Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: BazaJT on 06 December 2014, 17:20:09

Title: Two buttons
Post by: BazaJT on 06 December 2014, 17:20:09
Visited a local bodyshop today and they had a Skoda Superb in for repair,so I had a quick shufty round it.Not a bad looking thing I suppose,well not until you get aft of the rear doors,where for my money they appear to have lost the plot.Anyway my automotive tastes aside they'd got the boot open and on the lower edge there are two release buttons.Being intrigued/interested/downright nosy,I asked why the two?and they showed me.Shut the boot press one button and boot opens,shut boot press other button and the whole back opens up!So it's an ordinary booted saloon or a hatchback.Was this really a necessary design requirement?How much extra did it put on the price?Do any other cars use this system-particularly I suppose VAG cars?
Title: Re: Two buttons
Post by: 05omegav6 on 06 December 2014, 17:37:47
It's unique and shit. The extra structure needed to make it work kills boot space... not helped by the fact that that, thanks to VAGs "Can't be arsed to be creative" approach to platform sharing makes it quite a narrow car for its size.

Did you notice how far under the car the sill seams are? Thats because its mereley a lengthened Golf chassis

Not the best video, but the pole test illustrates the point nicely  :-X
Title: Re: Two buttons
Post by: BazaJT on 06 December 2014, 20:48:17
It just struck me as an overly complicated and unnecessary design touch,and of course when it all goes pete tong there will no doubt be huge expense to put it right.
Title: Re: Two buttons
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 06 December 2014, 21:52:57
I think it's the whole 'USP' thing... Unique Selling Point.

Why buy Car A over Car B? Everyone's trying to make their product stand out in a crowded market, faced with safety, emissions, save the planet ideology, etc... anything to make your product snatch sales. I like it as an idea, but as with almost everything now, the implementation is heavy, costly, clumsy. There's no simple finesse in engineering. Not the fault of engineers, but of the safety, emissions, save the planet ideology mentioned. I'm thinking the electric doors on the 1007, boot chute on the Modus, 50s style 'wraparound/panoramic' screen on the C3 Picasso (which is a lie, it isn't, theyve got effectively four A-Pillars, and just painted 2 of them black  :D) etc..