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Where did you get the bumper protector strip, could do with one to stop the dogs scratching it.

If it matters I have a 2010 FL Octy VRS Petrol estate. I have almost convinced myself to shell out a Columbus to replace my Bolero and a bluetooth kit, either a VAG, Denison or Fiskon one as don't fancy a Parrot or the likes. I have a couple of questions that I hope you boffins can help with. Columbus Questions :- Assuming i buy a Columbus with a code of someone semi respectable off fleabay (some sellers have lots of good feedback selling VAG MFD3)is fitting it really just a simple a removing the silver pannel, pulling the bolero out, switching the conectors, shoving the GPS in and sticking a new front pannel on (i believe they are different sizes). As a meerkat would say it sounds simple, too simple, even I could manage that. I see there are 2 types of columbus now the normal one and one with a LED screen which usually goes for about £50 more, any idea of the differences and if it's worth the extra. Bluetooth Questions:- The fitting of these sounds much more complicated so i'm not even going to try, the thought of removing headlining to route mic., possibly splicing wires etc fills me with dread. Are the Denison, Fiskon and VAG units all about the same in the terms of what they can do. All want to be able to do is use the screen on the Bolero / Columbus to control the phone, and ideally if it could link to more than 1 phone (for when the missus takes my car) that would be great. Has anyone got any advice on these. The denison seems the cheapest but is that for a reason. If i fit the bluetooth first to the Bolero and then change to the Columbus at a later date will it still work. Some threads mention something under the drivers seat ? The final and most important question is does anyone know anywhere in Scotland that fits such things, I know Shark Performance do and are highly thought of but they are miles away from me, its the same with OEM Retrofits in Leeds.

If your being sensible and going to keep for a while 4 years+ then get the diesel, but if you want to smile every time you drive it then get the petrol it's a simple as that, head says diesel heart says petrol. I have has 2 vrs petrols now, both from new, first one was a standard 06 hatch and i loved it, in a moment of sensibleness i got rid of it and got a vectra sri estate 150bhp diesel, for cheaper running costs and more practicallity as have 2 dogs. Needless to say i thought it was crap, lasted 2 months as standard, then got a remap to just under 180bhp, was still crap compared to a petrol vrs so ditched it and bought a new FL estate vrs 2.0tsi petrol, had it remapped and and new air filter in week 1 and it's amazing. All in all a very expensive moment of sensibleness. Diesel would be nice when insuring or going on long trips or even for avoiding filling up so oftern but a petrol is more than nice every time you drive it. Hope that helps. PS there is nothing quite like owning a spanking new car an knowing that you know every thing there is to know about it, has it been thrashed, how did it get that stone chip, is there a bit of filler somewhere, you get the idea.

I live in Carnoustie and ended up buying my new VRS from West End, Daniel seems a really decent honest bloke and the deal he gave me was much better than the 4 or so dealers that are nearer to me. It was actually a pleasure to part with my cash. I did not feel at all as if I had been done, not usually the case when leaving a garage, in fact we semi agreed on a trade in price over the phone, fully expecting him to um and ar and offer me less he totally shocked me by offering me more. I've only done 5k in the car but thinking about using them for servicing etc ecen though it would be a much longer trip, that's how impressed I was with them.

Thanks for that

Just looking for some reasurance, the other day the oil light came on on my 5 month old FL Octavia VRS petrol, done about 4k miles. My local Skoda dealer has shut so I took it to the Audi dealer instead to make sure I got the correct long life oil (what is it by the way so I know what to buy next time as have binned the bottle I got from Audi without taking note of it, Stupid Me). It took nearly a litre of oil to get to the max (stupid oil cap design by the way) I was just a little concerned by this, the guy at Audi said it was perfectly normal and folk with brand new cars usually need a top up before the first service, whats your guys views. The car has had a remap and filter upgrade, it usually does a 15 mile each way commute on quiet A roads and some town centre stuff (off peak so no traffic at all) 4 or 5 days a week then a bit of family stuff at the weekends. It is by no means driven hard, the standard 200bhp is rarely used let alone the extra umph from the remap, will be lucky if it ever gets to 4000rpm on a normal run, obviously I have my moments like we all do but as im getting older 32 and have a little one these moments are getting few and far between, plus there are a limited number of Audi's and BM's on the roads to annoy at 5am lol. Is this normal ? The oil thing not the driving miss daisy part. Also out of curiosity what average MPG are other petrol VRS drivers getting, I know if I try really hard and drive like a saint for most of a tank I get get mid 30's + but in reality my average is about 32-33 (just need to keep the missus away as she seems to have a phobia of using 5th and 6th gear) how does that compare with others.

Have seen it twice now while there and your right its a cracker, you should hear the noise it makes, think i would even swap my VRS for lol although would not fancie buying tyres for it.

If you speak nicley to your dealer they are easy to tweek, I have a set of 4 fited to my FL estate

Will give that a try, cheers

They were nice and smooth, the guy spent all day tweeking the remap to ensure it, he went out on a good few runs and came back and fiddled again until he was happy, the plastic i was meaning was the big plastic engine cover thing with TSI written on it, was only joking about it making a difference lol

If i had it i would love to, we stay in scotland and were over in N Ireland visiting the inlaws when the remap was done, think the missus has binned the dyno printout along with out boat tickets etc upon return so needless to say im not a happy bunny, hopefully getting the video file emailed to me so will let you know. See you have removed your plastic stuff from the engine, does that make any difference lol Do you get a kind of blowing grumbly noise from under the front at about 2.5k rpm, just checking its normal as don't remember it off my old tfsi one.

And on BP ultimate from new, if that makes any difference

It is the spanking new TSI engine, cheers, also has a ITG filter which i forgot to mention.

