MY16

[domhnall]

In fairness my dealer, the excellent and very easy to deal with Stuart at West End garage in Dunfermline, told me to hold off until MY16 was confirmed, and then he talked me through all the updates. He said there was very little change to the Octavia apart from new engines and a few switches. I then asked him about smart link etc and he had to do some digging to find out it was a cost option but he wasn't able to find out anything about screen sizes. 

 

I was tempted by a Fabia estate due to all the smartlink wizardry but then you can't order xenons with the fabia so when I found out smart link and xenons were available on the Octavia that swung it. (that and a great deal offered by West End)

 

If I can use my phone with smart link (android auto) I'll be happy. I'm not overly concerned about the screen size as much as whether it works. Having paid £150 extra for it I'll be unhappy if it doesn't.

 

This will be my 6th Octavia and after 4 years with a Yeti (great fun to drive but let down by poor quality and reliability issues) I'm looking forward to seeing how the new Octavia compares with the older ones. If it's anything like the previous ones there won't be too many funny noises to discuss :-)  Plenty VCDS tweaks that can be done though.

 

I'm very sceptical it will be here by the end of June as promised by West End but they've always been spot on with their dates before so I hope to be proven wrong. 

Edited 4 June, 2015 by domhnall

[GAFF]

I hope I haven't offended anyone and that, at the end of the day is all a bit of banter and collective knowledge gathering

Im not offended either. As you said this is about collective knowledge.....or as has been shown...the collection of conflicting information from Skoda.

Id rather have my car specced the way I want it rather than relying on aftermarket attempt/copies.

[Warkman]

Well, not sure if this is bad news or not.

Online Octavia brochure updated to May 2015.

 

https://tools.skoda.co.uk/content/brochure/brochure_octavia.pdf

 

Bad news, still shows Amundsen as a 5.8 inch screen.....

[Iamholam]

Yeah still shows 5.8" screen and on page 45 still the old 400x240 screen (which I have mentioned does not meet apple car play requirements)

[Iamholam]

I haven't found any minimum requirements for Android Auto, so that may work but I do have a concern what Skoda are saying.

[Rodge]

That brochure was up for several weeks in May but was replaced by the April one a week ago and apparently reappeared yesterday. It's known to be full of mistakes.

[GAFF]

Maybe worth looking at Fabia spec....wasnt it the first to come with Mirrorlink. It might give an indication of basic spec needed

[Warkman]

bad news Im afraid. :-( had a response from Skoda UK and its still the 5.8inch screen on UK 16MY amundsens :-(

[GAFF]

bad news Im afraid. :-( had a response from Skoda UK and its still the 5.8inch screen on UK 16MY amundsens :-(

Did they mention of that has Smartlink?

[RB79]

@lamholam Not offended at all. As everyone points out, bring up this topic and trying to get to the bottom of it just highlights weird goings on behind the scenes at Skoda and discussing these topics on public forums makes this information more widely available for the benefit others.

I'm no different from you in that I've spent a lot of money buying my first new car, which I plan to keep hold of for quite a few years and hope it will live up to my expectations and will serve me well over the years. Like you I've been spending vast amounts of time on this forum learning about the new car and hoping nothing pops up that makes me feel I've made a bad decision (positive reinforcement as you mentioned). Personally, I'm beginning to feel as all this obsessing I'm doing doesn't really amount to much other than make for an emotional roller coaster.

In my case I ordered at the end of March on the basis of MY15 and knowing nothing about w22 and MY16. Its only through these forums that I got to know (and got all excited) about MY16 and potential benefits of this. Then came the lows that would my car really be an MY16 or would it be built earlier (and be an MY15). Knowing it will definitely be an MY16 would it have this elusive 6.5in screen and the possibility of SmartLink.

To be honest I'm (and maybe others) may just be better off (mentally/emotionally) not getting too and ahead of myself and worked up by all this additional non official information and just take a chill pill and wait and see what I get. As Skoda have said, with MY16 you'll get the same or better than what you ordered.

