Geek42

My previous Focus used to suffer from a hesitation when going downhill with cruise control on, and I always put it down to the throttle control not being linear down to zero but having some finite minimum, such that a demand for something between that minimum and zero would cause bistable operation between zero and that minimum value. That's what it felt like anyway, and since it never happened with the CC off I didn't worry too much (well, until it started happening all the time, CC or not, up hill and down, on and off load, and the fault codes included DPF, EGR and clutch issues, then I got rid). I wasn't worried about the Octy as I put it down to a function of the SS restart, but remembering the Focus I'm not so sure any more......

Interesting. This is probably what I have experienced with the stop-start function. The description is exactly like yours, except that I only ever get it immediately after a SS induced re-start. If I pause momentarily before letting the clutch out it doesn't happen, and if I give a few extra revs to normal it doesn't happen. Maybe the "creep" thresholds are dynamically adjusted immediately after a start event?

"creep" function?

Going back to the mpg discussion, I have the 1.4TSi and get around 47mpg average doing mostly motorway driving. It gets into the mid 50's on long A road runs with cruising a bit less than motorway speed. 36mpg is very much a congested urban affair. Regarding what's most cost effective, I think keeping what you have is almost always cheapest, until the repair bills get ridiculous, but you can also put a value on reliability and confidence that you will reach your destination on any given day. That's a bit more nuanced, but if you don't know of any specific problems with your jag I wouldn't rush to bin it.

Yeah, we got a bit off topic, sorry. What's under the bonnet of the Focus? This could be a great move if it's a bit slower, as it'll improve the comparison to whatever you go for afterwards!

I was not having a go at you, I apologise if you took it that way. It is the lack of knowledge at SUK that utterly astonishes me. Inside knowledge is not necessary, a bit of google time will lead to plenty of sources marrying the Octy 3 to the EA211 engine to a timing belt, so unless all the press releases and technical info on the web (much of it originating from VAG) are incorrect then your experience leaves SUK looking a bit daft. Thanks for sharing what you were told. From my side I have had a previous e-mail conversation about servicing with SUK and was given an inspection interval for the lifetime belt. I also paid my £5 for the online access to the independent servicing and maintenance manual (anyone remember the acronym). That thread will be floating around on here somewhere.

Is it April 1st? I just don't believe this. Whoever you spoke to at SUK is pulling your leg.

Again, there are plenty of threads that you can search on this topic, but to the best of my knowledge the "engine" setting on the driving mode doesn't actually affect the engine. The throttle response is changed, but if you bury the pedal in the carpet there should be no difference between any of the modes. If you have the DSG it affects the gear selection, but I guess you're looking at a manual? If the dealer told you that it changes the timing I'd ask for the documentation that shows it (then post it on here) or ask to talk to his boss next time!

I bought mine exactly 1yr old with 14k miles on the clock! I'll wager good money that the one you're looking at is an ex-hire car (mine was owned by Europcar). I paid £14,450 for a 1.4TSi in Elegance trim (there were a few things missing from the SE that I couldn't live without - most notably cruise control), and I got a perfectly fair price for my trade in (a couple of hundred more than expected actually). The SE does give the advantage of the more sensible 16" wheels, though. Just to finish my petrol evangelising, your jag probably doesn't have a DPF, and you might want to think hard about the type of driving that you do and whether that's compatible with a DPF, especially if you think you'll keep it for a long time. You also need to think carefully about buying a car that the wife likes, I did that and my mileage appears to have increased even though my driving is the same as it was. I think the wife's car is down to about 2k miles a year now! Ultimately though, I think that price looks OK (although May was the last time I checked prices) it just depends on of whether it's the car that YOU want or not. Best of luck!

I just looked back through this thread to remind myself why you're thinking of swapping the jag. I didn't see a reason, did you give one? (It sounds like you are fond of it). I did notice that you said the 2.0D Octy felt slow. Would you say it was much slower, as on paper it looks like it should be quicker (almost the same peak torque, but flatter curve resulting in higher power output and 220kg less weight). Are you sure they didn't give you the 1.6?

There are also many threads that go something like, 'great car, shame about the dealer experience / service'. Unless the engine spec has changed in the latest model year update the 1.4TSi in the Octy3 is definitely not a chain cam.

Well, the 1.4 might sound small, but it's got a lot of torque for a petrol (more than the diesel car I owned previously) and is plenty fast enough for overtaking, there's definitely no diary checking! I drove both when I was deciding and for my money the performance of the 1.4TSi and 2.0TDi are very similar, but the petrol's a bit more refined. I suspect that engine technology, particularly petrol engine technology, has moved a long way since you drove one. Have you tried any downsized turbo-charged petrol's of late?

