About to order a new Octavia Estate 1.8 Tsi L&K DSG with various odds and bobs. Some very enticing online offers (buyanewcaronline.co.uk sound too good to be true - £2K less than Drivethedeal, Broadspeed et. al. - any experiences? Police spokesman: "If it sounds to good to be true it probable isn't"). Am I being over-cautious?

 

So, finalising desired specification. The Columbus upgrade costs the thick part of £1K - has anyone gone for/rejected it? And, if so, why? This is a car which will need to last us 10 years, so upfront costs are not a great consideration. But no point in ponying up £1K more if I'm not going to get value for it. Extra SD slot? CD player etc.? Would I notice the difference?

 

Fancy Rio Red, but not clear from the brochure whether it's vibrant or not  - it is on one page but not the facing one. Anyone got Rio Red - are you happy with it?

 

Sorry for long list of queries, but am about to shell out a h*ll of a lot of cash!

 

John

 

We have Rio Red. Very happy, it is nice colour, it is red, orange, light brown etc. Here some photos of her (she has high heals - the 15 mm high Rough Road package): http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/296662-post-your-mk3-octavia-photos/page-57#entry4252202

Edited 27 August, 201510 yr by Grumpy Finn

I have the Columbus on my own MY15 car. MY16 cars might have a slightly improved model. 

 

That said - seeing how the standard Bolero and Amundsen units have been upgraded with larger screens and faster processors I don't think I'd bother with the Columbus upgrade. The main reason I went for it was that I didn't like the tiny screen that came with the MY15 Bolero/Amundsen.

 

That would just be me - maybe the M16 Columbus is better again. I love my own unit - it 'fills' the dash.

About to order a new Octavia Estate 1.8 Tsi L&K DSG with various odds and bobs. Some very enticing online offers (buyanewcaronline.co.uk sound too good to be true - £2K less than Drivethedeal, Broadspeed et. al. - any experiences? Police spokesman: "If it sounds to good to be true it probable isn't"). Am I being over-cautious?

 

So, finalising desired specification. The Columbus upgrade costs the thick part of £1K - has anyone gone for/rejected it? And, if so, why? This is a car which will need to last us 10 years, so upfront costs are not a great consideration. But no point in ponying up £1K more if I'm not going to get value for it. Extra SD slot? CD player etc.? Would I notice the difference?

 

 

 

Drivethedeal are very helpful, sadly on the car I went to originally buy the web price was unavailable. In the end I went back to Skoda and get a deal myself which work out the same as drivethedeal's prices. Broadspeed prices are not that great and autobidtel or whatever it is called is a con! Really don't even go there. So to answer your question the price might be better but in my experience with some of the other brokers it's suddenly not available or they will try to sell you another car once they have your details.

 

Columbus IMHO is a really good system, I had it in my MK2FL (bought unit secondhand though) and it was really good. Did I go for it on the MK3? No I didn't think the price tag of £1500 was worth it over the "free sat nav" offer. If however they offered for the price difference between the two units then I'd be tempted to pay for it.

 

Is it worth it? Really I don't think so myself.

Based on what  I have seen with he Admunson on my MY15, I would say no, especially at the cost!

I live in London and also was a Garmin sat-nav addict, until I got the Octavia with Columbus.

 

In congested areas, there are few options for a sat-nav that will save you time and hassle. The best I have found is the app 'Waze' on an ipad. It takes a google map, and superimposes the FM radio traffic reports, plus data coming in from other Waze users - and there are enough that most busy roads have accurate average speed data. It is the only way I have found for reliably avoiding traffic.

 

Columbus only has FM reports and so won't avoid delays unless they are on major A-roads and M-ways and the delays are substantial and persist long enough to be reported through the trafficmaster system.

 

Columbus is also behind on display technology - if you are used to the clarity and responsiveness of Apple devices, the Columbus feels a generation out of date now. In five years time it will feel archaic.

