After a few years away from Skoda yesterday I ordered (2 year lease) a First Edition SE-L estate. It’s a 1.5 petrol, manual, in Petrol Blue with the optional leather interior and a spare wheel. Otherwise it looks really well equipped as standard! It’s a built car waiting to get on the boat, and I should have it in about 3 weeks time.
 

One minor thing I can’t work out is whether it comes with the rear passenger window blinds (that pull up from the doors) as standard. I’ve seen them on some U.K. reviews e.g. CarWow, but can’t see it within the lists of options or packs, or on the lists of standard equipment.
 

Has anyone seen these on a U.K. demonstrator? I could ask the dealer I suppose but thought it would more fun to reactivate my Briskoda account first!

 

 

A lot of the online reviews are of non-UK spec vehicles, early press cars. I too cannot see any mention of the rear door blinds anywhere.

 

I suspect they'll appear as Skoda introduce further models such as the L&K etc. or other higher spec equivalents.

 

I did notice that Skoda mention that the SE L First Edition is 'stock only' i.e. no factory orders.

No rear window blinds on my SE L First Edition estate.

Well I collected the car yesterday and have now driven just over 300 miles. All good so far, the standout being an indicted average 60 mpg over 260 miles, with a high of 61.1 before I hit heavy traffic on the M25. To be fair I was taking it pretty easy at 65-75 mph most of the time on the motorway, but even so! The 1.5 TSI engine felt very smooth and quiet, and I basically couldn’t tell when the cylinder deactivation was switching in or out.

 

Other highlights for me:

 

Very good ride on the 17” wheels; they largely soaked up the horrible ridged concrete sections on the M25 better than anything else I’ve had over the past few years.

Very comfortable seats which can go really low if you want to, despite being electric.

Really nice steering wheel and I thought the switches on it felt high quality. No issues with volume on the screen - just use the wheel roller.

Brakes very progressive and not at all grabby.

Blind spot monitoring very useful

Wireless CarPlay pretty cool and easy to set up. 
Stop-start and adaptive cruise control were firsts for me with this car - both worked very well

I’ve also set up the Skoda Connect app with me as ‘primary users with no issues and it is a bit of fun.
 

Still trying to work out how to set the near side mirror to dip when I reverse.

 

Anyway, a good start.

 

1 hour ago, SUTTS said:

 

Still trying to work out how to set the near side mirror to dip when I reverse.

 

 

 

I picked up my SE L 1st Ed hatch yesterday and am still learning the ropes. To get the mirrors to dip, I think you need to put the adjustment knob over to L and it should do it (you might need to adjust it while in reverse the first time though). 

 

I love the wireless carplay too but found my battery was almost dead after a 3hr or so trip but I was streaming music and maps most of the time. I've ordered a wireless charge pad to rest my phone on in the little nook and will see how that works when it arrives. If you find out any other tips / tricks then let me know

Edited 2 September, 20205 yr by fox2319

Nice one, I think I’ve sorted out the mirror now.

I have window blinds on mine as standard. Back window too. The hatchback that is.

On 02/09/2020 at 16:33, SUTTS said:

Well I collected the car yesterday and have now driven just over 300 miles. All good so far,

 

One important omission, did it come with the rear window blinds!?

Ha, no it didn’t - they’re something else tucked away in one of the optional packs. Otherwise 800 miles in now and all is well.

1,700 mile update

Overall things are going very well and I’ve not experienced many of the issues that others on here appear to have...

 

I really like the smooth ride on the 17” wheels, NVH is very low, I have no rattles or squeaks and the whole thing just feels well built. The paint finish is easily as good as my old Audi RS4, and with a layer of polish and sealant on it all it takes is a wipe over with detailing spray after a wash and it comes up really well and very shiny.
 

The 1.5 engine is more than adequate in terms of power and is quite lively over 4K rpm. Once warm it’s very smooth and quiet. The switch to 2 cylinders is imperceptible with no vibration and the additional sealing around the doors is obvious in keeping engine and road noise out. I never had a Mark 3, so don’t know how bad the kangarooing was from cold. It’s not completely gone - I would describe it as being a bit lumpy for the first 100 yards if you pull away straight after a cold start. After that it’s fine. Alternatively idle for 30 seconds or so after starting and it’s virtually gone straight away. Ultimately I don’t find it a problem, and certainly not worth me talking to a dealer about.

 

Gearbox is very light and smooth between all gears and braking is progressive and well judged i.e. not over-servoed. Steering is so-so and as expected somewhat lifeless for a fully electric system. I have the steering set to ‘sport’ on the individual mode which helps a bit. Standard LED headlights are very good, but it’s a shame about the unused strip at the rear on the boot lid!

 

I generally quite like the touch screen and the mod-cons (my most modern car prior to this was from 2009). The sat-nav was set to miles from day one (most seem to be KM?) and on the very rare occasion that I get a failure warning for one of the safety systems it’s only for a few seconds before coming back on line. I’ve not had to switch off/on to sort this like others seem to. I would like to scroll through my ‘favourites’ on the radio using the arrow wheel buttons but it always scrolls through the DAB list instead. To be fair I haven’t consulted the manual on this yet!  The touchscreen has never failed or frozen and I’ve had no issues with Skoda Connect. I don’t change the heating/ventilation much so all of that being on the screen isn’t a problem. I like the warm my hands/feet shortcut and use it quite often. When i do use the screen on the move I find the ‘shelf’ to rest your palm or a couple of fingers on really handy to keep steady. 
 

I tend to switch lane keeping control straight off as I drive away, but this only takes a second so no hardship there. The collision warning appears a bit paranoid at times when coming up behind someone turning left. It’s only braked for me once, which came as a bit of a surprise!

 

Interior wise I’ve got the full ‘leather’ (not sure it’s been anywhere near a cow), which is fine, and good with the seat heating at the moment. However, specifying that means you don’t get the alcantara dash for some reason and instead it’s a grey, almost denim like material. No real drama, but it was a surprise when I picked the car up and it’s not mentioned in any of the literature. I quite like it now. Otherwise I think the interior is pretty good, well made, and at least what you would expect for a car of this price. 
 

I’m still impressed by the fuel economy. 90% of my journeys are a 13 mile each way commute to work, which is a mixture of town outskirts and dual carriageway. I usually average around 52 mpg in one direction and 46mpg on the way home (it’s predominantly slightly down hill on the way there!). Long term average is 46.5 mpg as any other journeys tend to be quite short. Coming from a 2002 n/a 3.0 litre 6 cylinder that averaged low 20’s at best I’m pretty happy with that 

 

I’ve had 3 vRS Octavias in the past (two Mark 1 hatchbacks and a 2.5 estate) and this was my first Skoda for a few years, with a couple of BMW’s and an Audi in between them. I’ve also got my old M5 in the garage which is a keeper! I am quite happy with my choice to go back to a Skoda, and will certainly be considering a new vRS for September 2022 before we have to go electric...