Superb hatch, 2.0 TDI (190KS), 4x4, DSG, 12000km

 

This is my third Skoda in the last 8 years. First two were great, with absolutely no problems but this one must have been built on a Monday after a long holiday weekend. I’d love to know if anyone else has experienced any of these problems. Following are my impressions.

 

Overall driving, handling and feel – great

Design and looks - great

Space – great

Comfort – great

 

Now for the niggly bits, happening from day one:

Adaptive Bi-Xenon lights – constant – At city speed 10-50 kph, the left beam shoots max left into the bushes and stays there as if the steering wheel is at a hard left. It comes back to straight ahead position when the car is stopped. Dealer had the car for a week, says “It’s supposed to be that way”.

 

Front Assist – constant – In the beginning it showed the warning of two cars about to bump but never applied the brakes not even at 1 meter distance to the preceding car. Dealer had the car for a week, said they found a problem, now I don’t even get the warning symbol and they say “The other Superbs have the same problem we can’t do anything about it”. All the front assist settings are turned on but no action.

 

Air conditioning – intermittent – The rear zone cools OK but the front zone does not. If I stop the engine and restart it then the front works again.

 

The boot – intermittent – We get out of the car open both back doors and the boot lid opens by itself.

The boot – intermittent – With hands full, Kessy in pocket, wave the foot under the boot, lid does not open.

The boot – constant – The boot switch by the gearshift lever opens the lid but does not close the lid. Taxi drivers must love that. It can be reset through VCDS but my dealer says it can’t be done.

 

Start/Stop – annoying – It cuts in immediately after the car stops. It should wait a few seconds before shut down. When at crossroad you stop for the oncoming car, it shuts down, you ease up on the brake to prepare to go it starts up, you see another car coming, press the brake it shuts down again, and so on. I wish I could turn if off permanently.

 

Cruise control – annoying – The on/off/reset button is tough to operate. To deactivate CCS (provided you don’t want to use the brake) you have to reach for the turn signal stalk, locate the tiny button at the top and push it lightly to the right. If you don’t support the stalk from the bottom with your thumb you will turn on the left turn signal. If you press the button just a little too hard you’ll turn off the system completely and have to set it up again.

 

Driving mode & DCC– annoying – Forget about a quick change to the mode you need. Let’s say you are in Sport and want to go back to Normal. First look down by the gearshift to find the Mode button, press it to get the display up, then either press the Mode button five times or find Normal mode on the display and press on it. Very distracting. There should be a quick way to go back to Normal mode like hold down the Mode button for a couple seconds.

 

Radio – annoying – When you are in Navigation mode (or any other mode other than Radio) and when changing stations through steering wheel buttons, there is no indication what station you’ve changed to. The new station should flash up on the screen for a few seconds to see if that’s the one you want.

 

DSG – annoying – In all fairness the box is great and works as advertised. The shifts between gears are quick and smooth. But jumping into traffic at a crossroad is dodgy because the clutch take up from standstill is slow.  However the biggest problem is gear mapping for various modes. The Normal (Dx) mode is a disaster, entirely too conservative and obviously geared for maximum economy. It keeps the revs between 1000 and 1500, never letting it use that wonderful torque at 1700. Driving around town that poor box is constantly shifting between 2^nd and 5^th gears, just a slightest touch on the gas pedal provokes a down shift. This thing will wear itself out in no time and I’ll bet that the repair price will be salty. The Sport mode (Sx) is spot on for the mountainous twisty bits. It keeps the engine in the torque/power band, anticipates shifts and holds the lower gear when descending. However, you’ll never see 6^th gear unless you are flying over 120 kph. Ideally, the Normal should be Eco, new Normal should be a cross between Normal and Sport and in Sport mode they should lower the activation of 6^th gear.

