Welcome Rosie!

12 hours ago, Novichok said:

Welcome Rosie!

Somewhere from the back of the dealer compound there was a sound, something like "thank you @Novichok "

2 hours ago, Arianne said:

Somewhere from the back of the dealer compound there was a sound, something like "thank you @Novichok "

She's in the family now. I'm pleased your initial impressions were positive. She's a lovely looking steed and I'm optimistic you will not miss the Velar. Since I've had mine I've noticed some improvements via the over air updates. Travel Assist is a lot more natural in its driving style now whereas before it was a little binary with the brake and accelerator. Also the rear camera resolution seems to have sharpened a little, along with a higher resolution Car graphic on the overlay. Also steering assist can now differentiate between curbs and soft verges and this is shown on the display. 13 5k miles in now and no issues, rattles or anything. Fast motorway seems to be it's forte especially fully laden with people. Even in its softest damper setting its so stable and settled. Not long now ...!

That's very reassuring, so that's a 'thank you' from me and the wife then!

We're really looking forward to the collection. From the paperwork in the glove compartment, we saw that Rosie was born at 6:20pm (CET) on 28 January 2026. The Certificate of Conformity also confirmed that she is compatible with the 17" Cystal, light alloy metallic rims and snowchains. Result!

After our PDI inspection we grabbed a coffee from the machine, lingered in the seating area and absorbed the atmosphere and culture within the dealership. I was an HR & Organisation Development guy before retiring and you can learn a lot from soaking up the vibe within a workplace as an observer. It was calm, friendly and folk seemed to be going about their business with a sense of purpose. No 'airheads', no pointless 'host or hostess' welcome service. Decent, real-world people going about their jobs with a sense of purpose.

The coffee wasn't so good but, to be fair, when my Service Advisor at our local Land Rover dealer invited me to take a seat and help myself to a coffee in their showroom during my last visit......the coffee machine had broken down! Says it all really 😅.

Honestly, our lad had an Audi TT and that was not dissimilar to the Land Rover showroom experience. All glass, marble and palacial showrooms that are quite overwhelming. One morning, while checking in the TT for my son, before heading into Edinburgh City centre, the lady explained in a long-winded script that the technicians undertake a free, complimentary health check which covers over 200 items - including even the bolts that hold the rear numberplate on. On an Audi TT, the rear numberplate is glued on with double sided adhesive. I just nodded helpfully as I needed to get to work on the tram! At the LR dealership, my Service Advisor told me that the technician had replaced the OSF. She didn't know what an OSF was but said it had been replaced as part of the service. I nodded and surrendered by Barclaycard 😥. I already knew the track rod end had been replaced.

Anyway, I am turning the page and moving on to the next chapter - whatever that may bring.

Best wishes.

Edited 8 March8 Mar by Arianne
typos

Yes, my experience with BMW and Audi dealers is moving money from your account to their's. Skoda seems more in line with the brand values.

I really like the look of your pan roof. Makes the rear look even more spacious! Thanks for sharing.

Sadly folks, collection has been delayed 😥.

The dealership warned me at the weekend that they were struggling with a software update for the driver assistance suite. They had hoped that they would resolve it today but sadly, it was not to be. The dealer has now logged a request for assistance from the Skoda factory team.

It's somewhat unnerving but we are trying to be patient and collaborate with our dealer since this is usually the best approach. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions then please feel free to post.

Best wishes.

PS. The only part of Rosie, our new Superb, that we do actually possess is this newly acquired 256GB USB-C stick which arrived on Saturday from Amazon! Now we just need the car into which we can plug it in 😅

Edited 16 March16 Mar by Arianne

Well, that USB stick shown above looks like it'll be the only part of our new Skoda Superb that we will own for another five months!

We met with the Sales Manager at the dealership this afternoon for what was probably one of the best discussions one can have in these circumstances, ironically. In fairness to the dealership, they were profusely apologetic for the fact that the car has arrived with an ADAS issue, that the software update isn't working and that they have not been able to achieve a resolution yet. After discussion it was agreed that we will unwind this order and start again with an identical order in every way for a 1 September 2026 collection. We didn't want to accept a car which, elegant as she is, was faulty even before we collected her.

