Andy_Q

I've been looking at the L/E and as stated above the best you'll get is the standard 15% off. The usual tale from dealers is "we can sell all we can get", but these are car dealers we are talking about and if one said it was raining, personally I'd have to look out of the window before I believed 'em!! Therefore I won't be going for a L/E as: 1 Leather seats, had Black leather Recaros in a Golf GTi a few years ago - freezing in winter, burn your backside in summer! (NB the L/E doesn't get heated seats, even as an option) 2. Awful colour! Makes it look like a hearse, also I'd never buy a car that's the colour of tarmac!! 3. Dealer offered me £6000 p/ex for my 06 race blue petrol estate with 40k miles, when 50 miles down the road another dealer is selling an identical car but in red with 42k miles and is asking £10k! So its going to be autotrader and then probably try an on line reverse auction, such as auto-ebid, they're offering a VRs estate 170cr for sub £16k - Anyone bought from them? If so what were they like? Cheers Andy

My Vrs is coming up on a year old and after 13k miles the original Continentals have taken much abuse and finally have reached the point where they have less meat on them than a size '0' cat walk model with a bad case of anorexia! I'm running on 18" wheels and all 4 tyres need changing; anyone got any tips for deals etc, I don't want cheap nasty, chuck you in the nearest hedge on a tight bend, crap tyres, or some horrible things that would de-laminate in a Richard Hammond stlylee at high speed, just an honest price on some decent new rubber? Cheers Q

I agree, the only thing I don't like on my car is the awful ICE! I'm currently scouring the salvage sites for a written off Audi A3 / A4 with the Bose upgrade sound system, working on the theory that it should fit straight into an Octy and still do all the secondary functions ie climate control display etc. Failing that it will have to be the Blaupunkt head unit (approx £275) and new speakers all round, as I want DAB radio. Any advice or thoughts welcome.

I would agree just about everyone gets the electric pack which includes the jumbo box, dual zone climate control and 'leccy rear windows, likewise the 18's. I got the maxi dot by default and though I wasn't fussed at the time, am now glad I did

Firstly I've driven the mk1 VRs on numerous occasions and its no where near as rapid as the Mk2, plus it has that issue with the sump grounding going over humps in the road. Secondly, I have to disagree ref build quality. Mines fine, every bit as sturdy and squeek-free as an equivalent Audi or Golf ( I drove an A3 and a Golf Gti before buying the VRs). If you enjoy whinging about build quality buy a Fiat - I had a Coupe turbo and the wife had a Punto HGT after owning either of those 2 mobile disaters, and the woefully incompetent dealers, you'd never moan about VAG build quality again!!

Its the woodstock DAB 54. I've just had a look on the 'net and its retailing at about £275 (exactly half of what you're local friendly main dealer will sell you one for!!) Just priced up some new speakers at about £300 for 8 (4 main ones and 4 tweeters) So it looks like the project's going ahead. Would be interested in anyone else who's put new ice in a MK2 Octy Link to spec for head unit: Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB54

1. Fuel consumption - going to work about 32-34mpg (its mainly on good A1 roads at quiet times) but obviously lots of clog and anchor stuff will bring that down to upper / mid 20's. 2. the dog issue - I've put a large plastic dog basket in the back of mine, its hard wearing and easy to wash also the sides prevent mud/ slobber / hair getting everywhere (cost £25 rather than £200 for the genuine thing from Skoda) 3. Tyres - I've not put any on my Octy yet - the originals have still got plenty of meat on them after11k miles, but previously I had a golf GTi which also had 18"s. As there are now more and more cars with them fitted they are becoming less of a specialist thing so the price is coming down, shop around and you'll get decent ones for £80 a piece. Cheers Andy

The cheapest super unleaded I've found is Sainsbury's which is typically only 2p per litre more than standard unleaded. There is a definate difference in performance when you put the 95ron 'vin ordinaire' as opposed to the better 97/98 ron stuff!

Another problem you'll find is the speakers are crap to put it bluntly. I've tried asking around to see if the Bose ones from a written off Audi A3 would fit but nobody seems to know (there was a set on e-bay about a month ago but they looked a bit suspect). There is a Blaupunkt head unit which fits, has DAB radio, and still has all the display functions ie climate control etc, a dealer will sell you one for £550 but you'd get one from an online car audio specialist for about half that.

Price sounds reasonable, I used autoebid as a bargaining tool in the local dealers to get the price right on mine which is identical car except petrol and with just the 18" wheels, the electric pack the metallic and maxidot for £18.1k. I did consider buying from them but the thought of parting with over £18k on the inter-nerd was a bit too scary!! The only problem you've got now is resisting the temptation to thrash the B*&^%$cks off it fro the first 1000 miles!! Oh, yes and a repalcement for the crappy stereo!!

Thanks Octygone - at £250 that's the exact same head unit the dealers were wanting £600 for - Robbin' bar stewards!! Well that's the head unit sorted just need to know if the Bose kit out of an Audi will fit - any ideas?

I've just bought a Race Blue Octavia VRs and I agree the bright colours suit them best, silver is a tad ubiquitous these days. The yellow looks well on the Fabia but bloody awful on the Octavia, I don't know if it made it to the UK but I saw a Mk1 Octy VRs in yellow with colour co-ordinated yellow leather seat sides, whilst in Czech, the bits of random yellow made it look like genocide at an Orville the duck convention!!

As per most of the above messages I'd advise getting rid ASAP, it would even be worth cutting your losses and off-loading it at auction. As regards a replacement there are some suggestions above, however one post suggests a Fiat Punto, from experience of a Punto HGT bought from Reg Vardy don't know which was more unrealible and generally inefficient the car or the dealer, at least the car wasn't a systematic liar, so probably the dealer!! Just looked on the items for sale part of this site and found the below: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/items-sale/its-sad-sad-day-my-beloved-octy-vrs-has-go/62670/ Relates to a very smart looking Octavia VRs for £5k, far better than a poxy Punto!!

Hi, Andy here, bought a new VRs 6 months ago and it's superb (no pun intended!)! First fell in love with them when I saw a Mk1 on a plinth in Prague airport some years ago, but at the time had just got a Mk4 Golf GTi, so wasn't ready for a change until the MkII came out. Only grumble is the ICE is 'orrible!! ( had some serious Pioneer gear in the Golf). The head unit in the Octy appears to be a unique fit so any suggestions would be welcome, I've seen a Bose hifi out of an Audi A4 on E-bay but am unsure about compatability etc The dealer showed me a blaupunkt head unit that fits ( I quite fancy DAB) but it was

Hi, Andy here, bought a new VRs 6 months ago and its superb (no pun intended!)! First fell in love with them when I saw a Mk1 on a plinth in Prague airport some years ago, but at the time had just got a Mk4 Golf GTi, so was ready for a change when the MkII came out. I live in rural North Yorkshire so appreciate its handling on the bendy bits and ability to get past tractors \ caravans \ HGVs \ old people in Nissan Micras etc.. Only grumble is the ICE is terrible ( had some serious Pioneer gear in the Golf). The head unit in the Octy appears to be a unique fit so any suggestions would be welcome, I've seen an Audi Bose hifi on E-bay but am unsure about compatability etc The dealer showed me a blaupunkt head unit that fits ( I quite fancy DAB) but it was £600 and I would also need some other components and new speakers to do it justice, so its looking expensive at nearly £1000 therefore any advice would be welcome. Thanks Andy