I think the problem with Skoda has been that they have leaked bits of pieces of information that they're not fully versed on and worse have made options available to order without knowing internally and similarly at a dealership level what these things really are and what customers can expect.

As I suggested before, I think there is a fault on our part for getting overly excited/hung up about these not so well documented features that clearly Skoda and the dealers don't know much about. We should accept that they're not well documented and not well understood and signing up to these options is at our own risk.

[Warkman]

Did they mention of that has Smartlink?

I didn't ask, as tried to add it at my dealers but said was too late to change the order

[GAFF]

Maybe worth looking at Fabia spec....wasnt it the first to come with Mirrorlink. It might give an indication of basic spec needed

Even the Fabia get the 6.5" Bolero.

See Pg 18 of Fabia manual on Skoda.co.uk

Bolero radio Advanced technology on board turns your car into a smartphone on wheels. SmartLink SmartLink delivers an elegant connection between car and smartphone using MirrorLink™, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces. Whether you want to select and listen to music on your smartphone or receive turn-by-turn directions via a navigation app, all of this is mirrored on the central display. SmartGate SmartGate SmartGate is a system that uses Wi-Fi connection to send selected vehicle data to a connected device. Special mobile apps are available which allow you to analyse driving data and performance to find out more about your driving style. Examples of data available include vehicle speed, engine revs and g-meter. The SmartGate applications are available free of charge from app stores. Drive** MFA Pro** MotorSound** This top-of-the-range infotainment system for the Fabia offers the advanced ŠKODA Surround audio system as standard. When you connect your phone via Bluetooth®, when it is safe to do so you can read, write and send texts using Bolero’s large 6.5“ colour LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 800x480 pixels and multitouch gestures (standard on SE and SE L).

[Bailer]

Well, not sure if this is bad news or not.

Online Octavia brochure updated to May 2015.

 

try irelands up to date July 2014 version for a laugh, now thats up to date

 

http://www.skoda.ie/brochures/Documents/07.2014_Octavia_RS.pdf

Edited 4 June, 2015 by Bailer

[GAFF]

I think the problem with Skoda has been that they have leaked bits of pieces of information that they're not fully versed on and worse have made options available to order without knowing internally and similarly at a dealership level what these things really are and what customers can expect.

As I suggested before, I think there is a fault on our part for getting overly excited/hung up about these not so well documented features that clearly Skoda and the dealers don't know much about. We should accept that they're not well documented and not well understood and signing up to these options is at our own risk.

If the cars were being built in a few months I would agree that spec can change. These cars are currently being built, Skoda had to have inventory specced and purchased weeks ago. Im sure the factory required their part tracking system updated prior to ww22 to ensure a smooth transition, so its not as if the information isnt known.

Its not exactly Xmas morning....with you hoping Santa brought the right gift. These cars are not exactly cheap....so it would be good to know what you ordered is going to be what you get.

[GAFF]

try irelands up to date July 2014 version for a laugh, now thats up to date

 

http://www.skoda.ie/brochures/Documents/07.2014_Octavia_RS.pdf

True...but prior to MY16 change I dont think it changed at all.

Although they must be currently updating as the price list was updated yesterday.

[domhnall]

I'm still sceptical that the UK has developed a different sized bolero and amundsen just for UK octavias (and not UK fabias). More likely that suk don't know what's being built into the cars yet

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[Warkman]

I'm still sceptical that the UK has developed a different sized bolero and amundsen just for UK octavias (and not UK fabias). More likely that suk don't know what's being built into the cars yet

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Or they are using up the old stock on Octavias with a 16.5 MY to follow sometime next year?

[The Gremlin]

Like everyone else I'm frustrated with the lack of any clarity of what MY16 brings to the Octavia in particular the MIB units.

My VRS is being built next week and I have the free Amundsen. I saw the order form a few weeks ago and it said my car would be MY16, so I assumed it would be a MIB2 unit with the updated screen.

