My wife is insisting that our next car must have a panoramic sunroof. I try to explain to her that although it looks great and is nice feature for kids, it is not worth the extra expense as it can cause a lot of trouble , leaks, extra weight , extra heat etc.

 

Who's right?

Head says waste of money - heart says looks awesome.

Head says waste of money - heart says ruins handling and economy ( these things are heavy and raise the centre of gravity ) - experience says do what wife says.

Wouldn't have been no.1 on my list of options to spend £1100 on, but I did spec one on my estate - and wouldn't have another without it if I have the choice.

 

DCC would probably edge it out if it had to be one or the other, but it wasn't available when I bought mine.

 

The pano roof makes a huge difference to the interior atmosphere, the kids love seeing the moon/stars/clouds/sun/rain/birdsh1t through it, and with the weather as it has been recently, it has been open a lot...

 

As for 'extra weight/ruins handling & economy' (?!), well I'm no Lewis Hamilton so I wouldn't detect it...I guess a steel roofed equivalent may be 0.00000000000014 secs quicker round the Nurburgring. 

 

MPG effect? Nah...my right foot will affect that more, as will the 4x4 mine also happens to have.

 

It seems to help with car sickness too.

 

Not had any leaks or squeaks so far either, at two years old and 33k miles.

Edited 31 July, 20187 yr by pist0nbr0ke

I'm with the others.

I couldnt justify spending €1000 on it when specîng my car.

We have it on our other lease car & its very very very nice for all the reasons you already explained.

 

For my next car, If I was paying with my own money, it would be a really difficult choice but guess I wouldnt pay for it.

If someone else is somehow paying then it would definately go on the list.

Does this look Like a reasonable deal?

 

https://www.marshall.co.uk/skoda/used-cars/8421453-skoda-octavia-2.0-tdi-cr-v-rs-4x4-5dr-dsg/

I’ve had a car with a pano roof and I’d have never specified it on that car because it’s was really narrow and offered no benefit for those in the front. I have been in a couple of Octy’s with the pano roof and I still don’t think it would make it up my list to spec on a car, but it is at least big and it opens which is always nice, many are fixed. If it came down to 2 cars, one with and one without I’d try for the one that had it, but I’d specify KESSY and a power tailgate first personally. Happy wife, happy life though, I always benefit from that advice at home haha

1 hour ago, TonyTonic said:

Does this look Like a reasonable deal?

 

https://www.marshall.co.uk/skoda/used-cars/8421453-skoda-octavia-2.0-tdi-cr-v-rs-4x4-5dr-dsg/

Yes, £500 or so overpriced, but that’s subjective. If you love it, not worth losing it for a few ££. Not far off being a very fair deal in other words (IMO). 

 

White with Pano does look great! So, if you must have a diesel ;-) then go for it!

 

PS - just to add, I love the roof. It improves the ambience inside the car as vRSs have dark headlining otherwise, the kids love it (as said above) and it’s bloody great to have it wide open in good weather. 

 

Edited 31 July, 20187 yr by dunc69

8 minutes ago, dunc69 said:

Yes, £500 or so overpriced, but that’s subjective. If you love it, not worth losing it for a few ££. Not far off being a very fair deal in other words (IMO). 

 

White with Pano does look great! So, if you must have a diesel ;-) then go for it!

 

PS - just to add, I love the roof. It improves the ambience inside the car as vRSs have dark headlining otherwise, the kids love it (as said above) and it’s bloody great to have it wide open in good weather. 

 

Would prefer the 245 to be honest.

1 hour ago, pist0nbr0ke said:

Wouldn't have been no.1 on my list of options to spend £1100 on, but I did spec one on my estate - and wouldn't have another without it if I have the choice.

 

DCC would probably edge it out if it had to be one or the other, but it wasn't available when I bought mine.

 

The pano roof makes a huge difference to the interior atmosphere, the kids love seeing the moon/stars/clouds/sun/rain/birdsh1t through it, and with the weather as it has been recently, it has been open a lot...

 

As for 'extra weight/ruins handling & economy' (?!), well I'm no Lewis Hamilton so I wouldn't detect it...I guess a steel roofed equivalent may be 0.00000000000014 secs quicker round the Nurburgring. 

 

MPG effect? Nah...my right foot will affect that more, as will the 4x4 mine also happens to have.

 

It seems to help with car sickness too.

 

Not had any leaks or squeaks so far either, at two years old and 33k miles.

What's the diesel like? Goes like stink? Noisy? The 4x4 bit is the good part

2 minutes ago, TonyTonic said:

Would prefer the 245 to be honest.

I’m with you on that all day long. 40+ mpg if driven sensibly too! 

