I've previously had 2 cars with full leather and one that's been 50/50 and am not a massive fan as, come the summer, I can't stand how hot and sticky they get.

 

The winter months don't bother me too much as most come with heated seats.

 

I had been dead set on a Blackline which has full leather and all the gadgets but now I'm not so sure.

 

I've seen a couple of nice non Blackline editions with the perforated alcantara priced similar but most, if not all, come without the painted alloys, sat nav, parking sensors and climate control.

 

Do I give up on these options for the sake of a car without leather or live with it as finding a non Blackline with similar spec with the right mileage is like looking for a needle in a hay stack!

 

We're expecting a little'un and will most likely have a dog in the near future so the ability to keep the leather clean is the only bonus for me really.

Sat Nav is easily retrofitted. Alloys can be bought and added. Parking sensors is a possible retrofit, but not particularly bolt on. Climate Control is a major sticking point, but to be honest I actually prefer non climate for ease of use.

It then comes down to cost.

 

The non Blacklines I have been looking at are priced similar with similar mileage and that's before I'd have to spend to spec the car to the same standard.

 

It's only the satnav and cruise control (I think they all have this anyway) that I'm after really but if the Blackline comes with all those options for the same price as one without then it seems daft to pass up on it.

 

@Rustynuts Do you have anymore info on retro-fitting the satnav?

 

If the leather became too much of an issue I could always go the other way and have the centres re-trimmed.

Edited 3 June, 20179 yr by CookieMonster87

Yep, I've retrofitted loads of Columbus units. Pretty much a 10 minute job if you have all the gear ready, but you'll need VCDS for coding, the Columbus unit, a GPS antenna, and probably a new surround as the Columbus is a different shape.

It's something I'll look in to.

 

All the non Blacklines I've looked at so far have had the grey perforated alcantara (the black trim seems very hard to come by) and all have looked dirty or marked despite the rest of the car being in excellent condition.

I don't like leather either as the leather quality on Skoda is not brilliant and prefer cloth for comfort.  Only pros for leather is that it looks nice and it's easy to keep clean especially if you plan to have kids.

TBH the Blackline was the end of the Mk2 FL run and got the glossy black alloys as not many had sold, the tiny screen Amundsen sat nav head unit which wasn't very popular / was a late hand me down from VAG a year before end of production and the leather which again wasn't the biggest seller despite not costing that much more than the stock vRS seats, as they are pretty nice as is. Black trim came in 2012 taking over the brushed alloy look, it was a flat silver until 2010, so many many more non Blacklines will have this by default if it was built 2012-2013. All FL's had dual zone climate control / cruise control, parking sensors were optional. To upgrade to the Columbus/RNS510 sat nav from the likes of the Bolero does need a new centre console trim £60-£80 from dealers for brushed alloy and the black ones ish, but lots on ebay from China with some on here saying they worked perfectly. I did a Columbus retrofit to my 11 plate as it was a £2K option I wasn't going to pay for from the factory and I got a nearly new one on here which was a few months newer than the car for £500 ish. These day's though there are a lot more options out there than the Columbus, with the likes of android ones with infinitely more features (inc Bluetooth built in rather than needing an additional BT module fitted/coded and bigger screens etc, some to just be a big minimalist touch screen, some to the same design as the Columbus etc, just less primitive in their operation. 

 

I liked the black wheels on the white ones personally and yellow, but the rest, I didn't like at all (to shiney for red I thought). They didn't really do anything special for the Blacklines sadly. A lot more effort went into other specials at end of the line in the past to make them actually special rather than just raiding the what hasn't sold parts bins that were about to be wasted and throw them at cars to be built with no buyer specification changes allowed. Mk1 Fabia vRS SE got a signature new colour and it's own individual leather seats made from scratch (along with some free options). Mk2 PFL Octavia LE got it's colour, badges, unique customised seats, the FL dash's and engines before the FL was released and it's own design of alloys along with some free options. Mk1 Octy vRS had it's 100 years rally edition ish thing which was certainly not just raiding the unpopular parts bins! Then the Blackline..... Skoda cheaped out big time 

Edited 3 June, 20179 yr by FUBAR

Why go for a blackline, the L&K has the black piano trim rather then the dull silver, has dual zone climate control, heated leather and alcantara seats, drivers seat is electric with memory, has rear parking sensors and some were optioned with the columbus infotainment (mine hasn't sadly,) and from what i have seen in the brochure was available in 1.8 TSi and the 2.0 cr tdi, both as estate and hatchback.

 

they also got the the full maxidot, cruise control, sunblind, and the all the driver aids like ABS, hillhold, esp, infact i can't remember all of the aids.

 

they also have xenons with AFS 3 plus they got curtain airbags as standard.

 

The are a few more features but can't remember them off the top of my head, much prefer it to the elagance and i thought the was alot of car for the money, mine's a keeper for a good few years yet (only had it a couple of months)

I've seen a silver standard vRS that looks immaculate. It doesn't have any optional extras however from what I've read it doesn't sound like I'd be missing out on much!

 

The car looks in excellent condition inside and out however the grey alcantara on nearly all the lower sections of the seat look marked and dirty. I may ask for some more photos as it's a 6 hour round trip to view the car.

 

I know it's a 4 year old car so maybe I'm expecting too much but the Blacklines I've seen with leather look like new apart from the side bolsters which wear on most models with sports seats.

9 hours ago, CookieMonster87 said:

I've seen a silver standard vRS that looks immaculate. It doesn't have any optional extras however from what I've read it doesn't sound like I'd be missing out on much!

 

The car looks in excellent condition inside and out however the grey alcantara on nearly all the lower sections of the seat look marked and dirty. I may ask for some more photos as it's a 6 hour round trip to view the car.

 

I know it's a 4 year old car so maybe I'm expecting too much but the Blacklines I've seen with leather look like new apart from the side bolsters which wear on most models with sports seats.

Thats the only problem on mine and that is the side bolster has slightly worn and lost colour, not a very expensive repair for me to have done though as i know a good local trimmer

I had my bolster re-trimmed on my VXR. It cost me £70 if I recall which I can't complain about. I am looking at a Blackline next week which has wear here that the dealer pointed out in the video. No doubt I could use this to get some off.