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Those silica bags are a menace. Sorry yours went, but glad it didn't cost you.

Is this any use to you? https://manual-directory.com/cars/skoda/octavia/ There's a load there. I haven't checked all the links work, but this one seems to.

I came from a Mk3 Mondeo that was a joy to drive, and I've had to adapt to the set-up in my Octavia. C'est la vie!

Epic! What a contribution! 👌

One man's cherished car is another man's old banger. Have you advertised them on here?

The Focus has an exceptionally good suspension set-up. If top-notch suspension is what you want, you'll need to choose your Skoda carefully. I have IRS all round and it's fine. Not great IMO, but more than satisfactory for my needs. It might be worth having a go in a vRS with DCC and see if that suits you better.

Likewise on unplanned costs. No faults, no problems, no issues at all. The closest I've got to extra-servicing repair is me removing the silica bag and getting G12evo put in. But I appreciate I'm still under 21k miles, so there's plenty of scope for things to go wrong. I plan to anticipate problems and implement planned maintenance. TBD what that actually is in effect, but the coolant change is an example.

I'd be trying to pinpoint exactly where the noise was coming from. If you have a device that records video with sound, lay it on the ground and reverse over it. (A GoPro would be great, but even your phone would be fine) You'll be able to see at which point the noise gets loudest as you pass over the camera so you'll know where on the car the noise is coming from, and if it's a stereo recording, you'll be able to tell which side of the car it's coming from too.

Hello and welcome! 👋

Pulled straight out the air with limited info, I'd be looking at anti-roll bar links as the first place to start. They can be clunky so and sos and are a relatively cheap and easy fix if it is them that have worn.

Hello. Does your car coast in ECO mode? If so, you can test your theory pretty easily. My DQ381 always starts in Drive mode when I start the car.

My car's engine seems to be loosening-up nicely. I think a 60MPG run might actually be possible, given I had a bit of a blast on a section of road on this journey, which spoilt my otherwise economic driving. (aided by a fair few sections with a 50MPH speed limit.)

Certainly you can drive it before then, but with greater risk of kangarooing. My 2.0L does something similar, though I haven't timed it to confirm the 45 second delay before the RPM drops down to normal idle.

I'd get my tracking sorted if that's what's caused the scrubbing, and then if I was stuck for cash, I'd pump them up to the higher "economy" pressure rating and see how I got on with them. If the scrubbing is purely caused by hard driving, I'd change them.

Rubber, for a few reasons, all of them practical. Easier to clean, tend to stay in place better than carpet (I have 5mm rubber mats in my car), can't get water-logged, don't hold smells/stains, and that's just all that come to mind at the moment. Carpet mats are undoubtedly nicer, but for day to day use, I prefer rubber mats. Talking about smells, the rubber mats did stink when they first arrived though.

Perhaps. But the system has supposedly been flushed. Beyond that, it has some sort of scum/fish-food stuff floating on it. I'd be wanting the system flushed again and G12evo put in.

My coolant was changed in June 2022 and looks like this today. Your coolant doesn't look particularly clean. Is your car a heavy smoker? 🚬

Ready for the ride through Valhalla. Witness!

Hello and welcome!

No, I wasn't going to say that at all. That's exactly how I had my remap done on my old car. My concern was you having a go yourself after watching some YouTube videos. Getting a mobile tuner to come to you makes sense to me. Finding a local rolling road that's convenient to get to is something that I haven't managed yet, but TBH I haven't put much effort into it. 😄

How's this for mechanical sympathy? Look at this high speed DSG shift from drive to reverse. (In a VW advertisement, no less!) Ouch!

No worries. Here's another thread on it.

Here is my reasoning: When you put the DSG into "Park" mode, you effectively lock the gearbox. The lock mechanism is a locking spline/pin arrangement, something like the image below. The image shows a gearbox parking lock engaged. The advantage of my way of doing things ensures that there is no load placed upon the parking lock spline/pin. The car is stopped and hand-braked in position, prior to the gearbox parking lock being engaged. The disadvantage of my way of doing things, is that I think it's possible for the parking lock not to be correctly aligned and thus not correctly engaged. I don't know if this is a problem or not. One could argue that should the handbrake fail, by doing things my way, it's possible for he car to roll a little, allow the parking lock to spring into place on the parking lock wheel, and possibly shear off the parking lock spline from the parking lock. That said, a quick online search came up with this, which vindicates my way of doing it. (Someone might be able to come up with an article that contradicts it. 😉) https://lifeonfour.co/transmission-problems/how-to-correctly-park-an-automatic-car/#the-correct-way-to-park-a-car-with-an-automatic-transmission Ultimately, it's your car, park it how you like. 👍

Nothing. Did something I wrote suggest there was?

Just noticed this thread. I've had my car 4 years now. I potter around like an old man (because I am an old man), and my 2019 car has just over 20K miles on the clock, so I'm doing a tiny 4K miles a year. I haven't had so much as a hint of a GPF issue. I notice the increased RPM on start-up for about a minute, something like 1200rpm that settles down to 800-900rpm. I too was worried about having a GPF, having made a reluctant change from diesel to petrol to avoid the DPF issues. But as it happens, I have not regretted the change to petrol at all. There have been no downsides to it, bar poorer MPG, mitigated by cheaper fuel. The improved smoothness, quietness and ability to rev to 6K without running out of puff at 4.5K, while still providing good low-down torque have been a delight. Really, don't worry about your GPF. Worry about the silica bag in your coolant instead. 😋