Out of interest, do UK Octavia III's not come with Adaptive cruise control at all (not even an option).

 

Whilst I have my new GTD (with ACC), my father is looking for a new car and really fancies the Octavia. He's been in my Golf and was really impressed with the ACC, but looking at the brochures from the Skoda website, whilst it shows a VRS will the ACC monitor low down in the mesh front grill, it also says "model shown not UK spec", and we can't find it as an option ?

 

Have Skoda UK not bothered with this (seems strange) ?

Edited 16 January, 201412 yr by Sootchucker

It was for a few months, but then discontinued.

Temporarily discontinued because the golfs have pinched all the parts

Above is correct.

They have stopped it on Octavia so that VAG can prioritise Audi, VW etc due to parts shortage...

Is it an actually established fact that it's been taken from Skoda and prioritised to VW and Audi, or just guesses?

 

I wouldn't be that surprised, but I'm interested to know if it's been disclosed by anyone in authority.

Mine has it...

Its a bit of a poor show that when ordering a car you can't have what you want when paying good money.

If I can't get the extras on that I want I'll be well miffed as might as well order from the competition.

Is it an actually established fact that it's been taken from Skoda and prioritised to VW and Audi, or just guesses?

 

I wouldn't be that surprised, but I'm interested to know if it's been disclosed by anyone in authority.

just a guess but it hasnt been pulled from the golfs which have them as standard and the octy elegance did have it as standard until it was pulled.

 

maybe not pulled for the other groups though. maybe skoda only ordered 2000 then sold 4000 cars.  who knows.

Mind that other countries do get ACC (Poland hurray), so it's between SUK and VW why You guys can't have it.

 

That's why "model shown not UK spec".

Its standard on the golf though so would take priority

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What you could try is what I did with the panoramic sunroof. It wasn't available at the time I ordered in Romania (I think it still isn't) and didn't exist in the dealer's system. I really wanted it so I told the dealer that it's an order with it or no order at all. So the dealer (great guy) then put it as 954 euros worth of accessories (actually the price of the roof) just to get the order through the system. He then called the importer (Romanian equivalent of SUK) and had them modify the order and switch the "accessories" with the actual panoramic sunroof system code. The order was indeed accepted by the factory and as they say, the proof is in the pudding. The car arrived with the panoramic sunroof (I think currently it's the only combi in Romania with it).

 

The method is worth a try if you have an approachable dealer that is willing to go the extra mile.

My guess is that SUK removed it from standard kit for two reasons. i). Reduce the build backlog. ii) Increase profit margin.

 

My VRS probably will not have it, but I have never used the CC fitted to any of my cars anyway. On crowded UK motorways I prefer to make all of the driving decisions, and firmly believe my assessment of other drivers actions to be more reliable than allowing a computer to pass judgement. I know that ACC is a driver aid, but my opinion is that it can create complacency.

 

Still, I would rather have the option for free, than not have it.

My VRS probably will not have it, but I have never used the CC fitted to any of my cars anyway. On crowded UK motorways I prefer to make all of the driving decisions, and firmly believe my assessment of other drivers actions to be more reliable than allowing a computer to pass judgement. I know that ACC is a driver aid, but my opinion is that it can create complacency.

 

If you don't like normal cruise why spec the £750 (iirc) ACC??

If you don't like normal cruise why spec the £750 (iirc) ACC??

Ahh, I thought ACC & FA were standard on the VRS before being deleted during October. Perhaps I misunderstood but I will not miss them either way, and I certainly will never pay £750 for ACC.

What you could try is what I did with the panoramic sunroof. It wasn't available at the time I ordered in Romania (I think it still isn't) and didn't exist in the dealer's system. I really wanted it so I told the dealer that it's an order with it or no order at all. So the dealer (great guy) then put it as 954 euros worth of accessories (actually the price of the roof) just to get the order through the system. He then called the importer (Romanian equivalent of SUK) and had them modify the order and switch the "accessories" with the actual panoramic sunroof system code. The order was indeed accepted by the factory and as they say, the proof is in the pudding. The car arrived with the panoramic sunroof (I think currently it's the only combi in Romania with it).

