OldBoyScout

I'm surprised at the absence of replies to this topic so far, bearing in mind that the changes are going to seriously affect how everybody should be driving. I have seen a few reports on the TV news mainly stating that many people are unaware of the changes due to a lack of recent publicity, and I also saw a discussion on Jeremy Vine earlier this week. I fear that it is a recipe for chaos starting on Saturday 29th when some people will be driving and/or cycling according to the new rules while those who are still unaware will be going by the old rules. It also seems likely that there will be misunderstandings of the new rules. The new rules state, among other things, that cyclists should at certain times ride in the middle of their lane rather than on the left, but I have seen various people including Jeremy Vine saying that cyclists should ride in the middle of the road (not lane).

To be fair this is an issue with probably any car that has rear windows that roll down and is not unique to the Octavia. This was a gripe with the previous model and should not have been carried forward to the Mark 3. Luckily it's not something that I often need to use. Sometimes they are too much of a bother, and on those occasions I prefer to do single wipes manually. Reversing camera: I have never had one before, and have been surprised at how useful it has been. An option that really ought to be standard, considering the low cost of cameras these days, which are included on pretty much every mobile phone for example. Annoyingly my reversing camera has failed to operate on a small number of occasions when I have really needed it, but has been reactivated on switching the ignition off and on again. Stop-Start: the usual gripes as reported on other threads - not unique to Octavia of course, and easy to activate or de-activate as required while driving. Satnav - most of the time works well enough for me, but sometimes the touch screen does not respond to my touch when setting out in cold weather. Regens: After being out driving for a few hours I sometimes arrive home to find a regen in progress when I switch off the engine. Seems to happen more often than I feel it should. On the plus side I have never had a DPF warning, although my pattern of use is not supposedly the best for a diesel engine. Very occasionally I get the spurious warning message "Leave vehicle only when selector lever is in position P". This issue is discussed at length on other threads. Seems it can be a major problem on some vehicles, but in my case it just flashes up briefly and goes away again. Lack of spare wheel: have managed to get by without one so far, but have now got to the point where my can of gunk is time expired, and am thinking it might make sense to get a spare wheel rather than replacing the can. Occasional false alarms from the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, but an advance on previous cars that didn't have TPMS. Some posters have mentioned diesel engine noise. I find my current car much quieter than the previous one, a 2007 2.0 TDI 140. Recently I had a petrol Karoq loan car. The engine was so quiet I couldn't hear it at all when it was just ticking over. To me the noise level of my diesel car is perfectly acceptable. I consider all the issues above to be occasional minor irritations, and on the whole I very much like my Octavia Scout 184 DSG. It is very well equipped with top of the range standard equipment plus optional reversing camera and winter pack. I have owned this car for 6 years now and have no plans to replace it any time soon. So far I would say it is the best car I have ever owned. I had the previous Octavia from new in 2007 as my company car and bought it from the company when I retired. That car was the most reliable that I had owned until then, and the current car has been equally reliable. The Scout has received criticism for costing a lot more than the base Octavia. I was fortunate in picking up a nearly new ex demo car at a massive discount. It was just 3 months old and had less than 2,000 miles on the clock. I really like the moon white metallic paintwork which was not a colour I would have chosen myself. It contrasts well with the black plastic body mouldings. I would not have opted for the reversing camera, but am very glad to have it. Also I like the original styling better than the facelift. I like the big boot which is more than ample for our German Shepherd. I like the brisk acceleration of the 184 PS engine which is significantly faster than the 140 PS of the previous car. I like being able to easily switch between the current driving mode and Sport simply by pulling back on the gear selector lever. This makes Eco mode much easier to live with.

I have occasionally had to replace a tyre due to damage rather than wear. As this is always a risk, I prefer to keep the existing tyres so long as they are legal and the car drives OK.

Is this because you didn't reset the system after changing the tyre? Not necessarily. Resetting the system means you should get a warning of any further problems that may arise before you can get the slow puncture fixed, and it should alert you to a further drop in pressure.

That's it in a nutshell. Provided that whenever you get a warning you act on it and then reset the system immediately it is not a big problem and not really unsafe. It's a cheap way for the manufacturers to meet a legal requirement that applies to all new cars these days, and I think you will find it on most other brands too. It has its limitations, but after five years of ownership I find it is still worth having.