It may be that, once the software is updated, everything will be just fine but I would feel like a complete twot if I accepted this particular car and then she displayed ADAS related faults repeatedly thereafter - issues with the global communication gateway module, the integrity of the AGM battery after a severe discharge or an underlying sensor / hardware / wiring / microprocessor issue. We are about to return to Italy for six weeks and so, if I accepted the car now (assuming a miraculous fix) I would have just a few days of my 30 day rejection window to fully test her prior to our departure. If I accept her on our return from Italy in May, I do get the full 30 days but I have still got the anxiety and that is not what a new car purchase should normally entail. It would take six months of seamless reliability for me to disassociate this problem with the car while Mrs A told me yesterday that it would take a whopping five years (crikey, I better never let her down then!). This followed the dreaded chat with the neighbour when she told Mrs A, "you wouldn't accept the car now, would you?". And that was that!

We have another car, our SLC200. We use that as our daily drive and for our Italian jaunts with the exception of our Winter skiing trip. So, if there is an upside, I get to keep my £47k for another five months which will generate around £150 interest per month, we get a car that will be six months younger, hopefully no faults, no anxiety, a rerun of a proper 'new car' buyer's journey and a strengthened relationship with the dealership for the long-term (they're a smaller, family and privately owned franchise as I wanted to avoid the big car dealership groups like Arnold Clark or Lloyd Group).

Our son says we are mad ordering an identical replacement. But I disagree. The only alternatives are the MB E-Class (£85k), BMW 5 Series (£85k), both with huge complexity and associated high maintenance costs, the Audi A6 Avant £60k+) with its smaller interior, faux quality and higher maintenance too or the Subaru Outback (back to 2010 anyone?). I can see the thread on this forum about the buggy ADAS software from the 2024 launch cars + 12mths, but this seems to have been sorted and that thread has now become much quieter since 2026 began. The ADAS software is clearly still fragile but I think it reads as fairly stable now? So I am hoping that our L&K Superb, or as Chat GPT / Gemini calls them "a computer on wheels", should be okay at the second attempt.

Sad, but true! Patience is a wonderful thing.

Bye, bye Rosie!

Best wishes to everyone and thank you for your advice and opinions so far.

I really feel for you. At my ( ever advancing ) age, I still look forward to a new car the way I used to look forward to Christmas as a kid. It must be seriously disappointing, but I have to say it sounds like your dealer has behaved very well under the circumstances.

But……… you must forgive me , there’s a part of me can’t help feeling that you may be partly responsible. The anthropological projection you threw at your car could have contributed to the issue. She this, she that .. Rosie ?

Had your new Skoda Superb been, like mine, a mere machine, it could probably have been fixed by a mechanic/software engineer. But you had to assign a sex to it, and name it ( her? ) and what happened ? She ( 😳 ) got a headache. And as anyone that has been around the block more than once can tell you……. When they get a headache, paracetamol won’t cut it, there’s nothing to be done other than to send it back and try another one.

I agree with your assessment of the alternatives, I went through the same process and couldn’t find anything within £15k either.

The minor glitch I am experiencing with the remote park assist function on the app , really does feel minor when I read of your experience. I can only wish you a faultless delivery second time around 🤞. Please keep us posted.

@Busa-Boy Thanks, that was funny. Honestly, we have come to accept that this is the world of buying cars. We rejected our Jaguar F-Pace V6 3.0d (Heidi) after two weeks due to a design fault for which Jaguar had no fix or diagnosis of the fault at the time. We have experienced smaller, but very annoying, issues with other new cars we have owned down through the years. The dealership makes a huge difference when things go wrong.

My aunt in Germany had a goat when I was a child. On my first visit, being just a small child, I was touched by the affection which her goat displayed. I didn't then realise that goats will follow anyone who gives them food. The following year I visited my aunt again and I asked her where the goat was. Oddly, the goat was also called Rosie. My aunt told me to accompany her and she led me to the chest freezer in the cellar. She opened the lid and introduced me to Rosie, albeit in pieces! Putting aside something slightly strange with German and Austrian culture, especially regarding cellars......they always say that you should never give names to animals that are not being kept as pets etc.

I think maybe the same applies to cars, especially naming them before collection. You get emotionally attached. To be honest, this is true of virtually every car we have owned since we view them as more than just mechanical, but as part of our family and an asset to our experiences, especially on long journeys and holidays. In bad weather and snow, they can protect you and the family. The key is knowing when to decouple. There is a point when the emotion needs to be supplanted by logic, rationale and accounting. Usually that happens after a few years of ownership when they begin to show signs of age and unreliability. In this case, Rosie's case, we needed to make that decision even before the collection date!

