Gax

Okay, for what it is worth or not, I have stop/start activated at all times.

I'm talking strictly eco-mode here.

I was about to suggest comparing numbers to make this worthwhile, but see @MASKO has beaten me to that. I can chip in then by saying I use ECO mode on every single trip since getting the car a few weeks ago. Same thing as well, as soon as the MODE button lights up I switch to ECO. I live in the countryside in a hilly area (the Pennines) so it is literally impossible to go anywhere without climbing/descending and vice versa, several hundred feet within moments of setting off, and on return, so I should be burning through petrol (and brakes sadly). I can report via mySkoda the following (on my 1.5 DSG): (Total) Distance: 1509 Average speed: 30mph (which does surprise me!) MPG: 47.0 There are two decent motorway journeys in there (one of 170 miles, one of 260) and around town pottering for shopping etc (hence the 30mph average I guess). I can't claim to know for sure, but logic would suggest that a car of this size/weight and the predominantly mountainous driving I do, ECO mode can surely only be giving me fuel savings in comparison to the other modes available.

When it became apparent my MK4 Octavia was to be rejected I gave up any care of it in terms of cleanliness, so then add in the six weeks I waited for my Superb, it must have been about 5 months since I last washed a car. So I'm with everyone else on the agony front, after it got it's first full wash a week ago. The front alloys were absolutely MINGING from all the dust coming off the new brakes as well ! Glad the car is silver though, it doesn't look dirty at all unless close up!

I don't know that anyone would come down on Skoda UK. As they went to great pains to stress to me, they are merely the importer of the vehicle and no buyer has a contract with them. Under law I would imagine the buck stops with the organisation who supplied the contract to us as buyer. It is their problem to take it up with whoever supplies the vehicles for them to sell. That isn't me saying nothing should be done to Skoda, but Skoda who? While it isn't for me to defend them, I can see the point of view of Skoda UK, as they actually are nothing more than an importer I guess. The dealers are handling rejects on a car by car basis and Skoda UK clearly do not accept every MK4 is affected, so they won't stop importing them. It really needs taking up with Skoda in the Czech Republic, but I can't see any organisation in the UK influencing that. On a person by person basis though, the fact remains the buyer has a contract and you have to go through the issuer of the contract and then the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman is your next port of call, but that is dependent on you having raised a complaint with whoever your contract is with (which isn't Skoda UK), and the appropriate timescales have passed to allow you to escalate.

After my experience with them I find it very difficult to agree with that statement!!!

My MK4 is still untaxed and presumably still sat at the dealership, where I seen it some weeks ago looking virtually abandoned in their wasteland compound out the back. Which makes me think there should be a change in law requiring a vehicle reject to be identified via the V5. I am assuming the V5 for my MK4 will show the dealership as the last owner (as they had to settle my PCP to buy the car back from VW FS). What the V5 won't show is that the car has been sat untouched for getting on for three months, nor the reasons why either. I don't find it fair at all the next buyer will never ever know the history of the car.

Ah yeah, forgot about heated mirrors. First had them on the Octy, they are a great feature actually. I didn't include some stuff I have, like cruise control, as I've taken that stuff as a given for years. I wouldn't entertain buying a car without CC, I forget they are often billed as an upgrade!

Ironically, when my Superb was delivered I was chatting to the driver who told me his Dad had just sold his Mercedes and had huge problems trying to get a copy of his service record. That was the payback for his loyalty of using his dealership for servicing. You basically can't win, whatever you do...

Upgrades on mine were: Heated windscreen. Untested as it is summer. Heated washer nozzles. Untested as it is summer. Rear wiper. Have used it a few times on rainy days, but I lived without one on MK4 Octavia for the five months I owned it, so it isn't a life-changer. Rear view camera. Hmm....I look at it, but just as part of my routine of looking all around me all the time. It really isn't necessary in my opinion, if someone absolutely must have a rear camera then they should relinquish their driving licence. I should point out the car was already specced when I ordered it, I wouldn't pay for gimmicks, which is frankly all any of these things are. EXCEPT FOR HEATED SEATS!!! I used them on the loan Superb I had in early spring and they are brill.

I believe it is to stop anyone using the car with your personalisation settings, so the option to disable the s-pin is basically telling the car you are happy for all drivers to use the main login when the car starts up. Which may also be why the data-sharing message appears, to advise whoever todays driver is (and their passengers) that their location is constantly being shared. @VinzClortho I never turn my head unit off in the Superb either, but I do receive the message on each start-up. (I don't mind though, although the apparent anomalies are curious).

When I had registered in both cars with both keys it tried to get me to use an s-pin, but both times I have selected the tickbox that allows you to not need to punch in an s-pin. It sounds like we basically can't win, as you either have to punch in an s-pin or bypass that and still have to punch in an 'Okay' to dismiss the data sharing message. @Andyb100 seems to have an additional issue though if it comes on randomly. In my Octavia (for all its problems) and the Superb I got/get that message within seconds of starting the car, but it correctly doesn't display again once dismissed.

