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Just because it's called 1.8TSI it doesn't mean it's the same engine unit. Yours is from 2009, pre FL, so 1.8TSI BZB, while OP is talking specifically about early 2010 FL with 1.8TSI CDAA, which is considered the most failure prone engine in modern VAG history. The engine wrecking faults with that unit are related to design flaws and lack of TPI's and recalls to mend those design flaws being actioned in UK. It really is not question of luck or "misery needs company" factor or "some units with defects" draw and yes servicing, driving conditions (less load or less city driving) may prolong the inevitable, but in the end, every car with engine from that series that didn't have those few, relatively cheap parts responsible for failures replaced under recall or warranty at some point in the past, leaves the owner standing with one foot on a land mine - no exceptions - delay and blast radius might be different, but sooner or later...

What year is your 1.8T Yeti_Man?

Early 2010 1.8TSI's as you said - had a lot of problems, you would need to check paperwork for proof of work done to pistons/piston rings, chain itself and chain tensioners replacement (there were new models, recall was never actioned in UK unless engine was already open) etc. I'd personally steer clear unless I had a chance to go through service history, it was full VAG service history and all the typically failing parts were already replaced. I don't think any garage would replace all of that for you prior to sale as it's nearly 4 grand job. Extended warranties in Skoda world are not with Skoda themselves but third party, they are very hard to convince to pay for certain diagnostics necessary for Skoda to perform some of the work above and often consider piston ring wear as "pre-existing" issue. It's a battle, in my experience.

If you're "lucky" it might be just seals around turbo or poorly reconditioned turbo (if you bought car second hand). If you're unlucky it's the piston rings (made out of cheese on first gen 1.8 TSI). And considering just how massive that oil consumption is you might be mere few hours away from losing pressure on two or more cylinders, so get comfy in that "slow" lane for the next few weeks. The latter issue can affect all CDAA and CDAB engines in cars manufactured between 2009 and 2011 and it is widely known across entire VW group (don't let dealer tell you otherwise). The issue is incorrect materials and design flaw in early generation of engines paired with enhanced stress of using extended services/long life oil. This leads to slow disintegration of piston rings gradually increasing poor lubrication and variations in oil delivery to upper parts of engine, eventually leading to damage and need of full engine refurbishment. Audi developed stage 1 workaround (TPI : 2024604 IIRC) preventing extensive damage to the engine as early as 2010. Stage 1 is basically modified breather, new zimering, modified camshaft (with uprated model) and ECU adjustment. Since late 2010 in some countries Audi also replaces camshaft adjustor, a small electrical part which in models manufactured up until may 2010 would occasionally cease due to lower oil pressure leading to further complications. Stage 1 is performed to engines with oil consumption not exceeding 0.5L per 1000km, it doesn't repair damage already done but fixes the initial problem and stops oil consumption at current level. As far as I know Skoda doesn't perform Stage 1 repairs in UK, because for majority of users, slow degradation will result in failures outside of warranty period, so it's usually defended with "this is normal for that type of engine, your manual states oil consumptions up to 1l per 1000km is still within manufacturers tolerances". This is true, and your cars handbook indeed contains such statement. Skoda will usually investigate only oil consumptions issues exceeding 0.5L per 1000km. With oil consumption at the levels you quote, you are already past that stage. Stage 2 repair is performed to engines irreversibly damaged by poor delivery of oil, and involves fitting newer type of pistons (06H 107 065 DF) with uprated piston rings (06H 107 065 BF), uprated camshaft, breather and conrods. There are several unaffected parts that undergo replacements TPI once the engine is out, including already aforementioned camshaft adjustor. As far as I know Skoda performs limited version of the above stage 2 without replacing camshaft and fitting breather, as described under TPI 2027920/1 using new piston assembly 06J 198 401 H. It is of utmost importance to make sure the repairer follows full TPI 2027920/2 including replacement of cam chain tensioner to version K on 1.8 TSI or version T on 2.0TSI (part number 06H 109 467 K or T) as per TPI 2032694 and new redesigned chain 06H 109 158 M to avoid it skipping a tooth in the future (as many forumites experienced). Make sure they replace chain guides 06H 109 509Q and 06H 109 469AP and all the gaskets regardless of their state and pay them extra to replace camshaft position sensor, they will tell you they never break, don't listen, just replace it in the same time. It's about £800-900 worth of parts and £2000-2500 worth of workshop hours. VAG does not replace or recondition cylinders/engine blocks, regardless of their state/wear caused by worn pistons. Don't let Skoda tell you the car is out of warranty and you have to pay for it from your own pocket. Consumer laws allow us to expect products like cars and car engines last longer than 4.5 years. It helps if oil consumption was reported during previous services (problem started within warranty and was growing). Usual outcome for out of warranty failed engines is 80% of cost participation from Skoda UK/dealer and 20% from owner. Obviously if you didn't service car within VAG network, it might be a problem. I can't go into details of my own battle with Skoda UK on my 1.8 TSI, because warranty period on my reconditioned engine is not over yet and publishing any (very gory) details of my case might still back fire against me (I just had additional repairs to additional repairs on that reconditioned engine sorted few days ago). Burning that much oil also means your catalytic converter will probably be next one to go.

