wilbert77

He ended up buying a VW Polo R Line instead

My son has his heart set on a Monte Carlo 1.2TSI as his first car. He has a budget of £5k so I guess he is looking at 12 to 14 models depending on condition and mileage. Are the any major issues that we should be aware of prior to viewing them or is it just standard 2nd hand car checklist stuff?

I will check the battery but I've never had any warnings with the stop start etc and the engine cranks over strong and fires up quickly.

Nothing more than the odd puddle and pothole on farm tracks.

So over the past couple of weeks I have been hit with a series of electrical faults and niggles which may or may not be connected. The eclectic mirrors can no longer be adjusted or heated. The windows are behaving very erratically or not at all and the radio has a mind of its own too. Driving down the motorway on the way to a wedding the front passenger window decided to fully open for no reason then refuse to go back up for about 20 seconds whilst me and the wife are frantically trying to close it whilst her hair is blowing all over the place. This happened 4 times and it didn't seem to matter whether I used the switch in the drivers door or the one in the passenger door, neither seemed very responsive. I ended up pressing the window lock button in hope that it would stop this happening and so far it has but I now can't get the window lock button to turn off and now my drivers window is hit and miss to whether it will go up or down. On to the radio... I had the touchscreen replaced about 12 months ago just before it ran out of warranty but now it is back to having a mind of its own constantly changing radio station or skipping tracks when being played from my phone via Bluetooth and then randomly muting the sound. Fair to say that at present there is little driving pleasure to be had from the Scout. Any help or suggestions greatly received.

So both wing mirrors have stopped working both in the motorised adjustment and the heating function. I have had a look through the manual and cant see which fuse they are on. Does anyone know which fuse it is to save me a job of going through every fuse to see if anything has blown. If its not the fuse are the multi function switches known to break? I had a gold a few years ago and this was a common fault. As far as I know everything else is working as it should.

Mine does exactly the same. I've had the DSG box and Haldex clutch service but it makes zero difference. Still randomly bangs and judders then the rest of the time it is smooth. Not sure if I would have another Skoda, its not a bad car just slow and a bit dull to drive quickly but it is my workhorse and does that ok.

Don't labour a new engine or sit at a constant speed / revs for a long period. Drive it as normal as you can from day one once it is up to temp and don't be afraid to accelerate hard and take the revs up to the limiter. You want the high spots on the bore, piston, bearings etc to wear. Personally and from experience I would say that the timing of the first oil change is what you want to focus on. Diesels take longer to free up as they don't rev as high and the fuel is also a good lubricant.

I would trade my diesel scout in for a petrol scout if they did one or a Superb scout with a petrol engine would be even better.

420 to 460 miles per tank is my average from a 2.0tdi 184 DSG Scout. A mixture of driving but still not great when on a long motorway run. Anything above 70 and the MPG plummets to below 40 mpg

Yes but I wasn't pressing the accelerator at all just letting the car creep forward in drive on tick over. Normally when releasing the brake pedal they stay on for a second or two to stop it rolling back and then the car starts to move. This time as soon as I released he pedal the car lunged forward at pace. The brake pedal felt solid when pressed but felt like there was no servo. I have had several automatic cars and many manual ones. Never experienced anything like this in over 23 years of driving and well over 400k miles. I was literally 1 inch from going through the garage door. It was the same when I put it in reverse, fast set off with no accelerator and then minimal braking. After that the car has been fine with normal setting off

I know that brakes are not at their best after a wash but I was pressing the brake pedal with everything I had and I only just stopped, never had this issue before after washing it or driving through 1 foot of flood water. What made the car lurch forward? It was almost like the accelerator being stuck full on. lets not forget the car only need to move 6 feet yet as soon as I released the hand brake and my foot off the pedal it shot forward and I had next to zero braking. Similar to ABS in the snow but without the pedal pulsing.

The other day I had washed my car and did a bit of work on my motorbikes. When I went to move the car and park it up against the garage door I had a scary moment. I started the car, put it into drive and let my foot of the brake pedal so the car would crawl forward on its own the 6 or 7 foot it needed to go to the garage door. it didn't quite work that way the car lurched forward and I jumped on the brake pedal but it was like I had zero brake power like there was no servo. Anyway I just stopped the car before it hit the garage door. A little shocked I put it in reverse and it did the same again!!! so very gingerly I put in drive and it was fine. did this 6 or 7 times with no further issue. Obviously my first trip in the car was a bit nervy but all appears fine now. Has anyone else had issues like this? I occasionally get a noisy jerky set off when reversing out of my drive which I believe is a "characteristic" of the car.

