Jim2015

MikeCT: the satnav works as well as recent destinations. ItalianJob: we bought our car from Derek Slack Motors. It's our 5th Skoda from them and they provide an excellent service. Minor issues since the new control unit was fitted: voice control kept coming on at random when we chatted so I switched it off but the LH button on the steering wheel still activates it. A couple of error messages regarding key battery low and LH DRL faulty but not true. The main issue is an inability to link Skoda Connect or MySkoda to the PC and iPad. It always freezes up on 'Be patient!!'. My image is there as Prime user, but a padlock is also there so I can't access it. The service manager came today in his own time and spent an hour trying all methods to unlock, without success, so next week I'll be taking it to the garage. The problems are minor and bearable now, so rejection is unlikely. I'm hoping that an updated control unit and/or software will fix the remaining issues. Otherwise the car is excellent in every way: comfort, performance, economy and looks. After nearly 2500 miles we are averaging 92mpg and I've only refuelled with petrol three times. One aspect which impresses me is the regenerative braking: except for when manouevering or coming to a halt, I don't need to use the brakes. If going downhiill I manually drop a gear or two, which significantly increases the braking.

Very helpful MiniNinjaRob. I'll look for a Meguairs bucket as well as Scott03OTT's suggestion of a microfibre mitt. My bugbear is dirty windows, so I regularly use Invisible Glass and Rain-X. The car was parked under trees recently, so it was covered in sticky stuff. After yesterday's heavy rain, I washed the car, hosed it down and then left it out for the next shower to rinse it again. No air pollution here next to the coast!

Thanks SC03OTT. I'll look for a microfibre mitt. I agree with your final comment - it's a pleasure to wash and polish a car properly.

Thanks SC03OTT. I'd be interested if you could report your techniques - it could help me to be a better car cleaner! No lingering dirt after my powerful hosing down! I don't follow the two bucket method either. I just wash the wheels after everything else. (As an aside, the Octy iV has the easiest rims ever to wash, in part because the regen braking does most of the work, so there is no brake dust.

Please explain! The brush has soft bristles and I hose it before use. It has a long handle so I can reach the top of the roof. The squegee is a soft silicone and the 'leather' is a very soft material, regularly wrung out. I don't detail the car, so my methods are basic, but I've been cleaning my own cars for years and they always look like new. Too many horror stories about car washes, if not correctly maintained and hand car washes are either useless (eg supermarket car washers as they don't hose the car down first) or manned by exploited poorly-paid people.

I mainly use Autoglym products. I wash the car with a soft brush after hosing down the car thoroughly, use a squeegee to remove the bigger drops, then dry the car with a leather. Every third wash, I use Aqua wax - spray it on the wet car, use one microfibre cloth to remove the water and another one to polish the car. Inside windows and the outside of the windscreen are cleaned with Invisible Glass and the exterior windows with Rain-X (it smears if used on the windscreen). Tyre dressing occasionally and super resin polish twice a year. Their scratch removal kit is excellent for minor scratches and Polytrol is good for reviving tired-looking trim. Scotchguard protects the cloth seats. I did use snowfoam for a while, but find that it's not needed if the car is cleaned thoroughly. I use a Karcher jet wash in winter to remove road salt from under the wheel arches and the bodywork. Gummi Pflege twice a year to keep the door rubbers supple and a squirt of silicone spray in the window runners.

