011 is an Octavia Mk2 in Europe?

Any good tool should be able to "scan" the bus to select the correct baudrate automatically. However, I'd hazard a guess that OBD port would be 500kbaud (powertrain modules, CEM, ABS) & infotainemt & comfort modules would be 250kbaud. In the end there are only 4 common CAN speeds 125kbaud, 250kbaud, 500kbaud, 1000kbaud & the middle 2 are most commonly used in automotive applications.

My Carista adapter arrived today. First impressions are that it is quite basic & almost all features are locked behind the paywall. £9 a month, £20 for 3months or £46 for 12 months. If you subscribe to the 12 month plan you can have 1 month free trial (you have to enter your details & cancel before your month is over to avoid being charged). Even basic "live data" & DTCs are behind the subscription. On my Octavia I can make a basic scan of all of the modules in the car. It tells me part numbersetc & that I have 1 DTC in the infotainment unit & 2 DTCs on the CEM but the actual PCode(s) are only shown with a subscription. Clearing the codes is also not possible without a subscription. The live data is limited to about 10 basic parameters, the rest being hidden behind the subscription. The app makes a good job of showing you what you can do for all functions (coding, diagnostics, self maintenance, etc) you just find that the "save" or "enable" button is locked with a "BuyPro" button instead. However many of the coding options it offers are actually already available in the MFD or infotainment. Overall I'd say it's not really worth it. I was hoping for at least diagnostic functionality for free. I guess OBD11 is a better long term choice even if it costs slightly more as it offers long coding & seems better supported by the community. I might try a month free access over Xmas when I have some free time to experiment & change a few settings to see how it works. Gabbo

I would assume Carista/Carly have some kind of log so when you "uncheck" the one click option it puts back what was there before. Sound simple for one change but when you apply multiple changes to one module I guess it becomes harder to know what to walkback. They also mention "5 minute full back of all the ECU settings" which I'd assume should be able to put back the original settings of your car if everything goes tits up. I think I'll order Carista at £23 and give it a go with the free month trial. I've a 2014 Octavia & would like a couple of tweaks & a mk3 Superb arriving but nothing really that I wanted to "activate" yet. Afterwards, I'd only need it for OBD purposes (had a few 1time errors on the Octavia recently) which would be good to understand. Gabbo

https://www.amazon.de/Carista-OBD2-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Tool/dp/B0BBS73F6J

Compared with Carly, Carista appears to offer the same functionality for a lot less. https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/skoda/superb/mk3 The adapter is currently €23 on amazon with a 1 month free trial of the subscription features. Again 1-click app style rather than long coding. Their website also gives a clear list of the functionally that is currently supported by their app (see link above). 1 month afterwards is €9.99 or €50 per year.

I just checked the Carly website & it seems they have upgraded their functionally somewhat since I last looked. Their website is a bit vague on what you get (and for how long, 1 year or life) but it seems they offer a similar 1-click coding functionality like OBD11. However, I can't find it they offer the long coding method (so you can see what you are changing and the original values). For simple changes it seems like a cheaper alternative than OBD11 but there's no way to confirm is speeds the coding you want without buying it. It just says "unlocks all Skoda features"

Maybe checkout the latest reviews of OBD 11. Since the summer this year they have almost doubled their prices & made changes to their bundles (no free credits included & no free credits from watching adverts in the app). I am waiting for my new car to be delivered & was pretty sure I'd buy an OBD11 pro (1 year subscription) which was €60 on amazon.de at the time. I decided to wait until I got a delivery date to maximise the time for my subscription. Today, I don't find them for sale any longer on amazon (de or uk) & from their own website the same bundle is €99 plus additional shipping. It still seems like the most complete mobile solution today & despite the subscription model, you probably wont be making coding changes for more than a year. You're most likely to apply the mods you want in the first week, maybe try out a few others & then use is as a diagnostic reader as your car gets older afterwards.

Plus the cost of subscriptions for navigation & whatever else that want to offer like integrated apps, wireless carplay etc I hope you are able to resolve the situation. Maybe you can ask them for free servicing for 1 or 2 years or something like this as a compensation for their mistake if they cannot add the rear wiper?

