I have ordered a pre registered already built)Fabia SE+. The one thing I will miss over my current Fabia is cruise control.

The dealer has quoted silly money to retrofit but I believe I can buy a kit from Skoda. A couple of questions:

Has anyone any experience of retrofitting cruise control and, if so, how do you go about it - is it a difficult job for a DIY person?

How much is the kit likely to cost?

Does the ECU need re-programming to make it work and, if so, how much is this likely to cost?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Lots of people seem to have retrofitted these, I think you need to change some setting via VCDS, or other electronic way. I know Shark Performance offer a retrofit and it is quoted on their site as £95 (+vat). If they are not close then I presume other tuners may do it as well.

I used to hate cruise but really like it know and made sure I got it on the new car.

I paid the dealer £330 to have it retro fitted, which is very expensive, but I couldn't live without it.

It did take them 3 attempts to get it working however, seemingly it's very tight under there and the pins can slip out unnoticed, which was what happened to mine

Someone posted a link to the official kit for these now recently, same price as the factory option BUT that's doesn't include fitting (and neither do you get the 20% off unfortunately).

Edit: Here you go: http://www.accessories.skoda.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?p_no=5J2035623A

Edited 19 December, 201114 yr by pearce_jj

Someone posted a link to the official kit for these now recently, same price as the factory option BUT that's doesn't include fitting (and neither do you get the 20% off unfortunately).

Edit: Here you go: http://www.accessories.skoda.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?p_no=5J2035623A

Sounds quite a lot for what it actually is... I don't know how important CC is for some people, my car already had it and I've used it some times but I would certainly live without it. After all it's only useful when I'm utterly bored and that's not a good thing. I like to keep as much "in touch" with the road as possible.

Sounds quite a lot for what it actually is... I don't know how important CC is for some people, my car already had it and I've used it some times but I would certainly live without it. After all it's only useful when I'm utterly bored and that's not a good thing. I like to keep as much "in touch" with the road as possible.

As I have already said I now like having CC, but there are few times I regularly use it. Normally just when on a nice stretch of quiet road when I am happy to cruise along. I do like it in average speed camera territory, but most of the time these areas are busy and so you can't really use it, I just zero the average speed in the car and monitor that as well as my actual speed obviously.

I do find it useful to cruise along when other traffic is going well over the limit as it does prevent my speed from creeping up and makes things a bit less stressful. Maybe I'm just getting old!

Like most things it is a matter of choice and everyone is different, thank god. How dull would it be if we were all the same!!

FWIW I use it in a similar way. Citroen combine a speed limiter with their cruise which way better IMHO. Except obviously it will be broken after 5 minutes.

The Fabia II cruise control kits were only for up to 2010MY and the ones for cars with on board computer have been discontinued although a loom is quite easy to make, I have made several. The 2010MY onwards uses a different central electrics control unit and engine ECU, although it is possible it's quite a different ball game to the pre 2010MY cars. I have looked into it but as yet not fitted one, there was a bit of confusion on where the ECU wire goes in when I looked that needed clarification. Was waiting to see if a kit was on the cards or not which it looks like it now is which is most interesting.

Might offer free fitting for a trial fit

The Fabia II cruise control kits are only for up to 2010MY...

Follow the link, it says:

Cruise Control

Part Number: 5J2035623A

Suitable For:

Fabia 2011>

Roomster 2011>

The link to the cruise control kit is just what I need. A couple of other questions:

If I fit the kit, will I need to get my Skoda garage to re-programme the ECU - I would have thought not but you never know?

Does anyone know how I get the plastic shroud which surrounds the wiper and indicator stalks off - are they screwed on or just clipped on? Advice very welcome. Thank you.

Yes it will have to be programmed.

To change the switches you need to remove the airbag and steering wheel. Then add the loom into the correct locations in the plug and run the wiring loom down to the central electrics ecu, then pin the plug correctly. Then run a loom through the bulkhead into the engine bay and along to the engine ECU and pin into that.