OccyVRS

@PeteJManchester can I confirm, are we talking about the Haldex AWD or the Haldex VAQ (front diff)? As @Ootohere can confirm, the Haldex needs the oil changed and filter cleaned every 20,000 miles or 2 years - it's not just about the mileage or use. If you're expected to do all the maintenance, then the diff is something that needs to be done. IIRC it's about £160ish to get fresh oil and the pump screen cleaned.

Like all budget tyres, Davanti get the job done. They are a 'British' company - HQ is UK but everything is made in a Chinese factory. For your tyre size, good quality Michelin tyres are about £160ish, however for a normal car being driven normally, there's no point. if you've got something fast, or regularly sit on soaking wet motorways then sure, but for average driving like around town, there really isn't much need. My girlfriend has some Davanti on her Fiat - not sure I'd put them on my vRS, but they absolutely do a perfect job. Toyo, Kumho, Yoko, Hankook and Uniroyal are all decent tyres. Someone took a chunk out of the tyre on our new 1 series, and BMW replaced them all with Maxxis. I love them on my MTB and wouldn't run anything else, and for 130bhp they seem to do the job.

I paid around £150 more to go from 245bhp to 350bhp. Come renewal they wanted almost double my premium, so I ditched it. I'm young though, so no suprises. For a proper map, I'd expect to be paying 10-20% increase.

FYI post is over a year old and OP hasn't been back here since then!

CARC will a) be very difficult to get hold of b) very expensive, if you can find it c) probably not the most fun to spray It's very cool stuff (works by basically being so hard, any bio/etc can just be washed off. Doing a roller job won't look very good - I'd rather have rust lol. If you're only concerned about the looks, you could treat the rust and then just wrap the car? Wouldn't be as god as paint, but would be better than a roller job.

Just be wary of matte/semi gloss paints - they tend to mark very easily are are not the same as the stuff they use on military trucks.

I’ve absolutely no idea why or what I was going on about with OBD11. Ignore - I’ll ask mods to delete. It goes back to a previous post (on this thread?) about why VW do what they do. If they give people access to SFD1/2, then suddenly their dealers and expensive ODIS tools become surplus.

Hey, he's got a vRS with the airbag warning sticker, I'm just spreading the word that there is a solution! 😂 And no, I'm nothing to do with EZM - I just wish they'd put the warning labels on the inside of the visor!

Bienvenido! Briskoda es una fuente de informacion brillante - probablemente una de las mejores que existen. I try and tell everyone about these (or similar). They're only small, but make a big difference to the interior! https://www.ezmods.co/product-page/ezm-sun-visor-airbag-warning-deletes-x-2-for-skoda-octavia-mk3-2-0l-tsi-vrs

Wheel Alignment Solutions - Darren is very good at what he does. They're still around. I never went though - Wheel Alignment Solutions is just too good. If they're busy, Tyreshack (kind of an independent Kwik Fit) is very good, although they're more for doing an alignment than figuring out issues - that's a specialist job IMO.

I just have to say, I love how passive aggressive yet helpful you both are! Falling out, then just continuing the discussion like nothing has happened 😂

I've always been a bit cautious about plugging random dongles into my car. Plus, the one in my girlfriends car is absolutely useless. My aim of using a wireless adapter was to ditch the cable that went from my centre console/shifter USB port, to the glove box. Obviously, this meant that I needed something USB stick sized, as having a larger adapter on a cable would defeat the object. I still keep my phone in the glove box, out of sight and mind, but now there's no more cable. I bought a QuadLock adapter last week. Digging into it a little, it's a rebranded version from a reasonably respected company called Ottocast. The price is about in line with Ottocast stuff, and I liked that the QuadLock version had been certified/tested again for the UK market. I've run it for a week and have zero complaints. I did a four or five hour drive, and it didn't go wrong once. The quality is the same as before, and there was no overheating, dropping out or anything. I get into the car, and it connects - I'm using CarPlay with MIB2.5, but it's had goof reviews for Android Auto too. Can't complain. You get a little right angle USB-A to USB-A adapter, as well as a USB-A to USB-C adapter in the box. I wasn't able to use the right angle adapter, but it's small enough that I have no complaints.

That's very pretty - I'm a sucker for an 8P S3. That's an FL isn't it? A neighbour used to have a dark blue manual 8P PFL S3. It wasn't far off 380bhp (I want to say it was 340ish). Of all the cars I've ever been in, it was by far one of my favourite. It was nowhere near the fastest on paper (that goes to a 918 or Taycan Turbo S), but it felt one of the fastest and most useable. We've just said goodbye to our 2011 1.4 Sportback. Absolute top spec - special colour, pan roof, electric cream leather bucket seats, Bose system, heated and cooled everything. The poor thing was tired (95,000 London miles will do that) but damn was that a good little car. Even though it was knackered, it still sat very happily at... the speed limit... on the way to Scotland and France. I've no doubt someone will tidy it up (something we just didn't want to do, given the limitations of stuff like the headlights, connectivity, etc), do the bits that need doing and run it until 200,000 miles. They don't make them like they used to.

I personally didn't bother, but that's because my experience with main dealer servicing/service plans has been **** poor. I'm also quite big on preventative maintenance, which of course isn't covered by a service plan/warranty (E.G. early DSG servicing, etc). It is quite useful though, and I'm glad I had it for the first year as it saved me replacing a caliper at my own cost, along with a SEAT oil temp sender and another issue. The warrant itself is probably worth it, but it just depends on what issues you have and how friendly your dealer is.

