DaveFromSydney

I am constrained to short local trips as we are currently under lockdown but I did a couple of test runs yesterday using cruise control to establish some MPG figures. The speeds involved were 50 and 60 km/h and the roads were sometimes narrow. I also noticed many cases of unwanted slowing when there was nothing in my path but maybe cars or bikes at the side of the road. I conclude that ACC Is really not meant for such situations. Rather it should be invoked at higher speeds on motorways and the like. And, in truth, that is all I ever wanted it for. I was looking at the manual for our 2015 VW Golf Alltrack, which just has regular cruise control, and I noticed that all of the assistance tech in this Skoda (ACC, Front Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Assist, Rear Assist, Park Assist) was around back then as options on the Golf R wagon and perhaps the regular Golf Wagon. ACC is described there in exactly the same terms and with the same warnings and caveats as in the Skoda of today. So this tech has been around for many years and I guess it is as mature as it is going to get. So we have to get used to it and only enable it where it is appropriate. However I am getting better at the workaround of just giving it a bit of accelerator which overrides the ACC's braking effect.

Is this more of a thing in the UK? Or in areas woth a snowy winter? I have never heard of any issue with iron oxide here. Other than rust (aka iron oxide) on the disk rotors - but I never noticed it on the wheels.

I see people mentioning "fallout" and "iron remover" in the comments above. What do those words mean in this context? To the me, in Australia, the main concerns are brake dust and road grime. I have not had to wash the wheels on my new Octavia yet but with my previous cars I have just used a brush (picture attached) dipped in the mild car washing solution (e.g. from Armorall, Meguiars etc) that I use for the rest of the car. The results were satisfactory. Of course I cannot get into the interior of the wheel so that gets more and more grimy buy it is not very visible. So long as the bits everyone can see are shiny and clean I am happy. Is the discussion above looking for products that can get to these impossible to reach areas and/or remove the brake dust and other dirt without requiring actually scrubbing with a brush. By the way that brush that I use is not metallic and I cannot see any way it could cause scratching. It came from a car parts store and it has the consistency of a typical dish washing brush, or even a firm toothbrush, but a size and shape more appropriate for getting in between the spokes of an alloy wheel.

I did a controlled test today of my 2021 Mk4 RS Combi with 2.0 litre 180kw petrol engine and 1150kms vs my wife's 2015 VW Golf Alltrack with its 1.8 litre, 132kw petrol engine and 75000 kms. The bodies, built on the same VAG platform, are very similar but the Skoda weighs 26kg more (and is 124 mm longer). I drove the same circuit in each, distance 16kms, using cruise control to maintain either 50km/h or 60 km/h as per the posted limits. The traffic was light and did not impede me. The area was suburban streets with long straight stretches but a few turns at intersections. The terrain was flat. Both cars were in Normal driving mode (not Sport or Eco). BOTH cars got exactly 7.6 litres per 100kms (37 MPG). The long term average for both cars, which involves mixtures of short trips, heavy traffic etc, is more like 10-11 ltrs/100km. There is little or no use of cruise control. I used cruise control for the test since that is where I find I get the best fuel consumption. So I think that is a good result for the Skoda. In spite of being slightly heavier and more powerful and with a larger engine it gets the same fuel consumption.

While I am waiting for the new Infotainment control unit to arrive and, hopefully, fix the faults I reported, I am continuing to drive a little (can't go anywhere except to the shops or to the park to exercise while we are in lockdown). I noticed a new strangeness today. I have connected to Android Auto but today I went back to the DAB radio which was playing when I turned the car off. When I returned an hour later and started the car, instead of the radio playing Android Auto started playing the last track I had been listening to there. I expected it to stay on DAB. I thought the media system was either doing: a) Skoda radio/media and navigation OR b) Android Auto (or Apple Carplay) media and navigation. How do you others think this works? Can you revert from Android Auto to Skoda at will? I looked in the menus but cannot find anything. And a similar issue that I think I saw earlier in the week. I thought I paused the media playing in Android Auto before I turned the car off. But when I started after an hour the music started playing. Is this (play/pause state) yet another thing the infotainment system is incapable of remembering?

