Superbly Disappointed Part 1

[xman]

2 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

 

I've not found any of the other electronic witchcraft to be an issue either.   

 

 

 

I have the ten inch touch screen Columbus, but its mounted so low down its positively dangerous at times to look and use. (Yes I know I can go through umpteem menus with the steering wheel button but never ever found my contact list that way, just last dialled)

I also find 3d mode far too messy and difficult to interpret at a glance so its set to 2d mode. Sat nav is quite naff. Turn half right.....yeah.

 

 

[TerryMcK]

1 minute ago, xman said:

 

Sat nav is quite naff. Turn half right.....yeah.

 

 

Ahh yes - the sat nav is rubbish - you are right. When it took me down a narrow country lane that was barely wide enough for the car just to save 20 yards I gave up on it. I just use Google maps now.

[BriskodaJeff]

5 minutes ago, xman said:

 

I have the ten inch touch screen Columbus, but its mounted so low down its positively dangerous at times to look and use. (Yes I know I can go through umpteem menus with the steering wheel button but never ever found my contact list that way, just last dialled)

 

Do you not have the voice dialling feature? Works for me with my contact list.

[xman]

13 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Yes, but then they can ask on here and maybe be put in contact with someone who can.  There's not many forum users who aren't local to a VCDS owner. 

I can't speak for others, but I wouldn't like to take my internet life into the real world, some really wierd people on Briskoda.

 

My £30k car is still in warranty, would I like a friendly but unknown guy with no other qualifications apart from self professed internet acquired knowledge to plug something in and start recoding my car using unofficial (Skoda wise) modifications?  So nany different versions of firmware, what works on one car can brick another. No guarantee it'll work, mess the car up, brick something, unknown what my insurance thinks about it either.

 

Not for me.

Edited 17 March, 2020 by xman

[drewellis]

ACC is a brilliant system, you just don't know how to use it. As others have said it knows where you are and adjusts the headlights/ACC accordingly.

Take a break warning means you're either tired or just a crap driver, it's very smart coding.

As others have said, you might be more comfortable with a more basic car; you sound like the kind of person who would be suited to a Dacia Sandero or similar.

 

Welcome to the forum and goodbye in advance

[xman]

2 minutes ago, drewellis said:

you just don't know how to use it.

 

Didn't Steve Jobs say something similar?

 

Quote

it knows where you are and adjusts the headlights/ACC accordingly.

 

So now ACC adjusts the headlights? You learn something new every day ..

Edited 17 March, 2020 by xman

[drewellis]

3 minutes ago, xman said:

 

Didn't Steve Jobs say something similar?

 

 

So now ACC adjusts the headlights? You learn something new every day ..

 

I wouldn't have used my ACC without reading how it works first. My Superb is the first car I've had with it. Sounds like OP is older, been driving for years and probably needs to RTFM even more than I did.

 

ACC does not adjust the headlights. The car knows where you are, and it adjusts both the headlights and ACC.

 

Btw your reply wasn't helpful either but I won't mark it down because this is what forums are for...

 

[BriskodaJeff]

Goodness we are all very tetchy today! Can't we all just shake hands bump elbows and get along?

[penguin17]

4 minutes ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Goodness we are all very tetchy today! Can't we all just shake hands bump elbows and get along?

Was thinking this myself Jeff.  You'll also excuse me for not bumping elbows, that could spread elbowla 😀🙄

Edited 17 March, 2020 by penguin17

[xman]

23 minutes ago, drewellis said:

 

Btw your reply wasn't helpful either but I won't mark it down because this is what forums are for...

 

 

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

 

The unhelpful tag was because of this in your reply

 

Quote

you sound like the kind of person who would be suited to a Dacia Sandero or similar.

 

No need for that kind of remark. All the insults thrown here at new member @evilC guarantee he won't come back.

 

No way to treat a Newbie.

 

[boydeee]

I can see both sides of the debate here. 

However, ACC is a driver aid, and, is not like the "autopilot" feature available on Tesla models.

 

Unfortunately you do need to monitor it and try to anticipate system applications of the brakes when it "thinks" there is an imminent danger.

 

I always have my thumb ready to press the right hand thumb wheel inwards to acknowledge the warning. 

This prevents it jumping on the brakes. 

