EldridChapman

For NZ driving, I would say the RS will shine when overtaking other cars on the countryside South island highways where it's mostly 1 lane per direction. Off topic a bit - I am doing a road trip in South Island on a rental Tesla. The torque is similar to my personal Octavia RS back at home - it's useful when I need brief burst of speed (up till 140~km/h) for overtaking other cars.

I have DCC on my octavia rs. it really makes a difference when I selected comfort mode - the ride quality on highways and over street bumps are more comfortable. I strongly recommend that you keep this option. If you don't take the leather/suedia seat, I think you can find an upholstery shop in your area that can install leather replacement at a lower cost although I think the quality won't be the same. Not sure if fabric seat comes with power & memory function - it does offer the benefit of mirror dip during reversing. But it's not a deal breaker function IMO

Reporting my results with long coding for MY22 Octavia RS - Seat belt warning had 4 options shown under long coding. Option 1 (default) is EU and option 2 is USA. No idea what is option 3 and 4 for. Show fuel volume to be replenished - not working via long coding. App threw "function not available" error. I had to use OCA to enable this instead. Rear DRL lights - app threw "function not available" error when trying to set value to ON. Enabled via OCA successfully High beam memory - successfully enabled via long coding.

Well said! I mostly use the front socket as a USB power outlet, so it's mitigated by the 2 usb-c ports at the front. But it's still useful for other electronics like vacuum cleaner which you so mentioned. For tire compressor, have you considered those powered by portable battery pack? I find those quite convenient!

If your vRS doesn't come with the engine cover, the service centre should have spare stocks to install on site as that was intended by Skoda. Suggest to ask the service centre if they have spare engine cover stocks on hand.

My dealer (actually VW themselves) threw in a "Skoda gift box" which among freebies, came with one foldable umbrella that fit within the door. Its a green 2 layer box something like this one below.

I would like to have the front fog lamps in memory when the Auto headlamp is activated. So if the fog lamp was previously turned on, it should also turn on upon next startup. Possible to have this done?

Ah I see. So the OP was actually referring to the heat mat.. the screenshot sounded so scary so I thought it was something more serious. Im not aware of any other recalls and I certainly hope there wont be anymore

According to ERWIN, my new ride is a May 2022 producton unit. So far not impacted by the DSG recall, but has the engine compartment and heat protection mat recalls. Probably addressed during the time it sat idle in the warehouse but i'll remind the Service Centre when i pick it up this weekend.

Can i clarify when you refer to MY23 batch, does it refer to Year of Manufacture 2023 as well or its usually 1 year earlier?

Since the facelifted Octavia Mk4 is coming with optional 13" headunit, it may be a more compatible fit to the pre-FL Octavia. Will need to wait a year or so for spare parts to be available before looking into this option.

I'm hoping the FL tail-light is plug and play with the pre-FL model. From press video and photos, the dimensions seems to match that of pre-FL taillight. If confirmed to fit, i'll be keen to buy one to replace my pre-FL lights