YTT

I've got a 3 month old 280 L&K. In the Maxi dot assistance systems menu, I've got an entry for 'Side Assist'. If I select it, it says 'Function Unavailable'. It is also in the vehicle setup menu, where it goes further and says 'Side Assist (lane change assistance system)'. Selecting that also gives 'Function Unavailable'. What is it? It's not Front Assist, Lane Assist, Rear Traffic Alert or Blind Spot Monitor - there are separate menu items for them. It's not in the manual and a Google search brings up more-or-less nothing. What does come up implies it's blind spot monitor. Any ideas?

I totally accept what you say. In all likelihood, it probably works fine most of the time. But it puts enough doubt in my mind to steer away from it. And the darkness around right hand bends as described is a very real problem that I've had many times. But here's the rub. Do I actually see any better with SLA? No, not that I've noticed. In fact, the mesmerising light patterns (good description) and concern as to whether I'm blinding the oncoming traffic are actually a bit distracting. One thing I've really wanted to do since I got the car is to go out with the missus on a dark road (!), me in her car and her in the Superb and do a few SLA passes. Just so I can experience what it's like to be on the receiving end of it. That might change my mind.

It appears the tech behind the two is the same - http://www.skoda-auto.com/en/models/new-superb/safety/. Although I've been getting my terms mixed up. By HBA I mean High Beam Assist, which is what it was called in my old Audi. On the web page quoted it's Auto Light Assist. In the manual it's Light Assist. The idealised animation on the web page looks great, but I find in reality I get a bit of a light show and I'm not convinced the beam is always blocked to oncoming traffic. Problem is, it fundamentally stays on high beam, so if the the oncoming traffic gets sight of it, it's blinding. On winding, up-down roads I know there are times when cars get my full beam in their face. And the beam shaping is all a bit slow. Worst thing for me is passing a car just before a right hand bend. The beam on the right hand side is shuttered down, car passes, you're starting to turn to the right - and it's pitch black for a few seconds as the shutter lifts! If you look at the animation on the above web page, it's for driving on the right, so this issue would be for a left hand bend. Imagine the road in the diagram bends left just after the two cars pass. See the big un-illuminated area that you would be turning into? In reality, the beam doesn't restore as quickly as that animation suggests, so the area to the left is dark for longer than implied. With Light Assist it's simple. Car coming the other way, switch to low beam. Car passes, high beam back on again. And it's quick. Basically what you would do manually.

I've tried the different settings for switch on time and it didn't really help. Having used it for a while now, I don't like SLA and wish I'd never specified it. And you cannot just switch to HBA only, which IMHO is much better overall. I've got a growing list of things that I'm hoping can be re-programmed and the ability to have HBA only is one of them, however that might be achieved.

I haven't had that, but I can believe it. It's like all these things, Skoda (and probably everybody else) are careful to call them 'aids', because they are far from foolproof. I wouldn't want to be in a driverless car that relies on them....

Because in my last car, cruise only controlled the throttle. In reality that means that if you hit a minor downhill section, the car just coasts in cruise rather than brakes. You gain a bit on the car in front (if there is one), but 9 times out of 10 you don't get too close and you don't gain excessive speed. When it flattens out, normality is resumed. With braking, the bloody thing is constantly bleeding off energy unnecessarily to keep the speed at precisely the set value.

TSR is great. Picks up the variable speed limits on motorways. The missus was very impressed! As for SLA, personally I prefer HBA. It's simple, another car, coming at you or in front (from the rear), lights dip. With SLA, there's blanked off areas going all over the place and in some situations, they block the light in your direction of travel.

There's another option I'd like - cruise control that doesn't apply brakes.

If wooyay is right, there's no fuel injected into the engine when coasting in gear. But by applying a a bit of throttle to maintain the speed / distance that neutral coasting gives you, clearly some fuel is going to be injected. Is that going to be more than the amount required to idle the engine? I'm guessing 'yes', because at idle only enough fuel is injected to overcome losses at idle speed. At something above idle, as with coasting in gear, the losses are higher, so more fuel needs to be injected to overcome them. Clearly, the losses that occur by the wheels having to drive the engine when going downhill in gear are higher than if you don't have to drive the engine (neutral coasting). I know that because I don't go as far or as fast when coasting in gear. The question is, does it take more fuel to overcome those losses than to idle the engine. I think yes and so does my mpg meter, but feel free to correct me, I'm no physicist!