On mine the Android Auto stuff works wirelessly and mine is only at 1788. My phone is a Pixel 3a running Android 11. I have a cable (USB C to USB C for a Pixel 3a) but I only use it on long trips to avoid flattening the battery. On the majority of trips the phone stays in my pocket.

Mine has a new control unit on order from Europe for the Infotainment system. They have tried all of the available software updates which made no difference to any of my issues so they hope the hardware replacement will do the trick. So it is worrying to hear of your similar case where it did not.

Here in Australia it is part of the $6000 Premium Pack on the RS models. There are no other options except a sunroof. Since that pack contains the attached list of features, many of which I wanted, I bought it. I don't think I would have ordered the sound system by itself. Now that I have it it sounds nice but I am never going to use any of its features and I mainly play DAB radio or stuff that is on You Tube Music and at modest volumes. By the way, is Canton a well known brand? It means nothing to me.

I don't know about such details. I just think it would be disallowed due to the noise level. I have seen cars here with aftermarket exhausts that are probably louder but I doubt they are actually legal. https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/noise/vehicle-noise/avoiding-noisy-vehicle-exhaust

That does sound nice - but I doubt it would be legal here in Australia.

Here in Australia the dealers offer mudflaps and mats etc: https://www.skoda.com.au/owners/genuine-accessories Don't yours in the UK do that too? They are not cheap, though. (Front + read mudflaps, fitted, $AUD 266). Perhaps your aftermarket stuff is cheaper due to there being a greater demand? My dealer threw in the all-weather foot mats for free when I ordered the car.

I have been searching on the web and see that it has been occurring with multiple makes - not just VAG - over the last few years The page - https://comma-ai.medium.com/aeb-a-case-study-using-comma-ai-dataset-2fc08a2397f4 - shows (as videos) some sample situations that can trigger false positives. - approaching a turning vehicle, although even you are aware of it and are trying to go around it - passing under an overhead metallic structure or road signs - even approaching a light plastic container (or small animal) that you would have been happy to run over - approaching a steel road plate, or perhaps a speed bump My feeling is that it has occurred to me when there is no obvious cause but perhaps something was stationary in another lane, presenting no risk to my vehicle. This article from 2018 - https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a24511826/safety-features-automatic-braking-system-tested-explained/ contains this summary of what must still be the official attitude: "In 2015, NHTSA opened a yearlong investigation into 95,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees following reports that the SUVs were braking for no reason. The probe turned up 176 complaints of inexplicable emergency braking, but the agency found no defects and ultimately decided not to issue a recall. For the moment, these annoyances simply have to be tolerated by automakers and their customers. "From a technological perspective, if you'd like to reduce the rate of false positives, the rate of false negatives [crashes in which AEB does not activate] has to go up, and vice versa," I guess it is a bit like the official attitude to Covid vaccines. We know they have adverse effects for a tiny number of people but you should get vaccinated for the good of the vast majority, including yourself. Except that no country so far forces you to get the vaccine, yet most countries and auto manufacturers force you to have AEB fitted however it seems we can disable it. That is Front Assist, right? So we can add that to our start-up ritual: Start/stop OFF, Lane Assist Off, Front Asist OFF, Mode = individual (to get fake engine noise OFF). This page describes similar problems in US VWs. - http://www.vwproblems.com/front-assist-defect/ - including 8th generation Golfs which is basically the same technology as our Skodas. Another page - https://lemonlawexperts.com/nissan-faulty-braking-system/ - shows similar faults in recent US Nissans.

It seems that you have the previous generation (Mark III). Is this a long-standing issue then? Or were you in the latest generation, e.g. on a test drive?

It is quiet in terms on engine and wind noise, especially with the sound generator turned off, but it has more road noise from the 19 inch low-profile tires than some other cars.