Help, Maybe it's just me being stupid, but the stretchy boot net thing that came with the car does not seem to fit anywhere in the boot, I have had a good look and the fixing hook thingys do not seem to want to fit anywhere which is a shame as it would be very useful. I have the rubber boot mat fitted and dog guard also so i suppose that could be blocking the correct anchoring points. Any ideas ?

You most certainly have not rained on my parrade, It was not a rolling road as anyone with any sense knows these are not recommended for 200bhp+ due to the risk of the car coming off. It was done on a DYNAPACK HUB DYNO which the car hubs are bolted to. Not going to argue about the figures it does not put me up or down either way. PS the same DYNAPACK HUB DYNO also gave a reading of 147bhp for a standard 150bhp vectra SRI so not reading high at all :p

Had my new VRS petrol estate for 2 weeks now, its my 2nd one now and still loving it. Had it custom remapped by a company called torquetronix last week and it's now got 270bhp and loads more torque so is needless to say very very impressive. Anyway the reason for the post is to say that when mine was on the dyno before the remap it had 218bhp as standard, the guys there recon thats quite normal on these latest generation VAG engines. Whats more it had only done a few hundred miles then so these figures should improve as the engine loosens up. It just makes it even easier to really annoy these Audi, BMW and Merc drivers lol PS how annoying is all this volcanic dust crap, I need to clean my car twice a week now, or is that just being obsesive.

Have a 2 week old one myself and my dealer who was the most helpfull man in the world and would do anything for you (West End in Edinburgh incase your wondering) said the 2nd foglight thing was a myth as was the cornering fogs as they were on able to be activated if you had xeon's. Not sure how much truth is in that but see no reason why he would lie.

Cheers again, Will definatly be getting the remap done so max fun can be had. Track days are a big NO for normal insurance so I would need to get a seperate policy on the day for those. Elephant have said no when I enquired about the remap but current policy runs out in a couple of months so don't want to cancel and miss out on the no claims bonus, currently have 11 years and am early 30's so I know it won't make any difference to premiums but its a principle thing having earned them and all that. Plus once the cancellation fee is taken off the refund amount is zero anyway. I may just get another short term seperate policy to run for a couple of months along side the Elephant one which has the remap listed and then renew for a whole year with a diffrent insurer with the remap listed. Can anyone who has a remapped car recommend anyone for insurance, also how much more on top did you pay, folk have already suggested Chris Knott, anyone else worth trying.

Not looking for ways to avoid paying at all, money not an issue, if it was I would not just have bought my 2nd brand new VRS, I was just interested to hear other views on the matter, the reason for asking about the switcahable system is that someone mentioned it in a reply above and I have never had or seen one before and was not sure how they worked. As for asking about about the track / insurance and stuff that was just a question to put out there as 99% of the time the 200bhp as standard will be enough for the road but the extra from a remap would be great at a track day. Was just not sure how insurance would class a switcahable system when it was in standard mode on the road as no matter what mode you are in on a track you are not covered anyway. Hope this clears things up.

Thanks for al your advice / suggestions, not an issue of cost at all as it peanuts in the grand scale of things, after your advice I will be telling the insurance again to keep myself right I was simply wondering what the norm was as I know that some folk don't bother and risk it thinking the insurance will never find out. Just to complicate things even more whats the story with a switchable system then, how much more do they cost, and how do you switch between the 2, I have only had normal straight forward remaps before so am a little unsure or how they work, I assume that as long as you were lucky / wise enough to have the system in "standard" mode at the time of any bump etc then you would still be covered under standard insurance (say for example you only used the remap settings on track / private road). Cheers

Picking my new VRS petrol up this week, at last, and already have it booked in for a remap. Have had cars remapped in the past so know the legality of telling insurance / voiding waranty etc etc. I was just wondering has anyone out there with a remap actually ever told their insurance company (I always do of course !!!!!!!) and what hapened to your insurance premiums as a result. Has anyone ever crashed their remapped motor, and if so did the insurance find out. Has anyone had bother getting things fixed under Skoda waranty due to having a remap. I have told my dealer my plans and he seems brand new about it, basically said he has more to worry about than checking ECU maps when a car goes wrong. Ant thoughts commenys are welcome.

Cheers for that, should save me a few pennies to put towards my retro fit sat nav and bluetooth, still can't believe you have to get DSG to get bluetooth thats mental.

Thanks to both of you for advice, my last remap got me another 48bhp and that was on a diesel vectra 150bhp sri, most tuning companies are quoting figures of between 250 - 265 bhp for a remapped petrol VRS so think your figure of 30 may be a little on the cautious side but you never know until the day so i'll post the results on the site once it's done. Cheers

Well excited myself now chose my number plate today and I collect mine from Edinburgh at the start of next week, it was a week 16 build i think, its my 2nd one with a vectra sri in between, it was a **** car big mistake,. Its a VRS petrol estate in race blue with sunset glass and silver rails and spare wheel, getting that autoglym lifeshine stuff so it should be nice and shiny. Already have it booked in for a custom remap at torquetronix so it should be a flying machine when they are done (it was either that or a motor bike and the missus was not happy about a bike) . Got a week in N Ireland with the inlaws at the same time as the Remap so going to have a ball as some of the roads over there are amazing. I was going to get a white one but the missus was not happy with it, white is stunning just now I must say but will it still be as desirable in a couple of years ?????? Anyone know if the standard alarm / imob is CAT 1 or not, it's kind of hard to find out, the Thatcham website have the Scouts listed as CAT 1 and also Skoda Security System 1 and Skoda Security System IV SK-FI are showing as CAT1 any idea whats fitted to the VRS as it would help keep the insurance down.