Jim2015

I've done some more investigations today. There is a tutorial for voice control, which goes into some detail. Voice control works for navigation, telephone, music track selection and temperature. When I asked for Morrisons Scarborough, it listed points of interest (POI) with lots of 'Morrisons', so I could pick the one I wanted. If I was more specific, eg Morrisons Seamer Road, it then selected that one. Aircon is straightforward: I said 'driver's temperature 17 degrees', I was asked to wait, then it reduced the setting to the requested temperature. I haven't tried the telephone as my wife's Android 'phone wasn't with me, but it connects by Bluetooth and all her numbers are stored, so I assume it works. The radio also accepts voice commands, so I asked for internet radio. It searched for a while, but I had to stop it, so I don't know whether it needs an Android 'phone to connect. I hope this helps and I'll let you know if I find out anything else. I haven't tried 'Hey Laura' yet, so i'll find out whether 'she' is more helpful.

The manual is available on the Skoda UK site. Click on the 'owners' tab, then select the car. I found it annoying to have to download it each time using a bookmark, so here is an 'always available' version. www.manualslib.com/manual/1917278/Skoda-Octavia-Iv-2020.html?page=144#manual

Very interesting. One problem is if the car is bought on finance, such as a PCP. In that case, the finance company needs to be informed that the car is being rejected, you then need to request how the car is to be returned and then from the time of rejection the car must not be used. I'm not certain how the owner will recover the contribution he/she has made towards the cost.

I agree with Reddog. I have to drive about three miles when in hybrid mode before the battery drive kicks in. This also happened with a Peugeot 3008 hybrid I test drove before buying the Octy.

I know of another case where the sales manager at our dealership lent his Octy iV to a colleague to try it out and was surprised the next day to find that that the 400-volt battery charge was low. It turned out that his colleague did not realise that e-mode is the default setting. I'm aware of the default being the electric-only setting, so I press the 'mode' button to chose hybrid if needed, but I think that hybrid should be the default. If the battery level is getting low, then hybrid kicks in if you are in e-mode, so it's not a major issue.

I've answered this type of query on another thread. I have a voltmeter plugged into the socket in the boot so that I can check the 12-volt battery resting voltage, which varies between 12.2 and 12,8 volts. When the main battery charger is connected, the battery voltage immediately rises to 13.1 volts, so it is definitely charging, as stated in the handbook. One thing I haven't done is to check the resting voltage after a run in hybrid mode with significant engine use, just to check the alternator's contribution.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires dealers to supply goods that are fit for purpose, as described and of satisfactory quality. However, the vehicle is clearly not satisfactory and therefore your dealer is in breach of contract. I suggest that you write to Rod Mcleod ([email protected]) who is the Skoda UK MD with a copy to your dealer principal. He reads all his e-mails and then, as in my case, provides a customer services manager to assist. I began my e-mail by saying how many Skodas I had owned for 18 years and bought the Octy Mk 4 iV as I was so happy with my previous fault-free Skodas. I then went on to detail the faults. The dispute is with your dealer, but my Skoda UK contact is liaising with the dealer to try and sort out the software issues I have. My next plan is to engage the assistance of Which? Legal Services to ask about my legal position and whether I can request an identical vehicle with the latest software, as well as the accessories I had installed. Next will be a letter to the motoring editor of a national newspaper, if all else fails. I'm holding back on the last two measures until I've given the dealer one more chance to fix the software problems. I love the car and would be very reluctant to have to buy another vehicle, as long as the Octy became reliable. Incidentally, I was talking to a mechanic who worked for Peugeot and Hyundai and he said that the VAG group uses Skoda as a test bed for new technology and when all the glitches have been sorted, then they bring out their own version without any issues to annoy their customers. I don't know how true this is, but it sounds plausible.

Not so far in nine weeks of ownership, but the cover on the charging point pops open occasionally.

The Skoda version of the Octy manual saved in favourites needs downloading each time, so I use this version. www.manualslib.com/manual/1917278/Skoda-Octavia-Iv-2020.html#manual

If you display favourites on the radio screen all the selected icons appear. Tap on your choice, then centre left on the screen is a small vertical white bar. Tap it and the full screen will appear. Let me know if this works for you. Perhaps there should be a thread entitled 'things I've discovered on the Octy Mk 4 infotainment screen'!

I don't know as it's an old model. Last week I bought a road atlas from ALDI for £1.99 because if the car's satnav ever failed, particularly when it's using the shortest route, I'd have no idea where I was. However yours is a good suggestion and I'll check up on it. Thanks Jim

I keep mine flat on the floor. Ours has a DSG and I believe some drivers use left foot braking which makes sense as the left foot is close by on the footrest. However my left foot isn't calibrated and when I tried it once I pressed too hard. Does anyone else use left foot braking?

It took me nine weeks to find out some key features and I'm certain there are more. The most irritating was to get a full DAB station display so the current song details could be read, but now it's so easy! Now that I've had the car for ten weeks, I'll re-read the handbook. Before purchase, it was difficult to follow some of the instructions without the physical presence of the car and I'm hoping that I can fill in the gaps now, especially in setting up the home page. I'll also check whether some of the things I stumbled on are actually in the handbook.