Okay, interesting... Let's compare more notes then. I have my account set-up, having registered on the infotainment using both keys. I don't use an s-pin to login. (Bearing in mind I am in a different model, but the principles appear identical from my experience with my Octavia).

My Octavia MK4 used to do it and my Superb does it. I have it set to full data sharing, maybe that is the only setting displays the message? I'm guessing it may well be, hence for the GDPR reasons outlined it has to display the message. On the lowest setting it perhaps won't show the message, as there'd be no reason for it to do so. But then no location sharing and no help following an accident... I know it's easy for me to say and it's different strokes for different folks, but it's just one of those things at start-up I don't think about. I don't find it any more onerous to press 'Okay' to clear a message, as I do to press the button to switch the radio on. You say it does it when engaging reverse - is that just as you are putting it in reverse when you have just started the car, or as in even if you have been driving for an hour and then engage reverse it does it then?

I'm pretty sure that is in the manual too. You are controlling data, which includes any passengers, and are therefore subject to GDPR. As a real world example (which honestly was at least in my manual!) you may have a new passenger in your car who objects to their data being shared (and it is, even if just their location) then you have the ability to and have to adjust the data sharing setting so it does not share the car's location. This is why the message comes up every single time you start the car.

This is all covered in the manual. It's about the level of data sharing you make available via the settings, the more data you share the more and better services available to you. If you choose to restrict the data you share, and opt not to share location data, you won't be getting rescued if you plummet down a ravine.

They're pushing the new EV now but the petrol model I had was launched in 2017 I think. Dealer support for me over a few issues was bad, hence going to what had been my usual independent garage for servicing and to look at a recurring issue as dealer was hopeless and not interested despite it happening just a few weeks out of the warranty stage for said issue. Nice looking cars and decent runner etc for the cheap price, but I commited the sin of being an early adopter. I didn't learn my lesson and got a First Edition MK4 Octavia and no longer own that either!

What I mean is that I guess at least at a dealership they are seeing the same cars come and go all day every day and know the quirks, issues, remedies etc, whereas an independent is working on a 1998 Ford one minute and a 2017 Citroen the next and doesn't have the feel for each brand. Case in point, when I had my MG ZS it went to the independent for what I thought was a minor issue but he had to go on google to find what he thought was the remedy. As he was telling me about this it became rapidly apparent he had been reading an old MG owners forum discussing the old 1990s ZS and not the relaunch 2018 model I had! This doesn't happen at a dealership.

I've just entered into a two year plan for my new Superb, which costs £396 in total, but am paying by DD for 24 months at £16.50 to spread the cost and not be whacking out a full service charge immediately before (hopefully) taking it on holiday each of the next two years. That comes to £198 per service and I get in year one an oil change plus any other fluids topped up to 0.5l with no additional charge, and in year two oil change, inspection, and pollen filter change. Is the price a rip off? That is subject to debate and each to their own, but here is my experience of the last service I paid for: I had an MG ZS from new and took it to my usual independent dealer for its first service, which also comprised nothing more than an oil change. After VAT it cost about £125. So you are talking just over £70 more for effectively the same thing. At Skoda however you are also getting the additional fluids if needed (which I appreciate may not come to £70 more elsewhere), diagnostic checks, any major software updates applied, and a proper Skoda-technician inspection of everything else. I am grateful I can afford the extra cost to keep services with the dealership for now, so I don't consider it a rip off as I am willing to pay for it. Now ask, is the independent ripping people off charging £125 for an oil change? Undoubtedly. I'm no fan of dealers (see my threads in the Octavia MK4 forum about rejecting my Octy a few months ago...) but am no fan of independents frankly. They aren't there to help us, they are there to make money. So ask whether you'd like to be ripped off by amateurs or professionals and decide!!

My biggest issue is having to remember to disable ACC whenever I pass a cyclist (which is a lot round these parts) as these cars are (not yet) smart enough to recognise the bike 2 metres to the left for what it is (a bike) and not try to match your speed to theirs!

Great stuff, thank you.

I had an excellent example of the ACC doing its job yesterday on a single lane road... A car joined from a side road with zero notice and more than a tad naughtily, but did have his foot down. I had been doing 60mph but the car rapidly decelerated me to about 40mph to match the bozo in front. The car definitely didn't do a 'front assist' to slow me down, but what I am really unsure of is whether the car braked at all or used engine braking to slow me so quickly, if that is even possible. Either way, what I cannot determine from the manual is whether this would be classed as a braking intervention and thus display the brake lights, or an ACC action and not display the brake lights....which runs the risk of the following vehicle meeting a rapidly decelerating car that is not telling them they are decelerating beyond the drivers own perception of speed and distance. Anyone know?

I had the virtual cockpit fill up with the red warning, with nothing in front or to either side, and yep it slammed the brakes on and tried to bring me to a complete halt for no reason. As I have mentioned before, it doesn't bear thinking about that happening at 70mph on a motorway, in the rain, on a curve, and yeah let's throw in 'at night' for good measure. If it can happen for no reason at around 20mph it could happen for no reason any other time.

I had this, your dealer needs to reset the ECU.