Sotosound

If you check out the Honest John car-by-car review of the Superb 2 on the web, the failure of Columbus units is even mentioned there. As you'll see from this thread, Mr Rusty Nuts supplied me with a nice 2012 unit for a good price and, to be honest, this unit knocked spots off the original 2009 unit.

A few years ago I visited a care home for older people whilst using a courtesy car. As I left to return to the car people were pointing and gesticulating. What was happening was that an old guy who had come to visit his wife was turning his car around in the car park and had reversed into my courtesy car once already and was in the process of doing it again. In the end he was stopped before a third collision and details were taken. He was distressed and worried that he might lose his licence and not be able to come and visit his wife. My garage was shocked when I returned in a bashed in car with a note containing details of the old guy. He settled the bill with cash so that was good. His name is what got me, however.... Mr Tombs. Quite appropriate to the location and his driving style, I felt.

I'm now sorted. :sun: Rustynuts happened to have a 2012 Columbus unit at a good price and VRSPhil was kind enough to fit it for me. Thank you both. This is greatly appreciated. What surprised me was that as well as better software and graphics the replacement unit has a far superior sound. A real Brucie bonus! My guess is that the power amp has two or three times the power of the original unit. The sound now has far more weight and authority and the amp goes properly loud without distorting or sounding strained. It also seems that the harsh, trebly sound of the old unit wasn't the speakers after all inasmuch as the new unit sounds more like a proper stereo should sound, with no obvious over-emphasis at any particular frequency. What this has also shown, however, is that the speakers are still not the best in town, but nonetheless the listening experience is thankfully no longer tailored towards the local bat population. What this experience has also reminded me about is the huge value of the internet and forums such as this. 20 or 30 years ago this would not have been possible and we Skoda owners would have been isolated and entirely dependent upon the goodwill of dealers and other garages. Now we can exchange ideas and generally help each other even though we are located all over the world. Fabulous stuff! Set against this is that on some forums (not this one as far as I can tell) members forget the value of what they have and end up bickering and exchanging insults, which is so destructive. So... please everybody keep this forum as it is, which is a great place to find support from kind and thoughtful people.

I'd go with insurance without any hesitation inasmuch as that will cover you for any damage that you didn't spot. Any other choice puts you and your wallet at risk. Back in 1998 someone hit my old Vauxhall Carlton a glancing blow on the n/s rear corner and wrote the car off. The car had 218,000 miles on the clock and was only worth around £500 at the time but I was offered the choice of either having it repaired or being paid £1900 for it as a write-off. The decision took me 2 or 3 milliseconds, but it was still a surprise as inasmuch as the bump was so gentle and the damage seemed so slight.

Amazing! This is turning into the kind of thread that I see on some US music forums. For everyone's information, with hugely appreciated help from a couple of Briskoda members I've now opted to purchase a secondhand Columbus and get it coded to my car. There. I've said it. Now, back to the discussion of the relative merits of phones, satnavs etc. What I can offer on this topic is.....

Many thanks but I want to stick with Columbus.

Many thanks for the information.

I suspect that in this instance it's probably better to get the service done.

Many thanks. How much time did it take you?

Many thanks for the advice. A friend had also suggested as much about the ebay ones. Such warnings should be heeded. Therefore I've used some parts locator sites instead and landed up with three quotes from breakers yards - all of which have a whiff of honesty about them. Sounds like I need to contact RustyNuts and then send him a can of WD40 as a thank you.

I purchased my 2009 Superb in March and less than two months later the Columbus died. It goes through the well-known routine of powering up, showing a welcome screen for a few seconds, and then powering off. So... this week I took it to my local Skoda dealer who spent an hour and a half diagnosing it before telling me that it needed replacing and that'll be £1868 please. When I asked them what was wrong they said that it didn't stay powered up long enough for them to get a useful diagnosis from it. I therefore concluded that they didn't know enough to get the right information out but didn't want to admit this as it could prevent them from selling me a new one. From their perspective my name is probably Mr Chump. At the same time I reported an intermittent fault with the right hand multi-function switch on the steering wheel. It scrolls but doesn't always click. They said that this might be down to the defective Columbus and that, in effect, they wouldn't be able to declare it faulty until I'd parted with £1868 for a new Columbus. (The switch was intermittently faulty from the start and remains so now. My unspoken response rhymes with Rollocks.) Nice people. And a great advertisement for every other manufacturer. So I then visited a VAG specialist who spent one minute on it and told me that the radio couldn't get information from the hard drive. This told me that the hard drive had failed. It also told me lots about my Skoda dealer! The annoying thing is that the car has a warranty on it but I would only get £250 towards the Columbus, and then only if I spent £1868 on a new one. And I can't claim £234 for the multi-function switch because the Skoda dealer won't declare it faulty until I give them £1868 for a new Columbus. So, in terms of the warranty company.... nice people as well! The bottom line for me is that I therefore have two-and-a-bit affordable choices: - 1) Get the original unit repaired - if that can be done. 2) Buy a secondhand Columbus. I can get one from ebay or from a breaker with a 3-month guarantee for less than a third of the new cost. 2-and-a-bit) Buy an aftermarket replacement for a bit more money than I would expect to have to pay on a car that has just cost me £9K to purchase. (It's a 2.0 TDI CR 170 Elegance DSG, with 42K on the clock when I bought it.) Any input from fellow Superb owners would be most welcome. Many thanks.

