Hello

I recently bought a second hand roomster 2 (08 reg) from a Skoda dealer and have realised that on the automatic gear lever, the labels that indicate if you are in Park, Neutral, Drive etc are not on the drivers side of the gear stick. This is incredibly annoying - especially when you are new to driving an automatic and really want to look at them! My friend's newer Roomster does have them on the drivers side - as you would expect.

Is this a standard Roomster 2 quirk or have we just bought a strange car?

thanks

Roy

Hello

I recently bought a second hand roomster 2 (08 reg) from a Skoda dealer and have realised that on the automatic gear lever, the labels that indicate if you are in Park, Neutral, Drive etc are not on the drivers side of the gear stick. This is incredibly annoying - especially when you are new to driving an automatic and really want to look at them! My friend's newer Roomster does have them on the drivers side - as you would expect.

Is this a standard Roomster 2 quirk or have we just bought a strange car?

thanks

Roy

I understand your problem - I have just bought my 1st auto though I have driven several as hire/courtesy cars.

I think it is a bit of VAG cost cutting for the right hand drive market that they have now sorted.

I had a 1.6 Fabia Auto (2009) as a courtesy car and that had the labels on the "wrong" side.

I had a Passat 2.0 diesel DSG (2008) as a hire car - labels on the wrong side.

First thing I noticed about my 2010 Octavia DSG is that the labels are on the correct side. To be honest they are not much good as the illumination isn't bright enough in daylight to easily see which is selected so I use the dash display

Does the Roomster not have gear indication on the dash?

After 1 month and 1300 miles I have just about got the hang of it without looking but I still do a triple check that I have it in park before taking my foot off the brake after nearly ramming into my house wall after driving it home from the showroom.

My 08 Roomster 3 auto has the gear indicator on the "wrong" side - so your car is no different to the others of the same vintage.

My car certainly has a display in the dashboard, although my wife doesn't like the fact that this goes PRNDS from side to side rather than vertically to match the gear stick.

If this is the biggest of your problems, there are plenty who'd trade places with you !

Thanks for the replies - yes it does display on the dash too but it is still annoying,especially at those moments of triple checking it is in Park. That is a bit ominous about that being the least of our problems. Early days but I hope not! Although it is back with them today because it wouldn't start - hey ho! Could be posting again soon!

I just had to go outside and have a look. Mine are on the passenger side too, but in 18 months I never even thought about whether thqat was right or wrong. I've certainly never had a problem seeing them, although now the positions are so familiar that I rarely even look at them.

Thanks for the replies - yes it does display on the dash too but it is still annoying,especially at those moments of triple checking it is in Park. That is a bit ominous about that being the least of our problems. Early days but I hope not! Although it is back with them today because it wouldn't start - hey ho! Could be posting again soon!

My comment about gearstick visibility being the least of your problems was aimed at life in general - not the Roomster owning experience! I have to say my Roomster's been reliable to date - only niggles have been:

A dashboard rattle - fixed myself with a bit of rubber pushed in between the trim

The shades for the panoramic window opening themselves in hot weather - fixed myself by adding a magntetic catch from B&Q.

Good luck with yours - hopefully something simple like a dud battery from sitting around in a dealers too long.