You also have to remember that everything has problems. The number of forum topics on EA888 water pump failure would have you believe that cars like @travs and mine wouldn't make it past the end of the driveway. Equally, the MIB2.5 software in my Octavia is pretty rubbish, if I'm honest. Random CarPlay disconnects, and sometimes the buttons on the steering wheel don't do what I want Siri to do. I don't really think about it - it's no worse than my Leon, or anything else we've owned in recent years. Dad's just picked up a new 118i and we've yet to work out how any of it works - at least MIB is fairly intuitive. As above, there are plenty updates and workarounds for the various shortfalls in the systems - most of which are the result of updates (or lack of).

That's very clean - almost suspiciously so! I was meaning more for this, or the Holland & Holland one - although with the price of some of the new Skoda range, it's not far off. The 50g carts a Hull export job I believe, but they are stocked in the UK for game (not too sure what exactly, but there you go). They're absolutely shocking, but they are quite fun. The only thing I've used with more kick is a straight pull .338 Lap Mag - 300gr moving at 3,000ft a second. Almost as fast as my Octavia 😉 Mind you, I suspect your Fabia is better in shooting environments than my vRS - I've not been yet, but I've been to several MTB places and grounded out every time!

Meaty... I'm guessing a 530i or something? A friend has a 640i GC - not the best handling car in the world, but when it goes, it really does go. £110 fitted, what are you getting put on? I must admit, despite being in the vastly uninhabited depths of wildest Scotland, I found tyres around my family no more expensive than back hame in London. In most cases, actually, they've been cheaper! I'm in the same boat - the current wheels are 7.5" and with a 225, there really isn't any tyre at all to cover the rim. I suppose that's a good thing though - from a safety standpoint it's probably better to chunk an alloy wheel than a rubber tyre.

Said Franchi Magum is a heavily used single barrel job, picked up from the defunct clearance rack. With the rust, It think it was something like £85. It's had a few thousand 50g carts put through it, which is no mean feat! I suppose if you had Purdeys, you'd be unlikely to be on a Skoda forum!

Ah, you're a Purdey man? I'm only a rifle shooter - I've always struggled with other stuff as I'm a right handed, left eye dominant glasses wearer. I did have a Benelli S/A I put 36g or 42g or loads into for some fun, mind. In fact, the day before I test drove Occy I'd been playing around with some Hull 50g export stuff in a mates Franchi Magnum. I could barely reach the shifter the next day😂

I think this 2024 F1 wheel settles the debate, really. For performance and nothing else, a lighter, smaller wheel paired to a tyre with a nice rigid carcass, is the best. Aside from brake clearance, it is indeed all to do with looks (as per my thread). As soon as you go up in sizing, you're increasing the unsprung weight and cost, while decreasing the ride quality. There's a reason brands like BMW spec a staggered 19"/20" setup on some performance/track orientated M cars. I'm not saying cars should have 15" wheels. Especially on larger cars, this would look silly. I'm just saying that, realistically, you want to be at a 35 profile, at a minimum. Of course, this applies more to larger wheels - at 18" or so, a 40 profile is the sweet spot, really.

Good to know. I was quite active on SeatCupra before the Occy, and saw similar. My Leon FR was on 18s with the same tyre size, and part of me wants to go up to 19s to be special. I don't think there's really any other reason. I'll have you know I bought the car last year, with poorly refurbed wheels! They're all saveable (just some lacquer peel, really), although there is a pretty big cut in the OSF - guess they must have whacked a kerb pretty hard. I was just taking the opportunity to 'upgrade' a little, as it's clear the diamond cut finish doesn't last long in the UK. Hand on heart, I have never kerbed a wheel, aside from the Fiesta I learnt it (and I really did whack it). I look a bit of an idiot parallel parking with the door open and leaning out, or when I spend five minutes manoeuvring through car park barriers, but I've never hit a wheel on anything - it's kind of my thing. I'd be looking at some RF018s in Matt Anthracite. The car is blue, with black everything (grille, trim, spoiler, etc), so silver might look a bit out of place. Gloss black isn't my style, and bronze with blue would give Subaru vibes. The anthracite is very OE, and I think looks quite clean. I think I've decided to go for 18s. I worked out that, with new tyres (be it 225 or 235), to jump up to 19s I'd be looking at over £2,000, compared with the £1,200 for 18s. Tyre prices are also worth thinking about (all PS5 from Black Circles, not fitted) - 225/40R18 - £98 225/35R19 - £175 235/35R19 - £140 That isn't really justifiable, especially considering I'm trading so much for just looks that I'm not overly fussed about. I think the 18s will look very nearly as good, and I like how the brakes fill out the wheels too. Maybe if I had DCC or a Superb, it would be different. I've attached a PFL Mk3 wearing them. I did consider Racingline, but the R360 I like only comes in 19", and the 18" options are all 8.5J for a square track setup - so I'd need 235s or even 245s to go on. I might consider going up a size anyway, but I refuse to see how an extra 10mm is really going to improve the handling/traction. Any thoughts?

I thought this is what you were questioning!

Yeah, I would suspect the same, especially when you weren't having work done on that specific area, so to speak. I'd make sure the Silver Pigeon is broken in the boot, and then ask him about it. It might be an honest mistake or it might be the actions of one mechanic. Either way, I'd hope he would want to know.

It’s the reviews I pay attention to. Any machine (Hunter or other) is only as good as the bloke that’s using it!

All of this being said, maybe selling it privately could be a solution? I understand time wasters, etc, but you’re not selling a 2008 Clio. I can’t imagine there’s that many idiots looking to buy a 2024 vRS.