Hi All

 

I bought a new Superb 2.0 TDI DSG Estate from our local dealers, West End Motors in Dunfermline, at the beginning of 2012 - excellent dealers, even if Stuart, the dealer principal,  is always trying to sell me a new Superb :-)

As I am retired, the car is used only for personal trips, and has just passed 40,000 miles. 

 

As I am disabled, I needed a big car to carry my mobility scooter, which sits perfectly in the boot with the back seat up.  I had a hoist fitted to the car to lift the scooter in and out, and thus was able to buy the car without VAT, which gave me a substantial discount :-)

 

It has towed my caravan two or three times until I sold the caravan last week.    The only obvious downside to towing was that the fuel consumption was doubled whilst towing.

 

Apart from towing, the fuel consumption has averaged 47 MPG - calculated on a spreadsheet, not on the car's computer.

 

The Superb is a fantastic touring car - mine has, so far, visited France, Monaco, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries, Germany and the Czech Republic.  at the end of next week, I'm off to Turkey and Greece by road, a round-trip of some 7,000 miles.  It's great to know that I'll be driving a comfortable car, with room for my scooter in the boot, my baggage on the back seat, and my walking frame thingy in the foot-well behind the driver's seat.  What a great car.

 

So, apart from the SatNav's shortcomings (to be covered in a later post), I'm a very happy Superb owner.

Edited 17 June, 201510 yr by Simon Brooke

Hi All

 

I bought a new Superb 2.0 TDI DSG Estate from our local dealers, West End Motors in Dunfermline, at the beginning of 2012 - excellent dealers, even if Stuart, the dealer principal,  is always trying to sell me a new Superb :-)

As I am retired, the car is used only for personal trips, and has just passed 40,000 miles. 

 

As I am disabled, I needed a big car to carry my mobility scooter, which sits perfectly in the boot with the back seat up.  I had a hoist fitted to the car to lift the scooter in and out, and thus was able to buy the car without VAT, which gave me a substantial discount :-)

 

It has towed my caravan two or three times until I sold the caravan last week.    The only obvious downside to towing was that the fuel consumption was doubled whilst towing.

 

Apart from towing, the fuel consumption has averaged 47 MPG - calculated on a spreadsheet, not on the car's computer.

 

The Superb is a fantastic touring car - mine has, so far, visited France, Monaco, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries, Germany and the Czech Republic.  at the end of next week, I'm off to Turkey and Greece by road, a round-trip of some 7,000 miles.  It's great to know that I'll be driving a comfortable car, with room for my scooter in the boot, my baggage on the back seat, and my walking frame thingy in the foot-well behind the driver's seat.  What a great car.

 

So, apart from the SatNav's shortcomings (to be covered in a later post), I'm a very happy Superb owner.

 

Good - happy to hear a nice story too, Simon!

I'm jealous of your road trip. I've often thought about driving down to Turkey before.

 

Pretty sure you'll be the only UK registered car around!

 

I think our next car may be a Superb. I really like them.

 

Quite amazing you get your mobility scooter so easily in the boot.

 

Phil

Thanks Guys

 

Phil - I drove down to Turkey once before - in 2004 in my much loved BMW convertible - lots of interesting driving on fun roads, but easily doable then.  Now that Romania and Bulgaria are in the EU, I should hardly need to show my passport between Coquelles and the Turkish border.

 

I've paid a bit to get the transponders for the motorway tolls in France and Italy (plus Spain and Portugal for earlier trips), and bought the vignettes online for Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.

 

Vignettes for Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are available at the border, Greek,Croatian and Serbian motorways are "get out of the car, walk around and pay cash".

 

Easy trip :-)

 

Thinks - if the vote had gone the other way, I might have had to present my passport at the Scottish-English border :-)

 

Cheers

Simon

Edited 17 June, 201510 yr by Simon Brooke

Those road trips sound fantastic.....good to hear you are enjoying the Superb and that she (?) is serving you so well

Dave

Just thought. Have you had your DSG oil changed?

Wow, I though I went a long way when I've driven to places such as Croatia, Latvia and Belarus!  If you're travelling east from the channel ports, I've found that once you're out of France or Belgium, other UK registered cars disappear.

