Marcus100

Matt can't help you in South Wales, but as a ball park figure my 57 plate vRS estate and my new 09 vRS hatch both cost about £400 to have a Brink fixed bracket and twin electrics fitted by a local specialist. This was arranged by the supplying dealer before collecting the cars. Can't say much for the technical side but can say the 57 plate towed 5000 miles in 18 months and the new one has done about 800 miles towing so far (we are currently on our easter tour!) and have had no electrical problems ... fridge stays cool, battery charges and Alko ATC gets the power it needs so quite happy. Don't have parking sensors ... you might need to go down the detatchable route. I don't feel it's a DIY job that I would be happy to undertake ... but then i'm just a simple minded primary teacher!

We had a vRS Estate for 18 months and now have a vRS Hatch. I find I have more room in the boot of the hatch but this is probably because we had the secondary boot floor in the estate so lost some of the length of the boot due to the slope of the seats. Initially I preferred the look of the estate but now prefer the hatch! Fickle! Visibility is better on the estate but i've got used to the spoiler on the hatch now so parking isn't really an issue. Have a good look at both then decide.

I can beat that! 21mpg last Sunday towing my caravan against a headwind!

I have not been hanging about, in fact been less economy consious than I was with the old PD, yet 50 is easy to maintain. Reasons??? Hard to pinpoint ... but maybe: Been driving diesels since I passed my test at the end of 87 so used to their driving style. Otherwise who knows!

Quick update on this one .... now got just over 1000 miles on the clock. Peak mpg has been 68mpg ... albeit it didn't last long! Generally getting 50+. Now towed with the car ... I thought the PD towed well but the CR is better. The smoother power delivery is better suited to towing, 6th gear was useable (6th wasn't much use towing on the PD till after 10000 ish miles). Very satisfied.

Well I had a Brink fixed towbar with twin electrics fitted to my vRS Estate in 2007 (and the same to my new vRS hatch). Cost just under £400. Both were fitted by a local independant fitter, arranged by our dealer prior to collection. No one mentioned the lack of a wiring loom! The old vRS towed for around 5000 miles with no problems, powering caravan road lights, fridge, battery charger and ALKO ATC stability system with no problems. We will tow with the newbie for the first time this weekend but a quick hook up to the caravan on the driveway showed all to be well.

If you are sticking with such a light 'van then the 1.9 will probably be fine. But do you have plans for a heavier 'van during the potential life time of the car?? If so go for the 2.0. I could get by with a 1.9 for my 1175Kg 'van, but prefer the get up and go of the vRS.

Diesel every time for me. Have done 30000 miles a vRS PD, and now collected a new vRS CR. Petrol makes no sense for us. We do a fair mileage, we tow a caravan and prefer the diesel driving experience. My best mate has a Subaru Impreza petrol Turbo. Hateful thing to drive. Give me my diesel vRS any day of the week.

38! Hoping for better than that. Interestingly had to make a 40 mile round trip last night in the old car ... mpg 47.9. Same trip tonight in the new car ... mpg 50.4. Hopefully this trend continues.

Collected our new vRS CR today, trading in a 57 plate 30000 mile vRS PD. Have to say the CR feels a lot smoother, also seems to deliver the torque much more smoothly. Obviously the new car only has a few miles on the clock but it feels just as flexible in the higher gears as the PD did with 30000 miles on the clock ... PD took a few miles under its belt before 5th/6th could be used happily at lower speeds ... certainly could use 6th more for towing on the PD after the 10000 mile mark. Wondering what the CR will be like once it has a few miles under its belt. Will be doing its first towing trip on 20 March by which time it will have done 1000 or so miles ... will be interesting to compare the two then, the CR seems to have more torque at low revs too which should be of benefit when towing. Not that the PD was in any way lacking! Dealer promises big things regarding mpg too. I was getting 45-48 ish with the PD, what can I expect in real world situations with the CR?

Picked up new car today ... NO mudflaps! They had fitted them by mistake to an ex-demo vRS that was collected yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are now happy it can be done though! Mine are being fitted on Saturday.

I'm hoping the dealer has fitted front AND rear flaps to my 09 vRS that we pick up tomorrow ... he said they couldn't fit rear ones, as they said in 2007 when we bought the current vRS, but when I said some of you guys had done it they agreed to give it a go! Fingers crossed!

My current '57 plate Octavia and my '09 Octavia which we collect tomorrow have both been fitted with Brink brackets by local independants, arranged by our dealer prior to collection. No issues in 5000 miles of towing with the current one and don't anticipate any issues with the new one. There used to be issues fitting non-manufacturer brackets but it was all resolved, from memory, in the 90's ... personally I'm not worried. As you say the independants tend to know a lot more about fitting them than the dealers as they are doing it day in day out.

Have done 30000 miles in 18 months in my PD vRS and have never had the DPF light come on. Keep in mind we have no motorways hereabouts .... AND we do a lot of short journeys. We do, do a lot of caravanning so maybe the extra effort that requires helps to sort it out. We collect our new CR vRS on Sunday and don't expect any problems.

I have a fixed swan neck Brink bracket on my 57 vRS TDi Estate, having the same on my 09 vRS CR hatch that I get next Sunday. Fitted with twin electrics cost is under £400 from a local specialist. Had no problems with the current bracket which has done 5000 miles with the caravan attached.

I'm having front and rear flaps fitted to my new 09 vRS by the dealer ... he said it couldn't be done and I said yes it can cos I know some guys who have!!!!

Should also add we did the deal a few weeks ago, but perhaps as 1st March gets closer they will be more desparate to do better deals!

I have got £11500 for my 30000 mile 57 plate vRS TDi Estate, against a new 09 vRS CR under the no VAT, free service scheme. Can't remember the price of the new car, but we are getting mudflaps and towbar thrown in. Certainly good deals to be done.

Had a TDi vRS since September 2007, having covered nearly 30000 miles in that time, probably 6000 of those towing 1200Kg of caravan. It has been perfect. Have been a diesel driver for many years so little adjustment was needed, but as others have siad it just keeps going and going! We are trading ours in for a new vRS common rail on 1st March ... not because there is anything wrong with the old one .... but we were offered a deal we couldn't refuse!

I was under the impression that the estate and the hatch required a different bracket. Personally I would not use a secondhand towbar, the Caravan Club certainly doesn't recommend it. But you pay your money and make your choices as they say!

Shouldn't be a problem ... used to be an issue years back. My dealer arranged for mine to be fitted by a local independant fitter before collection.

Not keen on the wheels either and, to my mind anyway, the colour makes the car look old fashioned, not something I have noticed in other colours.

The sad fact is 'van are hugely heavier than they used to be, but most of us want all the extras so something has to give. My dinky thirteen and a half foot Bailey tips the scales at 1007Kg unladen, 1175Kg fully laden, but it comes with all the kit including microwave, extractor fan etc etc. However it tows as if its on rails and using a motor mover it is easy to man handle. The Octavia has loads of power so we can whoosh up all but the steepest motorway gradients in the 6th gear at 60. Skoda's seem to be getting lighter ... at least on paper. My Octavia weighs in at 1515Kg but the latest common rail one apparantly weighs only 1445Kg. The new Superb looks as if its lighter than the old one too. Not good news for us caravanners.

I have a fixed swan neck bracket on mine ... we use the caravan a lot so a removable bar would be a pain. Ours sits quite low too, but not a great problem.

Oh I check my noseweight every trip. I'm not one for taking chances. I feel at 75% I have that extra edge in windy weather etc. Have in the past been up to 85% which was fine.