Cznski

^^ not a bad price that. Happy with the deal I got though, standard £1000 contribution and 0% plus a decent further discount on top of that. I reckon with the options I've spec'd and the higher mileage allowance I'd need there'll not be a lot in it.

I was convinced I wanted DSG on my next car until I drove one... Test drove a manual and DSG over the same route back to back and don't get me wrong it wasn't bad by any means and I was mightily impressed by the smoothness of the changes, you really couldn't tell other than by looking at the rev counter. What I didn't like was the feeling of 'lack of control' when you first pulled away from rest. It pulled away smartly enough and there wasn't a lot of delay but it just felt like the car was driving you rather than the other way round which I felt was going to be a worry for me when pulling out of junctions into traffic etc. I suppose you'd get used to it and adapt your driving style accordingly but I decided it wasn't worth the extra cost for me. One other minor point is it cast doubts about the fuel economy, I know the DSG is actually supposed to be slightly better than the manual but we drove the same 10mile route which was probably 70% town and 30% busy motorway and having reset the computer the manual claimed an average of 44mpg and the DSG 38mpg (both 1.4tsi ACT engines and both had a only few hundred miles on the clock). I know you can't really tell much from a journey like that but it just cast some doubt in my mind which added to the argument that it wasn't for me.

Thanks for the replies - did a bit of reading about over the weekend and came to the conclusion that I had to have it!. Just for the looks really - I think it would just look silly with 17s and standard ride height. Would love to have gone for 18s but that was stretching the budget a bit too far. So now I just have to play the waiting game, got a build date of week 48....

Long(ish) time member but not posted for a while... I'm very close to pushing the button on the purchase of a new Octavia SE Sport but I'd like some opinions on wheels / suspension. Car comes as standard with 17s and I was happy with the ride quality on the test drive (current car has 17s too and rides fine) but I would like a more sporty look if it doesn't compromise the comfort (I'm not fussed about handling etc. as it's primarily a family car so comfort is the main priority really) My question is how much does the sport suspension and/or 18s ruin the ride - is it worth it?

Not been on here a while but looking for some friendly advice... To cut a long story short I need a rough guide on how to fit a new fuel pressure sensor to a 2011 1.8TSI engine. From what I can tell from googling it looks fairly straightforward but unfortunately the car is 150miles away from me just now so can't easily check and I need to know what tools I'll need to take up with me when I go at the weekend - again looks like just a socket is needed, possibly 10mm? and the rest is just plug and play as it were. A brief description (even a couple of photos if anyone has to hand) of how to do it and any tools I'll need would be much appreciated! It's either that or tell my wife just to pay a garage to do it for her.

I'm sure the Yeti is thirstier being bigger and 4x4 but the 1.8TSI in our Octavia is giving us 38mpg on average and up to 45mpg on a long run up the A9 (i.e. 3hrs at a constant 50-60mph due to average speed cameras). Check out the Octavia section for lots of scare stories about the TSI engines, oil consumption and timing chain issues so make sure you have a good service history, ours is a 2011 model and is on 84k miles with no issues though. Great all round engine imo but do be aware of the potential issues - not sure I'd get another one with that engine after reading up on the potential problems but as I say I've had no problems with ours and you always get more people posting problems than praise so it usually looks worse than it is!

Something I've been changing my mine over and over again about. I currently use an "old banger" for my commute and keep wondering if I'd be better off with a new car on PCP, however as it stands all I'd gain is the pleasure of a new car as over the past year my 2004 Yaris has cost me £122 per month all in (including purchase, repairs, fuel, tax, insurance) I'd be hard pushed to find a PCP deal that works out as good overall - which is a shame as I don't particularly like driving the Yaris but it's just too cheap to run to justify getting rid of!

I rather like that but then again I also like the Rover Streetwise and owned one up until last week!

Insignia - all hire care are this!

I would agree with the above. I would definitely not leave it any longer, at the very least get an oil change done (under £50 if you do it yourself). Mine is currently on variable servicing and saying 3000miles or 100-and-something days to next service but the MOT is due at the end of the month so getting it serviced at the same time and the schedule changed to annual/10000miles from there on.

Sounds like it's gone into a limp mode. Without running a scan it's impossible to say what it is - most likely a sensor has gone. Mine showed similar symptoms when the crank speed sensor went and another time when it was the MAF sensor. A garage will charge you just to read the code so unless you're desperate to get it fixed quickly get yourself a fault code scanner (a £10-20 job from ebay will do fine for reading codes). If nothing else it will give you some foreknowledge when you do take it to the garage - just remember not to reset the fault light if you're taking it to the garage as it will clear the code and they'll not be able to read it themselves! In the case of the MAF on mine it was a very easy DIY change so saved myself garage labour charges, on the other hand the crank speed sensor is quite difficult to get at so the garage did that one.

I had my waterpump replaced recently and it was just under £400 at an independent VAG specialist, mainly labour as it's quite a big job to get at on the 1.8tsi - don't know what engine you have. Also that didn't include a belt change as it's a chain engine! For interest sake mine did go quite suddenly from loosing no water to having to more or less pouring out as fast as I could top it up within the space of a couple of weeks. Mine was about 7months out of warranty, didn't even think to try for a dealer contribution however it was also on 70k miles so I guess they'd have refused on that basis, that and I'd bought it at 3 years old from an independant dealer.