Now the 12 volt socket is in the boot, I couldn't use my old TomTom anyway, so it's great that the satnav is good. There is a USB 3 socket besides the mirror - do any satnavs have a suitable connector or is it for a dashcam?

Hi Dave i'll do some tests and report back in a few days, mainly to test how precise the commands need to be. It's been 30 degrees here in Whitby, so the aircon has been hard at work!

The voice assistant accepts plain speech commands. For example 'set driver's temperature to 20 degrees'. I use the button on the LH side of the steering wheel, but 'Hey Laura' also activates speech control.

The Octy Mk 4 trip counter resets itself if a journey is halted. I'm not sure for how long, but I guess two hours. If you go into 'vehicle', 'data' you can then look at mileage and fuel consumption for the current journey, since refuel and long term. All can be reset in this menu.

Yes. We collected the car on May 11th and It went in to the dealer for a software update on June 17th. Prior to that we couldn't save favourites but it saved recent destinations. After the 'fix', five days later favourites and recent destinations disappeared. I've contacted Skoda UK and have a named contact who occasionally calls, but no new update is as yet available.

I don't understand why there are complaints about the lack of hard-wired controls. The voice command does most things such as changing the aircon settings, setting a satnav destination and so on, whilst as an alternative the aircon adjustment is on the bottom right of the screen and takes an instant to change without taking the eyes off the road.

When I worked in business, I always insisted before accepting a quote that our terms and conditions took priority. In order to achieve a sale, that always worked. So why not apply the same criterion when buying a car? If they are keen to sell, then they either agree or lose a sale. In the UK, Which? magazine is a great help with legal matters and although detailed information is only accessible to members, there is still a lot of helpful general advice. Incidentally, our dealer takes a holding deposit of £500 when the order is placed, but this is returned on delivery of the vehicle.

The best SatNav I've ever had is fitted to our Octy Mk4. The previous ones fitted to our two Yetis and Karoq were good, as was TomTom, but this one has better graphics, clearer instructions and the diversion around hold ups works well. It's just a shame I can't save favourites, but this should (?!!) be fixed when a software update is available.

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. If the 12 volt battery does need charging, then the handbook clearly explains where the charger should be connected. I assume that using a C-Tek trickle charger plugged into the boot socket to charge the battery (as I did with our Karoq during lockdown) is not suitable. However, as I charge the main battery at least three time a week, I should never need to recharge the 12-volt battery.

I. I was frustrated when I pressed the 'home' button and only part of the radio logo showed, so I could not see the full title of the current record. Yestwerday I discovered a small tab on the left middle side of the logo. I pressed that and the full logo appeared. 2. I was surprised that there was apparently no key to manually unlock the car. Today I found it by pressing the button (which opens to take a key ring) once more, it popped open and the spare key is inside. I also found where the keyhole is located. 3. Sweeping the hand over the screen of the infotainment centre changes the display. 4. The car is 'moon white'. When washing it yesterday, the bright sulight showed up sparkly bits in the paint, so it looks like it is a metallic paint. Odd for white, but it does look very white! 5. Ambient lighting only comes on with side or headlights. I couldn't see it, other than the ability to change the colour behind the virtual instruments, so now I know. 6. If the car is in park with the ignition on and the door is opened, a warning beep sounds then after a couple of minutes the ignition switches off. 7. I thought that the simulated noise to warn pedestrians was a squeak I could hear with the window dropped. The other day I asked my wife to drive past and in fact the squeak was the motor and there was also a low-frequency noise, which I could clearly hear. 8. The high voltage system has its own cooling circuit and a coolant expansion tank. I knew where the brolly was located, but a couple of days ago in torrential rain, it was easy to get it out of the trailing edge of the door and keep dry when getting out. A thoughtful design feature. Are there any other useful features I may have missed?

We have an Octavia iV estate and it's the best car I've ever driven, as well as being the most economical. After 1186 miles, the average was 91 mpg, based on two refills and the calculated mpg based on brimming the tank. The best economy is for a drive of around 60 miles. On a recent 62 mile journey, the Octy achieved 104 mpg as the battery still had 3 miles range left. Yesterday, in hybrid mode, I averaged 123 mpg on 41 mile journey to my destination and 76.4mpg on the return, as the battery was at 1% charge a few miles from home. Our Karoq 1.5 petrol averaged just over 31mpg, mainly because of short journeys in a hilly part of the UK for over a year. Based on 8000 miles pa and assuming 50% e-power and 50% hybrid running, I estimate our annual fuel cost to be £575 pa, compared with around £1500 for the Karoq. The costs will drop further when we gat a smart meter and can use Octopus Go's off-peak rate of 5p/kw hr or 65p for around 35 miles of e-power. We also produce no pollution (at the point of use!) for journeys around town. The Octy iV also has a benefit in kind of 7%, so for a company car user whose employer is prepared to pay a premium for a PHEV the savings are substantial, particularly if the car is a perk rather than long-distance workhorse.

I loaded the MySkoda app on to my iPad today, because I've been using my wife's Android 'phone, which takes ages to load the app. It is always on in the iPad, which is a relief. Today as it was hot, I pre-conditioned the car and it was lovely to be in a cool car (in more ways than one!)