Much as I love the car (and dislike the infotainment system) I can't say my MPGs are all that good. I have the 180kw, 2 litre, RS Wagon and I am not seeing figures in the 50s like some people. Perhaps in ideal circumstances on a long stretch of motorway at a constant speed it might ? But for me it is typically 10-11 litres/100km (26 MPG) around the city (short trips but no traffic jams) and the best I saw on a long drive with a lot of motorway cruising was 7 litres/100km (40 MPG). Even with my Golf Alltrack, which is a similar car from VAG with a 1.8 litre 132kw engine and almost 200kg lighter, the best I get is 5.8 litres/100 km (48 MPG) cruising the motorway with cruise control at 100 km/h. I suppose it is good for a relatively high performance car with a turbo engine. My previous car was a 2001 Honda S2000 which has virtually the same amount of power in a lighter body and no matter how I drove it, in the city or the country or the motorway, it got between 9 and 11 litres/100km. (On the track it was a different story - 20 litres/100 km. I would have to fill up in the middle of a track day.)

Strange. I also had the TPM go off in the first week. And it turned out that the tyre was actually had a puncture. And you car is new too. I haven't had a deflated tyre for years. I wonder if this is another systemic thing?

Just as I thought I was immune to the problems faced by many others on this forum - other than the 3 I mentioned at the start of this thread - today I experienced a new one: I had left the car in a car park and I came back an hour later. I needed to reverse out of my spot but there was no reversing camera. Once out of the spot I pressed SET so I could go to the menu to turn off Auto Start/Stop and the infotainment system went back, followed by a reboot, all while driving. Once it came back everything seemed to be working normally. First time I have seen that in 6 weeks and 1100kms. I hope I do not see it any more frequently.

You have only had it one week. This is a serious faults. Why would you think there was a possibility that the warranty did not apply?

Thanks. Good to know if I am in that situation again. But since last time the battery service did not have a replacement - and it would not have been like for like - I had to go to the dealer who also did not have one both in stock and charged ready-to-go. So I suppose that is why we left it with them all day. They probably did give me a lift home though.

Well that is not me.

We are lucky it is a bit more lenient here. It is 60km/h.

I also feel the emergency brake system is oversensitive, It has gone off with a warning (big red image in the virtual cockpit of, I think, a car crash) several times when there was nothing actually in my path - maybe nearby on the left or the right but no danger. Luckily for me it has never applied the brakes that I can detect. Am I right in saying that for some of you it actually does an anchors-out full-stop? And it cannot be turned off, right? Unlike the equally over-sensitive Lane Assist. That would indeed be a cause for rejection if it could not be fixed on the first visit to the dealer. All these warnings amaze me. It is bit like my wife nervously warning me of various traffic situations. Like how did I manage to stay alive for 53 years and a million plus kms of motoring without her (or the car's) assistance. If I could turn them all off I probably would

One reason why we have turned stop/start off in our VW Golf Alltrack and now in the Octavia is to preserve battery life. The battery in our Golf died suddenly after 23 months. Luckily the dealer replaced it under warranty but, if it were to fail outside warranty or if the dealer was not so obliging, it is expensive to replace compared to our previous cars. Also it needs the dealer to reset some electronic settings. The mobile battery people do not carry it and all they can do is get you running so you can drive straight to your dealer without switching off the engine. There you can leave it for the rest of the day - so two round-trips and a day destroyed. Also the delay to start, although slight, is noticeable and annoying. I do not sit in heavy stop-start traffic so I do not have that motivation to reduce fuel consumption or emissions. If I was in that sort of traffic I might want to use the adaptive cruise control which would eliminate the worry about the slight delays so I could leave the auto stop/start on. However I am not sure it is so good for that situation. More for use at highway speeds, isn't it?

I noticed that too. Did not examine just where it is retained.

Per tyre - fitted and balanced. (Australia dollars, of course). A wheel alignment (essential in my view) adds another $65 or so.