Will we name our next car? Yes, and we have five months to find a new name. Life is for living and I am smiling as I finish typing this post. Providing we don't get hit with supply-chain bottlenecks triggered by any prolonged conflict in the Middle East, or we suffer a second dodgy delivery off the transporter, it should work out okay.

I will keep this thread alive through to the eventual outcome. Sorry that the remote parking and audio settings tests are also delayed by five months 😅.

Best wishes.

Edited 20 March20 Mar by Arianne

Hi Arianne. I'd love an update on how you are finding Superb living!

On 23/04/2025 at 23:20, Arianne said:

Dear Superb owners. We are actively considering a car change this year. We have owned our Velar from new and we configured her to our personal needs and wants, as we will with the Superb (albeit the options are somewhat less confusing). She now is approaching eight years old with 80k miles on the clock.

I’m seriously considering a brand new L&K Superb. Having previously owned an XC90 (2006), then an XC60 (2014) before buying the Velar (2017), I’ve decided that I have grown tired of the SUV thing. The XC90 was great on the motorway but a complete pain on faster country roads. Straight ahead was fine but cornering required active thinking. The XC60 was better at cornering but only by suffering unforgiving suspension in R-design form. Concrete motorways and cats eyes were its worst enemies. The Velar has air suspension and configurable dynamics which is a huge improvement and delivers a very good ride. But it’s a technically complex setup which is prone to failure (many components and electronic sensors). It’s expensive when it goes wrong (we have the Land Rover extended warranty which is a necessity but reliability is becoming the concern now). Anyhow, I’ve decided that riding high isn’t so much fun anymore and, since our other car is a Mercedes SLC200, we know what being at normal height means. Plus, every man and his dog seems to have the indentikit SUV now. It’s time to move on and my quest for an SUV that rides well with good handling has only be achieved by expensive, complex and fragile technology on the Velar. My budget cannot commit to more of the same, even if I wanted to - which I don’t.

The Superb has more legroom and luggage space than our Velar and I am not looking for sports car dynamics, just something that handles in a decent and predictable manner with a comfortable ride.

Here’s my first question then. Do I order the petrol or diesel engine? It must be the 4x4 version because we live in Scotland and travel to the Alps every winter skiing. I’ve tried FWD with winter tyres and it’s just a faff - shovel, wheel chains, frozen fingers etc. With 4x4 it has never been necessary to mount the chains or dig the car out (the XC90 had the Haldex system that I think Skoda uses, unlike the more comprehensive Land Rover system. The XC60 was FWD only and was hopeless on steep inclines even with fresh winter tyres).

I’ve had diesels now for years and the V6 in the Velar is one of the best. But, as each year passes, environmental regulations have made the diesel units so much more complicated. And with this has come more issues with glow plug control units, sticky EGR flaps, dosing issues with AdBlu etc. Petrol is technically so much simpler. In an SUV petrol is hopeless because what you want is torque. Petrol economy on the Velar is eye watering such that it’s prohibitive really. I’ve tried petrol the Discovery Sport as a courtesy car and it’s not a good fit.

But with a Superb it may be different? The petrol unit has plenty of oomph on paper but what is it like in real life? The economy, the mid-range (50-70mph) acceleration etc? It’s tempting. The diesel in the Superb is a tried and tested four cylinder lump, not a V6. I’m guessing the petrol would be quieter and have a more pleasing sound around town, especially while warming up?

We do about 12k per annum. We have the two big holiday trips (Summer and Winter) each year across Europe to Italy and Austria (about 3,000 miles return each trip). We need it to carry luggage (a lot of it), be a pan-euro motorway cruiser, have the winter snow traction, deliver long-journey comfort so we’re not crippled when we stop at the German services and have a decent sound system (I love my music which we own as lossless FLAC format tracks). For the rest of the year the car does shorter trips to the shops, the swimming pool - typically between 10mins and 30mins duration.

