What options are a must on the Mk 3

[Pindadio]

Having written off my Mk2 octavia last week, I'm now in the zone to upgrade to a Superb Estate (or a Passat GT but finding one in my budget is looking less and less likely)

 

I've got a few prerequisites already - but has anyone got advice on what else is a must have?

 

So far I know I must have: 

Adaptive Cruise 

2 Litre Diesel 

under 80k miles

 

would likes are:

Lane assist

Heated seats

DSG

 

I'm basically just waiting around for the right car near me now, they seem to pop up and disappear relatively often

 

Can anyone tell me if lane assist is worth having? I'm under the impression the car will essentially drive itself in traffic with ACC and Lane assist on.

[unclerichy]

Mine has lane assist and adaptive cruise and I rarely ever use them as mine came with a steering wheel and pedals too so I can manually control direction and speed 

 

Joking apart I'm not sure what benefit there is to the former as if you need the car to correct your position then you're not concentrating enough to be driving. As for the latter I've not really found a happy medium between acceleration (too slow when traffic speeds up) and braking (slowing later than I would).

 

Still, if you do a lot of motorway driving you may find them of benefit.

 

If I were speccing a new one I'd definitely go for a rear view camera again as that's very handy for general manoeuvring as well as backing out of spaces in wide-angle view. 

[k.young]

Lane assist is very handy for when you are eating breakfast or checking social media on the long, boring motorway commutes!!!

 

 

 

All joking aside......he who has never veered out of their lane momentarily, cast the first stone.

[KenONeill]

1 hour ago, k.young said:

he who has never veered out of their lane momentarily, cast the first stone.

I have, and been alerted by the sound of tyres on rumble strip or cats eyes.

[GreenMachine1.6]

ACC with DSG, after having them on my latest car would never be without them.

[the_worrier]

Mine is an SEL Exec hatch. It has ACC, heated seats, lane assist, crazy xenon lighting but is a manual 190. Now i’ve had the creaky suspension sorted (for now), the broken rear air vent replaced and the dash vibration pretty much sorted (all under warranty) I love it. Just wish it was auto. Are only the latest auto’s 7 speed?

 

I commute 185 mikes to work on the M5/A38 each way, each week and I wouldn’t be without the ACC and lane assist. A god send. Seriously. 850 miles to a tank of diesel is good also. Tow’s my 1375kg caravan (MTPLM) nicely. Wish I had rear camera. It is a huge car but feels much smaller when driving. 

Edited 19 July, 2021 by the_worrier

[fraz8888]

for it would be as a minimum

auto / DSG

rear camera - however lots of cars don't have this, you can retrofit relatively reasonably, otherwise you'll struggle to find a car with this / whatever other spec you are looking for (colour/age/miles)

 

as for lane assist - i turn it off all the time, very annoying for country roads etc

[JR RS]

13 hours ago, Pindadio said:

Can anyone tell me if lane assist is worth having? I'm under the impression the car will essentially drive itself in traffic with ACC and Lane assist on.

 

for 12 secs at a time, before u have to touch/hold the steering wheel.

its a safety thing and cannot be overridden.

 

also, there r two types of Lane Assist. 

- Lane Assist: basic bouncy bouncy (left to right) version

- Active Lane Guidance: actively keeps u centered in the middle of the lanes

[bubib5]

Having a car with most of the options, i would say i mostly love it all, but, having TJA, FA,PLA,TAS,SLA,ALG,RVC,CTA, i would say that i am most gratefull for having ALG, and TJA, for my drives in the city, perfect, for motorways its a godsent, loving the PLA, as i cant park sideways even if my life depends on it. Loving the heated windscreen, most of all i love having the option to turn on AC over a remote, although its only venting, means a lot during summer, as i can turn it on half an hour before i get to the car, and instead of 45+degreees C, its about 30 degress C in the car.. Also a feature i would not go without is the adjustable boot floor, and electric memory seats, saves you fighting with the miss over driving positions..

[patrolman]

Dsg acc lane assist is the best thing ever ,being in traffic just set every thing and let it follow the vehicle in front 

[numskull]

Just driven 39 miles and used ACC for 90% of the trip, as I do on most non-urban drives. It’s fantastic, especially with DSG which is brilliant - won’t ever be going back to a manual. I have lane assist off most of the time except on long motorway trips when it’s useful, especially in contraflows. Heated seats are a must (have them on the MKI and had them on the MKII) and ventilated seats (especially in this weather) are a great luxury. I’d also add a heated windscreen on your list, because the gold coating also reduces heat on the dash/steering wheel/seats by 50%. 

