Matt Pez

My old 150CR O3 was so unrefined and especially harsh on the suspension, I traded it as soon as it was out of negative equity, my current car is sooo much more refined and having now covered more miles than the O3 it still as solid as the day I took delivery! I must say though that my father-in-laws Superb 3 150TSI is also very refined, night and day compared to my O3, so would agree the Skoda engineers managed to raid more from the Passat parts bin than they were allowed to take from the Golf parts bin!

I had the same, Mk1 and Mk2 Octy, Mk2 Superb then Mk3 Octy, then I bought a proper car, spent new Octy money on a decent spec 5 Series with 33k on the clock at 21 months old, it's now done 85k, almost 4 yrs old and I can honestly say it's solid as a rock, very well engineered, especially the suspension which was my main bug bear with the Mk3

My Father-in-law used Coast2Coast about 18 months ago for a new Superb, not much by way of updates during the order/build period but it came on time and was delivered to his front door on a transporter.

Try coast2coastcars.co.uk. They are offering 19% off a 1.5TSI SEL Manual with metallic paint.

As mentioned earlier in this thread by TMWNA, Elegance spec with its Torture Beam rear end was enough for me to part with Skoda after 73k in a 2013 Mk3, 88k in a 2009 Superb, 44k in a 2009 Mk2 Octy and 44k in a 2001 Mk1 Octy 4x4, so I have plenty of Skoda experience. SWMBO changed to 2013 Leon FR with the proper rear suspension before I sold the Mk3 but it was still too harsh to keep me with the brand. My 2014 5 Series has M Sport springs, 19" alloys and run flats and the ride is sublime compared to the O3. I know it was £20k more when new than the O3 but I only paid £2k more than for the O3 so for me a used BMW, less than 2yr old, for half original list price makes more sense than a new Skoda and I will do the same next time. I've also been in 3 Series and the ride is much more harsh than the 5 series, so I'm only comparing with the 5 series.

Clay bar with glass cleaner to lubricate

I hate to say this, but I also switched from Dunlop Sport Maxx GT, they were also very hard wearing, to Goodyear F1AS2s and it made next to no difference on the suspension issues. The best improvement was the Eibach Pro Kit springs, approx £200 plus fitting, you could run these with original dampers first, it lowers the car by approx 30mm, I also fitted Bilstein B4 dampers all round, they are an OEM equivalent but a B6 or B8 may be better but they are not cheap. Speak to Demon Tweeks for part nos, etc, they were very helpful. IMO, my set up improved the ride quality to bearable, but when I sold it with 70k on the clock it was pretty much back to clunking and banging it's way over any road imperfection, I just think the whole chassis is not that great. I had a mate with a Golf 7 GTD, he came from a Golf 6 GT and hated every mile he drove it for the same reasons I did the O3!

I had a 2013 O3 2.0TDI Elegance, effectively same car as yours. I too was disappointed with ride quality, the rear torsion beam is an issue, but the clunking and banging from front also drove me nuts! I did try to improve it with Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers, which did help and the lower springs improved the stance. In the end, I traded it in for a 520d and that has 19" rims with M Sport suspension, the ride is sublime by comparison to the O3. I have come to the conclusion the MQB suspension is not very well engineered, SWMBO has a Leon FR but with independent rears, it's better than the O3 but the BMW is light-years ahead in engineering terms.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=tablet-android-pega&biw=960&bih=600&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=j-AfWfPEM4ffgAamxrrYAQ&q=read+the+bloody+manual+cartoons&oq=read+the+bloody+manual+cartoons&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.12...28913.37782.0.38745.36.24.0.0.0.0.136.2477.12j12.24.0....0...1.1j4.64.mobile-gws-img..24.4.458...30i10k1.dwYd6T9hL54#tbm=isch&q=rtfm+cartoons&imgdii=YRjErYnsw-fuvM:&imgrc=3JQb-2TWkH8yxM:

http://www.skoda.co.uk/news/skoda-octavia-vrs-the-most-powerful-octavia-of-all-time/Para 8 states the FL vRS will be available with 4x4, if you can live with the looks!!

We have a Seat Leon 1.8TSI 180PS which had the exact same symptoms, very similar engine to your 2.0TSI 220PS and the problem was the electronic thermostat had failed hence the fans defaulted to always on to protect the engine from overheating.

Got the M Sport Plus on my 5 Series. When you turn up the graphic equaliser with a bit of Metallica S&M playing on the HK, it sounds awesome!

Not half as ridiculous as having a topless picture of a random bloke as your profile pic! Just for the record, its not made up nonsense, it was a fact, those tyres were truly hard as nails and were replaced at the stated mileage well before the legal limit!

All cars built after 22 May 2016 are MY17.

Another one here, left the brand back in Apr after having at least one but usually two Skoda's on the drive for the last 14 years! Now got a BMW and a Seat.