sam2000

Here are my findings so far. FM transimitters are crap. They transmit over the air and there's always intereference. Then there's wired FM like 'Harmon/Kardon Drive+Play' and the dension ice link these kits connect to the fm antenna socket. So the sound quality is FM quality but not CD quality. You can control the volume with car radio controlss. Then we have connection through CD changer. you get CD quality sound and you can browse your playlists through car radio screen (My satkompass Navi Dx has a good color screen) etc. The CD changer connection has 2 options, dension,xcarlink (dice although aparently more powerful < you can search by artists and album on your car's satnav screen >, doesn't seem to support skoda at the moment so that's out) They both(xcarlink and dension) map five of the 6 cds to the first 5 paylists. The remaining Cd is used to switch to manual mode where you control the thing by using your ipod/iphone. But if you have an iphone 3G or the latest ipod then until recently it won't be charged. But just now both of them are offering new versions that can actually charge these things. Dension GW100 costs twice as much as the xcarlink but then you have the ability to upgrade the firmware. And when I compare the websites that gives the impression that dension are a bigger,more established people. Is it worth the extra money? That is the million dollar er... umm... roughly 70 pound question. So I will let you know if I ever by one of those kits. PS: The dension have the optional AV extension kit that lets you watch ipod videos on your satnav scree. But my wife has ruled out that possibility on safety grounds so I have to forget it.

Apart from not parking uphill, is there anything else I can do to prevent the water ingress problem? If I keep checking the pollen filter often to make sure it isn't blocked would that prevent water ingress?

Thanks for that rwbaldwin. No it is not really a total power failure. The speedo and everything else works fine. I can still adjust the passenger side seat. It is just the driver seat that can't be adjusted any more. But the seat heating still works for all the seats including the driver seat. But the seat memory function doesn't work anymore either.

I have an electrical looking fault that prevents me from adjusting my driver seat (power seat) And the seat memory buttons don't work anymore either. Do you think this could be water ingress? Is there an easy way to check? The carpets seem dry. I park down a slope with the car facing up hill. Could this make it worse in the rain?

thanks for the Gizmo68, I will look this up

It is a 2005/05 Elegance. Laguna is a pretty comfortable car (when it works fine.) But my experience has been really bad when it comes to reliability and the cost of maintenance. It was just 3 years old and 30000 miles when I bought it (Just like the superb I have just bought). But it just kept eating my credit cards every few months. When I did some research about car reliability it seemed to confirm that Renault Lagunas are near the bottom when it comes to reliability and cost of maintanance. When it comes to features I can't think of any major advantage the Laguna has over Superb. The only things I can think of is that the Laguna's body shape is suppossed to be more 'trendy' compared to that of the superb. (Although I like the Skoda's shape - really!) And it doesn't have the stigma associcated with the Skoda badge. (Some of my friends were like "But why Skoda? For that much money you could have bought a 'good' car" - Old beliefs die hard!) Is there anything else I can think of? Oh the placement of the door lock switch - In the laguna it is between the front seat so the passenger (usually my wife) can easily lock it easily if I have to get out of the car for a few minutes and the place doesn't look very safe. And the cupholder isn't too close to the hand break. But the rear legroom in the Superb takes it miles ahead of the Laguna I think. It is too early to talk about the reliability of the Superb based on my expereince. And the Laguna was 'expression' (just one step above the most basic model) while my Superb is the top of the range elegance. So that is a huge step up for me. I was living without cruise control, rear parking sensors, Auto dimming rear view mirror, electric memory seats etc so in that sense my new car is obviously light years ahead.

Thanks for the messages guys! This does look like a nice friendly place! Thank you!

Hi Guys! How are you doing? After spedning a fortune trying to keep my previous car (Renault Laguna) running, finally I got rid of that one and got myself a used Skoda Superb. So now I am a new member of the Skoda community! Boy aren't we skoda owners so smart? We are the ones who buy one of the most reliable cars on earth (According to What car?, AA, Which? And a few others) For a relatively cheap price. I am so proud to be a member of this community of clever people! I wish I had made the move to Skoda earlier! Now my friends see my car and say 'Oh my god! This is a limo!' The space at the back is truly impressive! And we are suppossed to be the happiest drivers! It has only been 3 months but I am really happy with my machine! I Hope it lasts forever. And I Hope you guys are all just as happy too!

Hi yoddom, You mentioned you have been to High Wycombe. I live there and I am looking for a good garage. Do you recommend the one in High Wycombe? If so can you give me their details. Have you been to St Albans? Would you recommend them? I don't mind traveling a bit if it is a good garage. I have electrice sets and i can't adjust my driver seat any more. I only bought it 3 months ago so I haven't been to any skoda garage before. Just looking for a good garage who won't rip you off. It would be great if you could share your experience. Thank you!

I have this crazy problem and it would be wonderful if any of you could help me with this please! Mine is a Skoda superb (2005/05 elegance) . Suddenly the electrical seat adjustment doesn't work for the driver seat any more! Pressing the buttons has no effect! The passenger side seat still works though. I was just wondering if any members have experienced something like this. It would be great if anyone could give me any suggestions or advice please? My dealer is about a 100 miles away. (None of the local dealers had a Superb when I bought this! ) So I am thinking about taking it to a local Skoda specialist. I do have a warranty from the dealer but not sure if this is covered though. If it is not covered then it I don't want to bother driving all the way. Any ideas? Thanks

Hi, Could someone please give me the gear ratios for the Skoda superb 1.9 TDI PD130 2005/05 please? I just wanted to confirm my clutch isn't slipping. So with the ratios I can use one of those on line calculators to calculate the rmp and speed and check if it matches with what my car does. I had to reverse up a steep hill the other day and now I am paranoid that I may have damaged the clutch. Now I can't relax until I confirm everything is OK so any info on this would be really helpful!

So surely the Xcarlink is not an option. But any ideas about if Dension will work with our DX units anyone? I wrote to dension and got the following reply But the reply starts with the words "If I'm right" so I am still not sure about it. I have asked them if there is any way to make sure it is a Satkompas.But I have a feeling that maybe I should just wait. Becaues mine is an iphone, not an ipod. And all the kits out there are built with only the ipod in mind. I think soon there will be new ones built for iphones which would help us make handsfree calls as well as listen to music using just a single kit. But when such units do come out wheather they are going to be compatible with our old DX head units or not is another question. I will continue the search and please post if you have any info about these things.

Thanks very much GBDave for sharing your experience! I really appreciate it. Has anyone tried the dension stuff? or is it simply incompatible? And Thanks very much Bluefox for the information about Harmon/Kardon. That looks pretty promising. I am going to take a look at it. I will post if I make any progress. And if anyone of you find anything about this I would love to hear. Hope our search for the perfect ipod solution for the dx will succeed!

GBDave, From the picture it looks like my radio is identical to yours. Did you manage to get the ipod connected? If you did could you please post the details. I am trying to do the same but I am very frustrated because I am not sure if the dension stuff will work with this unit. Any comments from anyone who managed to get the satnav dx to connect to an ipod would change my life! Please guys! Someboy help me! I am going crazy!

Hi Mike, I have just bought a 2005/05 superb. I want to buy the dension but not sure if it will work with my radio unit. The radio unit face says 'Skoda Audio DX' on top . It looks just like the picture GBDave has posted. It has a colour screen, satnav and a 6CD changer. I was wondering if you have the same radio unit. If you do then that means mine will work with dension.