Our Octy iV is back from our dealer and everything seems to be working correctly. I cannot fault them for doing their best to help me. It’s been in a couple of times, but last Friday the service manager at Derek Slack Motors sent the following e-mail: I have a new vehicle on site that I have tested and all the save functions etc work correctly so my plan was to swap the Control unit from this vehicle to yours (there is little point ordering a new unit as it may come with the same glitches yours is suffering least this way we have a tried and tested new unit). Then once the technical team come up with a fix we can then either swap for the latest version or update accordingly but at least this way you have a fully functioning vehicle. Yesterday the control unit was swapped over and coded, test favourites were added, the car was left overnight and they were still there this morning. I collected it and everything works correctly, including the satnav. The car was collected on May 11th and it has taken 4 months of effort to get to this point. It’s taken a lot of e-mails, stressing how much we like the car but it was spoilt by the software issues. I did say I would reject the car if it wasn’t fixed and chose a replacement so that we could exchange quickly. I sent copies of the e-mails to my contact in the Executive Office at Skoda UK, the MD (he claims that he reads every e-mail ) and the dealer. Things seemed to progress two weeks ago when I asked VWFS the procedure for rejecting the car. The Skoda UK contact has regularly 'phoned and kept me up to date, so once she made contact with me, I felt more reassured that Skoda UK was taking my complaint seriously. Incidentally, reference has been made to changing the Infotainment screen, bur as this is just a display, it’s the control unit which works the various functions. Skoda refer to the control unit as a 'MIB' unit, which is the latest development if the multi-media interface (MMI) introduced by Audi in 2002 so after a bit of research I've found this quote: Modular Infotainment Matrix (MIB=Modularer Infotainment Baukasten in German) is a new architecture intended to solve a challenge that is becoming increasingly urgent – innovations in consumer electronics and rapid gains in computing power are being introduced at speeds that are much faster than the product cycles of automotive manufacturers. The central computer in the modular infotainment platform, housed in the glove box, comprises two main units in a single housing – the Radio Car Control Unit and the MMX (Multi-Media eXtension) board. Along with its working and flash memories, the plug-in module integrates a Tegra processor from Nvidia, which can handle all online, media, voice control, navigation, and telephone functions. The new architecture makes it easy to update the hardware; the fact that the MMX board can be swapped out ensures the system is always up to date. If any other problems arise, I’ll update this post.

To delete a favourite, select it, then on the bottom right of the map is a solid white star. Press it and then you are given the option to delete it.

Our satnav is the best I've ever used. Type in either address or post code and off it goes. I've used voice control to take me to, for example, Morrisons Scarborough and again off we went. The swing bridge in town is closed at times and the other day, with satnav off and about 200 metres away just before the car park I had a spoken warning that the bridge was shut. Very impressive. The only fault is the inability to save favourites but I may have some news soon and will post it in a new thread, if it's successful.

This is an exctract from the handbook. Requirements for driving with electric drive ✓ The high-voltage battery charging status is suffi- cient. ✓ The driving speed is lower than 140 km/h. ✓ The sport mode of automatic transmission is not selected If you kickdown in e-mode, it will also select hybrid mode and remain there.

Whilst our Octy iV is at the dealer for investigation, we have an Octavia Mk4 2 litre diesel DSG estate as a loan car. No faults and everything works as it should, so there is hope that our iV can be fixed. The loan car has a 2 litre diesel engine, not sure about whether it's 116 or 150 PS, but the acceleration is impressive and over a distance of just over 2000 miles, it's returned 60 mpg.

Our iV is in the garage for investigation and the loan car is a Mk 4 diesel estate. No faults at all and a lovely drive.

I've just filled the tank for the third time. 736 miles on 35 litres and 92.5 mpg since new. Computing petrol and electrical power, the total cost for 736 miles was £67.72 or 9.2 pence per mile. (£22.90 electricity and £45.82 petrol). Once I have the Octopus Go off-peak rate of 5p/kWhr, the same journey would have cost £52.71 or 7.2 pence per mile. As a contrast, our Karoq averaged 32mpg, so the same journey length would have cost £104 or 14 pence per mile. So I'm likely to half annual fuel costs. Incidentally, the loan car will be an Octy iV estate, so we can still take our dog with us.

I have commented on various threads about the issues I've had or others have experienced with the Octavia iV. Today I took the car to the dealer for them to confirm the issues I have, primarily the inability to save favourites. The service manager entered a couple of favourites, we left the car for fifteen minutes and they had gone. He then went to confer with Skoda technical, taking a timed and dated list of the 'glitches'. I then had the option of leaving the car with them and taking a loan Octavia iV estate, or having our car collected next week. As we'd like to go out this weekend and take our dog (we have a guard) plus Skoda techys don't work at weekends, our car will be collected early next week and kept for a few days. The dealer has been excellent throughout and is doing the utmost to fix the problems. Both the service and sales managers have Octy iV's and none of their vehicles have any issues. I was taken for a drive by the sales manager to demonstrate how well the battery charges in hybrid mode with 'auto' mode off and I can confirm that his satnav works perfectly as we had a look before the drive. Both the company Octys were supplied a month or two after ours, so perhaps there is hope of a cure. Oddly, all three have the same software version, so changing the MIB might be a solution. I love the car and would be very reluctant to reject it (it's still an option) because it's the best car I've ever driven: comfortable (my wife has a bad back and has said the seats are the most comfortable she has ever sat in), the performance is stunning and yet the economy is almost unbelievable: using the remaining petrol plus a full battery, I'm likely to have covered over 800 miles on the latest tank of fuel: in 1900 miles, I've only refuelled twice.