The method is worth a try if you have an approachable dealer that is willing to go the extra mile.

The sunroof can be selected without any issues in the configurator on the Skoda Romania website which leads me to think that you were probably lucky and the item became available while your car was on order.

I wouldn't hold any hope that this will be the case with the ACC in the UK.

I would have quite happily paid twice the asking price as it is an excellent feature but it wasn't to be.

I'll just add, that imo ACC is simply the best option/feature on my car. I use it more than I anticipated and am now in the habit of 'tugging' on the third lever (keep it clean at the back) in traffic. It's a safety net, a bit like seat belts, crumple zones and air bags.

 

It's just a shame that you can't specify it in the UK at the moment.

@bichti, I kept checking and it definitely wasn't available even after I got my car, which was in November. I know it's a bit of a sci-fi story regarding how I got my pano roof on the car, but oh well...

I'll just add, that imo ACC is simply the best option/feature on my car. I use it more than I anticipated and am now in the habit of 'tugging' on the third lever (keep it clean at the back) in traffic. It's a safety net, a bit like seat belts, crumple zones and air bags.

 

It's just a shame that you can't specify it in the UK at the moment.

 

Have to agree I use ACC a lot, it is very good for town driving or on any congested road where the traffic is just going slow then stop and go.

 

No Octavia came with ACC as standard and was an option that seemed so popular it was causing build delays and was withdrawn by SUK to help manage the delays.

 

I also suspect that having front assist and ACC on the Octavia was hitting Golf sales and was another pressure / reason for it to be withdrawn to never return.

I wonder if it will ever return. Have to think, from a selfish point of view, that it lifts the value slightly of my car in 42 months time if it transpires by then that Octavias with ACC are a rarity.

Edited 18 January, 201412 yr by Dodgy

I wonder if it will ever return. Have to think, from a selfish point of view, that it lifts the value slightly of my car in 42 months time if it transpires by then that Octavias with ACC are a rarity.

I have ACC spec'd on my VRS (ordered September) and dealer has told me to expect delivery in April, or Feb/March if ACC deleted. Which I'm not going to do.

If, in two/three years time ACC becomes a thing with most cars, then the non ACC Octavias may be slower to sell. A lot of ifs there, but think how quickly ABS took hold, to become ubiquitous within about 2 years.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

ACC is still available here on elegance models.  I test drove (bout 2 wks ago) one with it fitted.

the new mk3 Octavia has only just been released in the oz market, with RS not expected here till april 2014.

I do think that ACC will become the norm in the future, everybody that I have spoken to about it that have is say it's great.

 

Octavia residuals are going to be difficult to assess as to the differences in standard spec for early models and the biggest thing that affects residual values is car desirability.

Dodgy, car residual prices are not affected by optional extras, that why I changed from a spec'd up SE to Elegance, yeah you may get a couple hundred back on a private sale but, for the hassle I don't think I'll bother, probably chop mine into webuyanycar if its worth more than the GVF if not, I rented a car for 3 years, some win, some won't, so what, next.

 

My wife loved the idea of ACC, I think only so the car would save her the work of telling me how to drive though, would have been nice if it had have been on the car at the same price but, it ain't no deal breaker that it isn't, what does bother me is the removal of the right foot rest when a car has cruise fitted.  Rest your foot on the floor well, not if you've got plantar fasciitis, bloddy painful on a long journey.

 

Regards

T

Yup, I know that in general terms, you don't get your money back on options. But put it this way, if I imagine I'm in the market for a second hand vRS and I find 2 identical examples (condition, mileage, age etc) except one has ACC and FA, I'd be prepared to spend an extra £500 on the one with ACC - I think it's that good.

 

I might be alone on that, though.