Leaderboard

I'm 6'4" and a bit under 17st. I drive with my seat right back and the steering wheel as close to me as possible. When I test drove my Octavia, I struggled to get out of the car a little, and I put that down to me being careful not to damage someone else's car. But it really is a bit of a struggle for me to get out of the car. I'm not some old crock who struggles to get out of a chair, I'm just big. Am I the only Octavia driver to be experiencing this? I'm starting to feel like Tyrone here.

The 245 'Edition', originally launched in Summer 2017 and found on 17,67 and some 18 plates got a bunch of extras as standard. If this attachment works, this is the spec list from a Feb 2018 catalogue showing what it got above a regular vRS. After this, the 245 engine became the standard petrol offering and the 245 Challenge was introduced as the range topper, which had broadly the same extras along with DCC and Kessy.

I couldn't fit a whole Wookie into my M4, but I could in a Z4, I'd just have to drive around with the roof down all the time. Although I imagine that if it rained a Wookie would smell like a weapons grade wet dog and would take days to dry out.

This one was a OEM Highline one with washer and these are £399 fitted.

Bit cheeky and off topic what would the reverse camera cost if you don’t mind me asking ?

Welcome to Briskoda Rob and good luck with the treatment. Sure you will enjoy the Superb as I have owned the 140PS front wheel drive Mk2 in 2009, 2012 and 2014 facelift versions and since buying 2 Mk3 Superbs I rate them so highly. Wealth of knowledge on here and don't be afraid to ask even if it seems like a simple or silly question to you.

I’d pop the wheel off and measure the disc before buying, looking at the disc drilling and you saying they look very much like that picture I’d say they’re 312mm and not standard.

To be clear, all UK spec Superb’s can be fitted with rear cameras. All of them. Don’t listen to Skoda dealers, they know nothing. Owner of this car had 2 dealers say it couldn’t be done for different reasons and I heard the same story last week too. Both cars fitted with Highline camera and washer...

Yeah no what you mean high spec 272 Sportline Plus hatch are usually over £40,000 new so incur the extra VED for the first 5-6 years hence I bought a basic one last year that was originally £39,000 but lost £15,000 in just 9 months before I bought it making it a bargain for me and guaranteeing slow depreciation for a few years at least.

Castrol Magnatec 5W-40 complies with the VW 502 00 standard, thus being the right oil for annual change.

They did indeed. Quite rare though.

You should be able to get new barrel from Skoda dealer as it needs to be specially ordered to match your key. Did you manage to turn the key to specific notch as you should be able insert a thick paper clip in the hole and it should pop out. I found you need a heavy duty paper clip to provide enough pressure for the barrel to pop out as a normal paper clip is too flimsy.

Posting multiple quotes to distract from a simple fact is rather pointless. Regardless of mileage, men are more accident 'prone' (to put it nicely). Nobody in their right mind would want to pay more money for a thing than they have to if it was based on something as clear as the figures that the insurance companies use. Yes there are mitigating factors that men do more mileage, but that does not alter the simple fact, they also provide more of the accidents. Feminism is not about being anti-male, it's about equality, nothing to do with the grass is greener. Trying to get equality in something as simple as 'pay' is still something of a struggle and no, I don't expect many women would be able to compete with men where size and strength is important for a job, that's just the way the genetic cookie crumbles. Interestingly and back OT, when I go to change a car, it is fairly apparent that the opening salvo of the salesman is usually one of very slight sexism. By that I mean, the salesman may talk to me in a slightly patronising manner as if I don't understand the technical side of the car I am interested in and probably will need help to grasp the complexities of the financial packages available (I do know the difference between this patronising and simple trying to explain things about the car in question). A good salesperson should listen to the needs and requirements of the customer first and be able to ascertain many things along the way, eg seriousness of the buyer, how well do they know their product and are they aware of competitors pricing etc. If I go with a man to buy a car, the salesman usually talks to the man by my side first and it's not until I engage him directly with the fact the car is for me and it is entirely my choice, do I get his full undivided attention. Weirdly, this happens much less if I am buying more of a petrol heads type of car, ie my M4 or my previous M135 than when I bought my Golf or Octy. Perhaps it is to do with the price of the vehicle, but it is something I've found to be rather consistent over the years. I bought a C350 about 8 years ago and the salesman took me very seriously from the moment he greeted me, it felt great. Buying a reasonably expensive car as a single female, is not something that you see too often in the car trade and having sold cars, I really can't remember many single women coming into buy more costly and specialist cars, at least on their own. If she is uncertain in any way it is a good idea to bring help obviously and that does usually mean it's a man that will come with her which is understandable. I am fairly confident after a few hours haggling with me, the salesman in question would have no doubt that I should be taken as a serious car buyer who probably knows more than a little about the product I'm interested in, to say nothing of the working of the i.c.e. It just would be nice if we started off on the same footing that my many 'petrol head' male friends take for granted On a plus side for salesmen. I find I can get a better deal with them than with saleswoman on average, that's something I haven't quite figure out yet and may be in part because the salesman realises I should have been taken more seriously to start with and over compensates? I don't know if men find they get better deals with saleswoman?? Everybody got a good deal with me (not a euphemism) as I was 'lovely' to buy a car from....honest

