Gax

Indeed, and to be double sure of non-compliance don't forget to have that illegal licence plate done in either italics, or that weird 3D floating text that is doing the rounds now. (Not forgetting to take off the front plate and put it in the front window.....for God knows what reason).

The hire Superb I recently had posed no issues on two (or more) lane carriageways, didn't have any problems as described. Where it did worry me a few times was on single lane roads, if a car was parked with two wheels up on the pavement, the Superb would suddenly focus on that and slam the brakes on. I stopped using the ACC on such roads pretty quick! In mitigation, having read the manual online it does say in some circumstances the ACC may lock onto the wrong thing, and that it is predominantly for motorway use. I've seen this left/right debate elsewhere on this forum, and while I am certainly not going to cast doubt on your own personal experience, I'm sure the consensus is that the vehicle is set correctly by default for the UK and by changing to the alternate option in the menu you are setting it up fot use in Europe. I don't know for sure. I'm still maybe two weeks from taking delivery of my own Superb but will check all this stuff when I get it. My MK4 Octavia didn't have ACC, just standard, but I believe the menus still had an option for changing your driving lane....which I think was to automatically adjust the headlights...? I can't remember 100%, I only seen that when I first got the car last December and thought that will be handy for driving into France this summer, which ain't happening thanks to Covid and that I currently do not own a car !!

I also tried my hand at claiming compensation (from the dealership, after Skoda made their lack of legal obligation clear to me) and they didn't even mention it when they settled-up. I got all my deposit money and all of my payments back and, unlike some less fortunate than me, they didn't make any mileage/wear and tear charge, which I understand they have the right to do. A bird in the hand being worth two in the bush, I wasn't going to flog a dead horse and continue to press home a point about my loss of petrol making trips to the dealership, loss of flexi-time from work, loss of petrol left in the tank when I returned the car. At the end of the day, other than my insurance and petrol costs, I had a free car for over five months, so.... I would still recommend everybody aims high with their list of demands when complaining or rejecting, but on the basis of while it is your 'ideal', you will accept less during negotiation.

On my Samsung A42 I had a road trip in my MK4 (its last one before I rejected it!) and did a 102 mile trip to our destination using AA for music (streaming music through TuneInRadio) and Google Maps satnav, spent all day at my destination with the phone switched on and in my pocket, then returned home using satnav for half the distance (I know the way after that) and still streaming music. I distinctly remember being very impressed at having around 40% battery left when we got home. Obviously phone dependant and probably related to circumstances like signal strength etc, but I have always found AA to be negligible in its battery use.

I used AA for satnav all the time in my MK4, I had no idea the next turn displays in the dash. I've deffo been through all the menus over and over, I used to scroll through a few display options sometimes, never seen that. Mine was an SE First Edition....possibly introduced it after that? Or I am a total divvy and somehow missed that!

Sorry - I've no idea if this will relate to the MK4 (my MK4 didn't have satnav) but the hire Superb I had for a few weeks did have it and I found one feature on the satnav very nice... The Superb had a real instrument cluster, not the virtual dash, but still has a small lcd screen within the cluster. Anyway, if you're using the satnav it automatically has the next turn for your journey show up on the lcd screen. You could still configure it to show other options, i.e. estimated fuel remaining etc. But I found it a great feature as it allows you (I mean your passenger of course!) to play around with other stuff on the infotainment screen but it doesn't detract from the driver following the satnav as you still had the next step show up in front of you. Like I say, dunno if that is possible in the MK4 but I found that a neat little trick and certainly something that is not possible when I have been using Android Auto for navigating. And to throw my own tuppence of opinion in on the price...is the upgrade really that expensive? It's cheaper than opting for a vehicle spec that does have satnav, so you're getting the benefit of it without having to pay £1k/£2k or even more for a spec that does have satnav but very little else of additional value. Just an opinion though.

As with the Octavia MK4, the brochure and instructions appear to be incorrect for Android Auto. It IS wireless in both vehicles. I can testify to that from my own Octavia MK4 (rejected) and the hire Superb MK3 I was using. I not only used but also set-up Android Auto wirelessly in both vehicles. I don't understand why Skoda are still saying AA is wired only.

My advice is take everything said by Kate Laws with a pinch of salt. She was supposed to be personally overseeing my case, heard nothing from her for weeks, until after me trying to contact her in numerous ways I got an email out of the blue saying Skoda UK have no responsibility or obligation for any of this, that my legal contract is with the dealership, and to deal with them. In hindsight, my opinion is that me trying to go through Skoda UK initially actually delayed things by several weeks. When all was said and done, I went back to the dealership and insisted this be sorted out immediately, it was all over within 24hrs. People are wasting their time with Skoda UK. Laws' is just trying to protect the brand, nobody AFAIK has reported actually completing a rejection 'thanks' to her. In the end, everyone just says the dealership took the car back.