I agree. When coasting in gear I get a lot of engine braking on my 280. When coasting in Eco, it's amazing how it retains speed and the distance it goes. To achieve the same speed over the same distance when in gear would require some level of throttle input. If you judge it right, you can roll everywhere. I've been driving like this for years! It's quite fun - say I'm going between a couple of roundabouts a mile or so apart, I'll give it some beans initially and thoroughly enjoy the acceleration as the mpg plummets, then roll the rest of the way to the next roundabout. By the time I get there, the mpg is back to where it would be if I'd just driven sensibly!

This relates to Racechip boxes that add power and torque. The Racechip XLR does neither, it just changes the throttle response. There are quite a few posts on Briskoda about the effect on warranty / insurance, if you want to have a sniff about.

Good point. It also occurred to me that given the time of year, there is also a high current consumption early in the drive as the seats, steering wheel are up to max! However, I still see the same effect on milder days, without all the heaters on. Furthermore, all my cars for as long as I can remember had cats, but they didn't exhibit the same characteristics. Their fuel consumption meters got up to speed fairly briskly. Although maybe the cooled exhaust manifold means it takes longer for the cat to heat up... From http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a10201136/why-volkswagen-uses-a-water-cooled-exhaust-manifold/: "Plunging the hot exhaust passages through the cylinder head's coolant paths allows a cold engine to get up to operating temperature much more quickly, reducing wear and improving fuel economy. It also reduces exhaust temperatures, a task that's usually accomplished by running a richer (and thus less economical) air/fuel ratio."

I agree. I think the tyres are the main culprit and I'll be changing to quieter ones when the time comes. Noise does seem to come from the doors, but I won't be sound-proofing them, too difficult. But I'll do the easy bits - bonnet, boot etc. I'm not expecting great results, but worth a try at the price. I don't think noise in general is excessive, just higher than my old CLS.

I like the coasting feature of Eco, but not the drive characteristics. I've tried setting it to Eco in Individual mode, but it's sluggish, even with my Racechip XLR. I want coasting, but in normal drive mode! I don't know if there's a technical reason why coasting isn't a global setting you could apply to any drive mode. Seems like such a good feature, why would you limit it to just one mode? I've always used coasting extensively on my previous cars. Judged right, it does make a significant difference to consumption and brake pad wear, would you believe. I'm not particularly bothered about fuel or brake pad costs, I just like driving that way!

Had my 280 L&K for 5 weeks and I'm delighted with it. Put a Racechip XLX throttle tuner on it and set it to 'Race' - goes like a rocket! No real complaints. I tend to use my old Mercedes CLS500 as a yardstick when comparing the Superb. The only areas that are noticeably inferior are ride quality and noise. Not a lot and not enough to bother me. I have DCC in sport mode and it can happily deal with anything I can throw at it. Noise wise, I bought a NK Group soundproofing kit because they were doing a Black Friday deal! I'll be fitting some of the easier bits over Xmas and it'll be interesting to see if there's any difference. Normally, I wouldn't bother, but the Superb is so damn good, it's worth a go, just to try and make it perfect! In all other respects it's great. To get a CLS at anything like the same spec would have cost me double.

My 5 week old 280 comes up in D rather than E after a re-start. Have to switch out of Eco, then back in to get E drive back. Doesn't make any sense to me. I don't typically drive in Eco, but I do like the coasting function that you get in that mode. I don't suppose anyone's figured a way to get coasting in normal drive mode? VCDS mod?

Coming in late to this topic, found it by accident whilst looking for something else! Anyway, for my tuppennysworth, something strikes me as odd with the fuel consumption figure on my 280 (that I've had just over a month). It seems very slow to get it's act together and give me a believable figure. Initially, I get a low number, say 22mpg and it takes a long while for that to creep up to the figure I usually end up at, around 30mpg. Now I accept that the consumption will be higher from a cold start, but I actually expect this effect to be less than other cars I've had, because Skoda make a big deal out of the fact that coolant is run around the exhaust manifold, which gets the engine up to temperature quicker. Which it does, typically within 3 miles for me, even at zero degrees outside. So I think it's reasonable to assume that any excess early consumption is done with fairly quickly, after which it should be reasonably consistent. But the consumption figure drags it's way up to 30mpg eventually, maybe taking 25 mins, then stays there. At the end of my 6 mile journey from work to home, there's a bit of bypass just near my house where I typically give it some beans for the first bit, about 0.5 miles, then coast the rest of the way up to the roundabout (maybe another 0.5 miles). In my previous car, I could watch the consumption clock up during that coasting phase, 2-3mpg. On the Superb, it doesn't do anything like that. So back to my original point. There's something odd about the way it measures consumption, maybe a stupidly long averaging time? Whatever the reason, I wouldn't believe the figure for at least 30 minutes after start!

