On the heated rear seats thread I mentioned the gearstick lock that I wasn't allowed to order cos my car is a UK model, but it got me thinking that I never asked the question to the boffins on here...

I think they were just saying it to disuade me after extensive chasing, but Skoda CZ said it wasn't possible to fit this to a RHD UK car, but for the life of me I don't understand why. Isn't the working of the gearstick through to the box the same on every car regardless of which side the steeering wheel is on??

So can anyone think of a plausible reason why it couldn't have been fitted from factory, and not just cos it wasn't an option in this country.

And does anyone actually have this fitted, and can they remember how much is was as an option? That and the double fold sun visors were two things I really wanted but couldn't have (althought the visors are available from any dealer and can be easily retro fitted, but are a bit pricey at £40 odd +vat brand new!)

p.s. Sun visor part numbers are 1Z0 857 551 R & 1Z0 857 552 R with an end code of 2F4 for Pearl Grey, 3S7 for Ivory, and 4Q5 for Onyx on the vrs.

Edited 3 June, 201313 yr by blackspaven

Not a RHD owner, but I have a suggestion - in CZ, many people go with Defend Lock, and aftermarket locking mechanism, which seems to be available in the UK as well. Might be worth checking out:

http://www.defend.eu/Defend-Lock/

Not a RHD owner, but I have a suggestion - in CZ, many people go with Defend Lock, and aftermarket locking mechanism, which seems to be available in the UK as well. Might be worth checking out:

http://www.defend.eu/Defend-Lock/

That's what I mean. I preume this is all the Skoda variant is, but it'd be nice to have had it fitted at factory, built neatly into the gaitor.

defend locks/multi locks are very much pointless in modern times, Its almost impossible to nick a car without the keys and if you have somebodys ignition key then you will have their lock key 99.99% of the time.

In the days when cars could be easily barrelled/hot wired then multi locks were a good security measure.

Hah, in fact, that's EXACTLY what I mean...

How utterly ridiculous. Looks like Skoda WERE lying to me then.

Edited 3 June, 201313 yr by blackspaven

defend locks/multi locks are very much pointless in modern times, Its almost impossible to nick a car without the keys and if you have somebodys ignition key then you will have their lock key 99.99% of the time.

In the days when cars could be easily barrelled/hot wired then multi locks were a good security measure.

Not entirely sure about that, but it's true that I went with an insurance as the primary solution.

Not entirely sure about that, but it's true that I went with an insurance as the primary solution.

It is true, modern cars are virtually impossible to nick without the keys or heavy lifting gear.

If you keep both keys on the same key ring then your car will be as easy to nick with this fitted as without.

To be fair, I was only gonna be using this if my car was gonna be somewhere I thought was dodgy, or sitting for a long time like an airport carpark and I had the keys either on me at all times or I kept them seperate from the main bunch for that very reason. Visiable deterrent is still a factor though.

All a bit irrelevant now though.