savaphil

Yeah it's pants. I put the cheapest DAB head unit Halfords had into an 18 year old pick up a couple years ago that only dropped signal over long journeys but found itself. I thought the works DAB was rubbish due to the electronics being fiddled with and extra radios installed maybe causing interference. Having now got my own Skoda Octavia, I can confirm, it's just a bit rubbish...

Thank-you all. I have it booked in with my local Skoda dealer to take a look. Hopefully it can be sorted easily enough.

Good morning, I bought a MY16 Octavia Scout DSG a few weeks ago. Every time I turn it on, I get the message "Lane Assist currently not available". What does this mean please? (besides the obvious). I guess my question is more, should this be available? Does it mean that there's a fault (still a month from being 3 years old so could run it to Skoda for checking if it's a fault)? Is there something that I can do to fix the problem? Is it a known problem? etc etc. Any help or guidance is much appreciated. I have had a search through the forums but can't quite find the answer I'm looking for. If it isn't a fault/problem, is there any way I can turn the message off from reminding me every time I get in the car that I didn't have enough money to buy a higher spec car!!! Thanks for your help. Phil

Really? Oh thank goodness! I have been away from the forums for nearly a year. I will have a search through. Maybe I can get it sorted now after all! It might restore some faih in the brand if I can! (though not fully seeing as it was an obvious issue that they denied all knowledge of!!!) Thanks for the input

I have had this issue with a number of vehicles and was experienced in an almost identical way. Transit van - 56,000 miles - think the previous owner had chipped from 110 to 130 bhp. Still in last few months of Ford warrenty. Took it in and they did some magic and it stopped but the vehicle felt down on power after they'd had it. I queried this and they denied knowledge of it being less powerful and said that what they'd done wouldn't affect the power output. I suspect that whatever they did (they weren't forthcoming on this and I didn't push it because I was young and thought people in the motor industry actually wanted to help me - oh so naive!!) reduced the power to reduce stress on the dual mass flywheel. Never got an answer sorry but it appeared to sort it. I got rid of it shortly after anyway as it no longer suited my purposes. Mondeo - 99,000 miles (30,000 very harsh by me hammering everywhere - oh to be wreckless again!) took it to local garage who referred it to local clutch specialist. Nobody had an answer other than "you could spend £900 on x part and fitment but we can't guarantee it will be sorted". Swapped it for my Dad's Saab 9-3 he was about to trade in and they offered the same money for. Saab 3-3 - 98,000 miles (again, 30,000 harsh miles by me - I had a long commute for a couple of years!) - local garage reckoned Dual Mass Flywheel. Estimated £800ish to sort it. I wasn't convinced by their assessment on the forecourt. Kept it and swapped it for my Monte (which friggin pulls left - argh somebody shoot me!) In short, the common denominator that all garages suggested for similar sounding issue is Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF). However, I had been pretty harsh on the 2nd 2 vehicles and suspect the previous owner had been with the Transit (it was an ex lease one so may have been treated pretty rough, especially if it had been chipped as I suspect (suspicions increased by the 130 badge on the back that although a genuine Ford part was on a vehicle registered as a 110 bhp van)) The issue was always moderate acceleration in a high gear, off turbo, but not an unacceptably high gear, vibration only really through foot pedals but increasingly through car as issues worsened. I never spent the money getting any of them fixed so can't say for sure that that is what the issue is. I'd also be surprised that such a lightweight car would have this sort of issue... As you can probably tell, I'm not mechanically minded, there may well be numerous other explanations. Do you find the issue goes if you simply change to either softer or harder acceleration? (mine did)