Yes, I had one of those and it went wrong, resulting in a wrecked engine. I believe that the original fault was with the tensioner, but nothing was ever confirmed. I've had a multitude of other cars with belts and never had a problem, so the not-quite-indestructible chain is not a panacea. As somebody else said the 1.4 petrol version (which I would highly recommend, considering your mileage) has a so called "lifetime" belt. Somebody else also pointed out the two service regimes, 1yr/10k or 2yrs/20k. In fact the variable servicing option is up to 2yrs or 18,600 miles (it's 30,000km) for the first service only, after that it's every year or 18,600 miles, so no use whatsoever for your mileage. Stick to fixed 1yr/10k servicing. Considering your 7k miles/yr I cannot urge you strongly enough to consider the petrol. Considering the purchase price the diesel makes no sense financially and the petrol has plenty of low down grunt these days (peak torque from 1500rpm). If you watch the news these days you might also believe the petrol to be the environmentally friendly and lung friendly option (although this advice will be changed again in around 18 months).

Sorry, I see that I'm repeating what others have already said. With the mileage that I do and the wear rate so far it looks like my winter tyres will last 4 or 5 winters, so I wouldn't want to be using them any less really.

I think to make the most of them you need to use them more, not less? In my view it would make them particularly expensive if you end up replacing the winter rubber based on age with 7.5mm of tread left.

This seems not to be universally agreed. Nokian recommends +0.2 bar in your winter tyres, but Michelin seems to recommend that you should run the same pressure in your winter tyres as your summer tyres. The Michelin caveat is that if you keep the car in a garage and measure the tyre pressure there you should add +0.2 bar due to the difference between the temperature inside the garage and outside, but if you measure the tyres outdoors and genuinely cold they state that vehicle manufacturers recommendation should be followed, as with the summers.

I wonder what your aversion to putting them on now is? I know that if I wait for a specific weather forecast it'll happen when I've no time to go and change them, but besides that I'd sooner be using the winters at 11°C than the summers at -3°C. Your winter tyres won't melt the moment it goes above 7°C.

It doesn't LOOK bigger, it IS bigger! Boot space was the main criterion (although not the only one) for me, so I looked at a few and it's noticeable that the quoted boot sizes don't seem to tally with reality. It turns out that almost universally car manufacturers are now counting the space under the boot floor, as they mostly come without a spare as standard and the wheel well is considered as part of the load area. Combined with some funny shapes and cubbies it means that the quoted figures have no relationship with the volume of the main compartment any more. For main compartment volume nothing beats a Mondeo, but I just didn't want one of those!

I looked for Skoda wheelbags, but they were a bit pricey through official channels and I didn't find many alternative sources. The VW bags on the other hand are available from everyman and his dog for next to no money, so I bought those. They're just a little bit blue instead of a little bit green! They're so similar that the part number is identical bar a suffix on the Skoda one that presumably denotes the colour/logo change!

Well, mine has one specific (small) patch that looks like it was cleaned with a pan scourer. I didn't buy it new though! To be honest, I'm one of those "lazy" folk that isn't that bothered. I probably wash it once a year and for the discount available on 1 year old one the odd mark here and there really doesn't bother me one bit. By the time I've finished with it there'll be loads of marks anyway...

Yes for Amundsen. I have an iPhone and connect it via Bluetooth, the wife occasionally uses her iPod as well. You can charge it from the USB, but connect via Bluetooth and it does all the stuff I need it to, including making calls and playing music. When playing music you can skip tracks from the car controls and I think set or unset random track order, but you can't access any playlists, or even just a basic list of what's stored on the phone/ipod, so there's not really a way to look for something specific without touching your phone. The phone functionality is a bit more complete, the car can see your contacts / last calls etc. and you can even use the voice control to call someone from the contacts list (on my last car you had to pre-record each entry so it could match you to you without trying to decipher anything). I'm actually quite impressed with that aspect.

So according to Which? magazine tests: 320D saloon: 69mpg extra-urban, 54mpg motorway, 63mpg combined Octy 1.6TDi hatch: 74mpg extra-urban, 54mpg motorway, 64mpg combined Octy 2.0TDi estate: 67mpg extra-urban, 42mpg motorway, 54mpg combined. Considering the relative pace of these motors the BMW is impressive. I think you'll find the Octy Greenline very slow by comparison!

I think your 320D ED will kick the ass of any Octy when mpg is the topic at hand. I've seen some threads suggesting the regular 1.6TDI isn't a whole heap better than the 2.0TDI for fuel economy, some folks struggling to get them out of the mid-high 50's. Having driven them both I would go for the 2.0 every time if it had to be diesel (although I've owned only one diesel car and with the low down torque available from the petrols these days one will be enough for me!). Whether the Greenline is vastly different to the regular 1.6 is a whole different thing mind you.

Touch wood, no issues like this on the Octy, but a long time ago this happened to me driving my old man's car. The first time I thought I'd done something daft (like inadvertently put it in reverse) but by the third occasion I knew it wasn't me. It wasn't every time, but enough to make me stop using first for a while. When it was eventually fixed I don't think the garage actually knew what they'd done to fix it - they disassembled some stuff, saw nothing wrong and after they reassembled everything it didn't happen again!

On the Amundsen there's a setting for reducing the radio volume during nav announcements, you can even control how much the radio is turned down by. I assume Columbus must be the same. Haven't noticed any issue with the traffic updates, but I haven't been out a lot the last couple of weeks.