Having had the car for 2 years I'm amazed I've found out something new but I seem to have done. 

If I turn the light switch away from Auto then it seems to just put the sidelights on and switch almost everything off  leaving the dials with just the pointer  lit.

 

I think it looks great but no idea what the point is...

 

Anyone know more? 

Thanks

In AU we call them parking lights.  If you park on a dark street you would put them on so the car is visible.  It would turn on the two front 5W lamps and the two rear tail lights (also 5W).  Total load, 20watts which is 1.5Ah which the battery shouldn't have any trouble running for 10-15 hours and then still starting the car.

 

You can also turn just one side on by leaving the indicator stalk down or up and turning the engine off. That way the current draw is halved.

brill, thanks for that- much appreciated.

It makes sense but still don't understand why the dials go black apart from the pointers but I like the look of that...

Thanks

If it's the same as the Yeti, there is an ambient light sensor in the bottom off the rev counter. If the ligh switch is not in the auto position and the said sensor detects low light conditions the needles are illuminated but not the dials, this is to give you a gentle reminder to switch the lights on. 

Reducing the dash illumination is deliberate, it is to discourage you from driving around on side lights.

 

If it is dark enough for you not to be able to see the dials then by not lighting them up Skoda are effectively trying to encourage you to select either 'Auto' or full dipped beam at which point the dash is fully illuminated and your car is properly illuminated externally too.

25 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

Reducing the dash illumination is deliberate, it is to discourage you from driving around on side lights.

 

If it is dark enough for you not to be able to see the dials then by not lighting them up Skoda are effectively trying to encourage you to select either 'Auto' or full dipped beam at which point the dash is fully illuminated and your car is properly illuminated externally too.

 

 

Sounds great, I regularly see Japanese cars driving around after dusk with just DRLs on as their cluster is lit all the time.

 

Seems weird then that VAG has dropped the green 'headlight on' indicator from the Superb 3 cluster.

The removal of the green dipped headlight icon has been discussed on here a few times, it seems to generate some strong views (both for and against)!

Another light switch position that some may be unaware of is that if you leave your indicator stalk up or down when parked it only leaves the just the front and rear parking light on that side switched on, thus saving the battery for longer term parking. I do this all the time when parked in my local high street in the evening when I leave just the drivers side front and rear parking lamps on.

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

The removal of the green dipped headlight icon has been discussed on here a few times, it seems to generate some strong views (both for and against)!

 

Is there no green dipped icon on the lighting dial? I have it on my Octy 3 dial and thought the superb 3 was the same. 

The light used to be in the dash, in the line of sight.

 

On the MkII Octavia and MkII Superb it is in-between the speedo and rev counter...

 

 

On the MkIII Octavia and MkIII Superb they removed it. This now means it is only the light switch itself which illuminates, which on some models means it is easily obscured by the steering wheel depending on your seat position.

 

Some argue it isn't needed, personally I miss it and believe it contributes to the increasing amount of people driving in poor visibility without dipped headlights i.e. those people who rely / trust their auto headlights and don't realise when their lights turn off too early or don't turn on in rain / fog etc.

 

Edited 7 March, 20179 yr by silver1011

It also disappeared in the Yeti when it was face lifted.