Sorted, then. Many thanks.

I’m trying to puzzle out why my 2009 Superb II TDI CR 170 DSG Elegance hatchback is saying that it needs a service in 600 miles or 128 days’ time. It was last serviced on 1/10/15 at 39,653 miles and is now on 47,789 miles. I therefore get the 128 days bit as it will take me out to 12 months, but I don’t get the 600 miles bit as this suggests a 9,000 mile service interval. Any ideas? Many thanks.

Many thanks.

Many thanks. I checked my tyres and they are smooth as a baby's bottom - apart from the tread, that is! Also, the tyre noise is consistent, and not speed-related. Regarding the higher profile tyres, have you had any issues with them rubbing on full lock or anything like that?

I've just purchased a 2009 TDI 170 DSG Elegance hatchback running on 18" wheels, and alongside all of its positives (space, comfort, handling, ride, easy to drive etc.), the two negatives are both hearing-related - rubbish sound system and excessive tyre noise. There's a far amount of material on the forum about ways to improve the sound system and I'll probably start with some work on the door cards and replacing the speakers. The potential downside of doing this is that, strangely, the over-bright sound that I currently get does manage to cut through all of the noise coming from the tyres. What I've found regarding tyres, however, seems to be more about sawtoothing etc. whereas I had assumed that all I was getting is good old-fashioned tyre rumble from my Continental SportContacts, which varies from surface top surface. I'd considered it to be a consequence of running a noisy brand of tyre on 18" rims So... should I go feel my tyres? Also, what type of Bridgestone's did you get?

Many thanks to all of those who suggested contacting Autoglass. Briskoda strikes back. We contacted Direct Line, who are my wife's insurers and through whom this was originally organised. They contacted Autoglass, who contacted us. Autoglass didn't argue at all because - as has been pointed out by several of you - there was no way that their operative didn't know what had happened. Instead, they were nothing but courteous. (What is clear is that the stud was 100% sound before Autoglass arrived. The break is clean, with no signs of prior corrosion.) Autoglass therefore undertook to complete the repair by midday yesterday (Saturday) but, unfortunately, the person who ordered the part ordered a rear wiper motor assembly by mistake. (Not a good testimony by any means!) The correct part should arrive with Autoglass on Tuesday but they will then have to wait until one of us can be at home to meet and greet the repair man. Since my wife is a freelance contractor, she also lost earnings because she couldn't get to work, and Autoglass are also indicating that they will address that as well. (How, I don't yet know, and this is possibly where they might wriggle.) In the meantime, my wife has been able to organise alternative transport, so it is now just a case of passage of time. Thanks also to Southy for the parts offer.

Many thanks, but I suspect that it's sheered too far down for that.

Many thanks for this. I suspected that it would need a new wiper motor and linkage having seen an image of it on the web. I can't see myself or my wife doing your particular repair but I can see a qualified mechanic doing it, so it is also a very good option. Once again, many thanks.

Yesterday we had Autoglass out to replace the windscreen on my wife's Fabia vRS. This morning when she started it and switched on the wiper, the driver's side worked fine but the passenger side wiper twitched and stopped. On checking I found that the bolt (I assume it's a bolt) that the wiper is mounted on had been sheered through. The top and it's cover are in the wiper arm and the rest of it is fixed to the car. This has rendered the car unroadworthy. Does anyone know what's involved in getting it fixed? Many thanks.

All of the bulbs had gone. My local KwikFit proved that. They also found, however, that the sidelight wiring was no longer getting power to the bulb; so we now have working headlights but we also have an issue that requires an auto-electrician's tender ministrations. (Sigh.)

The indicator is still working. :(

Hi When I switched on the lights on my wife's 2006 VRS on Tuesday evening, the bulb warning light came on. I assumed that it was just a blown bulb and so continued on my short journey from the local multi-storey car park to our house. On checking further, I found that all of the lights in the offside front unit had stopped working. No sidelights, no dipped beam and no main beam. I checked the fuses and they all seemed to be fine. (The fuse box is a mirror of the one in the manual, by the way, since the manual diagram is for LH drive vehicles.) I also don't have any spare bulbs to hand, so I haven't been able to prove that I didn't experience a catastrophic 3-bulb failure. (Chances of that happening?) Anyone got any ideas? Many thanks in advance.

Here's how it ended.... I dropped the car in this afternoon and the mechanic took it for a test drive. His opinion was that it would need a clutch at some point in the future but not right now. Had the biting point dropped suddenly then it might have been an issue, but this has been a gradual change over time, so no panic. Perhaps review again at the next service. So.... decisions, decisions ..... but not this year. He also advised switching to a solid flywheel on the basis that - once fitted - it would never need changing again. Even it it got scored then all that would be needed would be a skim. (Had that done on my Zephyr V4 Mark IV back in 1977 but never again since.) His view on DMFs was that cars went for many years without them and that all they seem to bring is trouble. I therefore think that I'll change careers and start manufacturing DMFs. Obviously loads of money in it. Once again, many thanks for everyone's input. It shows just how valuable a good forum can be.

Many thanks to all of the responders. OK. My wife doesn't hammer the car, and a number of forum members have reported much longer clutch life than 100,000 miles in other threads. (Just seen one mentioning 174.000 miles.) So....... I So I need my garage to perform some initial checks, including hydraulic fluid levels and any other bits that might need adjusting. In terms of trust, sadly there's only one way to find out whether or not someone is trustworthy.