 

That's my experience of it anyway. Sorry to hear you've not had such a great time of it.

 

[evilC]

15 hours ago, nicknorman said:

I feel your pain. In order to alleviate it, you should buy a horse and cart. Since you won’t then be needing you car, you can give it to me.

I have various other vehicles from a '74 VW1303S, '83 Alfa GTV6, '94 Merc 500E, a Clan Crusader (under construction) and an Aprilia RST Mille, all save the Merc have been modified (no need).  All those vehicles I enjoy to the full and occasional compete with and indeed the recently demised Octavia did sterling service as part of the family.  I cannot see me enjoying the Superb in the same way although I suppose that it will be useful in carting stuff around, towing the trailers and visits to the tip. It may be an issue with my 'control freakery' in a car, maybe I should have listened to my own advice and bought a Transit van as the family hack? 

[GAG]

If you are a self confessed  "control freak" remember you don't have to use ACC , you could control the car your self and actually drive it.

[evilC]

7 hours ago, xman said:

Give over with the silly insults and ridicule guys. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, its seems a Briskoda trait that if someone criticises certain things Skoda, everybody ploughs in with quite nasty responses. Smacks of fanboism and crowd mentality.

 

I have some sympathy with the OP. ACC is far from perfect. In moderare to heavy traffic I invariably find myself travelling stupidly slowing constantly to 50 mph or less instead of the requested 70 mph. Even with distance setting set to minimum, many drivers dive into the (too large) space in front and ACC just backs off. It will not kick back up until you indicated and moved well into the next lane which is often a dangerous way of overtaking. You have to take over to do a safe manouver. As a result it takes more effort to use ACC than just drive normally

 

Its a known issue that it often sees left turning vehicles as a hazard and sometimes it reacts to stuff flying in front and then it can be very unnerving when this happens. Theres been a number of incidents reported here on Briskoda when there have been near misses when ACC/front assist has been falsely trigged and the braked slammed on hard, albeit briefly.

 

If the OP is still around to read this, and not been put off by the mob response, I'd like to remind him he can switch to speed limiter mode, which he may find more to his taste. I don't and there are plenty of times when I too yearn for the simple CC.

 

If ACC were a cost extra option on a car, I would not buy the option. Plain CC is fine for me. Front assist is still there if you fall asleep.

 

 

Thank you for the sane and reasoned reply that I appreciate.  When we bought the Superb I had to rely on the Brochure to tell me all the features that were included and I had hoped that those I didn't want or need I could turn off at the flick of a switch like abs and ETC.  I find scolling through menus to adjust the 'inputs/features' highly distracting and therefore dangerous on the move.

I have used simple CC for a long time and I suppose I have added my own 'adaptive features' to my normal use, but crucially my own features are much more sophisticated than any ecu, taking into account many more elements than the vehicle can register, its a case of the best ecu in any vehicle being the one between the driver's ears!

It has been said on here that I should read and understand the owner's manual before driving.  In the first instance, when I collected the car the salesman gave a brief induction before I drove the 120 miles home.  He warned me that the OM contained instructions on many more features that related to higher specifications, so which ones do I have - it will be a process of elimination I fear?  Having read the OM more than once,, all I can say is that is pathetically short of information, a quick comparison with our Octavia manual shows how devoid it is and yet it purports to cover many more features

BTW what is VCDS?

3 hours ago, drewellis said:

ACC is a brilliant system, you just don't know how to use it. As others have said it knows where you are and adjusts the headlights/ACC accordingly.

Take a break warning means you're either tired or just a crap driver, it's very smart coding.

As others have said, you might be more comfortable with a more basic car; you sound like the kind of person who would be suited to a Dacia Sandero or similar.

 

Welcome to the forum and goodbye in advance

The point is I don't want ACC or its features or I want to tailor it to suit my driving style.  I was not aware that the headlights and the ACC are adjusted to the GPS positioning, that is not something that is advertised.

The take a break warning occurred when I was neither tired or had carried out an improper manoeuvre.  I would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate my driving skills so that you could assess whether I am a 'crap driver'.  I assume you are in someway qualified to make that assessment?  As an aside, I have over the years taken refresher/advanced driving courses to ensure that I maintain a good level of competence, with one for example, being with an ex-Class 1 Police Driving Instructor.