 

On the plus side - I really like the way the unit looks in the dash, and there are no trailing wires like a Garmin aftermarket unit. I also like the integration with the phone (faultless so far), entertainment system, aircon, and car settings. The integration with the smaller display between the dials is good too. Very smart.

 

So it - buy it if you want a smart unit with good integration, but if you need to avoid traffic get an iPad and mount instead.

+1 for the Columbus.

Got it in my car. Nice display, good features and neat integration.

PS: I'd recommend the Canton upgrade as well ;-)

Edited 27 August, 201510 yr by Fab5PAR

+1 for the Columbus.

Got it in my car. Nice display, good features and neat integration.

PS: I'd recommend the Canton upgrade as well ;-)

 

Thanks. he Canton upgrade comes with the L&K package. Would you say the Columbus on its own is worth it for £1K?

Columbus has 5.1 surround sound, can play DVDs (so you still have a DVD drive unlike the Amundsen) plus doesn't the new MIB2 unit come with SmartLink included?

 

Is it worth the difference - yes.

I had a MY15 Tsi with Canton + Columbus. Got it through buyanewcaronline and they were great in my opinion (no connection with them, just a happy customer). Good coms, saved a fortune and full Skoda warranty, first name on V5 (i.e. not pre-registered) etc.

They ask you in the contract not to give any details of your 'deal' to anyone else in the motortrade, and not to talk/ask for pricematch with other Skoda dealers.

Car came delivered on a trailer with a Skoda dealer named on the plates...which perhaps explains why.

 

Now have a MY16 SE-L with bigger screen Amundsen and no Canton. I would not spec the Columbus again if I was paying for it. Being able to play DVDs was very occasionally useful only if sat in the car stationary (car must be stationary for video) for a while (e.g. Chunnel). 5.1 surround can only be played on a DVD, and getting 5.1 music tracks into a playable form whilst driving was a bit of a faff. Amundsen has 2 SD card slots but only one free. A 128GB card can be had for less than £30..which shoud be more than enough, don't need two slots.

I was hopeful about the supposed noise cancellation with Columbus, but did not seem to be effective, no settings, no indication it was even there, and I don't think it was...

Nothing else on Columbus that is significantly different to Amundsen in my view, other than slightly larger screen.

 

To my ears, the MY16 is quieter than the MY15, and TBH I cannot hear much difference in sound quality between the two (Canton vs std), just thankful for the lower background noise.

If you can't tell the difference between Canton and standard then you are feeding the head unit poor quality audio.

 

There is a world of difference with a good quality source such as FLAC or even a good quality 320kbps CBR mp3 rip.

 

The difference between Amundsen and Columbus has narrowed though with the MIB2 units and associated increased screen size on the Amundsen.

 

Video in Motion can be enabled on MIB1 units, not seen a VIM MIB2 method yet though. I am not recommending VIM be enabled of course.

I only listen to FLAC (happy the new Amundsen now plays it!) - really don't think there is much in it between MY15 Canton/MY16 std. Having the sub in Canton is nice in that you can adjust it, but in reality Canton is a very low cost 'upgrade' in the realms of car audio.

Turn either of them up to a decent volume and the door panels start buzzing anyway!

Just my humble opinion...(I think I have a reasonable ear for music!).

Not disagreeing, but I can tell a world of difference between with and without Canton. I agree, Canton is not B&O territory for example.

 

Anyway, the OP will have Canton so it is fairly irrelevant

Thanks everyone for your very helpful advice - car (Octavia Estate L&K 1.8 Tsi DSG in Rio Red) now ordered from Motorline Skoda Canterbury. They gave me a decent discount, though since they all follow Briskoda I had better not say how much! Given how much the L&K has as standard the only extras I ordered were the panoramic sunroof, rear camera and space saver spare wheel - tins of sealant gunk are OK but not if you get a gash in a sidewall ... The Columbus upgrade didn't seem to offer enough for £1,000, so I passed on that one.

 

Thanks again.

Get smartlink for £100 and plug your smartphone in for satnav.