Well, my new 54 plate Superb Elegance showed up this morning, and it's great!

Obviously, haven't been able to drive it yet, as it's not road legal until the 1st.

One major surprise though, is split folding rear seats

The lack of this feature nearly stopped me ordering the car, as Skoda UK could not confirm when it would be available on UK models. Lo and behold, my car has got them as standard straight from the factory. Well pleased am I.

Will post some piccies tomorrow, once I've finished the ICE install.

Bagpuss.

Nice one !

I was wondering about the seats as well (hypothetically speaking ofcourse), so it is good to hear they are now factory fit.

Perhaps you can also tell us if your new ICE is able to use the dot matrix display in the dash.

Cheers

Perhaps you can also tell us if your new ICE is able to use the dot matrix display in the dash.

Cheers

I think I already know the answer to this one, I put money on loss of steering controls for volume and track changes and multidot display track and station display. These signals are sent over the conv can and are in a specific format. Hope you wont be disapointed if you are changing the head unit.

Enjoy you car envious of the split seats would make a great car even better

John

Steering wheel controls and dot matrix display are both out the window.

In theory, it would be possible to get the steering wheel controls to work, but it's too much effort at the moment.

As for the display, I'm not going to miss it much, as I've now got a double DIN install with my Empeg MP3 player, an AVIC-X1 sat. nav unit and a 6 disk DVD changer

It's been a bit of a bitch to install, though, as the Superb really does have nowhere easy for the hideaway unit to go, and the DVD changer is too big for the slot where the original OEM CD changer is installed. Ho hum, should be finished by lunchtime tomorrow, and will then have a pretty good system.

Bagpuss.

So no problems launching a Superb Estate then?

I'm getting mine tomorrow so must look and see if my seats fold and split.

Mine has got split rear seats too - delivered early July. I'd have thought all subsequent Superbs will have split seats, unless it isn't a factory order.

Did your Superb arrive ok Baaheed? Any pics?

How much more practical does the split rear seats make the car?

No Kev as I posted last Thursday I have been taken for a chimp by the dealer but should get word of when I'm getting it this week.

How much more practical does the split rear seats make the car?

With split/fold seats it becomes immensely more practical, Andy. When my father had a Superb on 24 hr demo we compared the boot of my Volvo S80 against the boot of the Superb. Both had excellent boots with significantly different shapes. However, once the seats were dropped in the Volvo the real practicality became apparent. Yes, I know you can buy roof boxes and trailers if you so wish, but, if you don't want to, and want to carry as much stuff inside the car as possible, split/fold is a huge advantage. My previous car was a V70 estate which had excellent carrying capacity as you would expect. My booted S80, in the 15 months I have owned it, has never failed to get anything inside it that the estate couldn't. I'm not saying booted cars with split/fold are more versatile than estates - patently they're not. However, with the split/fold arrangement they are excellent. I've carried two mountain bikes, walking gear, two cases and associated paraphernalia inthe back of the S80. In the previous incarnation Superb this would have been impossible. In my fathers Superb, this is eminently possible - and why I will now consider one in due course as a possible replacement for the Volvo.

How much more practical does the split rear seats make the car?

Certainly couldn't have got back from Ikea with a big box at the weekend without them. With the kids in the car, we needed a back seat, so folded one side down and away you go. Didn't actually realise I had split seats until I tried!

Wouldn't have put me off getting the Superb if it didn't have them - if I was that bothered, I would have got a hatch. Having said that, if they did a Superb Estate, I would have had one over the saloon.

The only thing wrong with my old Passat was the boot, and the poor opening aperture - same obviously goes for the Superb.

When did they start coming through with split seats? Mine was an ex-demo Tiptronic first registered March 2004, and it doesn't. Bummer!

According to Skoda retailer support, they were first fitted to cars built from week 21 onwards (mid-May). All UK models since this date have the split/fold rear seats as standard.

I didn't find this out until after I'd taken delivery.

Bagpuss.

well, I have never experienced any problems with the lack of folding seats,

except for one time where I had to fit&carry the front bumper inside the car..

...would have helped..

Thanks for the info Bagpuss.

I guess it's a major, and therefore expensive job to have them fitted afterwards, if it's possible at all?

Tiptronic