The question of how smart the coding is is subjective and depends on who is reviewing it, what may seem smart to some can be mundane to others.

I have various cars that may be considered basic but I am a soul buddy to Peter Wheeler, the former owner of TVR, who produced exiting and potent motor cars (his Speed 12 was considered too fast for international sports car racing and had to be detuned to compete!) , without any geeky bits including abs or ETC, which he considered where unnecessary and detracted from the motoring enjoyment. 

You use the reference to Dacia Sundaro as an insult, but it was not so long ago that Skoda were producing similar cars powered by Renault family engines which also received derision, never mind that they won their class on the RAC Rally 13 years in a row!  I seem to recall that the Dacia Sundaro is currently highly regarded with various international awards.             

[Sagalout]

The OP posted little more than a rant against modern car control/safety systems which it is now clear the OP has little time for irrespective of which vehicle it is fitted to. Therefore it would seem reasonable that one would do research in detail about what, how and operating conditions before spending a large amount of money on a vehicle with multiple systems fitted.

If we take the driver alert example. The OP has dismissed it as 'stupid vehicle electronics' when it could be no more than a fault with his specific vehicle or something about the manner of driving ( not saying unsafe but doing something that is triggering the condition). We cant know from here but to jump to dismissing it as stupid is just as unhelpful as some of my comments have been classified. I apologise if the manner of my flippant remarks were deemed not appropriate but I do not retract the implicit message within.

[Markbro]

I constantly drive with cruise control even at low speeds on all kinds of roads. Drove a civic with acc before buying the Superb and didn't like the fact that it slowed down due to slower traffic on the inside lane (or as I was overtaking). I prefer to be in control of the speed as with regular cc.  Can you not have an option of whether you want adaptive or normal given the traffic conditions? Note I don't drive much on heavily trafficked roads so may have a different opinion if I did.

[budster]

Some of this electronic wizardry seems to be driven by the EuroNCAP ratings whereby cars need to have some electronic safety features in order to get a 5 star rating. For example, in 2011 the Vw Up had 5 stars, this year it has 3. I don't believe the structural safety of the car has changed, the drop in rating seems to be because it doesn't have autonomous emergency braking. 

 

Personally, I think ACC is great. I remember using CC on my wife's 2005 Golf and having to constantly brake or manually adjust it as cars slowed down or sped up in front. Seemed to me to be a complete waste of time unless you are driving on deserted roads (which may happen soon, of course). With ACC I can largely set and forget, now that I understand its idiosyncrasies and limitations. 

 

Not wishing to sound harsh but if you're not willing to learn and adapt, maybe you should look on Auto trader for a low mileage Octavia of the same era as your now ex-Octavia as otherwise you are always going to be frustrated by the Superb. 

 

 

[cmp1951]

The videos on the Škoda site also help a lot. Take a look at them.

 

I agree with most of the positive comments re ACC a d Lane Assist, but you do need to help it out occasionally when vehicle in front is slowing to turn otherwise the total eejit following too close behind will start honking at you🦢

[facet edge]

I think ACC is good in some areas. Slow moving traffic, average speed camera roadworks and queues.

What does irritate me is the tendency to leave slowing down much later than I would usually do. When I drive I will ease off the accelerator is I can see obstructions in the distance. ACC will only look at the car in front, in my opinion that is not far enough.

Don't get me wrong it's an amazing but it's still not as good as you and me.

[JR RS]

6 hours ago, evilC said:

The point is I don't want ACC or its features or I want to tailor it to suit my driving style. 

 

my wife hates all the fancy driver assist systems too, such as ACC, Lane Assist, Driving Modes, Park Pilot etc etc.

so when she drives the Superb, they're all turned off or not used.  its very simple.  she doesn't get disappointed, or whinge about it.

 

i read the manual, and used the driver personalisation feature to make sure that when her profile is selected, with her key, all the driver assistance systems r deactivated. 

when i drive, cause i understand the tech, those assist systems r activated.

 

its not rocket science.

 

we don't mean to bag u out - but when u start a topic with "Superbly disappointed", ur already blaming the car without understanding the car ur driving or the tech ur dealing with.

hence the harsh responses ur getting.

had u started ur topic with "help, i don't like/understand why my car is doing this", u would've got very different answers from the forum members, and pleasant ones.