The hire Superb MK3 I recently had, I think the range got down to about 80 miles left on it when I had to go and refill it to return to the hire company and not sure on how many litres went in (the receipt is long since in the bin) but it cost me £78 to fill the tank and I stopped immediately on the pressure click as I had filled my obligation to the car hire company. I think the most the Octavia MK4 cost me to fill up was about £52. Both will have been around the £1.21 to £1.23 price ranges (talking Morrison's in the north east of England). A £78 fill up was enough information for me on how big the fuel tank is!

This is why you should take your car to the dealer and not pay attention to anybody on a forum!

One of the times the dealer had my now rejected MK4, when I collected the car I got on the motorway to discover this exact issue...only the speed limiter would work. They had to reset the ECU for me to get the acc to work again.

I think someone mentioned elsewhere that if you look behind your rear view mirror (from outside the car) you can see if there is a camera there. If there is, you may be able to get the traffic sign recognition. My MK4 definitely didn't have one.

First off, even having the Shop in your menu seems to be dependent on which variant of infotainment system you have and/or which car variant/spec, as my MK4 SE FE had the Swing radio and no shop, while the loan Superb I had recently had an Amundsen and did have the Shop in the menu. I couldn't access it sadly as you need to be set as a primary user to do so, which I wasn't mucking about with on a hire car, so no idea what is on offer in full, although others have mentioned LED lighting is available.

Is there a previous owner? Just curious as my reject had 4k on the clock!

At least if 'Skoda', as a broad brush stroke encompassing the supply chain, had taken the bull by the horns and dealt with their mess some of us may have had our cars fixed and kept them. Instead many/most/(all?) of us who raised it with our dealerships have essentially had: Dealership - not our fault, we are just the retailer. Skoda UK - not our fault, we are just the importer. Skoda/VW HQ's - silence. The estimated fix dates given by Skoda UK keep moving, there is no assurance Skoda in CZ are even working on this. Software updates seem to trickle down, but without a comprehensive spreadsheet put together covering all of our different vehicle specs, radio types, software versions, problems experienced, software update version no's, etc etc there seems no way of establishing whether any single person who had issues has had a fix that removed all of them. A forum of course being a forum, as rightfully pointed out by @TheUltraRunner as being a place people come to when they have issues, there are several usernames that reported issues when I registered here, but I think they have disappeared. Who knows if they got fixed up, rejected their cars, or just vanished from the forum. I may be wrong, someone may have reported receiving a definite 100% fix, but I don't recall any. I am sticking around as I am finding the Superb forum useful even before I get the car, and I don't mind anyone asking me about my faults and reject etc if they're unsure. And I don't want to put people off buying a MK4 either, if you can get one that is fault free they are amazing cars.

Of course, yeah. I myself only found and joined the forum after becoming frustrated with daily errors. I disagree on new builds mind! That is twice now I have ignored my old man's advce never to buy a new version of a car. I had a poor experience with the brand new MG ZS when it was launched, with a recurring fault the dealer could not replicate but kept happening to me, and then the MK4 Octavia. I will never be first in on a new model ever again.

I suppose it depends on individual peoples level of expectation, problems they are willing to risk having, or problems they are prepared to live with if they strike. I appreciate @TheUltraRunner saying not all cars have issues, and I do not dispute that at all, but nobody knows until they have their car whether theirs will or won't have issues. So that doesn't totally explain people still ordering them. Try as we might, for MONTHS still nobody on this forum has identified a hardware/software combination, version numbers, and build dates that will guarantee NO problems. So, anyone reading this forum and still ordering a MK4 is taking a risk, pure and simple, as there is no way whatsoever of knowing what you will receive. In all honesty, if I had read this forum and had not yet owned a MK4 in all likelihood I could see me taking a chance on one as well, as we all think nah it won't happen to me! So I can't blame people. The reality was that in 20 years of driving I just got out of the single worst five months of car ownership and customer care I have ever experienced in those 20 years. What can I say though, I have a Superb on order, so I am still staying with Skoda. What is that Obi Wan Kenobi quote about 'the fool'.....?!