I have a 15 plate scout with the DSG box. I have owned it since August and get 40 to 45 mpg out of it on a mixture of routes and conditions and have done 7000 miles in that time. Drive it hard and I can get low to mid teen mpg over a 30 mile trip. Drive it very gently and I can get 55 mpg. The ride is fairly comfortable and handling is not bad but its no sports car. Performance is average but the engine feels a bit overworked and runs out of shove quickly when driven hard. The seats are comfy and the interior trim is generally ok but some of the materials being a bit cheap and flimsy. I use mine for fishing and shooting and it works ok off road but I wouldn't like to try it on much more than muddy fields and farm tracks. Boot space is ok but getting big loads in to and out of it can be difficult due to the shape and the step up from the floor to boot opening. It suits my needs and budget well and I get on with it much better than the Volvo XC70 it replaced.

These https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ring-RW464-12v-100w-H7-Rally-Sport-Halogen-Headlight-Bulbs-x2-499/272573567981?epid=594463509&hash=item3f76a693ed:g:rHoAAOSwuxFYttDF

I have just uprated the bulbs in the headlights and it has made a huge difference. I do quite a bit of driving on country roads with no street lights etc. What where poor to average lights are now quite good. Not as good as xenon lights but £40 for 4 new bulbs is a fraction of the price.

I wouldn't say that the ride is harsh or even that firm on the scout but when going over speed bumps you can feel that the back end is much firmer than the front. Great at towing and putting big heavy loads in the boot.

The Scout isn't permanent 4x4 though. I had a Volvo XC70 before the scout and that was far bigger, heavier, bigger 5 cylinder engine, older, 110K more miles on it, knackered turbo and EGR valve and permanent 4x4 and I got 37 MPG average out of that. Hence why I'm NOT ecstatic about 40 to 45 MPG out of the Scout when being driven like miss daisy on a long run.

I was getting better or equal MPG from my remapped BMW 530d that was much quicker than the Octavia as it had over 100bhp more and roughly twice the torque and I drove it much faster too. Just think the 2.0d unit in the Octavia is quite thirsty for its power output. It is fairly quiet and smooth so a fair trade off. Now if I could get a BMW 3 or 5 series estate in 4x4 with raised ride height and the 3.0d engine in that would tick lots of boxes.

I have the same car and am getting very similar MPG out of mine, both the OBC and brim to brim tank calculations confirm this to within 1 or 2 mpg of each other. If I drive normally I get sub 40 mpg every time and that includes motorway trip sat at 85 with the CC on and AC off, drive like an old lady and I can get it to 45 and 50 at a push but that is at speeds below 55, drive it hard and its below 30mpg. I don't find it a quick car either but then again I don't find many cars that feel quick when I am used to riding bikes. I bought it as a reliable work horse for when I'm fishing and shooting and ferrying my dogs about and so far I can't complain about it's reliability, build quality or the way it drives apart from not very good MPG and being a bit slow.

I see very well in the dark which is maybe why they distract me more than others. Other than the gear lever and handbrake I have no need to mess with anything else in the centre console area when driving or stationary as the multi function steering wheel allows me to change most things.

I will give that a try later when its home time. If I can't do that then a marker pen will be doing some colouring in. I've had BMW's in the past that had the centre console / cockpit illuminated but it was a dim orange glow which didn't bother me as there was no glare off it. I find the white lights on the Octavia are in my field of vision and can be distracting at times. As I have the DSG box the illumination from the gear selector already provides enough light to see everything plus if the ergonomics are right I shouldn't have to look to see any of the controls (I don') so see no benefit of the lights.

I have only had the car (15 plate) 4 weeks and in that time it has pretty much rained every day. Each time after rain that I open the drivers door quite a lot of water splashes out on to the floor. Not sure if the front passenger or rear doors do the same as I never open them myself and forget to check. I have never had a car do this before and have had quite a few.

So having recently bought a 2 year old scout I am starting to familiarise myself with all its functions. There are 2 very small but very annoying down lights that sit between the 2 "reading lights". is it possible to turn these off as at night the glare from them is right in the corner of my vision and is both annoying and distracting. I have no need to see my left hand like its day light or the centre console as I know where the controls are. If these can't be switched off is it an easy job to remove them?

I purchased a 2 year old MK3 Octavia Scout with the 185bhp diesel engine and DSG box about 3 weeks ago. So far so good. Rides well and is quite good off road too. Not the fastest car I have ever owned but it has enough poke for safe overtaking and returns 40 to 45 mpg. I was expecting a bit more as my BMW 530d M sport that was remapped to 280bhp got about the same. Anyway looking forward to picking your brains for a good few years as I intend to keep it for quite a while.