Edited 18 March, 2020 by JR RS

[KeteCantek]

8 hours ago, evilC said:

I have various other vehicles from a '74 VW1303S, '83 Alfa GTV6, '94 Merc 500E, a Clan Crusader (under construction) and an Aprilia RST Mille, all save the Merc have been modified (no need).  All those vehicles I enjoy to the full and occasional compete with and indeed the recently demised Octavia did sterling service as part of the family.  I cannot see me enjoying the Superb in the same way although I suppose that it will be useful in carting stuff around, towing the trailers and visits to the tip. It may be an issue with my 'control freakery' in a car, maybe I should have listened to my own advice and bought a Transit van as the family hack? 

I think others have covered the 'understand how ACC works' bit. 

 

I am just curious why you would drive the superb when you have a Mercedes 500E. I agree a transit van would be better for the tip run and maybe towing! 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, facet edge said:

What does irritate me is the tendency to leave slowing down much later than I would usually do.

 

My Dad's Land Rover's ACC does that too, quite unnerving at times as I'm thinking is it actually going to brake so my foot is already hovering over the brake pedal just in case

 

His main complaint with ACC is just the gap between you and the car in front is always enticing for people to slip in to, meaning you slow down to match their speed before speeding up again. I think this is just a common problem amongst all ACC's unless there's one which lets you travel 1/2 a car length behind the person in front of you 😂

[Inoffski]

On 16/03/2020 at 17:44, evilC said:

 

  DRIVER ALERT! - TAKE A BREAK!

It appears that I may have exhibited a too relaxed driving style and the stupid vehicle electronics had determined that I was falling asleep!!  I can assure everyone that I was fully alert and driving very safely and making good progress.  I have always been considered by others to be a particularly smooth and relaxed driver even when competing in motorsport events and I find it somewhat objectionable to be told that I appeared not to be driving properly by a stupid machine!

This is just the beginning as the car has too many gimmicks on the basis of 'cos we can' rather than because it is needed.  If there was a Superb (or any other competent similar car)  without any of the gizmos I would have bought it, but we are stuck with an electronic nightmare.    

As an aside, Clarkson's Sunday Times column this week end was quite amusing in that he was ranting at all the nerd advice relating to the tech to be included in his new house, as he says, he is fully capable of turning the heating on and off manually and doesn't need a potentially suspect electronic gizmo that needs a cocktail stick to press the buttons!!  So where are his principles in relation to the electronic junk that now plagues modern motoring brought in by the farhtocrats in Brussels?   

 

I'm sure there's an option to turn the driver alert off in one of the the Multi Function display menus. I must have a relaxed driving style as well as I was getting the message pretty regularly, but turned the alert off.  Mine is a 2016 Superb though - so the menu may have changed.  

[IanJD]

With any add-ons like ACC or driver alert there are always some negative points for some people, but if the result is overwhelmingly positive for most people fitting them is easy to justify. Yes some people may get a bit irritated by the driver alert system, on the other hand systems like this have been shown to reduce crashes and save lives by alerting sleepy/tired drivers.

 

The whole point of safety-focused add-ons is that statistically they aim to reduce accident/death rates, which is precisely why fitting them is encouraged by safety ratings. If you're irritated and demand that Skoda delete the driver alert and they did and somebody was killed as a result, would you want to be the one to go and tell their family?

 

Yes I know that it's well-nigh impossible to show correlation between a feature like this and a particular accident, but the effect overall is exactly the same if fewer people get killed overall, we just can't say exactly which ones were killed (or saved) by it -- the effect is there, even if it's much smaller than (say) seat belts or airbags.

[Ootohere]

They can be safety devices when understood by drivers.  Where drivers read an owners manual and one not lost in translation.

Where it is clearly understood that there are roads, routes, locations and weather conditions where unlike a seat belt, ABS, ESP etc they are not suitable to enable.

There are even places and times that TC can need switched off in some vehicles in some conditions, like to free a vehicle, fir snow chains etc.

 

There are some drivers that should maybe by vehicles with less technology if it is smarter than them, and then drive fully switched on and paying due care and attention.