I have ordered an Octavia 230 VRS and the option to upgrade from the standard Amundsen to the Columbus system was discussed. I said NO leave it as standard but now wonder is the upgrade really worth the money. I see on EBAY there are a number of Columbus systems at a much lower cost to the one quoted by SKODA and wonder 1) is it really worth the money 2) If it is worth it how easy is it to fit myself if I purchase one from EBAY.

 

Happy for any advice.

 

BillDOG

It's far more difficult than simply ordering one off eBay and fitting it yourself. Look up "component protection" which you'd need to disable/find a way around.

 

If you think you want Columbus, order from factory.

I went through the same masinations and in the end stuck with the Amundsen.  Spent time in demo cars with both systems and the Columbus is certainly nicer, but not £1000 nicer.  The inclusion of Car Play and the connected app gives much more capability, previously missing from Amundsen in my current Yeti, provided you are content to used the data allowance in your phone rather than the car’s own SIM.  Ultimately, is a slightly larger screen with a nice tile home screen, google earth and the ability to update maps via the car’s own 4G SIM worth the extra £1k?  I didn’t on a £23k car.

I went for it. Gets other stuff too included, hard drive (about 12 gb I think) CD player in glove box, 2 x sd card slots (both free to use) nav maps are loaded onto hard drive not on sd card like Amundsen and also the other differences mentioned above. I think it’s worth it for me and the difference in kit between the two.

Personally I spent the money on a sunroof rather than the Columbus. Very happy with my choice.

14 hours ago, Jayd said:

I went for it. Gets other stuff too included, hard drive (about 12 gb I think) CD player in glove box, 2 x sd card slots (both free to use) nav maps are loaded onto hard drive not on sd card like Amundsen and also the other differences mentioned above. I think it’s worth it for me and the difference in kit between the two.

I agree, it also has these things, but none of which are of any particular use or importance to me (although the hard drive maps enables live updates which is nice).  I personally no longer use CDs, all the music I need is on a single SD card (with far more capacity than 12gb) and my entire music collection is on my iPhone too.  I don’t disagree that Columbus is significantly better, my point is, is it £1000 better, particularly as the latest Amundsen is already very good.  Also, worth saying it adds nothing to the residual value, so depending on how long you own the car, it is ‘dead money’.

31 minutes ago, Falmouthboy said:

I agree, it also has these things, but none of which are of any particular use or importance to me (although the hard drive maps enables live updates which is nice).  I personally no longer use CDs, all the music I need is on a single SD card (with far more capacity than 12gb) and my entire music collection is on my iPhone too.  I don’t disagree that Columbus is significantly better, my point is, is it £1000 better, particularly as the latest Amundsen is already very good.  Also, worth saying it adds nothing to the residual value, so depending on how long you own the car, it is ‘dead money’.

Precisely, that’s why ordering and specking a car is totally individual, one mans want is another mans not want! As for the CD player it’s handy and there was uproar from a fair few peeps when it was dropped from the spec of the Amundsen system a bit ago. Most additional options you add to a car give you little or no return at the end, so just order what you would like on your car. I for one am glad I ordered it now I’ve had the car for a month.

On 22/12/2017 at 05:10, ahenners said:

It's far more difficult than simply ordering one off eBay and fitting it yourself. Look up "component protection" which you'd need to disable/find a way around.

 

If you think you want Columbus, order from factory.

Good points and well made 

Thank you all, the points raised are exactly the ones that passed through my  mind when confronted with the dilemma ! I’ve left it as Amundsen and will upload the music etc through my phone. Think it would also be vastly past my expertise to fit anyway 

To be fair, the Amundsen system in the latest facelift version is very good in itself, so not a bad choice by any means. It's not like MIB1 (early MK3 Octavia) Amundsen with a tiny screen and low resolution.

 

I went for the Columbus and now can watch my favourite quiz shows - Eggheads, Tipping Point and The Chase - in various supermarkets around the area on mega 8" screen instead of my Android 5 inches. was it worth it? probably not but it's my toy.