I think that there may be some confusion going on here. If I am reading his post correctly, the OP has replaced his car battery with a like for like new battery and is having a problem starting his engine and is thinking that the keys and the immobiliser have gotten out of synch. This is not the same thing as the keys failing to unlock the doors remotely for which the other posters seem to be offering solutions. As far as I know it is not normal for the transponders in the key fobs to go out of synch with the immobiliser when batteries are changed whether it is the batteries in the key fobs or the main car battery. Certainly I didn't have the immobiliser go out of synch when I replaced the main battery in my 2007 Octavia. I have a spare key that will not lock or unlock the doors remotely, but it will still unlock the driver's door manually and start the engine. My main key works correctly in every way. (I have tried various procedures to restore remote functionality to the spare key but without success, and the local dealer has also failed to fix it). If there was a problem with the immobiliser, I would not expect the engine to start at all, rather than cutting out after a couple of seconds as reported by the OP, though I may be wrong about this. Therefore I am inclined to suspect that the OP's starting problem lies elsewhere. I have seen somewhere in these forums that some coding may be required on newer models when the main battery is replaced, but couldn't say whether or not this would apply to a 2011 car. Unfortunately cold damp weather conditions and being parked up during lockdown are not good for car batteries or the rest of the electrics. I hope these comments are helpful, although I don't know enough to be able to solve the OP's problem.

You can check the number plate with Transport For London, but If it is on a 65 plate I think it must be Euro 6. https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle-35896 I have the silicon bag in my 2015 Scout, so there is a good chance it will be in the cars that you are looking at. Provided it has not ruptured, it is not a big thing to sort out.

Cars first registered before September 2015 would probably be Euro 5 and may or may not have received the so-called fix for Dieselgate. Cars from September 2015 (65 plate) were required to be Euro 6 so not included in the emissions scandal. Euro diesel 6 cars comply with the ULEZ (London Ultra Low Emission Zone) whereas Euro 5 diesels do not. It is possible that the earlier car is Euro 5 and the later car is Euro 6.

She was a Fifth Gear TV presenter for 14 years from 2002 to 2016, and comes from a racing family background. I preferred Fifth Gear to Top Gear, as it was a motoring show about the cars, whereas Top Gear became more a show about the presenters.

The silica bag is also a matter for concern due to the risk of the bag rupturing and clogging up the cooling system. Some people have removed the bags and some have changed the expansion bottle. There are other threads about this.

Ban on new petrol and diesel cars in UK from 2030 under PM's green plan https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54981425 Ban now brought forward to 2030 from 2035, but some hybrids will still be allowed.

Yes, I have had this happen many times on both my Octavias over the years, probably due to keeping the keys in trouser pockets. Has not happened again since I started keeping the keys in small Faraday pouches.

It is actually showing 100% + 1%. That should tell you that it isn't really full. I was under the impression that at least some of the ash came from burning the soot, although I am also aware that low ash oil should be used. My understanding is that a very high temperature is required for a passive regen, and it may not even happen on a motorway run, depending on distance covered and engine revs I guess. I have been using my late 2015 2.0 TDI 184 mostly for short distances in the city for over 4 years and the DPF light has never come on. It is reassuring to have the VAGDPF app so I can see that all is well with the DPF. I usually go for a longer drive at the weekend, so that probably helps. I have never felt that my pattern of driving is particularly suitable for a diesel, but the car just looks after the regens with no worries.

On the Golf thread it says: "this silicon bag is only found in cars with climate control fitted from the factory"

If light is still on it will probably need fixing before next MOT.

That is not necessarily a DPF warning. I got it on my 57 plate MK2 which doesn't have a DPF. As far as I know it is an engine management warning and could relate to various issues. In my case it was a rogue electrical connection involving a home repair to the lighter socket using a piggy back fuse. Took a few days at the local dealer to figure it out, and probably something else in your case When a regen is interrupted, you get a burning smell and noise of fans running for some time. The smell comes from excess diesel being burned, and the fans are to cool it all down. If you left it parked with the engine turned off, my understanding is that the regen was no longer in progress despite the smell and noise. 95% seems like a very high amount, and doesn't allow much of a margin if a regen fails and has to be started again. From memory I think a regen should be triggered when the soot gets to 45%. Procedure for vehicles with diesel engines from Owners Manual: › Drive at a speed of at least 60 km/h at engine speeds of at least 2000 rpm. If the filter is cleaned successfully, the indicator light goes out . If the indicator light does not go off within 40 minutes, the filter was not cleaned. › Continue driving, exercising appropriate caution, and seek the help of a specialist garage.