Some years ago I had an acquaintance who worked in the service dept of a main dealer (Ford, I think). I recall him saying that they loved warranty repairs, because they were 'easy money'. The manufacturer reimbursed them for warranty work. In fact, they would go out of their way to find anything that could be put through as a warranty repair. If that's still the case, then I'd imagine the dealership wouldn't give a monkeys if they saw a tuning box. This is an old memory of a throwaway conversation, so feel free to correct me!

Perfect! Just what I needed to know. Thanks very much.

Just ordered the Racechip XLR throttle response thingy. Downloaded the manual to get an idea of what it takes to fit it. Noticed several posters saying it's an easy job. Don't suppose anybody's got any pictures (connections etc)? Any problems with the 'preparation' stuff ("With the driver’s door open, lock the car. Wait about 10 minutes before starting Step 2, as all current consumers must have switched themselves off. For cars with “Keyless Go”: after locking the car, place the key out of signal range (about 10 m from the car). If an alarm system is fitted: disable the alarm before starting installation.")?

I had a rummage around trying to find the spreadsheets I did working out all the costs of leasing / PCP deals I've been offered over the last few years, but couldn't find them, which is a shame. But I do recall that when everything was taken account of, both for buying and leasing, buying always came out on top. Not so long ago, the norm was to buy and sell your car privately. Or it was for poor people like me. Buying from a dealer was upmarket! Now, it seems people feel more comfortable buying from dealers and usually part-exchange their current car. Which is all very cosy. As far as possible, I still do it the hard way! I had to buy from a dealer, because I wanted new with a long warranty this time. But I went with one that was a long distance away, because they had the best deal. I was lucky enough to have an old diesel to put in as scrappage, which I had to drive that long distance when I collected the new car. It only just made it! Then I sold my existing car privately, which was a ball-ache, but got me £3200 more than the best part-exchange / We Buy Any Car deal I was offered. Net result was being better off by about £9k compared to buying at prices I've seen people mention on here, part exchanging their existing car and without scrappage. That's a big number for a bit of effort. Although I did get fed up with the avalanche of eBay EMails saying 'what's your best price mate'.

Agree with dealer comments. In my experience, buying used from a dealer is no better in any way than buying privately. Buying new is the only way to have some measure of support. I’ve looked at leasing, PCP etc, but it doesn’t matter how I do the sums, it always works out more expensive overall and comes with limitations. When you buy, you have the stark shock of depreciation when you sell. With leasing, it costs more, but the expense is spread out, giving a perception of being cheaper. There’s a whole world of finance out there that depends on that perception! Although I appreciate that not everyone can stump up the full buy price up front.

That sucks. Mind you, I had the same when I sold my Audi TTRS in October. There didn't seem to be a lot of activity out there in the car buying market. Every single person that did show any interest just hammered the price - there literally was no other criteria. I suspect anyone selling an Audi / BMW / Mercedes also experienced poor sale prices / high depreciation. I advertised on eBay and Pistonheads. Not a single enquiry via the latter. I don't advertise on Autotrader anymore, as I've always had a poor response. It seems to be more of a shop window for dealers. eBay attracts more interest, although be prepared for a lot of time wasters trying it on.

I just took a quick look at Autotrader. Cheapest year-old 280 is a Sportline at £24500 and it doesn't look like it's got many options.

My old TTRS was a stiffer ride with better damping. The problem was the stiffer ride - better damping but being knocked about all the time. I've found the Superb a bit odd in this respect. In general it's fine, I said before I drive / corner faster in it than I did in the TTRS. I see some kind of irregularity in the road approaching and I cringe, because in the TTRS it would bang it's way through it. But in the Superb it just absorbs it with a mild 'donk'. However, there is a certain type of pothole that seems to bang right through the Superb. Not often, but it does happen. And here's an interesting thing, the other day I had cause to go down an unmade road with some nasty potholes. I thought I'd be clever and switch to 'comfort' mode and it was dreadful. Switched back to 'sport' and no problem. Obviously bumpy, but in a much more controlled way. Every car I've had that was renowned for it's handling was also a bumpier ride. You pays your money you takes your choice. From a lifetime of experience with motorbike handling, I know suspension is a VERY complex subject and very difficult to get right. And even when you get it right, it will only be for a certain range of conditions. I'm happy with the Superb suspension so far. If I had a gripe (albeit not a big one), it would be road noise from the tyres. When I change them, I'll be doing a bit of research into quieter types!