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SwissRob

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Posts posted by SwissRob

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    Delightful! Very refined! Lovely colour, fantastic classy combination with the beige interior.  Understand totally why you fell for it!

    Mine is a Black Magic combi also with beige interior. I love it.  I care for the leather once a year with a 2-stage leather care 'system'

    - first with a brush and foamed saddle soap - restores the colour (jeans denim blue rubs off on the beige) and the matte finish

    and then I seal it to protect against colour transfer for 6 months or so. Now 3 years old, still looking like new. 

    All the best, Rob in Switzerland.

    • Like 1

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    I get compliments (even from my garage!) on my almost 3-yr old Superb Combi "Style" professionally externally detailed once a year. I tell them, it's an Audi for less than half the price. 

    I'm really happy with the fuel consumption too - on my 40 mile run to work I can get 5.8l/100 km (40.5 mpg). Not too shabby for a large 220 HP car. 

    • Like 1

    Rear bumper protection

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    Hi ChipUK

    I am sorry to hear what has happened. In the light of your experience, your decision is understandable. 

    I truly didn't have ANY problems at all and I ordered A LOT from them - bright LED lights for the boot door, interior carpets, the stainless bumper protector, the loadspace protector/carpet (extends the whole load bay length and opens to reveal a dirt and moisture resistant surface for carrying rough objects, load nets (very useful) and perhaps more that my memory hasn't retained. 

    I hope you find another source to satisfy your need. 

    All the best, Rob

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    4 hours ago, BigUU said:

    found some more info Rob...

     

    Great, many thanks! I like the idea of the spacers - I think they would improve the stance of mine somewhat.

    Looks a bit tame at the moment. I don't mind being a wolf in sheep's clothing but sometimes it's nice to have a subtle something. 

     

    What are the spots behind the grille for? Scaring the roos away? ;) 

     

    All the best, Rob

     

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    @BigUU She looks amazing, mate! Where do you get all your parts? That would interest me and probably many others. 

     

    My mods are modest (listed elsewhere) but include PedalBox, bright LED lighting for the boot (trunk) folding loading bay mat and a polished stainless loading area bumper protector. All parts from www.superskoda.com 

     

    All the best, Rob (Switzerland).

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted · Edited by SwissRob
    Pic changed

    For @thebigred

     

    As you can see from the above picture, the panoramic sunroof goes all the way to the "C" pillar - so if you have a ride in a superb estate without roof you will be able to imagine how far back it extends. 

    I hope this was useful. 

     

    All the best

     

    Rob

     

    PS I changed the pic from the one you quoted - I think it's a better illustration.

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted · Edited by SwissRob
    change pic

    On 2/22/2018 at 18:25, thebigred said:

    Anyone have a pic of the estate with pan roof? Ideally from the top please!

    Hi @thebigred me again (Rob). It's a cold Sunday morning and trying to snow here south of Zurich. 

     

    I thought I'd take a few pics of my car for you from above to illustrate what I mean about the panoramic sunroof blending into the rest of the roof: 

     

     

    DSC00094.JPG

    The Superb III Picture thread

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    On 2/22/2018 at 18:50, thebigred said:

    Do you notice the extra weight at all?

     

    Hi @thebigred - I don't notice the extra weight compared with an estate without the pan sunroof because I never drove a 220PS DSG Superb Estate without one. 

    My 220PS DSG accelerates very briskly (brisk Skoda!) (0-60mph in 7.2 seconds) so I am perfectly happy. 

     

    What I can say: I never want to be without it - it lightens horrible dark grey days so that you wonder how other drivers can stand being in their dark little boxes on wheels. 

    And when the sun shines you feel you're on holiday :) 

    My beige leather interior increases my sensation of luxury, so I feel Superb-ly superior to many other vehicles on the road (yes, those 'premium German ones too) when driving. 

     

    You asked for a picture from the top of estates with pan sunroofs. 

    Because my car is magic black, you don't really notice the pan sunroof as part of the roof  - the impression is just of a black roof (ok with some lines where the sunroof is, but it hardly stands out).

    If you are planning to buy a light coloured estate, then if I were you, I would request photos of the colour you prefer or red, silver, dragon green, or the various shades of white estates' pan sunroofs. 

    These have the most distinguishable sunroof. 

     

    Because my roof is black and the sunroof too, I am glad  the effect is decent and subtle and doesn't shout "I spent a lot on extras". You have to observe the car carefully to see if it has the pan sunroof at all. That suits me. 

    I get the most enjoyment from the sunroof from the inside (it's awesome, especially for back seat guests) and not from the outside.

     

    I hope this made sense to you!

     

    All the best,

     

    Rob

    • Like 1

    Columbus Sat Nav spoken directions are strange phrases like poor translations

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, D402 said:

    Bugs me that it says A-four-thousand-one-hundred-and-thirty-five instead of A-four-one-three-five

     

    Yes, I have a similar issue that it tells me to "Turn right on one" instead of "Turn right on national (road) one"
    because the Swiss equivalent of the UK's A1 is just labelled "1"

    (The Swiss equivalent of UK's M1 is called "A1").  

     

    To return to the A4135 above, it would need to know that we just say "a four one three five" but obviously it just treats the number sequence like any other valid number, rather than a numeric sequence that should get special treatment. I mean, you wouldn't say "I get paid six zero one two one pounds per year" there the thousands and hundreds breakdown is valid. Telephone numbers are another special case because there is usually special grouping instead of all 11 digits being treated as one number.

