SkodaAsh

Same issue for me, on the same location on my car. Less than a week old and a white car left its mark on my passenger door handle, and getting it off led to swirl marks that I now can’t get off. NuFinish Scratch Femover was touted to do the job but after four applications it all still looks the same to me. Can’t notice it from a few metres away but enough to bug me. Unfortunately not everyone has the same care factor for their cars.

Would be nice if car bodies and glass were made out of materials more able to withstand those insults, like the bulletproof BMW in the movie London Has Fallen...

This I’d like to confirm on my own pre-FL RS but wouldn’t know where to look. Any idea how to find this out?

Of course it's not what the car salesman would say (they're bent on the strong effect of the 'tuning' between the 2L engines) but it's purely a personal decision as to whether you like the stock 18" wheels or the bolder (too bold for me) 19" wheels and the marginally extra grunt. It is touted however to be more fuel efficient because the 7sp DSG has the extra power to hold onto higher gears, or whatever. Essentially, be happy with what you have, because there is always something else out there (or in production) that will make you think twice about your purchase. Don't be sucked into hype, but if there are other personal reasons to want a 245, then there is no other reason needed to justify the law of diminishing returns.

Argument of electric vs petrol cars is quite simple in my mind. Whether you are (1) burning refined fuel to power a car, or (2) burning fossil fuel to create the energy to power a car, or (3) utilising the services of a company that brings together a number of precious metals in an expensive process to create a solar panel that generates the energy with a maximum of 17% efficiency to power a car, it's all 'unclean'. No one process is greatly cleaner than the other from start to finish, only with 100% electric cars the number of kW able to be delivered will just not compare with petrol driven engines, unless you're wanting to compare them to a Fiat 500 or one of these: https://youtu.be/ab4L0wHkCEs. Hybrid cars bring the supposed 'best of both worlds', but the saving in fuel economy is hardly worth the extra effort, cost and consideration of disposal of fuel cells after their short life span is up.

Ethanol benefits seem to be conjecture for vehicles but there is plenty out there citing either economic or environmental benefits such as http://e10thegoodfuel.com.au/benefits-of-e10/index.html Or is it because we have other biological biproducts that we are so keen to use up and not waste so we can be seen to be “earth friendly”? So when reports like this appear: https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2012/07/31/more-evidence-that-its-time-to-dump-ethanol, then we have to scrutinise these “benefits”, especially when there is contrary evidence: http://e360.yale.edu/features/the_case_against_ethanol_bad_for_environment This is a good summary article : https://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_benefits.html But now where is the evidence for the benefit of the vehicle?

Okay, so the centre panel is left empty in case of an upgrade. I'm a little underwhelmed by the shallow and difficult-to-optimise standard system, just putting up with it until it's been broken in a little more to decide on whether to upgrade or not.

Do those with a Canton system find they can get a good balance between L/R and centre speakers with the console controls ? I don't have one (just the standard 8 speaker system) and wonder whether the balance controls are adequate to adjust the sound out of the centre speaker to get the right bass-mids-treble mix.

Ignoring a booming sound? I tip my hat off to you. That would irritate me more than a complete family in the car...

Resurrecting this thread to ask a quick question on the centre speaker panel on the dashboard. For those who do not have the Canton system (such as myself), is the centre speaker panel empty?

Has anyone compared the “booming” difference between 2017 Octavia pre- and post-FL?

And that’s the dilemma. Get charged an arm and a leg for something due to ignorance and find it’s not going to be of value in the end. Are there any other after market paint protection efforts that are good and effective for the car?

Do all Mk III RS Octavias have this multi-link suspension?

Sounds great, not like what was sold to me though. A week after buying the car someone parked beside me must have flung open their driver door and caught my passenger door handle leaving a white paint mark behind. After rubbing it with a light sponge I got the paint off but there is a defect to the top coating that won’t go despite applying NuFinish Scratch Doctor. Sufficed to say I’m not impressed.

Congrats. This looks like a clean find for a 5+ year old car. Interior looks as well kept as the exterior. Well done.

It’s relative to previous experience also - mine is comparing a Nissan Tiida with my new Octavia RS and I wouldn’t say the RS feels “crashy”. It is a relatively smooth drive that makes you feel like you’re travelling a lot slower than you really are and around roundabouts it handles them comfortably at much higher speeds than what I could have ever done on my Tiida. Having said that that the ride at slow speeds has been very smooth. Nothing jittery about it apart from reversing up a bump starting from stationary once I had the RS kick into gear after applying some gas. That is it. Otherwise it handles gear changes up hills and after roundabouts smoothly. Putting the drive mode in normal D mode it already preselects the gear for you so when starting to accelerate there is no jittery gear changes taking off.

Upon buying a new car, I was offered the option of paint protection ($1499), interior vinyl protection ($599) and fabric protection ($599). I was not explained much about what was involved before being asked to make a decision on whether I would purchase these or not through the After Sales Customer Service manager. I opted to have the lot done (anything to optimise the new car’s longevity) but to date I still haven’t got an answer to what exactly was done to the car. When approaching the local SuperCheap Auto Store I got the most sage advice on car cleaning. Wash, dry, polish (lasts 3 months without wax) then wax with Carnauba wax (lasts 12 months), regardless of the paint job done, and it will be as protected as it can be.

@Gerrycan you have presented a lot of fine information that ought to be acknowledged. Thank you. It puts the science and the marketing hype in perspective and it makes more sense knowing that “fuels ain’t fuels”. @AwaoffSki your experience with various fuel stations leaves us doubting the reputation and integrity of the business owners. Is there a way you can attest to the quality and reliability of the fuel you buy and is that what influences your source of petrol for your car?

Wow. So many choices of fuel in the UK. 95, 97 and 99. Why a 97 choice? Is is significantly cheaper than 99?

These all sound much the same argument as lens filters in photography. Does the theoretical loss of image quality from using one get offset by the protection it provides to the lens? Theoretically the higher the RON rating the better it would be to a vehicle, but we start to get the law of diminishing returns come in. I trialled 98 RON on my previous car (Nissan Tilda, rated at 91 RON) and it didn't matter which brand it was, there was no difference in fuel consumption as far as I could see on the vehicle, and the 98 RON made for a sluggish start on the car (the 91 RON started the car quickly every time). Clearly a different scenario with cars rated on 95 RON but also just putting the thought out there.

I did but both for my not being a motor (or fuel) enthusiast as well as my limited understanding of fuel quality vs motor vehicle performance vs internal combustion system tuning for fuel, I could not surmise an accurate answer as to whether I should just fuel up with 98 RON all the time, use 95 RON in a pinch (when 98 RON is not available) or just use 95 RON all the time. If it were about human pathophysiology, I'd be able to understand any article on the topic, but alas the comprehension is not transferable across these subject matters. I think I've satisfied myself that for cost vs benefit, I have no problems fuelling up with 98 RON where available. Thanks anyway for the advice.

If it were a significant price difference, like that between regular unleaded and 98 RON (about 15c per litre here in Australia) I’d have considered 95 RON. But as I wrote above, $2 more per tank is not enough to be worried about it with the way I drive (lots of short distance trips, rare long journeys). What would be the difference between 100 and 100 plus? Aviation grade fuel ratings?

Very good. In Australia 98 vs 95 is a price difference of 4c per litre, so a full tank costs $2 more for 98 RON. Quite negligible if it really means parts would last longer on the car. Although here we don’t have those freezing cold days like you do in Europe so our cars were not fitted with an ice scraper.