 

Rear brake discs – problem – From early on I noticed that the discs are wearing abnormally. The fronts are smooth and even but the back started to groove and score very early on. Now they are really grooved, you can really feel it when you run your finger nail over them. Either the disks are too soft or the brake pads are too hard. Next week I take it in for my first service, we’ll see what they say, probably “Oh, it’s supposed to be that way”.

 

Windscreen washers – annoying – The washers are set too low but I found a fix. You’ll need a small torx (Tx 9) bit or screwdriver. Locate the sprayer on the underside of the hood then find the small torx screw on the sprayer. Turn it right (clockwise) to raise the sprayer. For easier access and testing do this; turn off the head lights so that the headlight washers don’t spray, turn on the ignition, turn on the wipers and when they reach near the top position turn off the ignition. Adjust the sprayer, turn on the ignition and try the washers.

The boot – intermittent – With hands full, Kessy in pocket, wave the foot under the boot, lid does not open.

When you say wave your foot are you going from side to side? it should be a kicking action (front to rear)

 

 

The boot – constant – The boot switch by the gearshift lever opens the lid but does not close the lid. Taxi drivers must love that. It can be reset through VCDS but my dealer says it can’t be done.

VCDS cannot (yet?) close the tailgate from the inside button

 

Start/Stop – I wish I could turn if off permanently.

You can with VCDS

 

Cruise control – annoying – The on/off/reset button is tough to operate. To deactivate CCS (provided you don’t want to use the brake) you have to reach for the turn signal stalk, locate the tiny button at the top and push it lightly to the right. If you don’t support the stalk from the bottom with your thumb you will turn on the left turn signal. If you press the button just a little too hard you’ll turn off the system completely and have to set it up again.

I assume you do not have ACC? as that is on a separate stalk below the indicator stalk

 

Radio – annoying – When you are in Navigation mode (or any other mode other than Radio) and when changing stations through steering wheel buttons, there is no indication what station you’ve changed to. The new station should flash up on the screen for a few seconds to see if that’s the one you want.

You can have the radio info on the screen with the map showing, look in the handbook

 

 

Cruise control – annoying – The on/off/reset button is tough to operate. To deactivate CCS (provided you don’t want to use the brake) you have to reach for the turn signal stalk, locate the tiny button at the top and push it lightly to the right. If you don’t support the stalk from the bottom with your thumb you will turn on the left turn signal. If you press the button just a little too hard you’ll turn off the system completely and have to set it up again.

I assume you do not have ACC? as that is on a separate stalk below the indicator stalk

 

 

 

Sounds like OP doesn't have ACC - this is as per the S2 cruise control. I never had a problem deactivating - it hardly a "tiny" button and the spring resistance is enough to cancel it.

I assume not too,

in the UK all 190’s have ACC as std, not sure about Croatia or his trim level, but as you say it sounds just like the S2 std CC, I never had an issue with that one either (which is also identical to the stalk in our Yeti)

You can control the start/stop by the amount of pressure you apply to the pedal, if you only lightly press it will not cut in, this works when you are slowly moving in traffic and you do not want it to keep cutting in and out, a harder press will turn it on when you want.

 

I have noticed that my rear discs are also starting to groove at only 2500 miles, the fronts are ok.

 

Washers are useless.

Adaptive Bi-Xenon lights – constant – At city speed 10-50 kph, the left beam shoots max left into the bushes and stays there as if the steering wheel is at a hard left. It comes back to straight ahead position when the car is stopped. Dealer had the car for a week, says “It’s supposed to be that way”.

 

Mine is like that too. I don't consider it to be a problem. Generally, I'm very satisfied on how Xenon works especially Smart Light Assist.

 

Front Assist – constant – In the beginning it showed the warning of two cars about to bump but never applied the brakes not even at 1 meter distance to the preceding car. Dealer had the car for a week, said they found a problem, now I don’t even get the warning symbol and they say “The other Superbs have the same problem we can’t do anything about it”. All the front assist settings are turned on but no action.

