heavy_landing

I’ve had my Octavia 1.5SEL First Edition for almost 2 years and 30k miles now and the leasing company wants it back. And I’m going to miss it! It took a little while to bond with it - SOS messages, screen blanks, rubbish radar cruise control and the occasional inability to adjust the interior temp didn’t help. But after a couple of visits to my local dealer (shout out to Mitchell Skoda near Chester - amazing bacon butties), it’s running pretty sweetly now. It’s just been so versatile. Lots of room, but not too big. Enough power, although it’s always nice to have more. And enough toys and tech to keep me entertained on longer journeys. And thank you to the blind spot warning for having better eyes than me on a couple of occasions. If I could rent another for the same price now, I would. It’s been used mainly on long journeys on A roads and motorways and it’s average consumption (worked out properly, not via trip computer) is….62mpg. Thank you 2 cylinder mode. What will I replace it with? Who knows? But whatever it is will be more expensive, probably have less features, less room and worse fuel consumption. Progress, eh?

For the UK market, the ‘since start’ data will only reset if the car has been switched off for over 2 hours.

Interesting comment regarding the SOS call fault and radars. I’ve only had 2 issues with the SOS function, both times were passing the end of one of the runways at Heathrow - one at the end of a 200 mile journey, the other when setting off home. Coincidence?

I’ve had the same issue over the last couple of journeys. The only way that I’ve been able to solve it is by doing a ‘service station reset’ (lock the car and nip to the loo/grab a coffee). It’s extremely annoying!

Yep, know what you mean. If I start the car, the current station logo doesn’t show. But if I select another station, then go back to the first, the logo appears. I’m sure that at some stage there’ll be a software update to sort it.

I’ve been very disappointed by the ACC, it does get confused when overtaking on motorways/dual carriageways and doesn’t seem to anticipate enough when slowly approaching a car ahead. Too much unnecessary braking for me. I’ve discussed this with a friend who has a Golf (Mk VII?) and he has the same issues. Unless the motorway’s very quiet, I just don’t use it.

I struggle with the whole idea of this. The car has the capability to do something, it's not going to cost us any extra money to let it do it, but we won't let it unless you pay some extra money. I understand the principles of a free market, but to me it's not Simply Clever, it's Downright Devious and doesn't endear me to the Skoda brand. Rant over.

I've had my Octavia hatch 1.5SE-L First Edition since October '20 and have covered 6,000 miles. Overall, I'm happy; I'm mainly using motorways and A roads, but I'm averaging 52mpg which, coming from a diesel, is way better than I was expecting. It's roomy, versatile, fairly comfy and the apparent complexity of the infotainment reduces with familiarity - but the occasional first gear 'kangarooing' is totally unacceptable and is surely not beyond fixing? And I still get occasional issues of not being able to connect my iPhone via bluetooth or apple CarPlay and there are occasional random glitches (Skoda SOS calls notified but not taking place, sat nav info on mains screen but unable to show on virtual display and various others), but these seem to be reducing in frequency. I do think that the product has been pushed out too early and that the customers are being used as test mules and guinea pigs. Yet do I regret leasing it? No, I don't. Maybe I have low expectations, but the bad bits are merely annoyances to me and outweighed by the good.

Another minor annoyance........traffic report comes on, I want to listen carefully so nudge the volume up.....which causes the report to cancel and return to the original station. Frustrating.

And also, why does the radio station logo not show initially - I have to select another station and go back to the original one to get the logo to appear.

Hmmmm, I don’t think much of the dipped beam. I got quite a shock at how dim they seemed when driving first in the dark on a road that I know well. I struggled initially with the auto hold ‘handbrake’, but know I’ve got used to it I think that it’s great - I never use those two little levers on the centre console and find any other set up fairly old fashioned now.

I’ve got an iPhone 9 and have no end of problems. The phone seems to have a mind of it’s own as to whether it will pair up via Bluetooth; and if it does, there’s no guarantee that it’ll stay paired. If I connect it via Apple CarPlay, it disconnects itself when it feels like. I need to be able to take calls from work when in the car and at the moment I can’t guarantee that I’m able to do so - its infuriating to hear your phone ringing, but not being able to safely answer it. Graeme, are you trying to connect via the smartLink option on page 1 of the Menu?

That’s good news, glad it’s sorted.

Has anyone managed to get the internet radio to work? I don’t seem to be able to find any stations. The handbook isn’t a great help. Many thanks.

Isn’t it within the driving data part of the infotainment - with the option of choosing distance travelled from last refuel, since start (some provisos), or long term? I think that it can also be brought up, and reset, on the instrument cluster.

Thanks for explaining how to set the mirror for reversing. I’d downloaded the Owner’s Manual from Skoda UK and it talks about selecting ‘R’ rather than ‘L’ - presumably, the text has been translated but the left hand drive/right hand drive hasn’t. Silly me. That’ll teach me not to read instructions!

The gearbox on mine is fine, absolutely no problems and was fine from new.

Having driven my Octavia 1.5 SEL Manual, First Edition for a couple of weeks now, I thought I'd share some first thoughts - may be of use to someone. I've mainly used it on long trips - 4 journeys of 200 miles each, 50% A roads and 50% motorways, and brimming the tank gives me a calculated average consumption of 55mpg; that's good enough for me! If you're light footed on the motorway and can get the engine to work in 2 cylinder mode, its extremely frugal. Theres a slight judder when switching to/from 2 cylinder mode, but nothing to worry about. Take up in first gear is slightly odd - I find it difficult to make a smooth getaway, but that could just be me. The infotainment system is complex. And potentially very distracting. If you want to get the most out of it you need to spend some time with your head in the handbook. But seeing as it appears to have been translated poorly, it's not always easy to understand. Driver's aids? I'm trying not to switch off the lane assist on the basis that one day it might actually help me. It's ok. But easy to switch off if required. Active cruise control is slightly disappointing; it's clever, but it's not a human, it can't be expected to anticipate in the way that we do, but it has its uses. There is a speech limit function,which can be accessed via the steering wheel controls, but not as easy as having a single button to access. I've still not worked out how to set the drop for the near side mirror when reverse is selected. And I'm never quite sure how my phone is connected (bluetooth? wireless?), particularly if using Apple CarPlay, but the list of these problems is growing smaller as I get used to it. In heavy rain, there's a large stream of water on the outside of the front side windows, making it difficult to see the mirrors. Headlamps? Not sure what I think yet, but front fogs were used recently and they're excellent. The car has electric, heated memory seats, with electric lumbar support. But for me (admittedly with a back problem), there's not enough lumbar support and I find it difficult to get the seat comfortable. That's not helped by the armrest on the driver's door being way to low to use whilst driving. The armrest between the seats is great, with lots of adjustment, but not getting in the way. But the cupholders are small, don't order beyond 'grande'! The interior is beautifully finished though and so far is rattle free. Forgive me if I've concentrated on the negatives, but that's always going to be the way. Overall, it's exactly the car that I want at the moment - a solid, no-nonsense, economical cruiser which isn't going to set the earth alight. The level of tech inside the car is potentially very distracting, and I suspect that a lot of owners won't be aware of all of the features. If only I could make the seat more comfortable.....