I've recently bought a 52 plate Fabia 1.4 Elegance Estate and when I tried to use my satnav, I discovered the plug fouls the handbrake lever so I can't plug it in. I have bought an adapter which rotates through 90 degrees i.e. brings the socket down to horizontal but it too fouls the handbrake.

I have seen loads of extension leads and adapters on line but they all seem to have large plugs. How do other members with the socket mounted next to the handbrake manage?

I suppose I could get a really long extension and plug into the boot socket.................

This is one of my biggest unmentioned gripes with Skoda; they put the sodding 12V socket right down there, by the handbrake. It's in the same place on the Fabia II, with the ashtray ahead of the gear stick. WHY I'd love to know where they put the cigarette lighter on other models? I looked at the new Rapid last week, and the 12V/ cigarette lighter was still there, away from where it's needed. Why?

I suppose I could get a really long extension and plug into the boot socket.................

you joke, but doing that and running it under the roof lining and then down the front pillar would hide all that untidy wiring

I connected to the wiring under the central console, ran forwards and up behind the front of it and put a switched 3 plug + USB unit into the little hole under the radio. To avoid having it on all the time, I cut the incoming +ve wire and soldered it to the end socket switch so that the unit can be turned off. The camera is plugged into the rear of the unit and when not wanted the cord fits into the space at the side of the unit. The satnav uses the USB. Works well and still leaves the original socket available.

I`ve had my power socket put in the cubby hole with the on/off pull lever under the lights switch. It fits there a treat and with the cable for the Sat Nav can stay on it all the time so just unplug Sat Nav and hide and not worry about the cable.

This is one of my biggest unmentioned gripes with Skoda; they put the sodding 12V socket right down there, by the handbrake. It's in the same place on the Fabia II, with the ashtray ahead of the gear stick. WHY I'd love to know where they put the cigarette lighter on other models?

On mine it's right by the handbrake too. Not the best position and I don't think it even works now :(

I got a 2 socket adapter from halfords, cut off the plug and hard wired it into the car, with a rocker switch in the cubby hole by my right knee.

the adapter is clipped behind the dash and I have my tomtom ipod dock wired to it, with the wires hidden. RESULT!

I have 2 map books - keep them in the pouch in the back of the front passenger seat.

Thanks for starting this topic, I found the cigarette lighter in the Fabia a bit of a strange location.

I did think to pair off the live and earth feeds to the cigarette lighter and install something like this:

Underneath the centre of the dash -

Does anyone see any issues with this, other than blocking the forward ashtray a little perhaps.

Thanks for all the useful tips and it's good to know there are so many others sharing my frustration! Looks like a job to do when I next get some spare time..........hhmmmm.

You have to remember that many of these types of devices will use power, and the cig lighter socket is constantly live. You ideally need to find an ignition switched live to wire to.

I wonder if the ultimate approach is to tidily put the cig lighter plug for the sat nav behind the dash and solder some wires to it, to an ignition switched live. The end of the plug could emerge somewhere near the bottom of the A pillar, and have some velcro stuck to it, and part of the dash, to prevent rattling when not in use.

It's a shame there's few decent double-din head units with decent inbuilt sat nav at a reasonable price, and with reasonably priced map updates.

As I said I did this, connected a live source to a butchered adapter. I switched it and hid everything behind the dash. Tidy and effective. Also got a 2 way adapter in case I want to extend. My old car had a 4 way with individual switches.

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