 

I've got a warning and brakes applied two times when entering underground garage if I go too fast down the hill. Consider that annoying but if I go slowly, it works just fine. I've heard that there are some problems with front assisnt but never had such problems myself. To be honest, never actually tested it in a sense that I almost ran into someone and brakes applied. 

 

DSG – annoying – In all fairness the box is great and works as advertised. The shifts between gears are quick and smooth. But jumping into traffic at a crossroad is dodgy because the clutch take up from standstill is slow.  However the biggest problem is gear mapping for various modes. The Normal (Dx) mode is a disaster, entirely too conservative and obviously geared for maximum economy. It keeps the revs between 1000 and 1500, never letting it use that wonderful torque at 1700. Driving around town that poor box is constantly shifting between 2^nd and 5^th gears, just a slightest touch on the gas pedal provokes a down shift. This thing will wear itself out in no time and I’ll bet that the repair price will be salty. The Sport mode (Sx) is spot on for the mountainous twisty bits. It keeps the engine in the torque/power band, anticipates shifts and holds the lower gear when descending. However, you’ll never see 6^th gear unless you are flying over 120 kph. Ideally, the Normal should be Eco, new Normal should be a cross between Normal and Sport and in Sport mode they should lower the activation of 6^th gear.

 

Mine shifts at around 1800 in Normal mode. Not the same engine though. And I really don't see it doing that much changes when in Normal. But whatever it does, it is supposed to do it and will not wear down, just ignore it and enjoy

And also, DSG doesn't disengage the clutch completely when in standstill and in D/S mode. It will only disengage if you set it to N or P. This is also normal and designed so it does not wear down quickly because of it. TBH, I don't have problems connecting to traffic on crossroads or roundabouts. It should completely engage the clutch as soon as you press accelerator pedal. 

Nice detailed review!  I think the bi-xenons are normal.  Certainly in my SII (with AFS) they behave that way (city mode) and I assume the same applies to the SIII.

"The boot – intermittent – We get out of the car open both back doors and the boot lid opens by itself."

 

I had this fault today, but unlocking the car then opening a back door, boot lid decided to open.

Say you have a bike rack on the tow bar isn't this uncontrolled opening of the boot really bad? It's going to ram the boot right into the rack right?

Say you have a bike rack on the tow bar isn't this uncontrolled opening of the boot really bad? It's going to ram the boot right into the rack right?

Yes it would... However the virtual pedal is removed on factory fitted towbars, so if it's that which is at fault... Problem solved.

Though.. One press of the button would result in the tailgate smacking the bikes !

Yes it would... However the virtual pedal is removed on factory fitted towbars, so if it's that which is at fault... Problem solved.

 

I have the factory fitted towbar on an L&K and the virtual pedal is still present.  I haven't tried it with the towbar extended ('cos that makes little sense) and I seem to recall from the manual that it's disabled when it detects something attached to the towbar (eg. trailer lights).

 

There is a delay between kicking under the bumper and the boot opening, presumably to avoid hitting you in the chin.

The more I hear about it, the happier I am that I don't have the electric boot!

I don't wish to tempt fate, however no issues with mine, no spurious opening at night or when I open the rear doors.

 

I think that its great and dare I say it a real party piece

 

Just don't keep your car keys in your pocket

Edited 19 March, 201610 yr by Prykey

The more I hear about it, the happier I am that I don't have the electric boot!

If you just have a vanilla SEL electric boot has no probs. I would never have ordered it as an option but after 5 months of having it i would miss it....

The electric boot does not open if something is connected to the towbar socket...

The more I hear about it, the happier I am that I don't have the electric boot!

 

 

I paid (IIRC) £500 for it on my S2 and would happily of paid extra on the S3 if it had not been std.

 

It would be interesting to see if there is a common link, i.e. ‘all’ (that would be both... at the moment ) cars that do this have factory fit tow bars or KESSY or both etc.