 

There are probably plenty of 220 and nearly new 230 TSIs out there with Pano and other toys if you are prepared to hunt them out. 

 

I waited / hunted for several months before finding mine. Then travelled 4 hours each way to get it. Haven’t regretted it for an instant. 

 

Edited 31 July, 20187 yr by dunc69

3 minutes ago, dunc69 said:

I’m with you on that all day long. 40+ mpg if driven sensibly too! 

 

http://www.fuelly.com/car/skoda/octavia/2017/themanwithnoaim/656953

 

Nuff said?

3 minutes ago, dunc69 said:

I’m with you on that all day long. 40+ mpg if driven sensibly too! 

 

There are probably plenty of 220 and nearly new 230 TSIs out there with Pano and other toys if you are prepared to hunt them out. 

 

I waited / hunted for several months before finding mine. Then travelled 4 hours each way to get it. Haven’t regretted it for an instant. 

 

yeah, i'm with you, happy to travel for a good one

2 minutes ago, themanwithnoaim said:

http://www.fuelly.com/car/skoda/octavia/2017/themanwithnoaim/656953

 

Nuff said?

Haha, yes, nuff!  

 

But we all know you ‘drive it like you stole it’ all day long. 

 

Some of us drive fast one day and slow the next. That’s the beauty of these turbo petrols. Naughty on demand, relatively frugal on the family days...... 

1 minute ago, TonyTonic said:

What's the diesel like? Goes like stink? Noisy? The 4x4 bit is the good part

 

4x4 is really really good. Diesel goes okay, needs a remap or DTUK box to liven it up properly. 

 

If you don't need the 4x4 though, go petrol unless you do big miles. I do 16k miles a year and wanted 4x4 due to living in the sticks a bit, so it worked for me. It's not hugely economical either, although that could just be me...

 

The 4x4 only comes with DSG - DSG with diesel isn't my first choice - fine if cruising or round town, I get a bit frustated with it when hooning a little, or 'making smooth progress' on country roads near me.  It changes too soon in D, redlines in S (which is pointless in a diesel), so you are forced to use manual, which defeats the purpose of DSG really. Not exactly unhappy with it, but given the choice I wouldn't pay the extra.

Pan Roofs look great, but I can't bring myself to pay that much for them.

I used to get 50 mpg from a manual diesel vRS, but got the 4x4 DSG vRS now which does low 40's. Had it just over 2-years/40k miles and a bit like pistOnbrOke I was never quite happy with the DSG/diesel - but got a DTUK pedal box a few months ago and it has made the car for me.  Better than a tuning box for this particular model in my experience.

I plan on remapping it straight away

Pan roof pricey new, agreed, but if you can scoop one second hand, or on a nearly new demonstrator, you win without paying big £. 

+ 1 for it, great for opening up the inside with natural light and the kids love it but i didn't pay extra for it and i wouldn't if had to option it, my'n  was was ex demo with it, so as others have said if you can get one without paying the extra as an option go for it.

I got the pano roof as a compromise, since kids kept asking me to change the color from "my" racing blue, which - of course - was absurd

 

They are very happy of it, and if you live in the countryside you'll have a lot of opportunities to keep it open and passengers to enjoy.

 

I don't know the weight difference, but coming from an Elegance 150 4x4, the VRS is way quicker, smoother and less noisy.

 

About the heat, perhaps it contributes to the temperature under a steady sun, but what makes me crazy are the seats (no leather, too bad) which are crazy hot. Muuuuuch hotter that standard MkII VRS seats.

 

I understand pist0nbr0ke about the DSG, but it was not an option here in Italy and I had to cope with that. Well I've found that when I want to "drive" I do like a lot to shift gears with paddles! Less time wasted in shifting and more safety since my hands are always on the steering (which btw is very very good, imho).

 

In the end I would go with pano again.

OK, so the general consensus is Pano roof is great, generally no problems with it but too expensive and if buying a used or getting a good deal then it's worth it.

I would say so, £1000 odd is a lot of money to spend when there are more essential toys missing from the standard vRS spec. If you have the means or you find a used one which has it, fill your boots. My experience with the DSG box is more positive than others on this thread, I really like my DSG and for the odd time when it’s not as smooth as a torque converter automatic, it is quicker to shift and smoother 90% of the time. Mine isn’t a 4x4 though, so I don’t know how that affects things.

Another related question to the potential purchase.

 

If it has ACC option fitted from factory, does this mean other options can be programmed in later with VDCS or similar? 

Edited 1 August, 20187 yr by TonyTonic

HBA and TSR should be possible. LA should be standard. Don't know of anything else 'enableable' that is dependent on having ACC?

All UK spec vRSes have the LA camera which does HBA and TSR. I don’t think there’s anything that you can add with the ACC that you can’t add without it.