I have had a nightmare with the car pulling left. A year ago I was on the phone almost daily with local Skoda dealer and Skoda head office. Was passed from pillar to post. "It's a characteristic of the car", "can you have an inspection done on the tyres to ensure that there are no defects?" (I asked the lads at the place I got them fitted to check the tyres were round, they were, funnily enough, we all had a good laugh!), "can you check that the tyres have been fitted properly?" (the lads had a look, yes, the tyres were on the wheels and as I'd been driving it daily and the tyres hadn't fallen off, I can only assume they were fitted correctly), "you'll need a laser alignment, but we don't/can't offer this" (£90 im not too fussed about spending if I'm not getting the money back), "well you bought tyres away from Skoda so there's nothing we can do about it" - all just some of the excuses and rudeness I recieved from Skoda. In short, I have had Continental Contact Sport 5s all round and the buggar just won't stop pulling to the left. It drives me INSANE every time I take it anywhere. I'm so annoyed that I have spent my hard earned money on a car that just doesn't drive correctly. I wouldn't mind if it had been an old van but I had bought an 8 month old car!!!! In short, I'll be sacking the car off as soon as warranty is up, taking a hit on whatever it has depreciated by and what I owe on my loan and getting a different car that will most certainly NOT be a Skoda and will not recommend them to anybody. This issue aside, the car is brilliant but the rudeness of Skoda in dealing with it and any other warranty issues has made me feel physically sick that I spent good money on a new(ish) car that I thought would bring me peace of mind but has just been a constant source of annoyance. I'm going back to old Mondeo estate and Transit vans! The Continental Contact Sport 5s on the rear have done 36,000 miles now and still have plenty of life left in them (4mm probably). The ones on the front have done 14,000 miles and have probably 3-4mm of tread left too. I'm trained as an advanced driver so spend most of my time taking it relatively easy in my own car but do progress when the time is right. The vast majority of miles are on the motorway at normal motorway speeds, some town driving, medium amounts of countryside driving and rarely journeys less than 5 miles. Will be following this thread to see if there is any consensus on front tyres for people who have the known issue of car pulling left. TL;DR - Continental Contact Sport 5s don't solve the pulling left issue but are reasonable all round tyres (grip, noise, efficiency) in my experience.

Anyone noticed that the up change arrows on the dash respond to how heavy your right foot is? If i'm being gentle, it will advise that I change up earlier than if i'm being more vigorous (i'm generally a slow-average accellerator now) it doesn't suggest an upchange until later or at all. On what grounds do people suggest "giving it some welly"? That sounds like pub science to me.Surely just treating it carefully and not over-revving or under-revving would be best for the engine life span/performance? I upchange around 2000rpm, unless the dashboard tells me otherwise. When cold I have to stay in 3rd up to about 35 mph but can put it in 4th at 30mph once the engine is warm (according to the arrows on the dashboard) and 4th gear up until 40mph then 5th gear for the rest up to 70 mph. I downchange from 5th to 4th at 40mph (decelerating) and 4th to 3rd at 30mph (again, when decelerating) I rarely go over 2,200 rpm unless I feel like having a bit of fun/worrying another driver who doesn't realise the great mid-range punch this engine has. I find that the less I ask of the engine, the more it surprises me (though this is largely based on feedback/how I feel rather than any quantifiable data) On my commute (1/4 mile town, 10 miles of a-roads with half a dozen roundabouts and a toll booth, 20 miles of dual carriageway (horrible concrete surface for 7 or 8 of those miles - urgh!) then a mile and a bit of town again. I average 55-65 mpg (ranging from careful to really careful) which is a bit disappointing as I'd expected better from the official figures (that's a thread that has been done to death I suppose) but with fuel as it is, rough maths suggests I'm running it at around 8-9pence per mile (before tax, insurance, depreciation, wear and tear etc) which I'm reasonably happy with.

Yet as you've pointed out here before (and I totally agree with), dealing with the syntoms doesn't necessarily deal with the underlying issues.

For me, it all goes wrong when you make different materials the same colour. The red sections on those black alloys with red detailing on the plastic grill then the red highlighting on the lights. All those look good in isolation but I'm not a fan of them when they're all together. As ever, just my opinion! EDIT: You also start going awry when you add too many colours on the body work. Red calipers are acceptable because they suggest (don't guarantee) performance upgrades. What you're looking at is styling upgrades and 3 colours rarely work together (manufacturers logos can be different but again because they subconsciously suggest performance upgrades rather than styling, for example the s2000 style white and black decals found on some vRS models)