The Octy iV has a 3,5kW onboard charger, so a higher-rated wall charger will be no better than a 13-amp socket. However, an answer in another thread stated that a wall box was being installed whilst grants are still available to future proof the owner as in future an EV may be purchased.

The Octavia iV has an onboard 3.5 kW charger, so there is no point buying an expensive wall box. A waterproofed 13-amp socket would be cheaper.

I ased my contact at Skoda UK how the 12 volt battery is charged, since there isn't an alternator and this is the answer I received. I can confirm as your vehicle is a Hybrid model hybrid vehicle it does not have an alternator. Your vehicle is equipped with a three-phase current drive which can act as the sole drive for the vehicle or in combination with the combustion engine. It also performs the tasks of the starter and alternator. While driving your vehicle it will put a small percentage of charge back in to your battery through recuperation. However, the main battery re charge will come from physically plugging your vehicle in to be charged. Regarding your 12volt while the vehicle is in Hybrid mode I would also advise you to refer to your owners manual. This will explain the system in more detail specifically relating to: • Starting and driving • Select Drive • Operation Press the mode button You can see the state of charge in hybrid mode Driving with hybrid drive - charging the high-voltage battery operation Driving with hybrid drive - Maintaining the state of charge of the high-voltage battery » Operation. This replenish the HV battery when vehicle is in motion not the 12v battery which maintains its power from the HV battery. VagProf's reply on an earlier thread was more helpful on this matter.

When I set 'Sport' mode, one of the parameters set to sport is the suspension. As I don't have active suspension, what is being changed? I can't find any information in the handbook.

Thanks VAGProf. You are good! Whereabouts in Belgium are you? I used to do some work for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and always stayed at the Ariane Hotel in Ypres/Ieper. My wife and I liked that part of Belgium so much that we used to stay on for a few days holiday. Great food and my favourite beer - Leffe Blonde. I've seen the Last Post at the Menin Gate a few times and it always moved me. My apologies for going off-thread moderators.

Thank you VAGProf. That is an excellent answer. I used to monitor the battery voltage in our previous car, a Karoq. When coasting, the voltage was around 14 volts and when accelerating it dropped just as you described. I've noticed that in Hybrid mode on a long journey in our Octavia iV which results in the 400 volt battery dropping to 1%, it then remains there but the car seems to begin moving in e-mode until the IC engine kicks in. If the car is taken on a very long journey, with no recharging facilities and you say that the IC engine doesn't have an alternator, is there a chance that the 12-volt battery could have a reduced capacity such that the IC engine wouldn't run?

Thank you Dave.

From my post on this thread dated 20th July: 'The 12 volt battery definitely charges at the same time as the 400 volt battery. I have a voltmeter plugged into the 12 volt boot socket and occasionally monitor the resting voltage, (which varies between 12.4 and 12.9 volts) but as soon as I plug in the main charger, the battery voltage increases to above 13 volts.' Checked again: it rises to 13.1 volts as soon as the main battery charger is switched on and drops again as soon as it is switched off. I'll check the resting voltage tonight and tomorrow after an overnight charge of the main battery. Note: when on charge I can only monitor the battery, not the voltage produced by the charger supplying the 12v battery.

Could you please explain what CarPlay is and how to access it?

Our Octy cruise control indexes in 5 mph increments - lever up or down - and 1mph increments - button for down and lever forwards for up. It can also be set to a chosen speed if the CC is off and the lever is in the ready position. Alternatively, if turned on from the 'off' position it holds the current speed. Whichever method used, the response is very fast. Also, the set speed is shown on the virtual speedo and even if the satnav is off, if the speed limit is exceeded once, the limit is shown and there is a 'bong' if it's exceeded again.

Correct but as the 400volt battery has a range of about 36 miles, it will need charging regularly if this is a typical mileage, so that the 12 volt battery will also charge. The problem of a discharged 12 volt battery may occur if the car is only used in e-mode for short journeys without charging. In that case I'd recommend a voltmeter plugged into the boot 12 volt socket to check the resting voltage ocassionally. I'll be doing this in the winter, when it will only be used for short journeys.