Hi - registered a little while back now but I'm still in the US :P

Looks like I'm gonna be swamped with work the second I land in the UK, which sux, but in any case.

I'm looking to buy a Furby vRS with most options except for the satnav. I found a decent quote inc VAT for just a shade over 13k via one of those online sites.

On the other side is that I'd like to buy via a local dealer in Newbury due to my daily grind to work goes via A34/M4, so jumping off to Newbury isn't too far away.

As for financing I can use a dealer based package if they offer something decent, or go with my bank (worse rates) or via this online site. Not posted a link here in case it's against the rules

To get the best price from this dealer, how would you recommend approaching this?

Also, does anyone here actually have the SatNav?

Third question - I spotted the Xeon 'continental driving' thread. Was the final answer that you CAN get a protector which won't burn out the whole thing so you can stick a standard converter on?

This third question is extremely important to me as I need to travel to the Netherlands about once a year to see my parents/sister+family, and it is quite likely I will have to go to Europe continental regularly for my (pretty new) job. I know regular lights would work too, but if I can somehow use Xeons I would definitely prefer it.

Thanks for your replies

Any ideas? :confused:

Firstly welcome :wave:

To get the best price from this dealer, how would you recommend approaching this?

Would recommend speccing up a car on www.tins.co.uk, and take a printout of the final price, spec and delivery time to your dealer. Ask him what he can do to match it. If he can't do anything with the price, ask him about free servicing, mats, flaps and diesel

Also, does anyone here actually have the SatNav?

Don't know of any - most people seem to use the PDA systems or the TomTom Go which is then transferable between cars....

Third question - I spotted the Xeon 'continental driving' thread. Was the final answer that you CAN get a protector which won't burn out the whole thing so you can stick a standard converter on?

As far as I recall, yes and no Skoda recommend you don't with Xenons, but you can buy the usual Fabia headlamp protectors and just stick the convertors on these - I believe a few people on here have done. May be a question for your local dealer too

Chris

Thanks - will check that one too

Isn't there a special protector with larger airgaps, some VW part?

With the xenons, I don't think it's a "heat" issue - they don't get that hot, and I find mine run cooler than traditional halogen bulbs...

The real reason is that the xenons light pattern comes from the small round glass bit about 5cm in diameter, and the light pattern isn't reflected off the back reflector like you get with traditional halogen bulbs.

Because of the way the light passes through the polycarbonate lens (the front plastic bit of the headlamp), the traditional stick-on converters just won't work.

I'm going to have to change the lights over when I go down to France over Christmas.

I do have a skoda technical document which explains how to do it - it's technically easy, but physically difficult to get at (not much space) and a dealer won't tell you how to do it because of the potentially lethal voltages around those things...

I got my car from the dealer in Reading which is part of the same dealership as the Newbury dealer.

Thanks for that feedback Xavier -

Can you let me know (assuming you survive the dangerous voltages hehe) how you get on with this?

If it is something I can do myself it's not too bad I suppose, but in another thread on this site I spotted 100 quid a go charges to make the changes. The bad thing for me is that you don't really wanna change the direction over till you get to the tunnel or port, so I would really not want dealer involvement (nice as they may be )

I'm an electronic engineer (although I have been in software development for 10+ years) so I've had a hit or two, but when it gets to kV level I might get too shocked to like it much

I recently drove round France in my Fabia vRS with Xenons and my dealer sold me headlight protectors/ convertors for

Dstorey - that's awesome news

Wouldn't happen to have the numbers available for these?

It definitely swings me towards buying those Xenons

I'll check my receipts/ deflectors tonight and try to find a part number...

Why buy Xenons? They are expensive, delicate, expensive to replace bulbs, annoy the hell out of other drivers by dazzling them and people have been driving quite successfully for years with ordinary bulbs.

Xenons give better visibility to me - and selfish as it may sound, I've been blinded more by idiots that leave their fogs on during a perfectly clear day in the UK then anywhere (!) else in the world. A lot of people have badly set up headlights too.

In short - I'm used to it already and I'm quite convinced the dazzling effect cannot be as bad as people say, why would they be legal otherwise? Also, police is using them and the last thing as a police driver you wanna do is cause incidents. Too many accidents and you loose your job, isn't that that case?

As for replacing bulbs - the lifetime of these things is very long, so not sure how much of an issue that really is. As for price - definitely, you're totally right, they are very expensive unfortunately :(

Why buy Xenons? They are expensive, delicate, expensive to replace bulbs, annoy the hell out of other drivers by dazzling them and people have been driving quite successfully for years with ordinary bulbs.

Have you ever driven a car with Xenons and then gone back to one without? That is when you really realise how worthwile they are. Particularly if you drive a lot on rural roads awasy from the major towns and cities. The spread and intensity of the light is significantly better.

Xenon's shouldn't dazzle anyone - thats why they have to have auto self levelling fitted.

And as for cost - IMHO the

If you drive a car anywhere without street lighting at night then you will appreciate the better light quality of xenon units. Not only is the light properly white rather than yellowish, but the overall distribution is better. My 2p worth anyway.

Just checked my receipt...

The part number is ZGB6Y0072101 Touring Convertor and cost 28.09 + VAT. Seemed to do the business

Thanks for the part number - will get a set ordered with the car so I'm ready to go

I can see the 500 quid being a real issue for many people, on the cost aspect of things. Definitely isn't cheap. That said, based on pricing I've seen for this option on other vehicles/manufacturers, it seems most of them are at that level as their listed option price, and even the discount sites don't appear to be dropping much below that. I'm sure there is still some profit in it but I guess that's just how much it costs :(

The way I look at it though is this - it increases my visibility and it works well, and for the mileage I'll be doing I feel any form of improvement to my safety 'package' is good. This means side-impact airbags too, for example.

Only thing concerning me about the Furby is the brakes. I ride the brakes pretty hard and it's always the weak point for me. So the known situation about fading on the Furby worries me a bit. Can't see myself doing upgrades that void warranty though, so I guess I'll have to change my driving a bit

Xenons shouldn't dazzle if they are properly adjusted. Because they are still rare on Skodas, not all dealers set them up properly.

I believe there was a thread describing how someone had their Xenons set to dip vertically rather than leftwards (which would upset continental drivers), because they went abroad so often.

There are other threads describing the fitting of Octavia RS brakes to a a Furby vRS, which by all accounts gives a useful increase in stopping power.

Searches on 'Xenons' and '312 mm brakes' should tell you what you need to know.

Hi Briand - yeah I spotted a whole bunch of articles on it. I would upgrade them immediately if it didn't void the warranty - which it does.

Personally I don't get why the vRS version doesn't have brakes that are considered 'good' for that type of car, as they are already uprated compared to the less powerful models.

I will just have to get used to it for now but once the 2yr or 60000 miles has been exceeded I might just get that done