I have checked and my Yeti winter wheels are 215/60R16 with 6j steel rims, offset et43, so exactly correct to use on the Karoq. Indeed it lists this wheel and tyre size on the filler flap as an option. All the tyres still have 8mm tread left after 2 winters use so should last a few more winters. How deep would the tread have been when new? I know they are supposed to be replaced at 4mm left.

Thanks for the tip!

Classics and Supercars, Sunday drivers and bikes a plenty on the A93 & A939 today.

What a striking colour. Fabulous.

I only put the disc comment in bold as @Kenai pointed out lots of rubbish in the early press releases about why the special edition 245 came with the 19" Xtreme alloys. With the right winter wheel it's probably possible to fit 17" wheels but safer with 18".

Thanks both. And @shyVRS245 I get it's caliper that gets in the way (or not in this case) but the disc size does have a big impact on caliper position hence the terminology used. Sorry if it touched a nerve 😉

I generally make my complaint to the Air Steward/ess to ask the occupant to be more considerate as they pin their seat to my knees.

I haven't flown since 2000, so it's not a problem but it would be if I flew.

Im thinking (from my research) that there is actualy quite a bit of flexibility in the pressures that you set for your own circumstances, driving style and wishes for safety, grip, even/uneven wear and fuel economy. There is a lower and an upper limit which one should not exceed for normal "on-road" use but within that (which for my tyres are 2.1Bar to 2.5Bar) its up to the individual to decide and adjust to fit the circumstances. I have settled on 35psi (around 2.45Bar) for now. I also checked my insurance and it states that the pressures must be to the manufacturers specifications or it could invalidate a claim so......... for anyone running at above the ECO / Fully laden figure please do check your insurance as should the worst happen they could screw you over. Quite why all of the websites state a different figure to any of the figures on my fuel flap label is beyond me but I am guessing that they are going over the minimum figure (as tyres can lose pressure a bit over the course of a month and also, on a cold UK winter morning, they could be a bit lower than the minimum and on a hot day they would not go over the ECO figure if kept at the mid point thus keeping you "legal" as far as insurance goes. Just my guess. cheers Paul

I'd like a CD player, which I just assumed would have been fitted, but all I've got is an SD card slot. Genuinely surprised at that omission on SE-L spec.

Hi Shy, Thank you for responding. I attached a pic - its where the dog net attaches to the roof.

I was thinking exactly the same thing?

You are perhaps missing the point. 168 miles more than covers my 30 mile commute and I have access to another car. Even if I didn’t I could hire an ICE or a longer range EV for the occasional longer trip. My other car isn’t an Mx-5 because I need more than 2 seats and space for a dog; rather than moan on mx5 forums about the lack of seating I’d buy something that met my needs, if I routinely traveled more than 160 miles I’d buy a car that met that need. It might not be an EV but I wouldn’t publicly declare all EVs as crap or all 2 seat sport cars as a laughingstock because they don’t meet my specific use case Also if the ice with 168 mile range had that small a range due to packaging and cost reasons rather than **** poor economy it would still meet my commuting needs, it would then come down to the lifetime cost of purchase + fuel to decide if it was a better deal than an EV. Incidentally on this point an eup vs an up gti would take me 6 years to become cheaper if I don’t factor in the lower service costs, the possibility of free charging at 2 charge points in town, any increase in petrol cost and the interest I’m not paying on the eup because I’m in Scotland. That was calculated with all rounding in favour of the GTI and on a flat rate Tarriff. before you come back that the battery won’t last 6 years its warranty is 75% capacity after 8 years which still meets my commuting need

I dont know if it fits the rear pockets as I bought mine to fit to the Yeti, what I can say is that Superskoda and all the Ebay sellers are Chancers and rip off artists, it cost a whole lot less buying from TPS even before the small discount that I get, and no delivery charges. I often find this with obscure parts. Its a tiny bin and the bag has to be scrunched up underneath it because of the shallow door pocket depth, there is little usable volume and you have to squash stuff in there to displace the collapsed bag. Perhaps its better to correct this sort of behaviour rather than enable it? Although having a waste bin and educating regarding its use is a good thing.

