Gax

I was, sadly, one of the mugs who bought an MK4 Octavia. I had an SE FE. It was the single worst experience of any car I have ever sat in, never-mind drove or owned. It was just a horrible horrible car, riddled with technical bugs. I do sometimes check in on the threads I used to contribute to on the Octavia forum and it basically looks like in the year since I got my car very little has changed. I would not recommend one bit that you take a chance on the MK4. On the other hand, while my MK4 was off the road for six weeks (before I finally rejected it) I had the use of a manual Superb. I found it very similar to the Octavia in the driving of it, i.e. the size is similar, as are many of the tech-principles, but every single thing on it worked. When my Octavia was rejected I had to look for a new car, and was able to get a great deal through a workplace scheme. This did mean my choice of Superb's was limited, as not every dealer participates in the scheme, and I wasn't able to spec a car for myself. What I ended up with was a DSG with several options added already. There was not a single manual available to me. I decided to go ahead, not having drove an automatic for about 20 years, but I can honestly say I am glad and actually am finding my driving experience has only been massively improved through going to a DSG box. I would strongly recommend you consider a DSG. You still have the option of using it as a manual, and I often do while descending steep hills, as I do tend to find the car puts itself into low gears with some enthusiasm and for me I find it revs too high during descents, especially long descents, so I usually take over manually in such circumstances. For all other use I am happy for the DSG to control the gears. As far as the tech goes, I can assure you that in five months of ownership I have not had one single problem with this car, nor did I with the loan Superb. I repeat, not one problem. Contrast that with the Octavia, where I had reported faults back to the dealership within my first month, which continue until I rejected the car five months later. Mechanically, I guess as I have only had the car five months (from brand new, 0 miles) I will leave it to someone else to comment on that long-term, but put it this way I haven't had to contact the dealer about any mechanical issues experienced so far. I genuinely can say that this is the best car I have ever owned, hands down, so I can do nothing but recommend one.

Just to add, it returns when you get to X mph (I forget what), but you do have to be moving forwards before it returns to its normal position. You may also have to set the reverse-position as well before you can use it.

I went out for a spin last night (almost literally, given the snow) and checked my own and I have 5 Live on DAB. This is in the north east, so presumably delivered via the mast at Pontop Pike. But I have it, so sounds like an issue in your region.

Are you searching for it on DAB or via web radio?

I think the app is perfectly fine, the issue is with the Skoda server frequently being down. Not the app programmers fault.

Ah well that is the manual being clear as mud as usual, as it says It is possible to switch on within 30 minutes of switching off the ignition, which I had taken as meaning if you switched it on say 29 minutes later it would run as long as you wanted it on, but I guess that means it would run for 1 minute then shut off. Thanks anyway!

Ah okay, sorry I didn't get where you were coming from. Personal preference I guess. Part of it for me personally if I am doing a long trip I don't want my phone plugged in all day to keep the battery charging while using Android Auto as it does deplete by a decent amount on longer drives, and every battery only has a finite number of times it can be recharged. Bearing in mind you already have to charge a smartphone almost everyday already, it is just depleting the phone's lifespan when there is a perfectly good satnav in the car. I suppose some people may have very limited data plans on their mobile as well. I actually prefer the Skoda satnav anyway as it is proper full screen, which Google maps currently is not. Bringing it back on topic to the key, I've luckily never used it beyond a test, it's just as I say a contingency and it cost me nothing other than an emailed photo of my driving licence to have the dealer activate it for me. It's there is all. And I have actually stood happily filling the car up and suddenly thought JESUS! when I have remembered the keys are sat in the drinks holder and the doors are all closed. The manual DOES say the car locks itself after a certain time, with the keys inside.

Yes, I have sent routes to the car via the mySkoda app to the inbuilt satnav. I still don't understand what Android Auto/Carplay has to do with anything.

