VRT24

Front Assist on our MY21 is via the radar that sits behind the square in the middle of the radiator grille.

Although the built in eSIM is only from MY21 models, Connect is still available via Skoda Connect LITE - it plugs into the OBD socket. If dealer gave you a years Connect, then this is probably what has been used on your car - need to check with them to confirm.

Unfortunately I have a MY21 MIB3 Infotainment set up so no direct experience of your Infotainment but.. Have you activated Connect Services in the car itself? It may be that when you are accessing the Connect Portal online (on computer) it is not showing information for the car as the car is not activated and online. Your screen-print says 'information currently unavailable' under Vehicle Status which indicates that either the car is offline or (and quite common) there is a problem with the Connect system on Skoda's servers.

Pos to pos term on battery and neg to the block behind the battery per attached instructions in the manual. Don't connect both leads to the battery.

We also haven't had anything on the breakdown service, although I suspect the idea is that in the event of a breakdown you just press the 'spanner' button in the overhead panel and it connects you. Otherwise it looks like you'd need to call them direct - there is a downloadable brochure on the service here - https://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance

We have voice control on the Columbus infotainment system in our Karoq. Its a MY21 MIB3 version - so the latest. The wife seems able to successfully get 'Laura' to work - e.g. got the system to call my mobile from hers - but sadly I have yet to have any joy with her/it. Even simple requests such as mute the radio seem to confuse her/it. The voice control in my old Merc works fine but is old school in that you have to do a 10 minute 'learning' exercise at the outset so it gets used to your voice - thereafter interaction is around fairly common verbal instructions using the same words for functions (i.e. navigation not sat-nav) - there is no 'conversational' dialogue possible. Guess it reflects the progress of technology over the past few decades, so why shouldn't we see Alexa type verbal interfaces in the car?

Must sympathise with the OP's situation. Those of us that want to look after our 'pride & joys' seem to be a minority - we are surrounded by masses that just don't give a monkeys about other peoples property and I personally feel that PCP's, Leasing and similar car 'rental' finance packages contribute to the attitude ''its only rented, so what will a few dings in the door and / or chips on the door edges matter when it goes back in 2 or 3 years and I'll get a new one to start it all over again with''. At least we are fortunate enough to also have a 13 year old car that we can take to the shops/supermarket instead of the new one.

Couldn't agree more with this! We've taken delivery of our new Karoq and since then (nearly 2 weeks now) I've been trying to understand all the technology and get it all set up and working the way we want it. Its our first VAG car, so having to learn everything from scratch - as you say, the owners manual is poor (with several errors that I've found so far). The infotainment is also meant to have the manual loaded onto it, but if that's the case I'm at a loss to find it. The good thing is that I've successfully set up Skoda ID's for the wife and I, got Connect up and running and paired the keys to the accounts under the personalisation option we took. Must admit as we both use the car, so frequently swap over, its nice to open the car with our 'own' key which then makes seat, mirrors and some infotainment settings to adjust to our individual positions. I'd say the whole set-up process was difficult for me and I'm quite tech savvy - pity those that are less so! The hackneyed phrase RTFM doesn't really apply here, given that, at times, the manual in itself poses more questions than it answers! Maybe I should follow suit and write the 'Dummy's Guide to MY21 Columbus'. Looking at other posts, it seems the dealers themselves often struggle keeping up to date with all the ins and outs of the Infotainment etc. - our guy was as helpful as he could be given a Lockdown 2.0 click & collect handover, and to his credit said he'd happily help further if we phoned him as and when we came up against obstacles. Maybe new car handovers are more comprehensive in normal (non lockdown) times? Cheers.

Hi all - been using the great knowledgebase of this forum for a few months, and as our new Karoq has now been delivered, I've signed up as I'm sure I'll have some questions for other Karoq owners. Its our first Skoda (first VAG car for that matter) and so its been a bit of a steep learning curve trying to understand the Infotainment, Skoda Connect and the personalisation option we took - think I'm there now! Anyway - cheers for now.