Doesn't look like UK will get 184bhp version of TDI, only 148bhp/150PS on the lists :(

1.8TSI gets 7 speed DSG, 2.0 TDI gets 6 speed wet clutch DSG. 4x4 option available only on TDI but not TSI. Multilink rear suspension available only on TSI but not TDI. No DSG option on 4x4. No sport suspension + XDS option on 4x4. Winter pack again listed as "not available" on TSI, probably the old heated screen misconfiguration strikes again, since it's available on vRS. That brown half trim is absolutely shocking. Probably the worst choice of colour in Skoda history.

To be fair though, 5+ month waiting list is always "there" for better part of a decade now (I ordered my 2FL in Dec 09 to collect in May 10) and it never stopped Skoda offering decent discounts. I also wouldn't mistake production inefficiencies for rising demand. In terms of UK sales 2013 so far is not particularly successful year for Skoda either. I suppose financially it's not going to be bad year, for any of the top 20 makers, but after alienating budget and fleet sectors, Skoda cars are outsold massively by both Kia and Hyundai (separately) and its UK market share is comparable to that of Fiat, which sells what - six year old 500 model and occasional strange looking new Panda? Anyway, back on the topic though. Bonuses on Skoda dealer sales were traditionally number based. So in the previous years we used to get really good deals as it was in their best interest to sell as many cars as pos, regardless of queue and margins. I don't know what changed, but you have to remember this - when you haggle for 10% discount on a £23-25k car rather than £16k car Octavia used to be just a year ago, you are usually fending the dealer for savings of £2.5k while the salesman is standing his ground for a gain of mere £350 at their margins. Perhaps sometimes they need a friendly reminder of that fact.

Did any of firmware updates ever fix other issues with Bolero - like pausing right after start of the song/inability to process gapless tracks (especially VBR suffers from this, it's like it starts to play then pauses to re-read the file) and always looping playback within the same album from MDI iphone connection without ever moving on to the next album?

I think part of the problem has a lot to do with regional "discrepancies" that we are experiencing more and more often with Skoda UK. For example: this month VW Group announced service action/recall of 1.6 million cars with DQ200 DSG boxes. That's 7 speed DSG from O2/O2FL up until 2011. They change elements of mechatronic system and swap oil in sealed units because in certain conditions the oil originally used in them creates sulphur reaction with components causing their failure. As far as I know Skoda UK does not participate in this recall but admit they might eventually make it available to some clients as a "customer satisfaction programme" some time in 2014 because, in non direct and fully interpreted by me explanation - regular atmospheric conditions in UK make this process slow enough for failures to occur way outside of warranty and as such, there is no rush. Those that do travel a lot in hot and humid conditions and/or had their units failed, well, tough, I guess.

Can't it be just disabled?

