duro

I've seen preview pics of the facelift and... it's ugly!

I have a 1.6TDI DSG too and I don't find it annoying about how it changes up or down. I only wish it had a bit more responsiveness when picking up from standstill. Re. the Sport mode, I only use it (and find it useful) when driving long downhill sections 'cause it enables a bit more of engine brake. Obviously it doesn't work always for it depends on the steepness of the road but when it's right, it's very convenient.

If a taxi can reach those mileages, any other car can. Taxi cars live the worst life for a car: always in town traffic, always stop&go, each and every component of the car is stressed to the max. It's true that taxi owners usually are the most scrupolous in maintaining their cars, for they're their mean of living. As an anecdote, I remember about 20 years ago being in a taxi in Milano. It was a Fiat 128, thus already being a 20+ years old car then. Its odometer read 360,000km (200k miles). Remember: it was a car from an era when 100k km was considered a really good target to achieve.

The bigger the wheel, the lower the tyre side, thus the harder the ride, because you have less flexing rubber to absorb road irregularities. The lesser flexibility of thinner tyres is technically meant to allow better roadholding when high speed cornering, thus you trade comfort for better roadholding at speed. Any consideration about bigger wheels being nicer is just an aesthetic and subjective issue. BTW, these considerations apply in relation to the car's size. 15"/16" wheels are ok for an 1.2/1.3 ton car like Octavia. My wife's Yaris 1.0 is quite hard on 15" wheels. I won't comment on my son's Yaris 1.8 with 17" wheels for I don't want to be banned.

Yes, obviously checking the 507.00 standard is "mandatory". What I meant by pointing at the 5W30 Fully Syntetic thing is that you can easily read it on the front label, before rummaging among the very tiny scripting on the back of the can, where the specs are usually found and thus you can quicken your selection on the vendor's shelf.

If the 17" wheels fit the larger brakes, then take down the wheels only and sell them separately. Bigger/better radio is a good selling point but if you can revert to the original one, do it and sell the extra. Suspensions are too much of a hassle to be changed. Keep them and either "boast" their presence or not, depending on the kind of potential buyer you're talking to. Cruise control and bluetooth are convenient items which should help the sale, if not getting more $$$. All other items (strips, pedals, etc.) are cosmetic changes which may meet or not the tastes of everybody. I would take them off as they won't hike the sale price nor ease the sale (but they could hinder it.) As a general rule, any good extra would help the sale (at best) but never recover its buying cost. And, any "strange" or out of order thing could possibly hinder it (I remember when I was selling my 80's Panda and one guy even refused to test drive it because he found the spare wheel in the boot instead of its regular place on top of the engine bay. I had removed it to make a bit of maintenance and forgot to refit it but the guy looked at me like I was trying to sell him god knows which kind of lemon. Heck, the Panda was a car so plain and simple you couldn't hide any fault at all!) Judging from the kind of mods you did, I assume your car is cosmetically well cared of. But just in case... Remember that almost all potential buyers tend to be very much influenced by highly visible and cosmetical issues, more than by substantial, "inner" things. Therefore, beside cleaning everything thoroughly, check if your floormats are ok. If they're old and tired, buy a set of cheap(ish) NEW ones. A few quids expense will make a great difference in buyer's perception. Also, consider if your steering wheel and gear handle show significant signs of wear. This is another good reason for putting back on the OEM wheel if it's in better nick.

I suppose that basically all 5W30 Fully Syntetic oils should meet 507.00 requirements. On any oil can you can find the specs it meets. Beware that those called just "Syntetic" and not "Fully Syntetic" are not the same stuff and do not meet the requirements.