This is where Volkswagen, Skoda (in CZ) and Skoda UK are at major fault....as THEY must surely know which variant/s of the vehicle do and don't have the faults (or at least susceptible to them) and should remove the errant models from the market, at least for inspection. The consumer in the UK cannot win in this respect though, as the dealers are bemoaning the cars being given to them (and I sympathise with that), and Skoda UK are saying they are merely the distributor of the vehicles (I have no sympathy for them, they should cease importing the MK4 full stop or the suspected faulty variant/s). But this sadly is not happening, as this forum seems to have a variety even of build dates with the faults, and you can still find F.E.'s on sale on some dealer websites as well. I'm keeping an eye on my dealers website, and while my MK4 has not appeared yet I strongly suspect it will just as soon as my finance agreement is showing as closed.

My rejected Octavia MK4 had the Swing infotainment. From the user-info given primarily in the KPH thread, it can be any system, and build, First Edition, not First Edition, any engine type, etc etc.... I wouldn't touch another MK4 with a bargepole, I don't care what supposed differences to my model there are.

My rejection was completed two weeks ago nearly, but my VWFS account remains open (pending closure) in a few days. They have told me absolutely DO NOT cancel my direct debit until the account is closed, otherwise my credit rating could be absolutely destroyed. I would seriously ignore the advice given, that cannot be correct. You will get your money back if another payment is taken.

In fairness and sympathy to Brockysuperb, when I got my (now returned) Octavia MK4 - (currently awaiting a Superb) my invoice made no mention of the one year services. Nor did it make any mention of the RAC cover included. I only knew the details of both having researched it myself on the Skoda website. So don't take it as a given that such stuff will appear on an invoice prepared by a dealership. Whenever I get my Superb, I can let people know if the sales team or finance manager bother including this on the invoice. And for what it is worth...I wouldn't pay a penny for any of the services it offers, plus the app seems to be offline most of the time anyway.

Welcome to the Failed Octavia MK4 club.

Sorry mate but my dealership said all the same sweet talk to me, that they were in touch with Skoda UK. It is meaningless, there is no fix, otherwise this forum would not be littered with people discussing the same thing. The best thing you can do is change your mind and reject now, or wait until they have the car and then reject it (makes it harder for them to decline when the car is sat there). It won't go away though. If Skoda couldn't fix my car or the cars of the others here who have rejected or still have the same faults and are putting a brave face on, why would they be able to fix yours? It is an absolute scandal, but your dealership is doing the same as all the rest, which is simply going through the motions. They will know it is unfixable already. They won't even do anything to it. The dealer had mine for weeks and on the Skoda app it showed the engine as having been started twice in 3.5 weeks. Your car will just sit there while they await this silver bullet software update that never comes. Not only is all of that a scandal, but it is a scandal they are still selling these cars new from stock, and it is known that rejected cars have been going back on sale.

I made my intention to the dealer in writing (by email). The dealer did basically nothing whatsoever for several weeks, other than keep saying to me (whenever I chased it up, they NEVER once contacted me with an update) that they were in touch with Skoda. About what? No idea and not my concern. After around three weeks of nothingness I finally demanded they fulfil the reject immediately. My dealer had a little hissy fit like a petulant child, saying these things take time, but the next day it got sorted miraculously quick. I was in the same boat as you, PCP through VWFS. The process was finalised by the dealership refunding me all of my upfront money (deposit/services) and refunded all of the monthly payments I had made. So, other than insurance and petrol, the car cost me nothing for 5 months. The dealer basically just bought the car back from me using the settlement figure they obtained from VWFS. My agreement is yet to close but is due to within a few days, at which point when the car no longer has finance on it I have ZERO doubt the dealership will put it up for sale At the time of rejecting the car I also notified VWFS, but they did absolutely nothing for me. I would email them so they are aware, but do not expect them to jump in and help. Your contract is with the dealership, so reject the car to them. I STRONGLY advise, from my experience, to do so in writing and insist on ALL correspondence from them to be in writing. You will need this as evidence if you end up going to the Ombudsman. Be firm but polite though. My dealer was totally ineffectual and did nothing to keep me updated, but yours may be nicer and better. So be polite at the start! Don't bother wasting your time, like many of us did, with Skoda UK/Kate Laws etc. They are not interested, you have no contract with them, they will feed you BS and false promises. It's up to you if you go ahead with it, but I can advise you to do nothing else other than reject it immediately. We aren't Skoda's guinea pigs at our expense. You're paying a big chunk per month for an amazing experience, not what you are experiencing. Honestly please believe me when I say that a huge amount of stress lifted from my shoulders by binning that horror of a car.

I rejected and have never felt as good as before I owned the car. You are paying for a car, not years of stress. Think about that and decide.