     

    So the significance of the number (semantics - telephone, general number, street designation etc.) determines how it is to be treated. 

     

     

    Columbus Sat Nav spoken directions are strange phrases like poor translations

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted · Edited by SwissRob

    21 hours ago, millerhouse said:

    turn "half-left"

    Ah yes, I had forgotten that!  I sincerely believe it is a poor translation of another language. 

     

    In a previous life I worked in a startup that did voice recognition, voice synthesis ('computer speaking') and voice recognition (voice "fingerprinting" to identify an individual). 

    In computer-managed interactions, the grammar of the designated phrases was pre-defined and the appropriate words are a list of phonemes, most or all of which may have been gathered from a recording of a real person recording an appropriate vocabulary.  

    In making such recordings, the position of the word in a phrase leads to intonation which may be different if at the beginning, middle or end. 

    We had our subjects record for example

     

    1, 2, 3, 4, 5 -- 1 at beginning, 2, 3, 4 in the middle, 5 at the end. 

    2, 3, 4, 5, 1 -- 2 at beginning, 3, 3, 5 in the middle 1 at the end. 

    2, 1, 3, 4, 5 -- 2 at beginning, 1, 3, 4 in the middle 5 at the end. 

     

    etc. so you got 3 samples of "1" intonation - at the beginning, middle and end of a sentence (list). Define and do this for all relevant vocabulary: eg. drive, stop, road, lane, motorway, sliproad, exitroad, roundabout, junction, turn, reverse, make, bear, left, right, park, destination ... etc.

     

    So to go back to my original gripe: I know how it's done and if the grammar is not right, this is something that can (and should) be fixed. Also Intonation can be defined correctly, and pronunciation depends on the voice of the original subject (or talent). 

     

    So it is possible to get completely natural sounding announcements driven by computer. The Swiss in-train announcements are a good example. The German language announcements sound perfect to me. (But there is a translation error in the English where it says "Welcome in the inter-regio train to Berne" instead of "Welcome aboard the inter-regio train to Berne" or "Welcome to the inter-regio train to Berne")  

     

    Non-main-language words belonging to other languages is more of a lottery situation and it depends on several things including rules of precedence (if this sound comes before that, then the second sound is different, etc. like kj in Swedish is "sh" instead of the sound of k followed by the sound of j. )  So Linkjöping pronounced by  Swedish text to speech would say Linshöping (because that's the definition in Swedish pronunciation rules)  but not if the system thinks it's getting English text - in which case it might say Link-Joe-Ping" because that obeys the pronunciation rules in English.

     

    But I am getting out of my depth. time to stop...

     

    • Like 1

    Columbus Sat Nav spoken directions are strange phrases like poor translations

    in Skoda Superb Mk III (2015 - 2023)

    Posted

    Hello everybody

     

    In my Superb 3 Combi 'Style' I have the new-style Columbus satellite navigation system. My whole car language, including Columbus is set to English. 

    I use Columbus spoken directions so I don't have to take my eyes off the road which is useful on congested Swiss motorways. 

     

    Here's my issue: 

     

    Columbus' spoken directions often seem like very poor translations into English

     

    The voice I have selected is female, pleasant and originally a native English speaker, so her accent is perfect.

    Often the spoken directions however are often not real English phrases, but appear to be poor translations. Perhaps poor translations from German?

     

    For example "Prepare to drive to the left" is very common. This really means "Prepare to (or get ready to) bear left (or stay left)" - often used when it really means "ignore the motorway exit to the right" 

     

    My problem is that "Drive to the left" doesn't mean anything in English - it specifically does not mean turn to the left (the message for that is correct) - but as a German speaker I understand drive to the left is a poor translation of "Links fahren". which can be "stay left", "bear left", or very rarely "drive on the left" (instead of right like when changing from France to England!)

     

    There are quite a few occurrences of these strange phrases which irritate me since the voice has a perfect accent but is saying something that an English-speaker would never say. 

     

    "In 100 meters drive to the first lane to the left" - (not sure if I have remembered this correctly)  but it means In 100 meters take the first lane on the left or even In 100 meters bear left. 

     

    So the reason I have started this thread is to ask, 

    Is anyone else irritated by strange Columbus spoken direction phrases? What about the other languages in the forum, French, Swedish, Finnish, Slovakian, Serbian etc etc.? 

     

    Moderators - if there is already a topic on poor Sat Nav spoken directions, please relocate this post there. I have searched for such a thread but didn't find one. 

     

     

    Separate issue - handling of words and names which don't belong to the chosen system language. 

    Naturally because of the fact that I am in a non-English-speaking country (Switzerland) the voice has difficulty with the pronunciation of local names (places, streets, directions on signs etc.) which are usually Swiss-German or German.

    The issue of pronunciation of the handling of phonemes not belonging to the chosen language for spoken messages is a separate topic. 

    Some of my previous after-market satellite navigation devices have handled this quite well with passable German pronunciation of local names, some have handled it not so well. 

    Columbus is not very good at it, but I don't expect a system set to English to handle foreign words and names well. 

    There is often a clue that the system could use, since "locale" (for default weights & measures, currency symbols, numbering conventions etc. ) in my case is set to Switzerland (perhaps even Swiss German) so it could use this as an optional scheme for the non-system language phonemes. 

     

     

     

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