Paul_Bowden

I have lived in France for 15 years and have just bought a new Octavia 2.0 tdi automatic estate (‘Combi’, here) – my sixth new Skoda, over the years (Felicia, Fabia, Octavia + Octavia in UK and Yeti and now Octavia estate in France) I’m really pleased with it, but am having no luck with what I thought would be quite a simple request. I’m bilingual and my partner is French, so there is no problem having a printed French manual. However, I will be driving a lot in the UK, where family members will be regular passengers and, probably, drivers, so I wanted a PRINTED English manual, which I’d be happy to pay a reasonable price for. My French dealer – massively unhelpful anyway – said no straightaway. I was disappointed to be told by both Skoda France and Skoda UK that there was no way at all that I could obtain a printed manual in English. Skoda in the Czech Republic first said ‘no way’ and, on my really politely saying I found it incredible that such a thing could not exist, they said they’d look further into it, but I’m not hopeful. Of course, I can access the online manual, but that’s nothing like ideal. I wonder if any other members have suggestions?

Thank you all so far – further contributions very welcome! – for your comments and suggestions: I knew Briskoda would be the place to ask. I think that you’ve succeeded in putting me on a much more common sensical path. Everything you’ve all mentioned has been useful, but I’ll pick up on a few points: Paint Protection Film honestly seems OTT in general and both too expensive and not practical for the real world, so I’m going to ditch that thought. If ceramic coating isn’t primarily protective and also ideally needs to be done at delivery, I can’t see the point of that either. As an aside, Skodas are not common here in France and the (relatively few, anyway) dealers are often in the hands of very few businesses. Sadly, my supplying garage is pretty awful in all respects – there wasn’t really a practical alternative - and I wouldn’t trust them not to make a massive mess and charge me a ridiculous amount. Like whippersnapper, travs and others, I think that regular, careful attention to cleaning and bodywork preservation is the only thing that makes sense. Interestingly (to me!), stubev156 mentions ‘something called Diamondbrite.’ Although I am pretty sure it won’t be the same product, this takes me back to ……. A Long Long Time Ago (1980s) and my first car, a Golf Diesel (one of the very first – these were the days when I was given a map of the UK with stations that sold diesel for cars marked on it and people looked, as though it was a tractor, when they heard me coming through the streets of Bournemouth!) I bought something called Liquid Diamond and, after a not very professional wash, simply applied coat after dried coat for about 5 days. It seemed to provide a definite and quite thick patina and, when I sold it many years later, the only significant rust was where a dealer had backed it into a vehicle hoist and bashed in the rear end (thank you John Fox, Basford, Nottingham) With my subsequent cars – all VW and then Skodas – I’ve followed the same regimen, but using Collinite instead. It is insanely dry and dusty here (37 at the moment – midday) and washing is out of the question, which is a pity, because my Yeti (bought in 2011 and which I intend to keep, as I’d get no more than £3,500 for it here) still looks really good. I’m going to read all this in more detail, as there’s a lot I want to follow up, but thanks again very much.

Hi everybody I’ve been a very happy Skoda owner since 2002 2002 Fabia 1.9 Tdi bought new in UK 2008 Octavia 1.9 Tdi bought new in UK 2012 Yeti 2.0 Tdi bought new in France I’m waiting for Octavia Estate/’Kombi’ 150 bhp automatic Ordered in France: February 2025 Estimated delivery date: November 2025 Given that I am 70 and tend to keep my cars for…err decades, I think it would be over optimistic to think I’m likely to buy another one. I’m pretty paranoid about looking after bodywork and so on and having cars serviced very regularly. Luckily, I have an absolutely brilliant two-man French garage for mechanical stuff – independent, but specialising in VW, Skoda and Mercedes. My question is, what is the very best way to provide long-term care of the bodywork? I’ve heard of ceramic coating and also another technique that I can’t just remember the name of. I would be really interested in any thoughts – most of all, I’d welcome any experiences you’ve had with these or other methods. I would be quite inclined to get anything done in the UK, as I’d say that the whole French car market and philosophy of car ownership is pretty different from the UK, especially in a very rural area, like here; any specific providers/reviews would therefore be great, as well Thanks in advance for any advice, comments, general or specific views. Paul

Good morning, everyone I've been a very happy Skoda owner since 2002, having owned from new a Fabia 1.9 tdi (2002 - 2012), Octavia tdi (2008-2012), bought in the UK and a Yeti 2.0 tdi 'Ambition' (2012 - ) , bought in France. I'm a semi-retired teacher/lecturer and reckon on doing 12-15,000 miles a year, commuting to and from University and, especially, on trips to the UK (Hampshire) Skoda is not a particularly popular brand here in France. Although they are more numerous now, the Dacia is a not dissimilar offering - essentially a Renault, manufactured in Romania (and probably elsewhere, now), which was initially the subject of jokes, but has become one of the absolute best sellers here, with countless models seen on every drive. Although I'm very happy with my Yeti, which has done only 100,000 miles, I'm quite keen to buy a new Octavia Estate ('Combi' here) For me, it HAS to be diesel, but, beyond that, I'd be very glad to hear of your experiences - direct or known via friends/family etc - of reliability, any common niggles etc model(s) you have chosen and/or avoided and why manual or automatic? The last question reflects the fact that I have never ever had an automatic car, although my son keeps urging me to buy one, saying that they're almost as economical as manual, just as reliable and a pleasure to drive; I have hired them, usually because manual were not available. and enjoyed the drive, although this will have been for very short periods of a week or less and, of course, different brands and models. I would welcome any comments and thank you in advance. As this may not be the best sub-forum in which to get info about the Octavia, I may copy this to a model-specific one later.