New order, wondered about extras

[Billywizzo]

Hi,

We are about to order a new 1.5 petrol DSG Kodiaq SE L

Looking to add a few extras as we plan to keep the car a while and wondered what owners thought about what they wish they either had or not had fitted as extras.

Also  wondered what owners thought on some of the extras we plan to get if they have them fitted.
We are looking at getting towbar, leather, acc, tri climate control, virtual cockpit, heated rear seats, rear tables (both those options for the kids), sunroof, rear camera, spare wheel as optional extras.
Was going for the electric front drivers seat but decided it was one gadget too far.

Considering dropping the sunroof and going for either active lane assist with blind spot or Traffic assist which includes active lane assist, traffic jam assist, acc and sign recognition. Wondered what people with either of those two thought about them, are they worth the money ( will be getting acc no matter what ).

 

Cheers 

Bill

 

[spinnaker]

The spare wheel is a judgement call as you lose a chunk of the underfloor boot space which I have already found useful since owning the car. I had an Octavia before this and the higher floor level of the boot does make it feel like there is less boot space height-wise than in the Octavia.

 

The one thing I would totally reccommend getting is the High Beam Assist. Not expensive to add but is a really nice feature when driving on dark nights. It is surprisingly good at knowing when to dip the full beam lights and when not to. I had that on the Octavia and was surprised that it wasn't on the SEL Kodiaq. One of a few reasons why I pushed up to the Edition trim level which now no longer exists.

 

 

[BoxerBoy]

We’re all different. You have to make your own choices.
 

I’m biased of course, having gone through this a few times.

 

I wouldn’t touch ACC (constant battle PITA)
Lane Assist (Ditto)
HBA (ditto)
Sun roof (Weight, noise, leaks)

Tri-zone AC (did it - not worth it)

Hot rear seats (Priority up front every day)

Leather (Alcantara suits me all 4 seasons)

Rear camera (not interested - I’m used to reversing via windows & mirrors)

 

My preferences this time round?

 

More BHP

Spare wheel (always)

DCC

Virtual cockpit

Colourful paint

Hot seats (always)

Hot screen (it’s Scotland FFS)

Hot wheel (ditto)

DSG Paddles

 

Enjoy your selection. I do.

[SimonAudi]

Have you checked the higher models - you get more for your money - in that the extras cost less

 

I went for the L&K with Extras - I like toys

 

Heated Screen

 

Driver Assist - including ACC

 

Virtual Cockpit

 

You may get some good deals on stock cars - Sportline or Edition - which have higher spec... but probably will be in Diesel not Petrol..

 

Just  a thought..

 

I have the back seat trays - OK

 

Wish I had had the child pack / rear pack with blinds and door protectors - so look at that before you decide if ordering anew build.

 

The rear seat heating - depends on your kids ages - if they are in booster or child seats - no point having them..

 

Mine has Full cameras and Leather and Sunroof - would not have ordered sunroof but was part model.

 

Virtual Cockpit and ACC to me are great..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaveMiller]

You’ve considered towbar, so must have an idea you’ll use it.  Go for it - so much better than trying to get it fitted later, if you change your mind.

 

Reversing camera - well worth it.  I now really miss it when driving other cars.  The macho “I’m not a sissy and I can use mirrors” line is balls, of course.  I've never yet seen anyone able with mirrors to decide specifically whether the back of the car is 8 inches or 2 inches from the concrete wall behind, or to get the rear parked inch-perfect into the road markings for an end parking bay.  The Kodiaq is a fairly long car, and I regularly use the camera to make sure that the front isn’t sticking out unnecessarily at the multi-storey, and is giving others drivers a decent chance in road-side parking bays.  The camera also sees well in the dark, which just mirrors don’t do.

 

 

[Teir]

Hi Billywizzo,

 

Not sure how I'd choose between those last two options. I love traffic jam assist - there's a long section of queueing traffic on my commute, and it makes it so much easier. Having said that, it's just a convenience feature, whereas blind spot monitoring is a safety feature, and a good one at that.

[Billywizzo]

Thanks for the replies, some of the extras I don’t have a choice in, like tables and heated rear seats, rear camera and spare wheel.

Looked at higher specs but didn’t really have what I wanted as standard and would cost more with the extras, pity the edition was stopped as prob would have gone for that spec.

I use cruise control quite a lot so acc is a must so is a tow bar ( trailer not caravan ).

We have manual a/c just now but can split front into 2 so passenger can have hot and driver cold air and we use that a lot reason for tri climate.

Virtual cockpit is for me 😁 and leather hopefully is easier to keep clean with kids.
We have dropped the Idea of the sunroof so should prob not mentioned that.

 

We are sort of agreed on those but not sure on either lane assist with blind spot or traffic assist with traffic jam and lane assist include but NOT blind spot.

