MartinM

Way back when the car was almost new, the middle part of the original grille was cut out by a passing vandal. The Skoda "replace the bumper" solution was too stupidly expensive even to consider. The honey comb grille was under development at the time and not available for a couple of months so I fitted a bit of expanded metal mesh over the hole as a temporary fix. That has done the job well and looked quite respectable so I was in no rush to do the full fix. However, last week, prompted by the Superskoda 20% sale, I ordered the new grille which arrived yesterday. A quick visit to Steve at http://www.plastics-surgery.com/ and it has been fitted for £70+VAT. Getting the bumper on and off was evidently pretty fiddly. The grill is actually plastic-welded to the bumper but Steve was able to melt the old weld and fit the new grille in place just as the designer intended. At his suggestion, and because I had enough material left over from the original repair, Steve bonded expanded metal mesh to the back of the grille. It adds a bit of extra protection from flying stones and might also deter anyone from trying to cut the new grille out. Still don't know why the original damage was done. Possibly trying to access the bonnet release so that the battery or the cat converter could be nicked? Or just plain viciousness? I'm not going to try to post a photo unless there is a desparate plea for one. The pictures on the Superskoda website give a pretty fair illustration of the finished job and I doubt that I could show anything better. In passing, I am starting to worry about Skoda's attitude to maintainabilty. When I first bought my Mk1 Octavia it was a highly reliable, relatively low maintenance cost machine. The high official spares cost of what should have been a fairly simple repair, the fact that the bumper had to be removed to do it and the inaccessibility of some of the bumper fixing points all suggest to me that Skoda / VAG are losing sight of one of the Octavia's original low cost of ownership features that made it so attractive to people like me who pay for their own cars.

Thanks Dempsek. Same picture that the dealer showed me - only with English descriptions. Yes it could be that the existing - very flimsy - plastic has to be cut out. Looks like a 10 minute job with the wife's kitchen scissors. But I before I go there I will have to check with Superskoda to see what fiendish scheme they have for installing their replacement version securely.

All heart!! thanks

Thanks to all so far. The Superskoda lead looks interesting. They appear to be close to putting a honeycomb replacement grille on the market sometime in February. Still 150 euros but cheaper than the dealer suggests and also implies that the grill can be replaced independently of the bumper - so maybe things are looking a bit less bleak. Could also be that a temporary fix while I wait for the new kit would be to buy one of their winter protectors. And yes. I'm mystified at what the perps were trying to do. Don't think I've got anyone locally who has taken a dislike to me! Could be that they were trying to get at the bonnet release mechanism but I'm happy to say that it is well enclosed and defeated them.

Someone thought it would be funny to vandalise the centre section of my radiator grille. It appears to have been chopped out - maybe with bolt croppers. The dealer says that according the illustrated parts catalogue, the grille is integral with the front bumper assembly and it all has to be replaced costing £320 ish plus VAT plus cost of painting. I don't want to muck up my insurance by claiming for this if there's a better way but it's an unfunny amount of money to have to pay out. If the dealer is really right, and a query has been sent to Skoda because the parts manager thinks this looks odd too, then it strikes me as being a very short sighted piece of cost-reducing design. Untypical of Skoda I must say - this is my 3rd Octavia. Has anyone got any thoughts about an alternative approach to repair or replacement - other than driving round with a large gap in the middle of the radiator grille?