Just to wade in with my 2 penneth. Bought the car (8 months old), last February. Saw that it had Contis all around except for a Pirelli on the N/S/F. Thought "oh that's a buggar (because I like things to be neat), I'll change that for a Conti when it wears out" Always felt that the steering was lighter when turning left than right and that the grip was lacking on the inside edge during left turns. This could have been paranoia over a different tyre being fitted there. A few weeks ago I got a puncture so replaced both front tyres for Contis (SC5s if you need to know - the rears are still the Conti SC2s that were on when I purchased the car). Since then the car has been pulling to the left on all surfaces and speeds (lots of camber, little camber, no camber, inside lane, outide lane, middle lane, 30mph through to 70 mph). Initially thought it was trye pressure or alignment so had that checked. Rang Skoda (Westgate in Grimsby) who looked at it and said it was straight and true. They passed me on to a body specialist (who didn't want to know so passed me on to Bush Tyres in Grimsby) who said it was showing as fine on the computer. I even then popped it in to Bush Tyres in my home town (Beverley) who said it was all fine too. Still pulling left. Rang Skoda (Grimsby) again on Friday and got a lot of, "we've never heard of this", "don't know what else we could do as computer says it's fine", "what do you want us to do about it?", "I haven't seen a technical bulletin that suggests anything of the sort", "I can't imagine Skoda UK having any more ideas about this than us". I mentioned that I'm not the only one to experience this issue and that he may want to check the tech bulletin to find out if it has been reported/mentioned anywhere. Or even the Honest john website. I alluded that the Pirelli being on there is a bit suspect (I had originally assumed that the last owner had a puncture at some point and just changed for a PIrelli as that's all that wa sin the garage that she assumably took it to and didn't care for matching tyres. Skoda Grimsby said they've never fitted a Pirelli to that car (hmm!). So I'm currently awaiting Skoda Grimsby to check the bulletins. He (the service manager) has also said that he will submit a report to Skoda UK (but that "that's a lot of forms and takes time" - like I should care what his job involves?). I have also rung Skoda UK diretly and logged the issue with them (and the lady on the end of the phone had, "never heard of this issue before" - a standard response to stop them giving anything away they shouldn't until they know the car has the fault they know it has but won't admit to). With a 70 mile round commute, it's getting quite boring holding it in a straight line and gene4rally feeling like i'm fighting the car at all times. I would like a courtesy car whilst they sort it out but as yet are trying to wash their hands of me. I'm happy to be that thorn in their side until they SORT (not mask) the problem. I like my Conti tyres (had them in the past and been very happy with them and dislike Pirellis (had them in the past too and been very diappointed with them - life and handling) so would struggle to accept a simple tyre swap. Geez, I bought a new(ish) car to avoid problems. Feel like I should have bought a £500 Clio at times and just run it into the ground!

+1 I see. Thank-you.

I was wondering, what makes you know that it needs changing? My heater seems to have 2 settings, "off" and "the furnaces of Dante's Inferno". Is this a similar issue? Of course I could just take it to my dealer but they're currently denying all knowledge of why it is pulling to the left (or that in fact anyone in the country has ever experienced this problem!!!) so I don't want to tax them too much as they seem easily distracted and are making themseles out to be simpler folk than I suspect they actually are!

Just to throw this out there.... I appreciate that your car is out of warranty, however, large companies (Toyota and Specialized) have been known (those 2 are my experience, there must be others) who will do work as "good will" if the service schedule has been followed and with the main dealer. It's not a guarantee but it may be worth considering. My thoughts are to run my car until the warranty is up, then if it has been performing well, start taking it to my local man and if it's not been plain sailing with it, either trade it in or keep servicing with the main dealer in the hope that they would honour or do a "best deal" if anything went wrong. From my limited experience this could work out but could also just be a massive waste of money and be hugely optimistic. Skoda seem to have been fair with me so far, hopefully they'll continue to be so as the years pass...

Bought my Monte back in February. Went in looking at basic spec models (brand new) came out with Monte (8 months old) for the same deposit and monthly payments I was looking for. Very pleasant staff. No hard sell. Everything explained in full to me so that I understood what I was buying (got some extras too). Had a follow up call to ensure I was happy with the car/service. More than happy to be booking future services with them and if i'm still in the area, will consider p/x with them when I come to change if they have the right car and can do the right price.