I get between 32mpg and 40mpg from our Velar 3.0 V6 diesel right now. These are averages, the latter being across the long holiday pan-euro trips. The petrol Superb wouldn’t be any worse than that would it? I’m tempted by the Superb diesel because of the upper-40s mpg claimed consumption but I’m worried about feeling like I’m back in an old VW Passat diesel from yesteryear (a Royal Bank of Scotland pool company car that I truly hated) and the reliability of all those diesel add-on things necessary for Planet Earth and our lungs - we would plan to keep the Superb until she was seven years old (which is why we configure our cars to our individual preferences rather than just buying stock vehicles).

I have some other question but can we start with the power unit, the engine first? It’s a big investment so I want to get this right. Obviously, I will test drive them, although the petrol 4x4 versions are not exactly common as demonstrators at dealers.

If it helps, I’m 59 and have been retired for four years (it’s been great). I enjoy driving but have the SLC200 for the fun stuff. I want the Superb to be the comfortable armchair cruiser but one that doesn’t need me to think too carefully when I turn off the A1 at Newcastle and spend a couple of hours heading over the hills of Carter Bar to the Central Scottish Borders where we live.

Thank you in advance. I’ve always tried to be helpful on all of my previous forums so I know how valuable the voice of the Superb community can be here too.

Best wishes, David.

She??

^^^ All my vehicles are female.

2 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

^^^ All my vehicles are female.

All my cars, the motorcycle and even the boat are …. It !

They are machines.

Bereft of life, they have ceased to exist, they are stiffs ! They are dead parrots !

Ah, sorry, wrong sketch. 😂

It's all very well giving them female names, but when they break, the swear words tend to be worse.

9 hours ago, Novichok said:

Hi Arianne. I'd love an update on how you are finding Superb living!

Still basking in the 'anticipation' of eventually having one of my own 😅

The car we ordered arrived at the dealership in late-February and we were scheduled to collect her (yes, a she) in early-March. There was a software issue with the ADAS and the dealer hoped to correct it by taking a download before collection. But the download failed and the dealer needed to seek remote support from the factory. The collection date was deferred and, once Mrs A had spoken to next door's wife over the hedge in the front garden, she informed me that she didn't want to accept the car because it was faulty. That's the power of a brief chat with the neighbour!

So we met with the Sales Manager and explained that we wanted the Superb 265PS TSI L&K Estate, just not that particular unit. The Sales Manager was apologetic and, because we have been in Italy for a few months, we agreed that the next car would be scheduled for 1 September delivery. Identical specification and they are honouring the original price which we negotiated with them (we had previously shown them the Drive the Deal & Carwow offers and they chose to almost match them - and being a local dealership it had value for us to not chase the rock bottom offer by a couple of hundred quid).

Whether this was a good thing or not, I don't really know. We didn't really need the new car through the summer but she is crucial for the winter period due to our skiing in the Austrian Tyrol etc. Our RR Velar has been sold privately back in February, thank goodness!

We are both very much looking forward to eventually owning a Superb, it's just proved rather tricky to get hold of the one we want!

I promise to let you and the forum know how it goes when we do become the owners of the new car.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying life in our Mercedes SLC200 cabriolet hard-top roadster grand tourer.

Best wishes.

Ah, that's rotten luck. I really think it's luck of the draw. Some people seem to have had cars that haven't worked as expected. Maybe rejecting the car was a good thing in the end.

Hopefully September's car will be good as gold for you both. I'm 18,000 miles in now with the 1st service scheduled in a few weeks. She's not skipped a beat since day 1. What I have noticed are the rear camera resolution has improved slightly, mainly sharpening. The lane detect can now differentiate between a curb edge and a soft verge, and the travel assist (autonomous driving) is now much more polished and drives more like a person would than a machine. I've been very happy and after nearly a year of ownership am looking forward to another year of brilliant motoring. I look forward to her arrival with you!

@Novichok Thanks for your post. It's actually reassuring. I am hoping the next one will be okay. I am not expecting perfection and Mrs A and I have discussed the fact that we will need to learn some of the characteristics of the new car upon arrival. I was an HR&OD guy prior to hanging up my boots, learning & development falling within the remit of my team. So I understand that excitement and novelty is often followed by frustration as our brains try to absorb what's new into our unconscious routines and driving habits.

I'm glad that you have enjoyed your car. Long may that continue. I'll be back in touch when I have some news of sufficient interest for forum members. Meanwhile, since I don't.....I will revert to radio silence!

Best wishes.