 

I do not go into the rear of the car that often so no surprise that this has not happened to me, I do go into the boot every morning and evening however so the electric boot is a god send for me.

 

I did have the windows open on two mornings (@ 0300) but they had just opened as it was as the car was still warmish (as in not freezing cold with a 3°  outside temperature) so i had obviously caught the button when I picked up my keys... i have since turned off the comfort windows so it cannot happen again.

I don't wish to tempt fate, however no issues with mine, no spurious opening at night or when I open the rear doors.

 

I think that its great and dare I say it a real party piece

 

Just don't keep your car keys in your pocket

Q? Car keys in pocket? Obvious problem or am I just being dumb?

 

DC

Some people believe that having the keys in your pocket the chance of accidental operation of the tailgate open or unlocking is greater!

Some people believe that having the keys in your pocket the chance of accidental operation of the tailgate open or unlocking is greater!

Makes sense. I keep my fob in my coat pocket. Had to take SWMBO's Golf out last night. Found myself throwing the keys on the seat and trying to push the ignition key barrel to start the car. How quickly you get used to KESSY!

How quickly you get used to KESSY!

 

How quickly you get used to automatic everything too.  Had to move the wife's Fabia DSG the other day and it took me a few seconds of going nowhere before I realised that I had to disengage the handbrake with a big stick thing between the seats.  How medieval!

 

For the record I have the factory fit towbar and KESSY and haven't had any suspicious boot opening issues.  I did confuse it today though by closing the boot and changing my mind at the last second.  Pressing the boot button like you're playing Daley Thomson's Decathlon just results in a *lot* of beeps from the car before it closes the boot anyway.

 

I find the new key much more susceptible to accidental presses compared the key on my S2.  The buttons aren't as recessed and It's easy to press a button simply by crouching down nearby  :wonder:

Lol ! I wonder how many others here can remember playing that !

I have had 2 surprises. One when I was cleaning the car and triggered the virtual pedal with the hose under the car------auto response=fell backwards with the hose still in my hand and got a bit wet. Second was just yesterday when I was trying to remove the dreaded finger marks from the piano black surround and managed to operate the internal switch. Makes you jump that's for sure.

 

Never had the key in pocket syndrome or eerie window opening though. I have had an electric boot for several years before and find it most useful. The virtual pedal is great addition once you learn to wait a couple of seconds for it to work.

 

Had many a strange glance as I stood behind the car waving my foot around whilst balancing several boxes in my arms. One chap asked if I was OK and said "tks but it's a Skoda and it still has a kick start"    Made him smile and he did say "a Skoda; blimey they've come on a bit haven't they!"

How do you set how high the boot opens?

Set the top position of the lid

 Read and observe and on page 61 first.

If the space for opening the lid is restricted (e.g. height of garage) or for more convenient operation (e.g. according to a person's height), it is possible to ad- just the top position of the boot lid.

Adjusting

› Stop the lid in the desired position (electrically or manually).
› Press and hold the button B (the one you use to close the hatch / tailgate)» Fig. 43 on page 62 for longer than 3 seconds.

The setting of the lid top position is confirmed by an acoustic signal.

Delete

› Carefully raise the flap manually to the limit.
› Press and hold the button » Fig. 43 on page 62 for longer than 3 seconds.

An audible signal is emitted. The original position is deleted and the top lid po- sition is set.

Note

The top position which is reached when the lid opens automatically, is always lower than the maximum top position which can be reached when the lid is opened manually. 

 

You really should take an hour or so to flick through the manual, cars today do so much more than they used to... when you know what they are capable of!

I am totally confused by Front Assist.

If I have ACC on then the car automatically slows down or brakes as required.

If I have ACC off but Front Assist on then I get the maxidot display showing the car in front but there is never any sign of braking if I get dangerously close and although I have in the past seen a symbol showing 2 cars about to bump I no longer seem to get this.

I'm not sure whether I am misinterpreting what Front Assist does or there is something wrong with my particular car.