I had the same problem recently with one of the keys of my 2015 Octavia. The key shell that I needed was ebay item no. 333268201125 Flip Remote Key Shell Case Fob for Volkswagen Golf 7 MK7 GTI, Skoda Octavia 2015 For instructions I followed this youtube video: Caution is needed when separating the two halves of the main body. If you let the metal parts spring out, you may not be able to figure out how to put them back in. Best try this on the old key first to make sure you are getting it right. You may find that the two halves of the old key have been glued together, and need a bit of extra care when separating them. You will need a T6 torx screwdriver. My new key has a VW emblem, not Skoda, but it does the job.

I read in a review somewhere that the Outdoor bodywork has a steeper angle of attack for tackling rough terrain.

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/426096-error-service-leave-vehicle-only-when-selector-in-position-p/page/11/ See 31 January onwards

If you are seeing the message at random times for no good reason (you always leave the car in position P anyway), this suggests a faulty micro switch in the gear selector. Originally the only fix for this was to replace the whole gear selector at an astronomical cost of approx £3,000, but around early 2020 Skoda released a new fix which just requires a new micro switch costing around £50 and up to one hour of labour, according to other posts on here. There has also been a suggestion that moving the lever backwards and forwards between P and D a few times might help to clear the problem, but I can't say how effective this might be, as I haven't really been able to test this yet. The effects can vary. Some people just have the annoying message flashing up every once in a while, others say they have had more serious problems such as issues with locking the doors. In my case I have had the error message flashing up very briefly and infrequently, and nothing else. This has been going on for two years or so and does not seem to be getting any worse. The car has gone through the MOT 3 times without this being an issue, and unless it gets any worse I will just be living with it.

In an ideal world I would do that, but have found myself needing to replace individual tyres due to damage rather than wear. At the recent MOT one of the front tyres on the Octavia Scout needed replacing due to a bulge on the sidewall. I now have rear tyres with 4.5 and 5 mm, and front tyres with 5 mm and 8 mm. The damaged tyre had 2.5 mm. The rear tyres are the original Continentals and have done 35,000 miles so far. The older front is a more recent Continental and the one just fitted is a Runway. If there are any rules about fitting identical tyres, on the same axle, the Skoda dealership is not bothered about them. Normally I would have visited a local tyre dealer before the MOT to get the iffy tyre checked, but decided to avoid visiting them due to the Covid situation.

Seems very fortunate that I got a September 2015 registered Scout. I had been considering it for a while and could easily have got an earlier one without the offroad mode. It also benefits from being Euro 6 rather than Euro 5, so it is not affected by Dieselgate and is OK for ULEZ, and there is no adblue to be bothered with unlike some later cars.

This is from the 2015 thread: https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/364701-scout-off-road-mode-upgrade/ ŠKODA Octavia Scout receives off-road mode As a crossover-estate released in mid-2014, the ŠKODA Octavia has excellent handling also on poor roads; the model features powerful all-wheel drive and a rugged off-road look. The individual all-rounder is now even more versatile; from June 2015, the Octavia Scout will be available with an off-road mode. ŠKODA already offers this technology today in their compact SUV – the Yeti. How does it work? By pressing the 'off road' button on the dashboard, the driver can activate many useful functions that make manoeuvring in difficult terrain easier. This is primarily involved in setting off/traction, braking and downhill driving. The off-road mode works at speeds up to 30 km/h. A green control light illuminates on the dashboard when in operation. The off-road function is automatically deactivated at speeds over 30 km/h and the green light goes out. The ASR off-road, EDS off-road and traction functions improve the acceleration and traction performance of the ŠKODA Octavia Scout. The ASR off-road traction control makes setting off easier especially on loose surfaces like gravel or pebbles. With the help of the electronic differential lock (EDL off-road), the force is distributed optimally over all four wheels even in difficult situations. The electronic traction aids uphill starts when driving in the mountains or when a trailer is attached. This includes limiting the revs to 2500 rpm with your foot to the floor. When activated, the Hill Descent Control System makes braking downhill safer – both forward and reverse – on snowy or high-incline roads or steep slopes.

When you first get the warning, the car is telling you that you need to follow the instructions in the manual to clean the DPF because it has not been able to complete an automatic regen by itself. This is probably because your journeys have not been long enough for this to happen, but no serious damage has occurred at this point. Provided that you follow the instructions and clear the warning the DPF will be OK.

I thought you said that it was possible to get out but not without setting off the alarm. In a dire emergency surely the alarm would not be a big concern.