Good thought. I suppose the fan would probably noticeably decrease in output if the battery was about to die. As I mentioned in another thread today, the Skoda manual is utter guff. It would take one short sentence to advise if/when it switches off. It's not like you need battery power to start the car or anything...

The key... It IS possible for the physical key to be locked inside the vehicle. Being able to unlock the vehicle via the mySkoda app is an excellent insurance policy to mitigate against that. It may never be used, but nor are most insurance policies. You may also lose the car key entirely, again this will get you into the car if necessary, although won't start it obviously, but you may desperately need something that is locked in the car. What has Android Auto/Carplay got to do with lock/unlock ????

I still haven't bothered ever connecting the car to my hotspot, but may do soon and see if a satnav destination will arrive straight away. It's on my list of things I may finally do someday, alongside setting the position so the passenger mirror dips when I engage reverse!

Mine seems set to variable servicing, as it's four months old yet the car tells me it is not due to be serviced for another 540 days or something, sounds like yours is the same. My local dealership when I purchased a two-year service plan, told me nah just bring it in after twelve months as standard, again sounds like yours! My car came from elsewhere in the country incidentally. There seem to be so many differing opinions on service schedules that I do basically intend ringing them at the 12 month point to book it in, and if they raise a query re the service schedule I'll deal with it then. I would have any car serviced every 12 months anyway. The manual for my model for the service schedule states only: If the vehicle detects that a service visit is necessary, it will automatically send this information to the service partner of your choice. The service partner will then contact you and schedule the service visit with you. Hence why I will ring them at the 12 month stage, will mention the days remaining to service as quoted by the car at that point, and take it from there. As with many things from the Skoda manuals, this is another area that is as clear as mud.

I don't recall in full, it is somewhere toward the end of the general settings I believe, it will be somewhere such as in the software version etc. I have used it. I had a courtesy Superb while my MK4 Octavia was (not) being looked at for six weeks (which I then rejected and bought a Superb). I'd used the satnav for a ton of places and logged in using my settings and I simply could not be bothered to logout and delete the satnav saved items etc, and it took two seconds to do a full reset instead. Skoda had jerked me around so much with the Octavia I frankly didn't find it my problem someone would have to set the car settings up again. I did a reset when I rejected the Octavia as well. As I say, can't quite remember where the setting is, but both times it took me seconds to find and use it.

Now that autumn (aka winter) has arrived for those of us in the UK, I have had cause to give the 'Rest' button a try after having been stopped for a while (engine off) but wanting to stay warm while I am sat. It works just fine, only question I have is over whether it has an auto cut-out after a certain time. Some of the car functions (i.e. stop/start) are dependent on the battery state, yet this feature seems to work fine no matter when you press it (engine off of course), but I've now sat a few timea for a good 10 minutes with it running away happily heating me up, and in truth it is making me a tad nervous I may run the battery down. The manual says you can activate the feature for up to 30 mins after switching the engine off, but it doesn't say if or when it may shut itself down. Has anyone used 'Rest' until the point the car has decided you have had enough?

Regarding routes, do you mean sending routes from your phone/app to the car requires a sim or hotspot? I've sent and received some routes, while others have never turned up, but (of the ones received) I have never connected the car to a hotspot and nor does the car have any additional sim or anything further in the way of added sim's.

Okay. I think beyond the old uninstall/reinstall suggestion, that is where my 'expertise' ends. Hopefully someone else can make a suggestion. Although one other thing I can think of for now, do you have data/location sharing enabled in the car? I'm wondering if that may have an effect, just as I have mine set to full sharing and it works. I know from other threads people have had the odd thing not work and it may have been linked to them restricting sharing. I'm honestly not sure how the car's own internet connection works incidentally. I was thinking previously it only connects when you start the car and headunit, but it surely must be permanently connected to be able to successfully lock/unlock my car. I don't know for sure, but can't see how else this works as the car is not connected to either my mobile or home wifi network, the headunit has to be on to connect to bluetooth, and it certainly does not use the phone's NFC (the contactless connection you can use, amongst other things, to pay in shops using your phone), so there is no other way to receive a lock/unlock request I can think of other than via the cars internet connection. I also thought the Skoda app's info reports (about fuel, lock status, are windows open etc) was taken from a goodbye handshake when you turn the car off, but now thinking this is real-time data, as you can refresh it in the app. Again leading me to think the car is permanently connected, again having me wonder is this linked to location sharing.

