Hi all,

 

Fairly new to this forum and have been spending a lot of time just reading up and learning about the car. Have had my first Skoda (Octavia RS Wagon) for a couple of months now and really loving it. DSG shifts beautifully and the car is a little rocket. Have been impressed by the build quality too. I mentioned in my intro that I've come from various makes - originally drove a 70's Chrysler V8 for many years, have driven mostly Japanese cars apart from that, and my wife had a Holden Cruze for a couple of years which I hated and was glad to see the back of! Glad to be back in a car that has a bit of go!

 

My only minor concerns or impressions with the Octavia so far have been:

1. Fuel economy - while the car is still new (just clicked over 1000k's) it is probably thirstier than i expected around town - not too fussed about it as i'm used to thirsty cars, but probably would have liked a slightly larger fuel tank to get a bit more range. Most of my driving at the moment in this car is short trips and all stop start traffic. 

2. The Canton sound system is rubbish - it's a bit odd, it's not too bad at lower volumes, but as you crank it up it gets really hollow and tinny sounding. I've read someone say that it improves over time, but i don't see how this is possible with a sound system. Look it's probably not that bad, but I've had better stock sound systems in previous cars so expected a bit more considering it's part of an audio upgrade.

3. Stop-start system .. overall it's reasonably good and i find it's fairly easy to control and keep on or re-engage when required by doing the half-brake but I just think it cuts out a tad too early for my liking. i tend to switch it off most times before i start driving. 

4. So much tech!!!! - i'm a bit old school so all this technology in cars does my head in so i'm yet to use a lot of the features - will get there one day!

 

And finally, and it's probably a really stupid question, but the other day i  hooked up some portable DVD players (ones that just strap to the rear of the front seats) for the kids to watch on a longer drive, and when i switched the car off and locked it - i came back to the car a couple of hours later and the DVD players were still on and playing!!!! i assumed once the car was off and locked it would shut down everything electrical that was connected, so was a bit shocked that they were still playing. Does this sound right? Do i just have to unplug or switch off the actual unit each time? 

 

Anyway, thanks for your time for those that read this, if anyone has any comments or suggestions or even just opinions to share that would be great!

 

cheers

Nick

 

3. Stop-start system .. overall it's reasonably good and i find it's fairly easy to control and keep on or re-engage when required by doing the half-brake but I just think it cuts out a tad too early for my liking. i tend to switch it off most times before i start driving. 

 

Yeah it bugs me no end and I have made other posts...it cuts out way too aggressively; sometimes even when I have a little forward momentum.

 

Annoying. I turn it off as a matter of habit.

2. The Canton sound system is rubbish - it's a bit odd, it's not too bad at lower volumes, but as you crank it up it gets really hollow and tinny sounding. I've read someone say that it improves over time, but i don't see how this is possible with a sound system. Look it's probably not that bad, but I've had better stock sound systems in previous cars so expected a bit more considering it's part of an audio upgrade.

 

I've had the car for a little over a month now and I bought the Canton upgrade and yes it does get better with things loosening up. Though there is something wrong with the sub that the dealer has yet to get back to me on. (sounds like something has rattled loose inside on big booms)

The power sockets are always on so you need to either turn the DVD players off manually or link up your own sockets to a switched live on the fusebox or use a powerbox that monitors the battery voltage and switches it off before the battery gets too low.

I'm finding the fuel economy with mine about 10% worse than I'd have achieved with my MK2 tsi manual. I think it's because the gearbox sometimes holds on to the lower gears more than necessary with such a decent amount of torque available low down. Putting the box and car mode into eco helps with this and it's far more eager to shift up early round town.

Regarding Canton, I have to disagree and feel it's a good system for the money. It takes some tweaking and as others have mentioned yours being new it will need bedding in. For my tastes, I've found that raising the sub volume all the way up, disabling the canton surround, focusing the sound for front, and dialling in more bass and treble with a slight mid boost, has all combined to result in a sound quality I'm very happy with. Feels punchy and very clear at the top end without any harshness at the top end. It's also very source dependant; in my MK2 I used to almost always Bluetooth stream from cloud based music stores. Now I can't stand anything less than 320kbps directly from Sd as the sound is far better with the latter.

Edited 14 November, 20169 yr by ahenners

Regarding Canton, I have to disagree and feel it's a good system for the money. It takes some tweaking and as others have mentioned yours being new it will need bedding in. For my tastes, I've found that raising the sub volume all the way up, disabling the canton surround, focusing the sound for front, and dialling in more bass and treble with a slight mid boost, has all combined to result in a sound quality I'm very happy with. Feels punchy and very clear at the top end without any harshness at the top end. It's also very source dependant; in my MK2 I used to almost always Bluetooth stream from cloud based music stores. Now I can't stand anything less than 320kbps directly from Sd as the sound is far better with the latter.

I tend to agree, I love the Canton in mine. Get a nice bass heavy song and you get a lovely back massage at the same time all be it you cant see much out of the rear view mirror.

I'm totally in love with my Canton, well worth the extra. It took me a while to adjust it to my personal liking, but now it totally rocks, no probs at all. As for the start/stop, I turn mine off as soon as I start the engine..I drive my car how I want to, not how it tells me to. As for fuel consumption..It's a VRS, and I have a heavy right foot :-))

Thanks for the replies everyone - yeah i can live without the start stop. In the habit now of just switching it off before i drive off. Have to also now remember to turn off anything connected to the power sockets!

 

Compared to previous cars i've owned/driven, for the performance this car has, the fuel economy is actually quite impressive. At the moment I only do very short trips, and with a heavy right foot so really can't complain with the returns i'm getting. I just think a slighter larger tank would have been great. On the highways though the car is very economical!

 

Anyway i'm happy to hear that there is potential for improvements to the Canton as it beds in a bit - sound quality also seems to vary immensely between different styles of music and the file source so i'll crank it up and see how it goes over the next few months. I've got it set quite similarly it appears to most others - sub up full, bass up, mid decreased, surround off. I might just need better tastes in music to get the most out of it!