When researching a new car, every Octavia video review I saw would make comment about Skoda being thoughtful, the reviewer demonstrating this by showing us the ice scraper. Simply Clever!

 

So here I am tonight, worse of the snow wiped off the car but the windows still caked in a layer of thick ice. "Ah, a chance to try the ice scraper"! says me.

 

Simply clever eh? Can't open the fuel flap because it's iced up 

 

I'll move my ice scraper from the fuel flap in to the boot from now on.

 

Must admit, although the temps are barely below zero, I find the door handles + doors are also quite difficult to open on the Octavia due to icing. Anyone else experience this?

Edited 19 January, 20188 yr by Guest

A heavy dose of frost will usually stick the doors closed.

Needing a very heavy tug to open.

 

I keep the de-icing aerosol inside the house because it often fails to “skoosh” if I leave it in the car at sub-zero temperatures.

Only needed for the side windows of course, because ————

 

Hot front and rear screens and hot mirrors make for a pretty easy kick off on cold mornings. Followed by hot seats of course.

 

(and His Mr Kodiaq tops that off with a hot wheel too)

Gummi-pflege is supposed to stop the seals freezing up so at least the doors are easy to open without tearing the seals.

2 hours ago, dkvinyls said:

Gummi-pflege is supposed to stop the seals freezing up so at least the doors are easy to open without tearing the seals.

 

This works and also stops the door seals squeaking - good stuff

Simply Clever is really a bit of marketing guff designed to make you think that a supposedly cheap brand is also an intelligent choice. Hence you get an ice scraper with a Skoda when others don’t bother and - amazingly - it’s also a magnifying glass!

 

Fair’s fair - it’s helpful. But yes, it would be better kept in the house or in the car.

 

And if Skoda really was simply clever they’d do something about the bloody rear suspension...

 

A perennial problem 

 

Useful clever would be:

 

- not warning you the washer fluid is low as you accelerate down a slip road.

- seeing you've put a long journey into the sat nav and doing a regen during the journey, instead of when you pop out for a 5 min drive to the shops....

- telling you it's doing a regen and the approx time remaining

 

18 hours ago, BoxerBoy said:

I keep the de-icing aerosol inside the house because it often fails to “skoosh” if I leave it in the car at sub-zero temperatures.
 

 

'Skoosh'  ha ha, haven't heard that term used for a long time. A true Scot.

Even the cheapest of De-icers from Discount Super Markets scoosh at temps like -8*oC IME.   

What kind are you buying that does not?

 

Night Before De-Icer is a wonderful thing IMO.

 

Perfect on door seals that have been cleaned,

then use the Pre De-Icer.

 

Edited 20 January, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

These simply cleaver stuff (and not just skoda) is simply ridiculous these days.

 

How much technology do you require to put a ice scrapper somewhere, or a ticker holder, or a plastic hook in the boot for a bag etc...

Simply Clever doesn’t seem to be much more than a few pieces of plastic/ torch/umbrellas. I’m not knocking it because some of thess things are useful to have, but this is really marketing not substance - Skoda isn’t allowed to be better to drive or better to look at than VW so it has a few cheap bits thrown in.

Simply add plastic tat, inside and out.

Costs a few cents and adds nothing to the value of a car.

 

 

Add some Plastic Chrome, or fake carbon, Decals, Sporty names and show and little go. RS / vRS, Monty Carlo, Sport even.

Add rough tough offroading stuff like front bash guards & low chins trims that do not stand up to any bashing and call them a 'Scout'.

All marketing-led guff - every 'car-man /-woman' knows what they're walking into when buying a Skoda, if they've researched VAG whatsoever, and its place in the pecking order (e.g. 1) Audi, 2) VW, 3) Skoda, 4) Séat) (5) Bentley...  ))

 

Maybe it's me as an ex-Ford Fiesta Zetec S Mk6 (the poor man's ST) owner, but I'm always just pleasantly surprised that the 'Simply Clever' bits (ice scraper / shopping bag hooks / big door bins / 'Clips or drawers for Holding Stuff') don't just immediately snap off. But that's because I was used to my Ford for 4 years...

 

They are useful additions, but I'm under no illusions of where my non-sound-deadened, parts-bin-built, 'warm'-hatch (as standard) stands in relation to the other marques. 

 

Either way, I love it because it's so unashamedly Skoda - and has that personality. Also, thanks @dkvinyls for the Gummi-Pfledge recommendation 

22 hours ago, AwaoffSki said:

Even the cheapest of De-icers from Discount Super Markets scoosh at temps like -8*oC IME.   

What kind are you buying that does not?

 

Night Before De-Icer is a wonderful thing IMO.

 

Perfect on door seals that have been cleaned,

then use the Pre De-Icer.

 

Are you sure that stuff is OK to use on door seals? I was under the impression de-icer contained corrosive liquid hence only recommended for use on glass. That Gummi-Pfledge stuff is ok for rubber but I'd be apprehensive using de-icer. 

Personally i mostly use Silicone spray on rubber,

but have used Halfords Night Before De-Icer on my 19 year old Jimny since i first discovered Night Before-deicer which must be about 20 years ago.

 

If it contains corrosive liquid it will not be as corrosive as Salt / Sodium that goes on the roads to make brine.

I put my scraper in the little drawer underneath the headlight switch. Learnt pretty quickly last winter that the default location of the scraper wasn't particularly clever.