 

I had hoped this would have all been sorted out by now, but I guess we may all have to wait until the MY16 cars are delivered.

 

I also had a trawl through some of the international sites and noticed a few quirks as well.

On the Spanish site you can order the Amundsen for 200-ish Euros, but it comes with out the maps SD card - which is extra.

The Latvian brochure clearly shows (and describes in English) MIB2 units. The Amundsen and Boleros have 6.5" screens  

[Warkman]

Or they are using up the old stock on Octavias with a 16.5 MY to follow sometime next year?

Thinking about it, this makes sense as the UK ones will be the only ones with DAB in Europe? So might be stock vs build.....

[domhnall]

Thinking about it, this makes sense as the UK ones will be the only ones with DAB in Europe? So might be stock vs build.....

 

well yes but since the old ones (stock) don't have smart gate or smart link then they would not be offering those as paid for options. For Skoda UK to offer a 5.8 inch screen they would have had to have sourced an updated amundsen keeping the old small screen but adding smart link, while the rest of the VAG group used the updated larger screen models (the same models which Skoda UK is putting in fabias).

 

skoda don't make these units, they are sourced from companies like visteon and they're sourced on a group wide basis so the idea that one country has asked them to update an old model for one country for a short window until they get in units that the rest of VAG is using is not entirely plausible. 

 

If they are using up old stock then they shouldn't be allowing us to spec things that are incompatible. 

 

As I say, I'm happy to wait and see, I'm hoping this will be my best Skoda yet regardless of how big the screen on the head unit is.

[domhnall]

amusingly it's not just Skoda UK. www.skoda-auto.de on the model page shows the amundsen with the small screen and doesn't mention smart link or smart gate. Download the brochure and guess what? Smart link and gate are available on the bolero and amundsen with the 6.5 inch screen and the columbus with 8 inch screen (why are the germans using inches??) http://www.skoda-auto.de/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF%20Prospekte/Octavia_Limousine_Combi_HK_2015_06_03.pdf

 

doesn't say it wouldn't work on the swing or blues radios though but I doubt it looking at them. 

 

If you look at the UK octavia page they have pictures showing the car fitted with the swing (not available in the UK AFAIK) and they show "standard sat nav" which appears to be the bigger screen!

 

the other difference no one has talked about is that I think the new amundsen has done away with the CD player and you can only use SD cards now

[JD52]

well yes but since the old ones (stock) don't have smart gate or smart link then they would not be offering those as paid for options. For Skoda UK to offer a 5.8 inch screen they would have had to have sourced an updated amundsen keeping the old small screen but adding smart link, while the rest of the VAG group used the updated larger screen models (the same models which Skoda UK is putting in fabias).

 

skoda don't make these units, they are sourced from companies like visteon and they're sourced on a group wide basis so the idea that one country has asked them to update an old model for one country for a short window until they get in units that the rest of VAG is using is not entirely plausible. 

 

If they are using up old stock then they shouldn't be allowing us to spec things that are incompatible. 

 

As I say, I'm happy to wait and see, I'm hoping this will be my best Skoda yet regardless of how big the screen on the head unit is.

 

Agreed. I ordered my VRS before I knew anything about the MY16 changeover and will have no issue as long as the car arrives with the options I ordered, anything extra is a bonus.

[domhnall]

oh and the amundsen 6.5 inch screen is all that is offered on the Yeti now - they've always had the same radio as the Octavia to date so not sure why they'd update the yeti but not the octavia.

 

Ho hum. 

[GAFF]

the other difference no one has talked about is that I think the new amundsen has done away with the CD player and you can only use SD cards now

I was told that MY16 Bolero in Ireland would loose CD and get Smartlink.

I love the SD card....havent used a CD in 1.5 years

[domhnall]

Yeah same here. My yeti has sd card and 6 cd bolero. Cd player us unused

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