Jules Tohpipi

The next ice age!

I have a one-week-old Elegance Hatch and the air con has been ice cold during the last two days of warm weather. On the drive home from work last night, I set the temp to 19 and the air con LED was on the lower light (left). Result was a near instaneous blast of very cold air. I had to turn it off after a while because the cabin was getting too chilly. From the above comments, I would say a visit to the dealers is required because mine is working a treat. Not to rub it in there, but to say that there's hope of a much cooler summer for you than just opening the windows.

My Greenline is arriving in a week or so and I've ordered the spare. But then I've had three punctures in two years and do around 35k each year. Worth buying on the principle of: anything that can go wrong will go wrong and at the worst possible time. Put another way, if I was buying a car that came with a spare wheel then would I remove it to save fuel? I've never done that in the past nor would I in the future.

Thank you for the reply. It sounds promising indeed then. I might give this a try when the car arrives. I'll be especially careful with my Superb knob during the transplant. I'm looking at the photos of your new knob Mr Mastergrind, but can't quite make out if it's got TTs on it? It looks nice and may feel great, but I'm not 100% certain if I'd want others to see TTs on my knob when they get in the car.

I can see where you're coming from on this. My first reaction driving the Superb was that the knob was too big and square for my little hands. Gear changes were slower and more deliberate as a result. Is your new knob a good tight fit? It doesn't feel loose or shakey at all? Is it nice and firm? How's your old knob looking? When my Superb arrives, it's from a lease company so eventually I'll have to perform a re-knob transplant. Can I put my old knob back in again?

The E39 5-Series was a magnificent car that shows the Superb a clean pair of heels in a number of areas. But as family commitments and budgets get stretched then the Superb strikes a nice compromise.

Tell her that a car with front and rear parking sensors is much easier to manoevre that a smaller car without. You'll still have plenty of change left over after speccing front sensors and park assist. Ultimately it's still shorter than an A6 or 5-series. It just looks big.

I had a three-day test-drive in the Greenline version which has the lowered suspension for improved fuel economy. Personally, I found the ride quite firm. But it's not crashy or unrefined, just a bit taughter. And has been said, it reduces body roll and there's no wallow. The ride is firmer than my current 2003 plate Audi A4. As you mention though, anything has got to be better than a 1 Series on run-flats!

Actually I'm going to give the dealer a call because the details given were somewhat short and ambiguous. But I think the date meant delivery to me.

Not such a daft comparison seemingly. I started off wanting a CC but ended up ordering a Superb. The CC is a beautiful-looking car for its category but I never really liked the interior that much. I loved the interior of the Superb and all the kit of the Elegance model. So it came down to a straight choice between beautiful on the inside or beautiful on the outside. As I spend 3+ hours a day in the car then I went for the Superb. Also a factor was cost. In the UK, the latest CC with leather, Sat Nav and other Elegance stuff is significantly more expensive than the Skoda. Both nice cars though.

I ordered a Greenline Elegance at the end of Feb and the initial delivery estimate was beginning of June. However, I've just been informed that it'll now be the beginning of May. Looks like things are moving along nicely.

That looks Photoshopped to me. The reflections down the side of the car are natural. But the lighting on the nose looks studio or exhibition. Colour matching is not great. Probably a standard car with the Mission L concept nose blended in??

Great to hear that you are enjoying your car! I'm due to receive the same model in early June, if the dealer's delivery estimate is accurate. I had a three-day test-drive before placing my order, but nonetheless was completely sold within an hour of being in the car. Similarly I was surprised that the power was not a handicap - even in the context of my current Audi A4 and Porsche 944 Turbo weekend car. OK it's not a rocketship but nor did I feel bogged down either thanks to the decent amount of low-rev torque. That was a big relief and worry out of the way. My work colleagues were blown away with the build quality, space and kit. Is it really that big though? Whilst it certainly seems so, the overall length is still less than an Audi A6, BMW 5 series and Vauxhall Insignia. It's only 6cm longer than the current Mondeo. Assuming I've got my figures correct. Certainly everyone remarked that it was enormous (jokingly so) but maybe it's a trick of the eye? Getting back into my A4 after three days, and looking over my shoulder to the back seats, it honestly felt like I was in a 2+2 - not a medium-sized saloon!! Such was the closeness of the rear seats again. Can't wait for it to arrive...

Thanks for that. I've just ordered a set and will see what they are like. Car doesn't arrive until June. Hope this purchase doesn't jinx everyone's summer - we'll probably never see the sun now. Just like we didn't see any atrocious cold weather on my winter tyres this year.

I was similarly concerned about the small wheels looking a little lost on the Greenline twindoor. That was up until the test drive car arrived on-site when I immediately thought it looked fine, if not great. Why the difference in opinion then? Well, the test-drive car was in brilliant silver, and being a near identical colour to the alloys, the wheels no longer jarred on the eyes. Point being that the alloys weren't a contrasting colour to the body, and hence didn't stand out or draw the eye as much. In fact, I was so impressed that I did a complete U-turn at time of ordering: when the Greenline arrives it'll be in the same brilliant silver as the test car with a black interior. Previously, I was all set on a metallic blue and the ivory interior.