A wiper can't be so expensive if the garage provides the labour & assuming the electrics are already available. Might be worth to start a new thread about the difficulty of a retrofit as there are a few people on the forum who have useful info. Still a bummer though & I'd be hoping the garage could modify or reorder your car with the spec you wanted even if it might mean an extra delay. What about cancelling your order completely & making a new order? (Assuming the dealer pays the cancelation fee? )

In Switzerland it really depends where you live & whether you go to the mountains for skiing often. I'm by lake Geneva and it's rare that the normal roads here are affected by snow (maybe once or twice a year but they are always quickly cleared). But if you live above 1000m or drive to the mountains at the weekend for skiing then you will encounter snow & bad road conditions constantly for the winter months. I'm not a big skier but take the kids for lessons every weekend during the winter so I'll take winter tyres. I also like to change the wheel during the winter to keep the OEM wheels in better condition avoiding the snow, grit & antifreeze on the roads.

You can always contact Skoda UK if you get a unsatisfactory answer from the dealer. Headliner colour I could live with but I can't believe there's an option to not have a rear wiper... As it's a mistake from the dealer, they should offer you something as way of compensation or retrofit it once it arrives? I just received a call from my dealer & despite having no information on Tuesday, he now has a build date of 30th-Oct (CW44) which is just over 2 weeks away. Fingers crossed it should arrive early/mid Dec.... I guess most of the time its a question of whether they can be bothered to actually look properly into your request or they give you the easy answer "no news".

Fingers crossed it doesn't impact your build date. I called again yesterday & still nothing on my side... 🥲

I'll get back onto mine as things seem to be moving again..!

If they offered this (where it doesn't transfer between owners) this would be interesting for those who want to keep a car a long time & a good money maker for Skoda from the second hand market where users might get a cheap car but would then have to buy Nav, connected services, functions (heated seats as BMW, or maybe ACC, lane assist etc).... If not for the current nervousness of the Chinese brands entering the market, I'm sure the European manufacturers would all have banded together to go down the annual subscription route already. It's an especially important new revenue stream for them as new EV cars will theoretically cost much less in maintenance than ICE models & today they make nothing out of 2nd/3rd/4th sales.

This is also the reason I was hoping for an earlier delivery so I could enjoy the end of the autumn with the car before needing to change the tyres to winters. If it arrives after November, I'll be changing the winter wheels as soon as I get it home 😞

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/business-software/skoda-stops-including-sat-nav-shift-downloadable-features It's sad to see Skoda going down this route but I guess it's inevitable for all manufacturers in the not too distant future. Glad I got my mk3 ordered

Actually on the Swiss website you can still order a superb...

Interesting to know. I'll go back to the dealer with this info in hand. I was waiting for the mk4 to be officially unveiled before asking the same question. I haven't been on the Swiss configurator since ordering but I'll go and check it now.

Any news your end @Paulinkeighley ? No news from the factory was what I was told again this week...

I guess it's not critical & it's always been consistent but I've never owned a diesel before that needed a oil top up between services. 15k km is less than 10k miles.

It's from 2014 so I assume it's a CUPA. It's serviced every 12 months for the last 10 years at the same Skoda garage but it's always been on the variable service interval as I do >30k km each year. 1L every 15k is not that bad in the end but my previous cars never needed a top up between services. Dealers have always said it's "within spec". As there's no signs of oil leaking it would also fit with the issue described in the threads. It's 10 years old now & hasn't missed a beat so far but will probably go in the next year or so as im waiting on a new Superb.

Somehow I've missed this thread but my TDI vRS also has had a slightly high oil consumption most of its life. I usually put around 0.75-1L of oil every 15k km so its not at all as terrible as the owners in the thread but I usually have to fill it at least once between yearly services.

I guess it's to meet the new emissions standards with minimal changes to the existing engine... Maybe readying a 300PS vRS for later in the line-up? (Rofl)

I really like this look too! DigiCamo could be a nice dealer accessory option.