Skoda Al Coda

I share your pain with trying to work out V.A.G.'s explanations. Been looking at various cars in the group & the whole thing's neither clear nor consistent across the brands. It's very odd as the VW Tiguan appears to offer no LTE or rSAP options - leaving owners to live with mobile hotspots permanently enabled or having to remember to enable/disable each time they get in/out of the car. In the case of the Kodiaq it almost seems (& I stress this is purely speculation here - I'm probably wrong) that Skoda have, for the Edition model, taken the opposite approach to VW & supplied all the hardware for LTE / rSAP as standard and the options are just synonyms for the (IMHO over-priced) subscriptions (i.e. it's £500 for 3 years infotainment & £250 * for the phonebox). If I am correct (& there's a very high possibility that I'm not), my observations are as follows: £500 for 3 years is an obscene sum to pay for a subset of info(otherwise freely available via the web) just because it's squirted through a Skoda portal. Use Android Auto & you'll get the same (+ some) info & the ecosystem will continue to evolve & keep pace. £250 for a phonebox can be money well spent. A lot depends on your phone's reception but big things to consider in a car are: Heated windscreens can negatively affect phone reception. Panoramic roofs can positively affect phone reception. Just seems a pity that the one thing the Kodiaq doesn't seem to have, as standard, is a phonebox * & you can't just pay £250 to get one on it's own. The cynic in me says this is no accident - the new business model is to force people into subscriptions * P.S. Edit. Just had a look at the online brochure & see that the phonebox is listed as standard for Edition - even more confused now. Still believe that the LTE etc. options are really subscriptions though as selecting these grey-out the separate subscription option. Whole thing appears a mess - think I'll wait until 1st cars are with their owners

In this video, the presenter spends a considerable time sat inside a Superb with beige (perforated) leather:

+1 Though I don't lose too much sleep over what shifters look like, as long as they work.

Have a watch of this vid from around 30 mins in:

@sharkys Now I've had my fun with those that prefer childrens' phones, I've no personal experience of this particular app but stumbled across it during some random internet browsing. Worth a £1? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.floodping.BluetoothKeepalive

I'm still finalising my requirements and, in the process, still trying to get my head around current Skoda / V.A.G. telephony options. The one bit I think I do understand is that you need the 'premium' (though often referred to as 'business' in some of the documentation) connection to be able to use rSAP (which means you should also have SIM card slot to use as an alternative, should you wish). Did you pick one of the two premium options & it still doesn't work? Apologies here as I'm probably not helping you much - more like being a parasite as your answer may help me (or confuse me further) in deciding what I need to spec.

And not have RSAP at all

Can't help you with this directly but, unless you're a person with very strong morals, could be worth getting hold of the ElsaWin system. I bought a copy off a well-known auction site for £3.99 when I 1st bought my Yeti. My copy would be too old now to cover your car & I can't remember where I've put my disc. Off course, I hang my head in shame for buying an unauthorised copy - only you can decide whether you support such shenanigans.

Bit of a Luddite here, but couldn't it be tested by turning to a 'dead' input (e.g. Aux where nothing connected) & then turning unit on/off whilst volume control set, say, mid-way?? P.S: While I'm here, I've read references to it having (when in conjunction with Columbus) Dolby 5.1, but the general view is that this does nothing without a 5.1 source. Does it not have Dolby pro-logic to add a surround effect to 2-ch sources?

That's just 1st year (showroom tax) though. After that the 280 owners will be shouting 'Woohoo' rather than 'Ouch'

Oops! Deepest & sincerest apologies if I've mislead. Watched a video review of the Kodiaq 2.0 TFSI which referred to it has having "the latest Audi engine". Similar horsepower figures led me to believe it was the same - maybe it isn't? I'm alright Jack (pull the ladder up ) as I always thought the 2-stage valve lift engine was the one I'd always been waiting for (gutted it wasn't on more cars). As it happens, all of the cars that (I thought) have it have been knocked off my list for various reasons (unless I swallow the extra V.E.D. & buy the A4 Avant). Still looking like the Superb 220 is the car for me then. Audi configurator currently shows A4 S-Line 2.0 TFSI S tronic as 124g/Km. Probably different engine then (Audi is lighter & more aerodynamic but not enough to account for that kind of difference).

Don't know whether my 2p is any help here, or just an irritation (apologies in advance). Yup, volume control should be context-specific but, as someone who doesn't have AA integration yet but uses AA in standalone mode on a daily basis, there is an option within AA to set the starting point. If you open Android Auto on your phone (while not connected to car), go into nav mode, into settings for Google Maps>Voice Setting, you can set voice to Softer/Normal/Louder (I use it to get preferred level in relation to Google Play music). I'm presuming this will transfer as a starting point when you integrate with infotainment system but I'm not in a position to say for sure.

Seats in that vid are luuurrrrvly. £675 option in UK + mandatory heating though.