That's because ATE stands for Alfred Teves Engineering. Now you know.

Hasn't Yahoo changed servers recently? I seem to recall they did which meant the server details in the email client need to be amended?

Tomorrow I will leave it in the official service. If they tell me that they do not know where the fault is or that it has had a strong blow, I will request a refund.

I’ve had my 272 Sportline for 10 months, having purchased a car with a very similar history to @shyVRS245 (albeit mine is Meteor Grey). Mine has just had its first service (I don’t cover enough miles to warrant variable servicing and don’t like the idea of old oil sloshing around the engine). Apart from a rattle which was fixed, it’s been faultless. I get around 34mpg overall which includes all types of driving. We recently got 38mpg on an extended run for a family holiday but that’s not the norm for me! Maybe I enjoy the power too frequently! I terms of the Haldex, I assume a failure at 30k miles is an anomaly; as said, it’s the same set up used in the Golf R and there aren’t hundreds of posts of failures at low mileage on the internet. My old boss had one which was running sweetly at well over 50k miles. I suspect that some may fail prematurely but that the vast majority will last well if serviced regularly. This is my second DSG car (my last car, an Octavia VRS had it too) and I love it! It’s so smooth and easy to live with (but can be a little less refined when manoeuvring) and I’d be loathe to go back to manual shifting now. Yes, I see the argument for less involvement when pushing on compared to a manual, but 80% of my driving is commuting and it’s perfect for this. Besides, I can always use the paddles if I feel the need. Overall, the Superb is a great proposition: it’s a quality product with a great drivetrain for a really good price.

Hi, I'm Rob and I've just bought an '09 Superb Mk II 170 4x4 (picking her up in few weeks). For the last 16 years I've driven motorcycles and Series 80 Toyota Land Cruisers (last one was a' 95 model) so it'll be a bit weird to get into a car that is... a) close to the ground b) modern (ish) I'm suffering from terminal cancer and so this is my 'treat' after undergoing chemo and a transplant (successful - I'm in remission for now) Researching and market watching the car help keep me going through some of the worst times. Nice to be aboard and look forward to finding out why everybody raves about Skodas! 😁

Thanks mate! I'll probably have a million daft questions but if you don't ask you don't get! 😁

A bit beyond budget, but a good deal nevertheless...

That is so nice of you. Thank you. Searching out the Skoda while receiving treatment was one thing that kept me going so this is something of a very special car to me. I look forward to picking her up in a few weeks and hopefully joining the Skoda family I've found on this forum!

For 5 years I towed with my Yeti. I've towed caravans and trailer tents for over 20 years with 5 vehicles, three of which have been VAG group. These have ranged from slightly nose down, through neutral to slightly nose up. Whilst neutral looks correct and best all have been stable as the most important factor is the loading and the subsequent noseweight. Get this correct and you should have no problem. I have incidentally found this to be best around 55kg and not the 75/80kg that my vehicles have as a suggested maximum. If I've approached this higher level then the front end of the car has become light and traction diminished on pulling away. Colin ps - Captainslogg, nice to see somebody has cleaned the towball correctly

I put a pair of headlights from carparts4less on mine about 6 months ago, there's a little bit of scatter to the nearside, but other than that it's made a world of difference. Probably the best £100 I've spent on the car.

I just bought an Octavia estate, 4 years old, with a can of slime and a pump in the boot. I don't like the idea of doing any journey without a spare wheel, so I ordered one. There are plenty of cheap wheels with tyre on eBay, but I got a genuine Skoda kit with wheel/tyre, jack and tools, all in the proper black foam thing that fits in the wheel well. Also very important, the correct device to attach to the boot floor to hold it down, for safety reasons. It's very neat and well-designed, and I am happy with it. Caffyn's (Skoda dealer), £170 shipped, arrived ion 3-4 days. I had the spare before I had the car

Spare wheel every time. My car also came with a can of gunk only, just like my previous Octavia. With my previous car I bought a full size steel wheel. and needed it too. Hit a pothole and badly damaged the N/S front tyre. Used the spare to drive safe until I could have a new tyre fitted. One month later, hit another pothole with the same wheel as last time while turning right on a roundabout. Completely burst the new tyre I had fitted only a month ago. On went the spare wheel to get me home. So after not having a puncture for decades before that, had two occasions in one month where a spare wheel was needed. With my present car, I have bought a space saver wheel this time, just in case bad luck strikes again!

Yes, I would definitely go with real glass too if they were available.

I had the DSG and Haldex oil changes done at JKM in Portsmouth this week. It was fairly overdue as I think they need doing at 40k and the car is now on 55k. The gearbox changes up a lot smoother now, which I didn't expect to notice really. Following this, as I do with all my cars as some sort of initiation and health check I visited Charlie at SRR today. Results below: Now tempted to build on this with an APR or other remap..

