Ch

This is a well known fault, and it's really rubbish that such a basic design fault with a part is still causing people grief on cars made 4 years after a model is introduced onto the market. Skoda run the risk of damaging their hard-fought reputation...

You'd better watch, the fanboys on here will leap to the defence of the brand! Think you must have a bit of a lemon, but there are too many common faults with these models. Thankfully I'll only have a few months to pay it off after the warranty runs out, then I'll flog it.

And don't forget to ensure you take all the known design faults / problems into consideration (delaminating windscreens, rattling air intakes, DMF/clutch/gearbox failures, turbo failures, electrical gremlins, etc, etc)

I certainly would have thought twice about buying my Octy 4x4 TDi last year if I had read about all the potential grief in store. The car itself is good, but for something coming out of a factory, when there's three (?) years experience of the product being in the field, and there're still design faults is unforgiveable!!

Does anyone know (have an opinion) if the 1.9tdi 4x4 will suffer the same problems with the clutch/gearbox if the inevitable DMF goes? I admit I am a complete novice in understanding the complexities of the 4x4/quattro/4motion system.

Hiya After nearly 17k miles, my Octy is telling me that it's due a service (its 1st). I've read this forum on and off for as long as I've had the car (10months) and I know that there're a load of common faults with the model. I am going to present the dealer with a list of them which are starting to appear on my car and would appreciate if anyone has any comments on what the expected response will be. 1. delaminating windscreen - just starting to see the milky-white strip 2. horrible reverb at 900-1000rpm - from the air intake housing rattling against the metal above the radiator. 3. shuddering on a cold start - remember this being bad last winter, but not so much of an issue now. Is this the notorious DMF? 4. noisy front shocks - never noticed this until recently driving with the windows down. Is this an actual fault, or not? Any words of advice / wisdom would be much appreciated. Also, does anyone have experience of where's the best dealer to take the car into in central Scotland? I was thinking either Broxburn or Bannockburn, or I could go back to Henrys in Glasgow where I bought the car. Cheers...

Was looking at the Student list for the Posr Graduate Chemistry course at Heriot Watt uni today (don't ask!) and found that there's someone with a rather interesting name doing her PhD... (about 2/3rds of the way down the page after John D Thrower) Postdocs & Postgraduates

Ha Ha Ha Read the thread title and thought that you were a disgruntled Toff... Hard lines on the roadkill

... time to "fire up the quattro" (so to speak)!

Yes, the computer seems to be reasonably accurate. The 2 actual figures >45MPG were from big motorway journeys, whereas the rest are from a mix of twisty-hilly A-roads and motorways. I am a bit disappointed in these. The car's done just over 11,000 miles now and I thought that I'd have seen a bit of an improvement to an average of 45-ish MPG. Hopefully when (if!) the weather gets a bit warmer, it might get a bit better. I'll post the next set of figures at the end of July.

Thought I'd share this data. Actual MPG calculated by filling back to brim. Hope it's useful... Date Computer MPG Actual MPG 13/11/2007 44.2 45.2 22/11/2007 42.9 41.4 03/12/2007 47.2 46.0 15/12/2007 45.8 45.3 26/12/2007 43.4 42.4 28/12/2007 46.8 45.4 05/01/2008 44.8 43.6 22/01/2008 42.8 42.0 10/02/2008 43.5 42.9 25/02/2008 42.4 42.2 17/03/2008 42.8 42.5 Sorry can't get the info in a table....

The first time I saw this with mine, I thought the car was taking a p!ss

It grips and grips in the twisty bits, and doesn't feel so high off the road. The gearing is odd - 1st and 2nd are a bit low (which contributes to the poor 0-60mph times) but this helps in snow. The 1.9tdi isn't the strongest pulling engine, but keep the revs in the right place and the car will shift, although it tends to run out of puff. I have 4 months of MPG data that I can post on here if anyone's interested?

How would the insurance companies ever know???

I've got the 4x4 estate in silver, and I wouldn't say that it's ugly. Coming from an Audi A4 estate (or should I say Avant?...no I shouldn't!) the Octy isn't as nice as the previous car from some....OK a lot of angles. There are a few, simple things that the designers could have done to make it a wee bit more of a looker: blacken the B and C pillers for example, make the standard front-fogs smaller and rounder like the vRS, darken the (non-reflector-working) mock-chrome plastics around the headlamp lenses to make them stand out more. I do like the rear light cluster 'though!!!

Pipercross panel in my 1.9TDi 4x4 has certainly helped...

Just an update - I took the rear offside wheel off and bent the metal shield that sits behind the disc away from me and a wee stone fell out...problem solved!! Just incase anyone else experiences this problem in the future.

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I'll need to go to the dealer!!

Hi y'all I've been the proud owner of an ex-demo (7k miles on 07 plate) Octy 1.9TDi 4x4 for exactly 5 weeks, and all was going peachy until last weekend when I drove through some "gritty puddles" and the car developed a squeek! Now I've had this before in other cars when some dirt gets into the brakes, but that usually rights itself pretty quickly. This time, however, the blooming thing's been squeeeking at me for about a week now. The noise is definetly related to the wheels turning, and doesn't go away or change pitch when the brakes are applied, or even just the handbrake nicked on. I was sure that it was comining from the front off-side wheel, so I jacked up the car today and had a look - the wheel runs free, no play either to suspect a bearing, and the CV boot's intact and in good shape (as I'd expect given the age and milage of the car). Has anyone got any ideas? I would like to have a guess before I take it to the dealers. All suggestions (even rude ones) are gratefully requested...