I think that's a good price and it's nice to hear people talking about depreciation as the value of a car rather than sticker price (it would appear so many of my friends need a good talking to in economics!). It also bodes well for me wanting to trade up to a Otavia Estate vRS Diesel (kind of a dream car that I could actually own one day - you know, the Pagni Zonda just doesn't quite come into my economic package ) once my car gets a bit older (1.6 CR TDI 105 Monte Carlo) that I expect will be about 40-45000 miles at 3 years old with just a little bit left to pay off. The dealer has already tried having it back off me (he knows I want an estate so tried moving me into the same spec but estate form) as he reckons he can sell the diesel Montes very quickly. Anyway, long way round of saying, yes I agree, good price. No doubt effected by the fact that you've taken out finance with them. Nice trade :clap:

Keep us posted please Jon

Interesting point about the paintwork. I thought that I was being too fastidious about it but thought it was a generally bum finish and agree with the ****e wheel spraying!

Sounds like you're having real issues Jon. I have the 1.6 cr tdi 105 Fabia and have been completely underwhelmed by the MPG. If I am careful I get 50mpg on a journey almost identical to one described above (26 miles commute - each way - with a few hundred yeards of town followed by A roads, then dual carriageway with a couple of roundabouts and 2 miles of town driving at the end). This is crackers IMO. I would expect to get a few mpg less than the stated figures but 30-40% less? Especially annoying as I do so little town driving. I moved from a 2.0tdci Mondeo with 100,000 on the clock (and a bust DMF) which was easily getting 50mpg when I booted it everywhere into a 1.9 tid Saab 93 (also had clutch issues) into my Fabia Monte. Part of the deal with myself was that although it was a smaller vehicle, i'd be getting such great mpg I could warrant the monthly payments (didn't want to spend a £1000 on the Sabb or Mondy to have it break down another week later with a DPF or injectors issue). In short I think the 1.6 CR TDi, as far as MPG goes, is pants! The brochure states that the Fabia Mk2 is equally comfortable on the motorway as it is around town yet motorway driving seems to kill the MPG even further. I don't suffer power loss or rough running as you do but I agree the MPG is not what a car this lightweight with the small of an engine should be returning. I too have mentioned this to my Skoda dealer but they say the same - no code = no issues! On a side note, a friend has the same (?) engine in her Golf, had something done with the injectors (mechanically or via computer I don't know) but now gets over 70mpg. I'm getting quite hacked off with having such a small car with such poor mpg performance. I don't mind the small car trade off with better mpg but I've had vans (Renault Traffic) return better mpg (shame about the injectors on those things). I HATE CR engines. Give me my old Hilux any day! (poor MPG and pick ups are not practical but boy was it worth the mpg/rough by comparison running for the reliability) Rant over. It's in for it's 20,000 mile service next month so will be mentioning it once again to see if they have any further ideas (last time my tyre pressure was out by 1 psi so that was their answer for the cause!!!!)

As said by others, that looks absolutely spot on. Neat mods without looking "Barry". It's basically what Skoda should have done to really finish the vehicle off... What headlights did you get (and from where please?)?

Hello, any reports on how this went? I'm toying with the idea of remapping my 1.6 (105) TDi Fabia Monty. Wondered how others were getting on? Fuel consumption? Power? Smoothness? Torque? General day-to-day? Wear and tear on parts? Warranty? Insurance? Any comments from those who have had it done are welcome! Phil.

Does this still happen? (2014)

Oh, I'm also from North Lincs, seen some people in here are from North Lincs and East Yorkshire. Be good to meet up one day and talk Skoda Geekery and the like!

Reg Date: Jun 13 (13) Colour: White with black roof and interior. Options: Rear parking sensors (by original owner), rubber mats throughout and Autoglym paint and interior protection with lifetime guarantee (for that showroom-fresh feel after every wash!) Mods: None yet as i'm too scared to change anything in case it voids my warranty! However, would like to upgrade all bulbs (especially as the current headlights are like candles in jam jars (anyone else feel this?)), would like mudflaps (have seen the thread by Plumber and an engine boost but that's all I think!