Upmarketing of VAG cars is a good thing and bad in the same time. I spend minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 hours in a car every single day in all weather. For me the car has to be good, comfortable, living room space to be. It also has to be large enough to carry occasional cargo, high enough to not get stuck on every speed bump and rough terrain country road while on traffic detour. It must have turning circle tight enough to negotiate u-turn in one go on British roads and compact enough to fit in every small one way street and elevator parking in London. In the same time, however, I can't afford 1/3rd of a flat in Kent to drive truly luxurious barge. All of my last L&K Octavias were exactly that. Perfect cars in every way, most just needed some extra sound proofing and were ready to go. I often see car magazines pitching Octavias against Korean or Euro-japanese cars, and to me this is complete misunderstanding. Not because I wouldn't be seen dead in Korean car, no. I would buy one in a heartbeat, 5-7 years warranty, cheap maintenance, relatively bulletproof, uncool and bland enough to not get stollen when parked at night in bad part of capital, what's not to like? But I think there is a rift on the market, an decade worth abyss which neither Kia/Hyundai, nor Honda/Toyota/Nissan even managed to notice. Technology. And I'm not just talking driver conveniences, adaptive motorway safety devices or gadgets that allow your wife to park the car in spots where she can't even open the doors afterwards. It's the engines that spring to 60 in less than 8 seconds and still return 40mpg. The auto gearboxes that make town traffic thing of a past with changes that you don't even notice. Cars that are as stable and predictable on a mini roundabout in Swindon as they while competing for time on autobahn. Their cars don't compete with Octavia 2013. They don't even compete with Octavia 2009. Most of their cars barely managed to reach the level of Octavia 2004 and even then it's questionable in terms of ride comfort, handling and agility. Pro Ceed as alternative to O2 vRS? Oh phuuuleeeeeze. But in the same time the danger of upmarketing lies with the price point loosing any contact with reality. We know Octavia has gone slightly overboard in this generation, but what about simpler, less cutting edge tech cars? Base Skoda Yeti L&K diesel with 4X4 DSG costs change short of 28 grand. A grand more than BMW X1 xDrive20d Sport, 700 quid less than BMW X1 xDrive 2.0d xLine. Can it compete in this sector? Not in it's wildest dreams. There has got to be some sane point of reference to this upmarketing or it might tip over the fragile balance.

Oh, the geek in me couldn't resist just chucking those german pdf's into photoshop for comparison: Leon ST has exactly the same wheel base as Leon hatchback, 5cm shorter than Octavia III but 6cm longer than Octavia IIFL. Oddly, driver has more head space, but passengers have 2cm less, cabin is 2cm narrower than Octy III. Still more space in all directions than Octy IIFL.

Actually, this part of the VAG lineup is the most confusing. Seats in both cars fold the same way, with their backs down sloping up towards the front as they share the exact same Golf seat frames, mechanism, floor and cabin frame mount points. But as much as in every day life, the "acres" as you put it, of space amounts to just 23 litre jerry can worth of air at the top of rear window where ST lines curve more, there is a long standing debate on how Octavia arrived at 270 litres more space (and Golf estate at 260 litres more spce than ST with seats folded. Considering boot itself is only 23 litres smaller, the seats are the same height and mount points of the front seats on the floor are identical, and yet Octavia ends up with 1740 litres, Golf 1731 litres and poor Leon ST only 1470, the general consensus is that the ST must be using SWB version of the MQB platform. This is further amplified by overall length difference between Octavia Estate, Golf Estate and Leon ST which is 4685, 4657 and 4540mm respectively if you are to believe web press. However, to confuse matters more, the contrary was confirmed by Seat management during press question time in Frankfurt and repeated again during webcast with seat forum admins, claiming that Leon ST cabin space is longer than that of the hatchback version already on the market, thus suggesting LWB. Considering overall dimensions of Leon ST are only 27,7cm longer than Leon hatchback, but the boot volume expands from 380 litres to 587 litres, the notion that those 11 inches of length would result in additional extra space in the cabin, on top of expansion of the boot are, quite frankly, implausible. In any case, Leon cabin is roughly the same size as Octavia 2FL, which by no means was bad or uncomfortable place to be There is cargo channel, at least on FR, can see "door" in back seats on promo pics

Those who have the unit - do you guys know if Kenwood ever fixed the inability to use factory fitted microphone in light cluster with DNX521DAB. Basically my car is already wired with microphone for the factory bluetooth setup and it would be ridiculous to rip it out half the interior to remove factory microphone just to then replace it with Kenwood one. I understand same goes for MDI connection, becoming useless when DNX521DAB goes in, but that concern me slightly less than the mic.

Simple things, like parking tickets, road tax reminders or congestion charge notices arriving at and going through third party office that you never been at or plan to visit, possibility of them getting delayed for weeks or worse yet, getting stuck on someone's desk and not being passed over to you at all then going into penalty mode or worse case scenario CCJ, all to your name. I would have to know company very well to agree to this. Secondly, what is the scheme. Are they pretending to provide HPA or PCP but instead add your name to their virtual fleet and then claim some sort of tax relief on your behalf or?