Wow, I though I went a long way when I've driven to places such as Croatia, Latvia and Belarus!  If you're travelling east from the channel ports, I've found that once you're out of France or Belgium, other UK registered cars disappear.

 

Yup!

 

We drive to Germany often and UK cars are quite common around Bielefeld as there's an army base there but when we go touring around the Mosel etc UK cars are a rare sight.

 

Phil

Forget the car. Hats off to you for living a full life and getting out there despite being disabled. You are an inspiration sir.

Time to add a pic of my Superb, with the "add-ons" I need to get about easily....

 

The hydraulic hoist for the mobility scooter was fitted at the dealers before I took delivery, which meant that I was able to submit the appropriate paperwork to get the car VAT free.  As luck would have it, the scooter fits perfectly into the boot with the back seat up - this wasn't planned, it just sort of happened

 

The walking frame thingy fits in the rear seat footwell behind the driver's seat.

 

As I usually drive on my own, my suitcase (if required) goes on the back seat, my camera bag in the front passenger foot-well, my iPad and iPod on the front passenger seat.  The TomTom which I have to back up the Columbus SatNav lives in the glove-box, until needed.  The various transponders for European motorway tolls live in there too until required.

 

The blue badge lives in the driver's door pocket, together with my passport, car docs, green card and so on when abroad.  My driving glasses and the clip-on shades live in one of the drinks holders in the centre console (with a spare pair in the overhead glasses holder).  Binoculars and various cables are in the centre console box.

 

Everything where I want it :clap:

 

The Superb has just passed 50K miles, and is due for its first MOT in January (with a service!).

 

Very few gripes - the position of the bonnet release on the passenger side is annoying - my Audi A5 and BMW 318 had this on the right....   Also I have serious reservations about the SatNav - hence the TomTom.

 

Happy days

Edited 6 December, 201510 yr by Simon Brooke

Glad you're enjoying your Superb. Practicality and space for all your needs without having to compromise on comfort. Don't blame you for having the Tom Tom as a backup. Columbus is okay but far better systems out there now - it is essentially a 2008 system (at least) at this stage so has to be expected.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very cool that the scooter fits in the boot without having to put the seats down.

 

What are your concerns over the Columbus sat nav?

I regularly see the Columbus suggesting routes I know are slower (Because I've tried them) only to drop both the ETA and the distance to be travelled when it reroutes after I ignore it, so something weird is going on in the software selecting the route. My guess is that the algorithm it's using to choose its route isn't rigorous enough to spot the shortest route on certain shaped maps or that it's got a road priority system built in biased towards choosing certain road which in reality are no different to the roads on the shorter route.

I must admit that it has some quirks.

 

One is if we travel back to York from the south via the A1M.

 

It says it will take us 2 hours more than it actually will then once we're passed the M62 around there it suddenly drops to the real time remaining even though it had us on the same road the whole time and doesn't replot.

My RNS 510 has been excellent with Firmware update and latest 2015/2016 maps

 

As good as my TomTom but more integrated 

Very much enjoyed reading about your road trips Simon. I also bought my Superb Estate from West End and so far so good. I am very impressed with the car.

Best wishes for your future road trips.

What are your concerns over the Columbus sat nav?

 

You highlighted it above....

 

I've worked out that the Columbus appears to calculate speeds in the UK at 70 MPH on motorways, and 40 MPH on all other roads.  Using kilometres in Europe, it seems to be even worse at 110/50 Km/H.

 

This means that, as you say, on a run up from London to Dunfermline using the A1 (my favoured route), there is a 2 hour time difference between the ETA when leaving London and the actual arrival time at home.  In order for the Columbus to accept this route, I have to put "near" Berwick as a stopover; otherwise it constantly tries to get me onto the west-coast motorway route - even as far north as Newcastle, it tells me to cross the Pennines on the A69! 

 

As another example, from Dunfermline to Aberdeen - where there is only one practical route - there is motorway as far as Perth after which, apart from the Dundee by-pass and one short 50 stretch, it is 70 MPH dual-carriageway.  The Columbus estimates 45 minutes more for the trip that I have ever taken, and I do not exceed speed limits.