Couldn't agree more. Sincerest apologies if this is egg-sucking preaching but, Google Maps / Traffic (note Maps not Earth - though you can overlay satellite imagery if your data plan can handle it [though satellite 'hops' on my phone] ) is all available via Android Auto. Google voice recognition (for me) is now almost perfect & no need to muck about with WLAN, additional SIM, or subscriptions.

That's Skoda for you. Facts as known: -- Described as 'Metallic' -- Somewhere loosely on the red spectrum

Sorry, my friend - look again. Rio Red Metallic, £380 Of course, Rallye Green is THE colour, if you're brave enough.

@wooyay @freelunch UK configurator has a tasty looking (on the configurator, at least ) metallic red for Octy VRS. Maybe that will come to the Superb????

I think power perception will always vary, according to what you're used to. IMHO, both engines are enough - the 2.0 will have a bit in reserve, not have to work so hard, and may be as economical in the real world. Note that this version of the 2.0 has 2 stage valve lift. It is supposed to feel like a 1.4 at low revs/throttle but be ready to take off when you need it. Try watching the Auto Express video for the Audi A4 (better than an M3?). The Audi designer explains it better than I do. P.S: Engine designer speaks from 4:44 if you don't want to watch the whole thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MSY-Cq3l58

Because everyone falls in love with them when they 1st see them in all their glory. I wouldn't not buy a car because it had one, but it's a damn cheek to be asked to pay extra for one when they're cheaper to produce than analogue gauges - particularly as you have to pay subscriptions on top to see the features they were really designed to showcase.

NBG??? Apologies, I realise my post wasn't very helpful - what it really translates to is that I couldn't understand what is required to access the online data + Google Earth (which seems to be the thing that everyone raves about when seeing the Audi Virtual Cockpit). It didn't help that the salesperson I approached didn't seem to have a clue and/or couldn't be bothered. Must admit, I spat my dummy out a bit. 30 mins sat down with someone more helpful may change my view. To be fair, saying the VW screen was underwhelming was just me being grumpy really. The VW TFT screen was quite pretty (just nowhere near as stunning as the Audi Virtual Cockpit) and, if you're not bothered about the on-line stuff & Google Earth, the data connection is irrelevant. The point I was really trying to make is that not all V.A.G. cars get Virtual Cockpit, that's an Audi name/design. They may all get the TFT screen, but each manufacturer will provide their own implementation. I'm pretty sure that, if you want to get Google Earth in the Tiguan, you have to have: Nav Pro + 3 year (+ ongoing) subscription to E-Call + somehow provide the data yourself. In other cars I've looked at, you could provide the data either by putting a SIM card into the car or by connecting a phone via RSAP (which might not be very future-proof). It seems, from the Tiguan brochure, however, that you may be able to (or have to) get it all via your mobile's hotspot. Salesperson couldn't tell me for sure & I hate hotspots anyway because: a ) I don't want to leave a hotspot enabled, and b ) I'd never remember to enable it each time I got into the car.

Good question re multi-function steering wheel. Multi-function is standard on Octavia L&K (but without paddles?) - only available with alcantara seats but they are heated, so odd not to offer heated wheel??? (Superb has leather/heated & has optional ventilated seats). Octavia has emergency call & infotainment online availability. This will no doubt come to the Superb soon as all cars will have to have emergency call by next year (I think). In summary, they are not just different sizes of the same car - standard spec is quite different, it's not all in the options list. Couple of notable differences that immediately jump out: Superb - 3 zone CC; Octavia - LED headlights.

This is no longer true. The time of flagship models getting the latest tech 1st pre-dates my hair turning grey (& that was a long long time ago). Doesn't seem to make sense at first but the problem, usually, is cramming the tech into the available space. This video explains (albeit on an Audi) from around 6:10 the situation:

Seems to me a very odd question - I think you need to dedicate a few hours to test drives. The Octavia will generally be ahead of the curve with the latest technology, the Superb will always benefit (in many peoples' eyes) from a superior drive that a longer wheelbase provides (& will contain a few more 'luxury' features, even if it does lag behind in the tech).

There's no doubt that the Superb will (eventually) get the new screen. I wish, however, that everyone would stop calling it 'virtual cockpit'. Virtual cockpit is a lurrvly Audi software implementation - the screen is just a bit of hardware. In my search for my next car, the VW Tiguan has raised its head & the software implementation in that is quite underwhelming (& confusing in how to access the online data) compared to Audi. I'll reserve judgement until I see Skoda's implementation - the current analogue instruments are great, the flatscreen replacement may or may not be better. Edit p.s: I'd also like to say that the 'bigger' 9.2" screen is only bigger (I think) because the hard keys turn into soft keys & therefore become part of the display - I'd rather have the hard keys - discuss.

Gizmo sort of beat me to it. I was going to suggest a Google (video) search of 'Skoda Cappuccino' to see the colour on various cars (as it's been around for a long time). It's certainly a colour that won't sting you come resale and IMHO is one of the colours with a meaningful name (milky coffee?). I do, however, think the Kodiaq, is somehow suited to either a bolder colour or, perhaps even, a much simpler colour such as silver or white. We are, however, all different in how we perceive colours - don't be too influenced by others' opinions.