I’ve had a mental blank! Can anyone please tell me, in the most basic way, how to make a destination a ‘favourite’ using the Columbus nav system in a 2020 Octavia Mk4.

Many thanks

Once you have the location set in the map, tap on it and you should get the destination details (may have to drag the details screen using the 'handle' on the right side of the screen). Then tap the star.

Thanks SteveTheElder.

I thought that that was exactly what I was doing but when the instruction to ‘Save’ was displayed there didn’t appear to be any way to actually do the saving!

I’ve got the same info too, that you kindly reproduced, in my manual but when I followed the instructions, ‘Save’ just didn’t work.

I’m sure it’s me and not the nav system that’s at fault. I’ll have another go and see what happens.

I think it might be something to do with inputting a desired destination in ‘search’. Once that’s been done successfully I think I have to activate the destination using ‘start’ before I can ‘save’. Anyway, thanks for your help and advice.

Chubbs

Forgot to add, I just don’t find the manual very intuitive. It’s written, to me at least, in a rather strange way making some information puzzling rather than illuminating.

By way of an example, the instructions for how to close the bonnet correctly are particularly bizarre! What ‘flaps’!?

6 hours ago, ChubbsH said:

Thanks SteveTheElder.

I thought that that was exactly what I was doing but when the instruction to ‘Save’ was displayed there didn’t appear to be any way to actually do the saving!

I’ve got the same info too, that you kindly reproduced, in my manual but when I followed the instructions, ‘Save’ just didn’t work.

I’m sure it’s me and not the nav system that’s at fault. I’ll have another go and see what happens.

I think it might be something to do with inputting a desired destination in ‘search’. Once that’s been done successfully I think I have to activate the destination using ‘start’ before I can ‘save’. Anyway, thanks for your help and advice.

Chubbs

I’ll have a look in mine too. I have done it successfully a little while back but not had need since.

A short road trip next month is an opportunity for me to try again…

On 21/02/2026 at 07:01, ChubbsH said:

Save’ just didn’t work.

Just had a fiddle…

At the ‘Save’ prompt, type in a name for your favourite.

1 hour ago, SteveTheElder said:

I’ll have a look in mine too. I have done it successfully a little while back but not had need since.

A short road trip next month is an opportunity for me to try again…

Just had a fiddle…

At the ‘Save’ prompt, type in a name for your favourite.

Can’t see the logic in having to input a separate name to ‘save’ for a new destination, which I want to use in future as a ‘favourite’, if the name or location has already been input and accepted through ‘search’.

Surely ‘save’ already knows the name of the destination I wish to retain as a ‘favourite’.

I think I’ll just do some more fiddling with the nav system and hope I’ll hit on the correct prod sequence, but thanks for your help and advice ‘SteveTheElder’.

Certainly not a case of ‘If all else fails, read the instructions’. I really do find them near useless.

I agree, the manual needs a review by people who don’t know the system so it’s more of a ‘user guide’ than a reference manual.

Naming a Favourite I find quite handy. A location called ‘Uncle Bob’ is more meaningful than 10 Acacia Avenue, for example. But agree, POIs that are already named don’t need it.

Bingo! I get it now! I spent a great deal of time prodding the on-screen ‘buttons’ to try to make a selected destination a ‘favourite’, but all to no avail.

Then I realised, from one of SteveTheElder’s earlier posts, that when you get to ‘Save’ there is a flashing cursor at the beginning of the already entered address. What you have to do then is totally and utterly counterintuitive! The cursor wants you to start overwriting the address you’ve already selected by either re-entering the address all over again, or, preferably, by renaming the address, eg ‘Bob’s place’,. When you’ve done this, then ‘Ok’ will light up. Press ‘Ok’ and your destination will be in ‘Favourites’.

In the case of entering, say, ‘Bob’s place’, Bob’s actual address will appear on the line below ‘Bob’s place’ in the listings. I imagine if you didn’t do this but entered the whole address all over again (when the cursor was flashing), you’d get the re-entered address showing above the original identical address when you look at the ‘Favourites’ listings.

Why on earth Skoda decided to ridiculously overcomplicate something which should be as intuitive and simple as possible is beyond me.

Next thing. Is it possible to re-orientate the map display so that it is always ‘north up’?

