RobGy

Hi folks, I know 100% of SFA about car audio, so please be gentle and phrase your answers as if you were talking to an idiot. I have a mk3 Octavia Elegance with (I think) the Amundsen head unit. The stereo is fine 90% of the time, but anything with sub bass, as soon as the bass kicks in everything goes quiet - if I understand what I've read right, this is bass rolloff, correct? Anyhow, I am thinking about adding a compact, budget subwoofer to give me a bit more kick when listening to bassy music like dub and suchlike. As I very much value the boot space and often use the car in full on "minivan mode" with the seats down, I am looking at under seat subwoofers, like the Pioneer TS-WX130EA or the Kenwood KSC-SW11. Will I also need a line converter like the AudioControl LC2i to prevent bass rolloff when using one of these powered subs, or will the sub take care of that for me? If I do need one, where the hell can I fit it that isn't going to take up valuable space? Secondly, how hard are they (both subs and converters) to fit? Is it a "pull your dashboard to bits" job? If so, I might just plump for the fitting cost! Thanks

I was somewhat hoping the dealer I bought it from might be the best one to try for this, seeing if they would part ex the car I bought at a reasonable price and allow an extended test drive or two, but they don't have anything in stock that I'd like (well, that I can afford!)

Ford Focus. Lovely car to drive, not so fun at the fuel station or the mechanic when it comes to getting your wallet out.

I have, and have spent hours trying every tip and trick and every position possible. The only one that helps alleviate the pressure is having the seat so low that visibility is an issue.

that wedge looks much better than mine. Probably worth me trying a more ergonomical one before I get shot

I’ve had my Octy 3 Elegance estate for about 3 months / 5,000 miles. At first go it seemed a remarkably comfortable car, but is now crippling me. I suffer with back problems due to old injuries, and the Octy is exacerbating them big time. Seems the problems are, in no particular order: -hip position causing outward rotation of the legs -position of the pedals causing an awkward movement of the hip when doing clutch work -position of the foot rest block (too high, causing left and right feet to be in totally different positions) -lack of places to rest feet in cruise control -seat base angle not adjustable causing a bad posture in any seat configuration -seat base not padded enough -most tolerable position for “comfort” is bad for visibility. What can I do? I’ve tried a variety of cushions etc and of course every seat position possible. I love the car. Practical, economical and rammed full of tech. Even my wife thinks I should sell it but I’m scared of getting another car, thinking it’s fine at first go and finding the same sort of problems occurring later down the line. Is it possible to get pedal heights adjusted? I've considered getting VRS seats but concerned that they might not help at all and the pedal positions and leg space might be the overriding issue. It’s hard to tell, but this car is crippling me. Any advice welcome! Cheers

I have a 2014 Octy with Amundsen head unit. Dealer says it is too old to enable car play via software update. Are they correct? Would I have to upgrade head unit to get it working, and if so what unit would I need? TIA

Another thought, if this is even possible... my kids tend to not care about the music that's on, they are wired into their headphones. Could I use the power going to those speakers and redirect it to the front, so I am getting better sound in the front with none coming from the rear speakers? When I was a kid there was no such thing as speakers in the back of the car anyway....

Im equally happy coming to you. I'm not working Monday so will be around as plans go so far - will message you over the weekend about that, thanks. Though I'm scared to go in your VRS...it will make me sad for my little 1.6 tdi! Looking at amps, it looks to be a minimum investment of £2-300 before I get onto speakers and sound deadening. I wonder if there is a set of speakers that won't drop the power too much (I don't need max volume), but with the sound deadening will give me the increase in quality I need for a the limited budget that I have. Keeping it under £100 ideally!!

Mate that is the single most useful thing I have read so far about a stereo upgrade thanks! Makes loads of sense. I suppose my next question is, given, as you say, I am stuck with the Skoda head units for the functionality, why do I need the second amp at all? I won't be using a low output aftermarket head unit. Is it because the head unit is permanently set up to give the output required for the installed speakers and this can't be changed to boost signal for the newer, bigger speakers I'll have? Next question is whether it is actually worth changing the head unit to a "better" model. It would be a huge outlay. Funnily enough I was already considering going to source sounds in Chap. I live in Firth Park so it's only just up the road really. I was also thinking about the sound deadeners. It's a very loud cabin overall, and the sound from the current setup sounds almost echoey, I wonder how much of that is down to the car acoustics. It'd be great to meet up thanks! Do you have days when you are generally free-er than others?

/edit just looked at the unit on superskoda. 35 euro isn't bad for such a big improvement

Looks great! Not cheap?? Isn't it just a question of putting LED bulbs in?