Seatbelt tensioner acts via the upper side of the belt (the one going across the torso), at least in all the cars I've ever seen (and I'm pretty sure it works like that in all 3-point seatbelts). Therefore, anything impeding the tensioning of the belt transforms it in a harmful object because in case of crash the body will be thrusted against the belt itself. This is what seatbelts manufacturers, car makers and safety drive instructors say and it sounds pretty reasonable. And also why insurance is not paid for body wounds if provoked by un-properly tightened seatbelts. BTW, this is the reason why "rolling" seatbelts were invented. Because fixed ones were unconfortable when tightened and people tended to keep them a bit loose. Even those clips which lower the top belt by clipping it to the lower part are dangerous, because in case of crash a plastic clip surely won't resist the sudden and strong pull and the upper part of the belt would suddenly jump up with foreseable consequences.

Hi all, I have a 2012 FL Octy with DRL/foglights assemblies. The LH one (which obviously is driver side in Italy) is a bit unstable due to a broken (but then "fixed") retaining clip. In search of a possible sub, I routinely find more ebay options in UK than in continent but I'm wondering if DRL/fogligths are identical for LHD and RHD cars. The user manual states the "settings" procedure to adapt lights for driving on the "other side" but it doesn't say if it affects only the headlights (which is reasonable) or the DRL/foglights too. Any info about this? Thanks and ciao, Carlo

Hi, here (http://www.wheelfitment.eu/index.php) is a fantastic website providing info about all wheels sizes etc. I used it to find my 2HD steel wheels for winter tires. You can search by car, by PCD, etc. and you can also see which cars have similar sizes, in order to find 2nd hand wheels. As for the 17" wheels... are you sure? I have 16" OEM fitted and even 15" winter tires and I think 16" are OK for a "standard" (i.e. not ultra-sporty) car. Bigger wheels mean lower sided tires = less comfort over road irregularities.

Nice. Car makers spend $$$ to study, engineer and install safety devices like the pre-tensioned belts... and then, with a few quids you can defeat all their efficacy and have a personally installed garrota.

This spring I had my 2012 1.6TDI serviced and I asked the mech to check for the brake fluid too, as per Skoda info it should be changed after 3 years (every 2 years, afterward) and mine already was 4y old. The mech checked it with some sort of instrument (an hygrometer, I suppose, to check for humidity retention) and said it was perfect and not worthwile of being changed, so we left it alone. Maybe I'm going to change it on the next service, just for the sake of it.

Hi all. I'm resurrecting this prehistoric thread 'cause I've just discovered (by pure chance) that "double sunvisors" are an option on current Yeti and they're even quite cheap: 30€ for the pair! Now the big question: do you know if these items are fittable to an Octavia 2?

Scary news, expecially for us 1.6 drivers who already have less power and value our mileage.

Unfortunately, none of the answers were from 1.6 DSG owners. Which I am. My doubt is not "Is it pokey?" but "Will the DSG7 stand the increased torque?" BTW, I've just seen that new Superb has a 120HP version of the 1.6CRD... but they state the same 250Nm torque as my 105HP engine. How comes that there's not the slightest difference?

Just to be a bit more detailed... It's the shape of the roof+back window line which is important. In saloons or hatches with a gently sloped rear, the air comes down from the roof and sweeps the rear window, keeping it fairly clean. In estates/MPV/hatches with a vertical rear window, the air coming along the roof just curls down and against the rear window, hitting it "hard" and depositing all the dirt it brings along.

As others said, the rear screen dirt is because of aerodynamics issues with the estate shape. However, I found FRONT mudflaps kept the sides cleaner. I found a cheap set of front+rear mudflaps on Ebay for cheap and mounted them and they're quite OK.

I have a 1.6TDI DSG and has been thinking about a remap (or, better, a TDI tuning box) for a long time but... I've read about the torque limits the DSG7 has and I'm scared about the possibility of ruining it.