17 hours ago, ChubbsH said:

Is it possible to re-orientate the map display so that it is always ‘north up’?

Yes.

Open the map to full screen, then tap the North symbol in the top left corner.

First tap will give a perspective type display; second tap is a vertical view with North to the top; third tap back to original direction of travel at the top. Tapping cycles through those three views.

Sadly, these view changes don’t apply to the map view in the virtual cockpit (in my car at least (I’m aware later versions have additional capabilities in the virtual cockpit)).

20 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

Yes.

Open the map to full screen, then tap the North symbol in the top left corner.

First tap will give a perspective type display; second tap is a vertical view with North to the top; third tap back to original direction of travel at the top. Tapping cycles through those three views.

Sadly, these view changes don’t apply to the map view in the virtual cockpit (in my car at least (I’m aware later versions have additional capabilities in the virtual cockpit)).

Just now, ChubbsH said:

  20 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

Yes.

20 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

Yes.

Open the map to full screen, then tap the North symbol in the top left corner.

First tap will give a perspective type display; second tap is a vertical view with North to the top; third tap back to original direction of travel at the top. Tapping cycles through those three views.

Thanks SteveTheElder,

I haven’t used the car in the last couple of days, but I’ll try out what you said and see what happens when I prod the North symbol.

Very often, with the Octavia mk4’s infotainment system, I find that what, at first glance, appears intuitive to operate, often needs an extra non intuitive step to be carried out before the required result is achieved.

I really do think that the truly awful reliability of the Octavia Mk4’s infotainment system, ever present since the car’s first introduction in 2020, must have hit sales really badly. I live quite close to a Skoda main dealer yet see very few Mk4s in the area, or indeed anywhere else.

Skoda never quite seem to keep on top of the problem either. ‘Solutions’ to software issues seem permanently ongoing yet never result in a fully stable system.

I love the car to drive but doubt I would ever chance buying anything else from the VAG group until reviews like Briskoda show the cars to be much more reliable .

I know what you mean about the infotainment system; I got mine in March ‘21 when it was 6 months old; an early-ish build 2020 SE L First Edition. Took about 18 months for the infotainment system to stabilise. Like you, I love the car and will keep it for a while yet.

Looking at the current Škoda range I think there is more shared components and systems across all the cars so probably simplified their software development and support cycles. The Octavia mk4 was relatively early in their adoption of such systems and we early adopters paid the price. Having said that, Škoda/VAG are not the only brand(s) to suffer issues of this kind. I have friends with Mazda, Range Rover, Tesla, Polestar, Hyundai, BMW, … all of which have given grief too.

I think might have said before somewhere on Briskoda, a while back when buying a car we fussed about handling, ride, 0-60 times; now it’s the usability of the infotainment system!

Got mine in Dec.21. just a year old. Bought it from Cazoo. The car was indistinguishable from new, but the infotainment system never worked properly from the day I got it. To be fair Cazoo did everything they could to fix it via a main dealer but always with only limited success. The car was totally unreliable exhibiting all the faults so often mentioned in these forums. We had holidays spoilt, paid money to Skoda garages to update software, only for the car to fail again and again. I got Skoda UK involved twice in trying to provide a fix but, ultimately, the owner of my local Skoda franchise, stepped in after the infotainment system went berserk on their forecourt.

The infotainment screen was changed last May under warranty, and after three and a half years, at last, I have a 99% reliable car (‘front assist unavailable’ still comes and goes at random times in random weather! Nobody knows why.).

I appreciate that the new, ever expanding and intrusive computerisation of cars mostly brought on by safety considerations, is applicable to many marques, but some manufacturers seem to deal with it much better than others; and you’re so right about falling foul of newly introduced car software.

I assumed that because of the rave reviews by owners of all previous marks of Octavia that the mk4 would be just as reliable. I never realised I was a shakedown guinea pig for an entirely new type of VAG computer system.

Should have done some homework, but I just fell in love with the style of the new mk4 and jumped at the chance to get one when they were so hard to come by. Nearly a year’s waiting time was quoted when I made enquiries at my Skoda dealers in early autumn 2021.

Now the car is reliable, I’ll keep it for a few years, but when the time comes to change it I’ll do a lot more research before I buy. Might even lease for the first time in my life!