...mine included. I polished them last year but they get cloudy in no time. I wish there were real glass replacement lenses like there are for the Mk4 Golf.

I care about statistics because they can provide me with vastly more data on any given subject than my own personal experience. Not much to do with the topic though.

I've been driving Yetis for a while now, currently got a SEL Drive Diesel which I've been quite happy with but got invited to an "event" at the local garage. I went along not expecting to be tempted but I thought I'd have a look at the Karoq and new Octavia. Took the 1.5 SEL First Edition out first and I really liked it. Took a good 20+ mins on everything up to motorway speeds and it was pretty nice. Then took the Karoq out on the same run. It's a nice car but, if I'm honest, it just looks like a Yeti with a bunch of new bits stuck on. I didn't really feel it as much as the Octavia. Soooo after a bit of negotiation, I'm picking up the 1.5 SEL First Edition on 1st Sept (when the new plates come out in the UK)

smaller = cheaper = far more choice of tyre And some favour narrower for better grip in snow.

22 and 7 kW chargers are different kettle of fish though. They need to be spread to every corner so everyone can be within walking distance of a couple dotted around the neighbourhood. They are like parking spots, if ones on your road is in-use, try around the corner. Rapid chargers, on the other hand, is like motorway petrol stations. They are expensive to use and you rarely use them, but when you do, they MUST be reliable and numerous, should be manned and you would never want to queue 30min mid-journey.

I agree Scot5. We all need to be careful how we respond to others on this forum (and all forums whatever the subject). I myself have been frustrated from time-to-time by some of the replies I have recieved on my own posts and read on others posts but I am learing to ignore some of people who have wound me up in the past (and I am not calling out any one person before anyone gets on their defensive high horses). Some people just have a certain way of talking/writing to others - some are "polite and helpful", some can come acrosss as "not very poilite (but often still helpful)" and some are just "downright annoying and rude". Just because someone is experiencing a "feature" or "noise" or other unusual thing the other forum members should not assume that the person is being stupid or can't drive or such like. Many of us have been driving for many years and are posting because what we are seeing does not match our expereince of previous cars. Telling someone they are not driving properly or telling someone that they need to change the way they drive is not really helpful to anyone apart from the most novice driver. People who post replies like these need to take a little longer to think about what they are saying and how it might come across and perhaps word their replies in a more friendly and constructive manner. Having said all of that - for me - my new (to me) 1.5 DSG gearbox is not like the old planetary Auto boxes of old (coming from one of those in a Tiguan for 10 years and a C-class merc for 9 years before that). In the old style Auto I learned to anticipate what I wanted the box to do about 1 second before I wanted it to do it and adjusted my driving style accordingly. I let the torque converter worry about the smoothness and iron out the annoyances at the trade off for a sloppy drive. I also knew that I could floor the accelerator and it was slow enough to react that I could cancel the operation without the risk if stoving the car in. Going to a DSG was a bit of a shock. The first time I drove it I treated it like the old auto box I just traded in and nearly rammed it into the kerb on the other side of a junction when I floored it . Since then I took (and an still taking) some time to learn all of the characterisitics of my DSG box. Some are great for me and some characteristics of the old style box I preferred. DSG for me is generally not as smooth for me (in some scenarios) and have a different characterisitic when lifting off gas and driving around at speeds where the box shifts a lot between 4th and 5th in my limited experience. On the plus side they are really quick to react and when you find their sweet spot are a joy. On the other plus side - I try to drive the wifes 1.0L Manual Fabia in stop start traffic and changing around from 2nd to 3rd and occasionally to 1st is not a pleasant expereince. People who think driving a DSG is jerky should try one of those in stop start traffic I can tell you. It puts bunny hopping into a new league. If I compare to my old Auto - no its not as smooth - if I compare it to the wife's Fabia manual then it is smoother than a smooth thing. Back on to the original subject now - I agree Rusteele that the pedal is too high for me as well and it can be made a lot worse depending on your leg length and where you have the seat and steering wheel positioned. I takes me weeks (and I mean weeks) to tweak the seat and wheel in a new car (fore and aft and the height position to put my legs into a position where it does not affect me too much and where I can use the arm rest to the left and the windowsill for my elbows the way I like). If not done already then this would be worth trying in addition to everything else. It may put you in a position where you feel a bit strange / uncomforatble to begin with but it might be a solution once you get used to the slightly odd seat positioning and steering wheel position compared to the other cars you have or have come from. It worked for me anyway, Just saying 🙂 Paul

Just realised that I hadn't posted the photos after the obligatory lockdown detailing session! Enjoy 😎