Yeah the discrepancy doesn't seem bad, but bearing in mind that I failed to completely fill the tank, the real figure is worse. Still, as the title suggests, this isn't a "fill one tank and give up" test. I haven't yet committed to exactly how long I will keep going, but I'm definitely continuing! 54mpg for the type of driving I've been doing is not bad at all. Some might whine that it's a lot less than the claimed mileage of 70 or whatever it is, but I'm not that naive. 54mpg from a near 2 ton beast of a car, mostly urban driving, carefully driven but in sport mode, with the very occasional bit of spirited driving. My understanding is that the manual and DSG boxes are very different with how the react to the different driving modes. Thankfully there is virtually no difference in the manual if I chuck it in sport mode, it's all down to how I drive it. Gives me extra throttle response which is a safety factor. On a side note related to this, the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned as to whether it's better to accelerate briskly to cruising speed (where you can see ahead that you won't have to brake before you get there) then cruise, rather than slowly accelerate to the sweet spot. I have tried both in numerous cars on the same journey over the last few years and noticed barely any difference - the only difference is when I'm not concentrating far ahead enough and end up stuck in stop start traffic or at lights. I don't rag it when it's still cold, but once it's up to temp I let her rip. It's quite fun.

Yeah the under seat storage looks like a nice option. Not loads of room but every little helps to stop the car getting messy with stuff that is useful to always have. The passenger side has the handbook wallet in - it was clearly designed to specifically fit in it.

Totally understand that Yeah, I am hoping to be able to use the estate boot as a mini camper for me and the wife with a few adaptations, once I've done a few camps in it (so, not likely until spring) I will know what sort of lighting I want in the boot. I am agonising over this. I switched from a Ford Focus which had a fantastic stereo. Seriously good. Wouldn't change a thing about it. Clear and loud throughout the whole frequency range with an incredible "optimise driver" option for when you're driving alone. I also drive a lot, though recent job change has reduced it slightly, and I do really miss the stereo. I certainly don't have the budget for it yet and will need to start small and work my way up. Trouble is I have *zero* knowledge about this sort of stuff. I can tell you what I don't like about the sound, but I don't really understand the detail of the tech you describe there and got a bit lost after "amp inputs". I get what you say about speaker resistance though. I don't *need* massive volume. Very occasionally I will want to listen to some noise rock or digital hardcore at high volume but I also want jazz and radio 4 to sound good

Refilled today. Very expensive Shell V power at £1.42. Maxidot said 57.3, an improvement on last tanks readout by a small amount. However I did not have my head screwed on when I refuelled. Having switched from a petrol car, where brimming the tank can easily damage the vapour canister by flooding it with liquid, I did the squeeze til stop, wait 5 seconds, squeeze still stop, finish there. Am I right in thinking this is not a problem with diesel cars, and it is actually ok to *brim* them? There are so many factors in the fuel supply cut off, how fast it's delivering being the main one as it causes air to back up and once the fuel has settled you can squeeze more in. Therefore my brim to brim calculation is almost completely useless, but not entirely. I did 519 miles and filled up 43.8 litres. Even if I had remembered to brim the tank, this shows that the actual consumption was at the very least 3.3mpg less than the maxidot, and almost certainly even further out than that. Furthermore, although I wasn't expecting any miracles from the first tank of premium, so far if there have been any deliverable benefits they are a long way off compensating for the extra cost of the premium fuel.

Yeah, been browsing Superskoda, but I'm always open to ideas that don't come off the shelf! Some good suggestions there, thanks. I would like all of those bar the VRS door sills (bit silly on a non VRS 1.6!) and the wireless charger (I have a wired-only charging phone). The LED interior lights, what's the pros and cons to them? I have no issue with the current lights, since they only really serve a basic purpose. Intrigued as to the reasons for installing them. How much did your stereo upgrade cost all together? I'd like to do all of that ideally but might have to start with the speakers and see where I go from there. Budget is tight.

Lol one I can't do as I have a manual!

I’m more interested in what the interior of my car is like than the outside. Hit me up with your MkIII Octy internal mods! Diy or otherwise!!

Lol, no, it is nothing to do with that, it was a bad joke about having a heavy foot when there is beer to be had at the other end of the journey! As it happens, the commute is a real mix of up and down hills. First part of the journey there is mostly uphill 40mph dual carriageway, second half is mostly downhill 70mph dual carriageway, and the reverse on the way back. Obviously a bit of 30mpg either side too.

No, it's a tongue in cheek way of saying I floor it on the way home because I'm keener to get home than I am to get to work

One of the biggest variables I have to contend with is the strange phenomenon whereby on my way to work I am able to drive smoothly and gently and achieve 69mpg, on the way home the car always goes faster and returns more like 50. I can't figure this out for the life of me. The wife thinks the Octy might be partial to the odd glass of gin and since there is no gin at work.....

Part of this test is also to test the obc too. Too soon to tell at the moment having only done one brim to brim, using different fuel station too which has an impact I would imagine, and it was about 2mpg off. This was also only looking at urban / semi urban driving, no long motorway runs.

Wow it's been fun reading the off topic wanderings this morning! JR, if you ask me, if the predictions about population growth and demand are all true, then something has to give, something big, a drastic reduction in the human population of earth is ultimately inevitable, but let's not get bogged down by such things. I got 69.9mpg on my commute home yesterday!

E10 can wreck some engines, check before you squirt.