You can’t have traffic jam and blind spot together so its is one or the other, edging to traffic assist/jam

I would like park assist but have been told I would be the only one to use it, anyone got it or used it, is it worth it.

 

Cheers

 

[Teir]

I would personally choose blind spot monitoring, on the basis that it requires physical equipment (rear radars), whereas traffic jam assist and sign recognition are software based and are technically possible to code in afterwards (as long as you have the lane assist camera specced on the car). I say *technically* possible, as I'm not entirely sure how easy it is to do. It wouldn't be via Skoda, and so it might cause warranty issues, I'm not sure.

[Teir]

Is there definitely no way to have both though? Seems odd.. 🤔

[GMC92]

heated steering wheel.

[Billywizzo]

On 22/08/2020 at 09:12, Teir said:

Is there definitely no way to have both though? Seems odd.. 🤔

Not acording to the dealer who said they calle Skoda uk to confirm

[Teir]

In that case, before making a decision I would talk to someone like https://www.instagram.com/vagretrofit about the possibility of coding in traffic jam assist and traffic sign recognition (someone else recommended them on this forum, I haven't used them). 

[Billywizzo]

16 minutes ago, Teir said:

In that case, before making a decision I would talk to someone like https://www.instagram.com/vagretrofit about the possibility of coding in traffic jam assist and traffic sign recognition (someone else recommended them on this forum, I haven't used them). 

Would think about it if it was a second hand car I was going for but not a brand new one.

[Teir]

Yep, totally fair.

[SimonAudi]

Some things can be done by a plug in dongle - look at Kufatec web site

 

 

 

[OldBoyScout]

On 22/08/2020 at 08:18, DaveMiller said:

Reversing camera - well worth it. 

 

Totally agree. My Octavia Scout came with one, and I never would have thought it would be so useful.

 

[Teir]

11 minutes ago, SimonAudi said:

Some things can be done by a plug in dongle - look at Kufatec web site

 

 

 

Absolutely, they have a dongle for traffic sign recognition for 130 euro that is definitely a good option. But for Traffic jam assist, their solution requires replacing the existing front assist radar with their own one, from which you would then need to have the component protection removed, and have it installed and recalibrated. Total cost would be 550 euro for the radar and coding dongle, plus (presuming you do the installation yourself) about £150ish to a garage for component protection removal, and £250 for calibration. I think this can be done for much cheaper, without replacing the radar. But as the OP says, probably best left until out of warranty.

[ZacDaMan72]

1 minute ago, Teir said:

Absolutely, they have a dongle for traffic sign recognition for 130 euro that is definitely a good option. But for Traffic jam assist, their solution requires replacing the existing front assist radar with their own one, from which you would then need to have the component protection removed, and have it installed and recalibrated. Total cost would be 550 euro for the radar and coding dongle, plus (presuming you do the installation yourself) about £150ish to a garage for component protection removal, and £250 for calibration. I think this can be done for much cheaper, without replacing the radar. But as the OP says, probably best left until out of warranty.

Have a read; https://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f24/traffic-jam-assist-activation-service-sydney-120895.html

[Billywizzo]

All ordered, thanks for the replies.
Just have to wait now till December for delivery.  Seems a long long way off but will hopefully be worth the wait, provided the world does not come to a stop again 😷🤞. 

 

Bill

[Cranester1983]

The VAG way of doing rear cameras does bug me a bit - the positioning of them makes them useless in rainy conditions unless you can run your finger over it first. 
 

it’s very odd that not more manufacturers do a recessed / hidden reversing camera like Mercedes Benz (had this on my old 15 plate C220d) do that just pops down when you go into reverse and retracts when you come out of it. Maybe they have that patented or something. 
 

I like the Skoda virtual cockpit on my Kodiaq. I have the BMW equivalent on my G20 330e M Sport - and it’s functionality is better on Skoda - display resolution is every bit as good too. Worth the money for me. 

[Billywizzo]

I have ordered the rear camera and virtual cockpit as some of the extras on the new car. Just have to wait until December for it now.

[ZacDaMan72]

5 hours ago, Cranester1983 said:

The VAG way of doing rear cameras does bug me a bit - the positioning of them makes them useless in rainy conditions unless you can run your finger over it first. 

You can push the wiper stalk away from you and it’ll wash the camera with a water jet. 

[ghellers]

I’m sure you can get traffic jam assist and blind spot detection together. 
 

They were together in the driver assistance package last year which appears to be travel assist this year. 
 

Also L&K models have blind spot detection as standard and you can separately add the assist package which includes traffic jam assist so it appears doable. 

[Billywizzo]

When you build your car and select travel assist it will not let you pick any of the options with blind spot. Maybe there is a way to get them together but I could not find it. 

[ZacDaMan72]

In the UK is there a driver assist package comes with emergency assist? I believe for MY21 cars the top end driver assist package should come with multi-lane emergency assist. Multi-lane emergency assist requires side assist (blind spot monitoring)