I have standard 16" alloys on my car (Turanza OEM tyres) and I bought a set of 2nd hand 15" steel rims to use with winter tyres. Currently they seem to provide the same degree of comfort but I've to say that the winter tyres are wooden Turkish ones that I got with the wheels (noisy and really scary in the wet; I plan to change at least the front ones with decent Conti's). I have experienced the differences in ride quality depending on wheel size on the various Yaris we had. The old 1st series I had was on 14" and was quite comfy. Wife's current 2nd series rides on 15" (OEM because of "Luxury" variant) and I find it too harsh. My son's 2nd series 1.8 wears 17" and is as hard as a wooden board. Even he, the young warrior, sometimes complains about that (but he'll never swap them with lesser wheels, obviously). I think each car should wear a wheel size proportioned to its size and weight. Small hatches shouldn't go beyond 14" and mid-sized family cars like the Octavia shouldn't go beyond 16". Unless you want max roadholding performances in high-spec cars (see VRS) and be prepared to withstand harsh riding. Oh, and obviously for every inch of extra diameter there's a premium to pay.

I've had this problem several times with the RH daylight bulb. First time I checked I didn't notice any problem and refitted the bulb which looked to have a solid filament, only to have a permanent failure short afterward. After a further check, I realized that the problem WAS in the bulb. Only, it was not a burned filament – as it usually happens – but a detachment of the back contact of the bulb itself: I found the tiny metal round spot which should touch the contacts in the lamp to have fallen off. I think this could be due to the low quality of bulbs (I bought them on Ebay at about 1cent for the ton...) and likely the RH one is subject to more vibrations by road holes/bumps/etc. (I drive on the right, here). I'm thinking about replacing them with LED ones. Any suggestions/directions/etc.?

Hi. I have an '12 FLII 1.6CRD DSG Estate, bought 12month old with 15,000km by a Skoda dealer (it was the dealer's himself company car). Now it's got 42,000km and I had no problems with it. I think it's super comfy and not noisy at all (although I was used to very noisy cars). Pls note it's on 16" original Turanza wheels (which I'm not happy about in the wet). I think 16" it's the max size to achieve good comfort on such a car. Just as a comparison, my wife's Yaris has 15" and it's too hard on bumps. Everything works fine and the only complaint I have is the complicate and uncomfortable system to drop the rear seats (need to lift the headrests off before one can drop the seat back). But here again I was spoiled by my wife's Yaris which has a super clever lever on top of the backrests by which you unlock and drop down everything in just one move, even operating by the boot.)

I do many short trips too (although I do "push a little" on the short highway near my home, usually). Should the dreaded "DPF light" come on, can I do the regeneration by staying put in Neutral (I've a DSG7) and revving it up at 2500 for the time needed?

After checking in the Skoda Italy website a few weeks ago, this week I received their letter saying my 2012 1.6 TDI CR is due for a "software update" (no mention of hardware changes) but it won't be ready before 2016. They reassure me that my car is safe and blah, blah. Now, I bought it 'cause I thought it was reasonably cheap, well fitted, comfortable, solid and spacious. When I look at the fuel consumption info on the dash, I take them as an indicative reference, not as THE TRUTH (experience and calculation says my dashboard is about 10% optimistic). I always did so with ALL my vehicles. Now I fear that the "software update" could seriously downgrade my car's performances for the sake of emissions. If I had a 2.0 140HP I wouldn't be too much concerned about maybe losing 5-10HP. But on a 105HP 1.6... Hmm... Also, I'm afraid that in the future the cars which had NOT been "updated" could bear some sort of stigma, either official (Euro5 to Euro4 downgrading?) or unofficial (re-sale value drop). I'm not going to the extent of dynoing it pre&post but I'm seriously re-considering a TDI chip after the "update" (although I'm still concerned about the torque limit of my DSG7). Cheers.

I bought mine as a 2nd hand company car of a Skoda dealer and she had 15,000km on odo. Now it has 33,000 and I'd say I'm pretty happy with it. Great fuel economy, decent quickness, great comfort. I'd like to add a few HP but understood that tuning up would get the engine over the 250Nm limit of the DSG, so I dropped the idea.

Leaving the headrests at home could be a solution – on a daily basis. Simple, rough but still a good idea. Sigh! One more thing to clog the garage!