Pah, it's all just ways of generating money clothed in the excuse of the environment. [places tongue in cheek] For me I hope diesels do become ostracised in the next 3 or 4 years - last year I bought my (2nd hand) 1.8tsi Octavia and it cost me a good £2-3k cheaper than a comparative age/spec diesel version. If all this scaremongering over diesels comes true then by the time I come to sell it should be worth more than a diesel! As has been said over and over, the only way to solve the "cars are killing polar bears and kittens" problem is to make public transport an attractive option both in terms of price, journey time and convenience. Taxing folk more isn't going to make the slightest difference in my opinion. I know this is a bit simplistic but if I was going to have to pay an extra £100 for the privilege of owning a car I'd make damn sure I got my money's worth out of it and would probably end up using it more to justify the extra cost of owning it thus defeating the purpose of reducing emissions.

Got my first car in early 2000 - it was this 1962 Mini: Original and unrestored with 50k miles on it - never 'properly' let me down - yes things went wrong but I always got home again. Most notable being having the head gasket go when heading to the ferry home from Holland on the day of the fuel blockades. As long as I stayed under 50mph it was fine, anything more than that it overheated! Had to stop every hr all the way from Hull to Edinburgh to keep topping up the radiator! Thankfully being limited to 50 meant that I didn't use much fuel although as it ran on LRP I had no problems finding petrol, it was quite amusing skipping past all the long queues for the unleaded pumps to get to my own personal red pump! One of my biggest regrets was selling that car but no off-street parking and being a student meant I couldn't give it the care it deserved - replaced it with a 1994 Mini!

Been meaning to read his book but never got round to it yet. Been a fan since watching Closer to the Edge in the cinema when it came out (had never heard of him before that) and watched most of his TV stuff since. I agree that I can't see him doing I'm a celebrity but part of me would love to see that - I imagine he'd just get on with it, no fuss and really show the others up!

Good article although I have to say that I was a little disappointed to learn that he'd owned and Aston and was considering another, he doesn't come across as the type of guy who could afford that kind of thing - and I mean that in the nicest possible way in that he seems far too down to earth and normal! I guess I had this image of him where he wasn't loaded and was working as a truck mechanic because he needed a job to find his racing antics - I guess all the racing success and recent TV work has its benefits! Don't get me wrong, he thoroughly deserves it and the fact that he doesn't let it come across in his personality is to be very much commended, I just had this probably naive view of him!

I've just ordered this for a bit of a play - one thing I'd like to do (but don't think it does) is have the tail lights on with DRLs, anyone know if this is possible? Also does anyone know of a list of what the different country modes changes in terms of lighting displays etc?

Looking at that picture I realise how badly it needs lowering!!

Here's one I took not long after fitting: [edit] I just noticed that it's a Mk1 you have so probably not relevant! Not sure how it would work on the Mk1 with the more curved bumper.

I've got one of these on my non VRS facelift bumper - quite happy with it for the price but it's starting to come unstuck a little at the ends although that's possibly more down to me not cleaning the bumper up well enough before sticking it on as I've also had one on my MX5 for 2 years and it's showing no signs of coming off.

Had 2 bad ones recently but they were expected. First was my MX5 just before the winter which I knew needed welding but stuck it in for the test anyway (I had a £10 MOT voucher) to see what was needed. Only fail was the welding to the sills but would cost around £800 to fix properly so the car is now in my garage until I learn to weld! Last month my Yaris which was bought as a winter replacement for the MX5 had 3 pages of fails totalling about £600 in all, again it was not unexpected and it was a case of putting it in for the test and if it failed on anything much then get rid. I only paid £400 for it and got £200 for it as an MOT failure so wasn't too fussed! The Octavia is due it's MOT in August so hoping for a much better result there!

I reset the average MPG display when we got the car 6 months ago and it's currently showing 37.something mpg after arout 5000 miles - mainly my wife who uses the car though the week to ferry the kids about so mostly town work. The other day I had to do a 120mile round trip for work on motorways and A roads and managed 44mpg (according to the computer) but that was driving like a granny to maximise my "profit" from the mileage I could claim back! I dare say if you did a long trip at a steady 50mph you could knock on the door of 50mpg if you were lucky (unless you died of boredom first) I know the computer is usually optimistic but you should be getting a bit better than you're saying. You don't say what type of journeys you're doing either, I find the economy is terrible for short trips from cold, popping to the shops a mile down the road will return about 25mpg!! But hey - petrol's "cheap" at the moment so just enjoy it! I've just filled up with Shell V Power to see if that makes any difference given that it's now cheaper than standard petrol was a few months ago.

I'd tend to steer clear of one that's too car specific - one day you might want something other than a VRS and your plate would end up looking wrong! One thing I've found with mine (C2NSK - see my username) is that if it's a bit too obscure then you find yourself having to explain it to everyone, people always say to me "but your initials aren't NSK" then I have to explain that it comes from my nickname "Czinski". I still love the plate but the questions can get annoying after a while!

Well what do you know - I was worried for nothing! Thanks for everyone's' input!

Well that's encouraging that yours is the same! Funny about the blobs of yellow paint, mine has them all over the engine - must be some kind of marking applied at the factory for some reason - testing of components perhaps?