[Penpusher]

4 minutes ago, numskull said:

Just driven 39 miles and used ACC for 90% of the trip, as I do on most non-urban drives. It’s fantastic, especially with DSG which is brilliant - won’t ever be going back to a manual. I have lane assist off most of the time except on long motorway trips when it’s useful, especially in contraflows. Heated seats are a must (have them on the MKI and had them on the MKII) and ventilated seats (especially in this weather) are a great luxury. I’d also add a heated windscreen on your list, because the gold coating also reduces heat on the dash/steering wheel/seats by 50%. 

I'd agree with most of this.  In pre-Covid days, we'd go off for at least one long continental trip every year by car every year (to Lithuania to visit SWMBO's family and friends) and ACC and TJA assist are great on sections of heavy traffic and make driving less tiring.  The only bit above I don't agree with is lane assist and I leave that on all the time.  When I first tried it, I didn't think I'd like it, but now I'm used to it I like the way it gently keeps me in the right place on any road where it can operate.

[AriGold]

Must have: Blind spot detection, ACC, Matrix LED (depends if you drive at night)

Nice to have: Everything else, I think you should consider what you had on previous car and which are must have´s.

Depends the weather : Heated seats, auxiliary heater, heated steering wheel and heated windscreen, on this order

 

About the rear view camera, you can live without it just with basic radars. Yes, it´s big car but when you learn the corners, it´s not that "big" anymore.

[Pindadio]

Anyone know how to tell if its got active lane guidance over just lane assist? 

 

basically vehicles with lane assist are either not listed correctly on the ad, or are very few and far between, since there's only about 1 car with it listed in my budget which is a 17 plate SE tech for ~11k.

[AriGold]

There are few ways, contact the seller if the know or they have the purchasing documents where is the car´s equipment list.

Or ask the vin-code from them and pay few euros (7€) to get the car´s full equipment list via https://erwin.skoda-auto.cz

 

I have the lane assist with following code:

83 6I6 VWGROUP SRH Lane Assist + Stau Assist + Emergency Assist

[JR RS]

2 hours ago, Pindadio said:

Anyone know how to tell if its got active lane guidance over just lane assist? 

 

It shows in the infotainment menu....

[Pindadio]

Looks like no skoda superbs on the market are listed with lane assist, which means either no skoda superbs on the market have them, or the dealers method of describing the spec is wrong - the one on autotrader that was listed as having it, did not turn out to have it when interrogating the infotainment. 

[SashaGrace]

If you have the A5 camera you can have lane assist coded in if it’s not fitted. All L&K models have it as standard.

 

[awahwah]

Mine has the camera but no Lane Assist. 2020 SportLine. 

[numskull]

Octavia? Looks like you need to update your jam in your profile!

[awahwah]

Probably .

[numskull]

4 minutes ago, awahwah said:

Probably .

I see you’ve got the Clearasil special promotion model…. 

• Location: Hampshire
• Model: FL Superb SpotLine 2.0 TSI 190
• Year: 2020

[awahwah]

1 hour ago, numskull said:

I see you’ve got the Clearasil special promotion model…. 

• Location: Hampshire
• Model: FL Superb SpotLine 2.0 TSI 190
• Year: 2020

Indeed I like spots. I mean…..arghhhh. It’s been a long day. 

[numskull]

[Gax]

Upgrades on mine were:

 

Heated windscreen. Untested as it is summer.

 

Heated washer nozzles. Untested as it is summer.

 

Rear wiper. Have used it a few times on rainy days, but I lived without one on MK4 Octavia for the five months I owned it, so it isn't a life-changer.

 

Rear view camera. Hmm....I look at it, but just as part of my routine of looking all around me all the time. It really isn't necessary in my opinion, if someone absolutely must have a rear camera then they should relinquish their driving licence.

 

I should point out the car was already specced when I ordered it, I wouldn't pay for gimmicks, which is frankly all any of these things are.

 

EXCEPT FOR HEATED SEATS!!!

 

I used them on the loan Superb I had in early spring and they are brill.