 

Obviously this is not a problem on routes I'm familiar with, but I do not trust it to plan a fast route in unfamiliar territory, so I use the final version of Microsoft AutoRoute :'( to plan my route, then put some waypoints into Columbus to get it to follow the same route - and use my TomTom as a back-up.

 

To be fair, I much prefer the presentation on the Columbus to that on my TomTom - it's much more flexible.

 

The other minor irritation is that my Columbus came without the necessary connections to operate my iPod.  As I travel overseas quite a bit, I like to be able to listed to my choice of music - or audio books - on long drives.  Yeah - I can play back through the aux input, but I can't control the iPod through the Columbus, so have to stop every time I want to select a new album, or whatever.  Apparently it is not possible to retrofit the necessary connection - Stuart, the Dealer Principal at West End - has been onto Skoda UK to see what can be done and there's no remedy

Edited 9 December, 201510 yr by Simon Brooke

Yup!

 

We drive to Germany often and UK cars are quite common around Bielefeld as there's an army base there but when we go touring around the Mosel etc UK cars are a rare sight.

 

Phil

Brings back memories, very much easier to cross the Dutch / German border, (before Schengen) if there was a Army / RAF base nearby.

 

As for the UK car thing, we did a week on the Rhein + a week on the Mosel back in 1980, without seeing any UK cars at all.

Been back quite often in recent years & 'tis still true, anywhere from Hamburg down to the Bodensee.

 

Taken a few different cars too, Chrysler / Talbot Alpines, Orions, Cavaliers, (including a very lap of the 'Ring in a 2.0 litre auto hatchback, c/w the late wife's wheelchair sliding around in the boot).

More recently Motability Mondeo Estates, a VW EOS, (very noisy at 100 mph with the roof down), my current Superb & an '07 vRS Octy, which managed 118 mph on the A4.

 

FWIW, I'm still convinced that a Mk 3 Mondeo wagon was a better estate than a Superb for a disabled driver / passenger, we used to take a manual wheelchair + a mobility scooter + 2 weeks luggage, 

which would tax the Skoda. The clever IRS that Ford developed for their wagons gave 44" between the wheel-arches, space that we needed!

 

Different times now, but I'd still like to own an estate car, 'cos they are useful, but a little harder to justify. 

 

Much Kudos to Simon, we found that travelling together was difficult enough.

 

DC

You highlighted it above....

 

I've worked out that the Columbus appears to calculate speeds in the UK at 70 MPH on motorways, and 40 MPH on all other roads.  Using kilometres in Europe, it seems to be even worse at 110/50 Km/H.

 

This means that, as you say, on a run up from London to Dunfermline using the A1 (my favoured route), there is a 2 hour time difference between the ETA when leaving London and the actual arrival time at home.  In order for the Columbus to accept this route, I have to put "near" Berwick as a stopover; otherwise it constantly tries to get me onto the west-coast motorway route - even as far north as Newcastle, it tells me to cross the Pennines on the A69! 

 

As another example, from Dunfermline to Aberdeen - where there is only one practical route - there is motorway as far as Perth after which, apart from the Dundee by-pass and one short 50 stretch, it is 70 MPH dual-carriageway.  The Columbus estimates 45 minutes more for the trip that I have ever taken, and I do not exceed speed limits.

 

Obviously this is not a problem on routes I'm familiar with, but I do not trust it to plan a fast route in unfamiliar territory, so I use the final version of Microsoft AutoRoute :'( to plan my route, then put some waypoints into Columbus to get it to follow the same route - and use my TomTom as a back-up.

 

To be fair, I much prefer the presentation on the Columbus to that on my TomTom - it's much more flexible.

 

The other minor irritation is that my Columbus came without the necessary connections to operate my iPod.  As I travel overseas quite a bit, I like to be able to listed to my choice of music - or audio books - on long drives.  Yeah - I can play back through the aux input, but I can't control the iPod through the Columbus, so have to stop every time I want to select a new album, or whatever.  Apparently it is not possible to retrofit the necessary connection - Stuart, the Dealer Principal at West End - has been onto Skoda UK to see what can be done and there's no remedy

Have to agree re connecting a music device, but it didn't take us long to assemble our own music selections & copy them the SD cards. 

