As with my KESSY / LED package plus query above, another issue has confused me as I sit here about to order my Superb...ventilated seats / leather / alcantara.

 

Brochure says that you can have ventilated front seats providing you specify electric front seats (or "seat" in the case of the SE L Exec, as driver's seat is already electrically adjusted).     Brochure also says that you can have leather or alcantata at no extra cost.  No ifs or buts...

 

Go onto Skoda configurator, and you cannot option leather ventilated seats.  You can only option alcantara ventilated seats.   Why on earth would you want ventilated alcantara seats but not ventilated leather ones?  In hot weather, alcantara is cooler and needs venting less.    In hot weather, the opposite is true of leather.  I want leather, but I want them ventilated.  I suppose I could drill holes in them...

 

Skoda seems almost perverse in its optioning policy...it seems to be a policy written by people that don't actually drive cars.

Edited 9 August, 20169 yr by dmc77

Strange

 

Ventilated, perforated leather seats in Belgium. You can't even get them in Alcantara, vented seats = leather seats.

AFAIK only leather seats can have the ventilated option because of the perforation. As Alcantara is 100% synthetic it can't be sufficiently perforated, it would just fall apart.

Welcome to the mysterious world that is known as "Skoda UK" who seem to outsource their brochures and web site configurator to the local kindergartens! (Sorry, that's being extremely unfair to Kindergartens)

Yes, what you say makes perfect sense.    I've just mailed the supplying dealer to query their "you can't have vented leather seats" response.    As you say, it's just counter-intuitive.

Skoda UK really need to co-ordinate their brochures, the configurator and what the dealers are told with regards to spec. The whole thing is becoming a farce. 

 

And stop bundling options up to get people to part with more cash!

I went through the same scenario with my dealer. Dealer said they could not select 'leather' and 'ventilated seats' on their configurator.

After dealer lengthy phone call to Skoda UK, it transpires that you only need to select 'ventilated seats' and it assumes leather, provided that the level spec of the car - eg sel Exec - already comes with leather seats.

You can specify 'ventilated seats' and 'Alcantara' if that is what you want.

The option configurator is not obvious on some points - you may need to get the dealer to click on " + " icon beside some options as this opens an additional note - dealer didn't seem to be aware of this at the time.

As you are finding, Owners know more about the product than those selling them! Welcome to Motor Trade UK. I have come across this with so many different car brands now.

Edited 9 August, 20169 yr by FelisBengalensis

As you are finding, Owners know more about the product than those selling them! Welcome to Motor Trade UK. I have come across this with so many different car brands now.

Happens on every brand in every country. eg. Nobody at the Ford dealer could answer me if their seatbelt-airbags would cause issues on child-seats (a Mondeo is a car loved by young parents, so I think they should know) while I already found the answer online saying there is a huge safety risk... They also couldn't tell me if you could set-up a max height for the electric tailgate nor answer any of my questions about inconsistencies in the brochures.

 

Last couple of cars I've bought, I always make my configuration online, go to the dealer and tell him exactly the part-numbers.

Same story here in Ireland, well at least from my enquiries to dealers. I've had three differing opinions on what seat combinations are available.  For the Style (SE L) I've been told its black only but that will change to allow full ivory leather option also.  Another dealer said ivory will be offered but only with part alcantara and another informed me that I could get full ivory leather but only with ventilated seats.  Bottom line is there is a general disconnect between what dealers are aware of (or care to know about!) and what Skoda are communicating about options.

 

That's understandable to a degree as the options are constantly changing however I had to point out to one dealer that the "7 speed" DSG 150 TDI they were advertising in their showroom was in fact a 6 speed wet clutch and that only the 1.6 TDi was available with the 7 speed DSG.  He had never heard of a dry and wet clutch before either - enough said!

Ok, this information is a couple of days old so could be completely out of date. The configurator was forcing me to select electrics and ventilation if I selected beige anything or Alcantara. Black leather seemed fine. My dealer (Skoda not heroin) called their supplier person and was told that any Alcantara could be ordered but there was a supply issue with beige leather and only ventilated seats were available.

So don't trust the configurator but I think you knew that anyway.

I also saw a seat option labelled Test on the configurator which suggests a change might be imminent but also that they test on their live environment which seems unprofessional.

The configurator is all over the place and it has been for 18+ months.  not on all models, but certainly new ones.

 

Over the last few months I'd build a car in the config tool, get a price, send to a dealer and get a different price. Both scratching heads but the dealer is the 'order' system which is the only one that counts at signing time :S

 

I do feel if I were a saleman full time I'd find some time to read and learn the spec options. There's only 240 ish combinations of engine / chassis to go in the skoda range. It seems almost every single one has different option rules when I run through the config tool.

 

See I think Mr Ford had the right idea and we've all fallen a long way from that black model dream...

I phoned customer services skoda today about this very issue. I was trying to spec a car (SEL Exec) with alcantara and the configurator tells you you have to add electric front seats and seat ventilation. They have confirmed this is an error and will get the configurator corrected. To have alcantara you don't need to add either of these options.

 

I also asked them about the KESSY/LED Plus issue. They said the configurator is correct and this changed after week 22. On cars before that (as the demo I drove this week) you could have LED Plus without KESSY but now you cannot have either LED Plus or Canton system without KESSY

This is one of the reasons I hit a brick wall on configuring options, trying to determine the rules. I wasn't entirely happy with the pick this you must have this, or only one of these. It's easy for things like wheels, you can't have 18's and 19's...

 

I decided to wait till I had a clear run to sit down and develop a robust, but flexible solution - probably a list of options, pick and discuss ith a real person. I do believe working with a few dealers we can make a better tool, but I'll run out of cash before that happens :(

 

If nothing else, picking the phone up to a few knowledgeable guys with a factory order screen might help and should reduce the burden of the build tool

 

Bearing in mind the build tool is per region too, so many rules Then the empty part bin nightmare

You're not using your imagination Colin. Of course you can have 18s and 19s, put the 19s on the back for the drag-car look or, for uniqueness, put 19s on one side of the car and 18s on the other. Don't let convention constrain you, live your life the way you want to!