Regarding how close you are, that is irrelevant. The function works over the internet, so you press either lock/unlock on the app, it should ask for your S-Pin if you have one set-up, and it then sends the request over the airwaves to your car. You could be 500 miles away and it should still work. Why it isn't working for you.... Assuming you are definitely dealer-verified, does your mobile phone have either a data or wifi connection when you are trying this? If not, you may have an answer there already. If you do have a connection, there may be something else. I could suggest the app is just being flaky, if you try at random times it may suddenly work. I have tried sending satnav routes to the car about 10 times now, and they have probably only ever arrived to the car about 4 times. Try uninstaling and reinstalling the app. There may be other ideas, but it's a process of elimination I guess. Does it ask for an S-pin when you submit a lock/unlock request?

Full factory reset is possible, though you'll lose everything else as well.

The dealership I used for my (ill-fated) Octavia purchase (and rejection) is showing exactly zero Octavia's either as 'Dealer New' or 'New In Stock'. The only Octavia's on sale there are used with mileage. There may be something to this.

Watch out for the exciting new update folks! I had a message pop up yesterday, after setting off, that a new update was available. It did allow me to press a button to see what was in the update, but (rightfully so...) it won't display the information until you stop the car and knock the ignition off. Full of Christmas Eve-esque excitement I finally ended my journey and got ready to dive into the list of amazing new features... To discover that apparently there are minor fixes to T&C's and the registration process (as far as I remember). Exciting times indeed. Edit for a p.s: This is on Amundsen, however someone on the Octavia MK4 forum has noted an update yesterday, for which they can't decipher what the updates were, so perhaps the same update is being sent out across the board, as presumably the areas being updated are identical regardless of model etc.

My Superb updated yesterday and it did bring up a screen (only when I had stopped driving) that said it was updates to T&C's and the registration process. I imagine the T&C's and registration are identical across the models, so yours was perhaps the same update.

I think for me with DSG it's fine as it restarts pretty much immediately, but I can well imagine it being a bit disconcerting potentially having the 'wrong' gear selected in a manual after not realising the engine has just shut down. I do have to say I'm surprised how many people dislike stop/start at roundabouts though. I certainly don't drive like an old granny, but in four months of owning the car I can only think of maybe two times at a roundabout I've thought 'FFS!' when the car has cut out just when I didn't want it to. I'm certainly not suggesting this about you, but the feeling from many of the critiques I have read about stop/start and roundabouts is that they probably come from the kind of people who pull out in front of me onto a roundabout I am circling, when they only have a metre gap before I plough into them (which sadly sems to be about 80% of people at roundabouts these days).

I find it curious that for my car the PSI does not have weight-based guidelines. It simply says 33psi, end of. There are no alternate pressures to correspond with alternate loadings. I don't think I've ever had any other car that didn't have two PSI recommendations.

I actually find myself paranoid that pedestrians might think I am useless and stalling the car, as often the engine will cut out before I get to a complete halt but it cuts back in immediately as the car in front has started to move before I have even stopped.

Were the mirrors dry, i e. no moisture, no ice before you tried this? In which case you won't notice anything, they don't glow red or anything when they're up to temperature 🙂 Easy test: when you are next going out, put some water on the mirrors before you go, and switch the dial to the heated position. If they work then the water drops will dry up within a few minutes, where normally they'll just stay there unless you go at motorway speeds for half an hour. In the Superb it activates when you turn it to the heated position, I imagine yours will be the same.