We usually have two (his 'n hers) cards in each car, + I've also loaded the spare some the space on the Columbus Hard Drive with music files.

I also keep some concert DVD's in the car, & it will also happily play MP3 encoded DVD's.   

 

(I don't own an I-Pod 7 wouldn't know how to use it............)

 

DC

Brings back memories, very much easier to cross the Dutch / German border, (before Schengen) if there was a Army / RAF base nearby.

 

As for the UK car thing, we did a week on the Rhein + a week on the Mosel back in 1980, without seeing any UK cars at all.

Been back quite often in recent years & 'tis still true, anywhere from Hamburg down to the Bodensee.

 

Taken a few different cars too, Chrysler / Talbot Alpines, Orions, Cavaliers, (including a very lap of the 'Ring in a 2.0 litre auto hatchback, c/w the late wife's wheelchair sliding around in the boot).

More recently Motability Mondeo Estates, a VW EOS, (very noisy at 100 mph with the roof down), my current Superb & an '07 vRS Octy, which managed 118 mph on the A4.

 

Yes I did a lap myself last year of the ring in my 1.9 DSG Octavia.

 

You still even these days see very few UK cars in Mosel area.

 

I once got 138mph (taken from the GPS) in my previous car a 1.9 PD130 Seat Cordoba with the mother in law in the back! oops!

 

The plan for next year is to go across via Dover, drive down to southern German, Austria, Italy (down to lake garda) and then back via Switzerland.

 

Phil

I used to drive to bavaria regularly and spend quite a bit of time there, we used to stay by regensburg , never saw another British car in all our stays there.

Only used to see the British in france and sometimes Belgium, they're missing out as the roads in South Germany are excellent

You highlighted it above....

 

I've worked out that the Columbus appears to calculate speeds in the UK at 70 MPH on motorways, and 40 MPH on all other roads.  Using kilometres in Europe, it seems to be even worse at 110/50 Km/H.

 

This means that, as you say, on a run up from London to Dunfermline using the A1 (my favoured route), there is a 2 hour time difference between the ETA when leaving London and the actual arrival time at home.  In order for the Columbus to accept this route, I have to put "near" Berwick as a stopover; otherwise it constantly tries to get me onto the west-coast motorway route - even as far north as Newcastle, it tells me to cross the Pennines on the A69! 

 

As another example, from Dunfermline to Aberdeen - where there is only one practical route - there is motorway as far as Perth after which, apart from the Dundee by-pass and one short 50 stretch, it is 70 MPH dual-carriageway.  The Columbus estimates 45 minutes more for the trip that I have ever taken, and I do not exceed speed limits.

 

Press "Setup" > Navigation > Advanced navigation settings > and then adjust Average speed for time calculation. See if that helps.

 

Obviously this is not a problem on routes I'm familiar with, but I do not trust it to plan a fast route in unfamiliar territory, so I use the final version of Microsoft AutoRoute :'( to plan my route, then put some waypoints into Columbus to get it to follow the same route - and use my TomTom as a back-up.

 

To be fair, I much prefer the presentation on the Columbus to that on my TomTom - it's much more flexible.

 

The other minor irritation is that my Columbus came without the necessary connections to operate my iPod.  As I travel overseas quite a bit, I like to be able to listed to my choice of music - or audio books - on long drives.  Yeah - I can play back through the aux input, but I can't control the iPod through the Columbus, so have to stop every time I want to select a new album, or whatever.  Apparently it is not possible to retrofit the necessary connection - Stuart, the Dealer Principal at West End - has been onto Skoda UK to see what can be done and there's no remedy

 

Stuart would appear to be incorrect. Retrofitting an MDI unit is something people have done to many cars. I doubt it would be impossible on a Superb.

 

One other thing you could try t improve the navigation is a new maps update. There's been 3 or 4 since your car was built.

Retrofitting an MDI is quite easy. My local Skoda dealer did it for me.

Edited 1 January, 201610 yr by Hozz

I didn't bother with the MDI , I find a 32mb sd card works great.