Steev

Reasonable result, in the end ... Skoda UK appeared to be just stalling - the said they needed a fault code from the dealer, but it turns out the dealer send it to them weeks ago. When I forced the issue (got the dealer to re-send the code with me standing there, Vindis Skoda Cambridge being super-helpful there, nice going lads), Skoda UK actually received it. They offered 50% of the cost, so I pay £606. I said "Hey, I can get this fixed for £550 using ECU Testing Ltd. and then pursue the dealer for compensation through the courts, why the hell would I accept a goodwill offer of paying £606? You gave Niall 100%!" They then came back at 70%, so I pay £363. I'm going to take this, because I've had enough grief. So updated table: No. - User - Model - Registered month/year - Failure month / year - mileage at failure - skoda's response (goodwill) 01 - Scouter2 - Octavia Scout - Registered 04/07 - Fault 08/10 - 52,000 miles - so far 35% goodwill offered (ongoing) 02 - darius - Octavia EleganceEstate - Registered 04/1995 (05 plate) - Failure 08 / 2010 - circa 44000 - Nothing (see comments post #3) 03 - pmc - octavia 4x4 estate - reg feb 05 - nov2009 - 50,000miles - ongoing (see post #6) 04 - Bluvrs2 Octavia vrs registered 2 October 2006 Fault Thurs 28 Jan mileage 27416 skoda £884.63 out of £1500 bill I paid 615.37 05 - Keekodog Octavia VRS Registed October 2006, Fault 03/09 - 32,000 miles, covered under warranty 06 - paulolourenco76 - Octavia Vrs tfsi - Reg 03 2006 - Fail 07 2009 - 25000miles - Goodwill due to loyalty, I Paid £294 ish 07 - Rhoobarb - Octi VRS - Reg Dec 2005 - Failure beginning of 2010 - 35k (ish) - Ongoing (see post #13) 08 - fikes75-octavia vrs- jan 2006-fail feb 2010- 24000 miles- 60% goodwill paid £394 09 - Andrew S Wales - Octavia VRS TFSI - reg May 06 - Failed May 10 - 36,000 miles - covered by Skoda Approved Used Car Warranty (thankfully!) 10- VRSbilly - Octavia VRS TFSI - reg Mar 06 - Failed Sep 10 - 12,600 miles - Cost me £600 11 - Daveclar-Octavia vRS CR TDi-Reg July 2008-Fault August 2010-16500- Week outside warranty. Parts and labour covered fully. 12 - Bev.Elliott - Octavia 4x4 - March 06 - July 2010 - 54,000. 35%. 13 - Steev - Octavia vRS 2.0T - Reg May 2007 - Fail Sep 2010 - 25,200 miles - 70% revised goodwill after threats of court action, I pay £363 14 - Niall - Octavia Scout 2.0PD - Reg May 07 - Fail Oct 2010 - 74,500 - 100% Goodwill 15 -Dan - Octavia VRS 2.0PD - Reg Jan 07 - Fail July 2010 - 28000 miles - Skoda Ireland coverered 80% after haggling and dealer half the labour = €372 to me 16- shorty - Octavia Sport 2.0PD - Reg Jul 06 - Fail Jun 2010 - 60000 miles - so far offered 35% goodwill, not accepted 17-Snowie-Octavia 4x4 TDi estate-Reg March 07-Fail Oct 2010-36000miles-Visit to Skoda dealer next week. Will let you know!!!!!! Good luck to everyone else ... happy to share any other info if that would help. My #1 top tip is: even though you might have to threaten to take the dealer to court (I bought the car from my local dealer, so I have legal rights etc.), never tell them that - it just annoys them and they then won't help. You have to tell Skoda UK that you're going to take the dealer to court, to keep them focussed on a good outcome, but keep the dealer sweet by playing the injured puppy when you're talking to them. Bit of a mistake I made, there - my dealer hates me at the moment, coz I went in a bit heavy

I'm hoping darrenw is right here ... I've been stuck with Skoda UK customer support for a week now, and I can't quite tell whether they're trying to help or just trying to keep me occupied in the hope I'll get so bored that I'll kill myself to relieve the tedium. They seriously asked today whether my local "Skoda Specialist" (I didn't take it to the dealer to get it serviced) used genuine Skoda screenwash while servicing, and what the part number of that was! She corrected herself rather quickly on that, but still cared about whether Skoda-approved oil and a Skoda-approved oil filter was used. Hello? Since when does the ABS pump contact the engine oil? So at the moment, the dealer is refusing to talk to me unless I put my case in writing, and Skoda UK are asking facetious questions to buy time. I'm not getting a good feeling about this!

Gonna have to disagree there, darrenw! I have no contract with Skoda UK, so no way to take them to court. From the DTI guide that I referenced, page 3, "When goods are faulty, buyers can generally only obtain a legal remedy against the retailer". I bought the car from Vindis Skoda Cambridge, so they are the retailer - they took my debit card, and it came back 16K lighter :'( I've just checked the receipt when I bought the car, and it is indeed from Vindis Skoda Cambridge, not Skoda UK. According to my read of the law, this means that Skoda UK sold a car to Vindis Skoda with a "latent fault", which is all a bit miserable, but I can't do anything about that. All I can do is go to Vindis and say "You sold me a car with a latent fault, and you're going to have to take that up with Skoda UK, but I want you to fix my car right now". That DTI guide (http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file25486.pdf) is really very good indeed - I would totally recommend people read it if they have this problem. Of course, I totally agree that Skoda UK will be the ones calling the shots here, but unfortunately I have no piece of paper with their name and a signature on it :yes:

Hi all. Thanks forum members for all the info so far, especially the guy that posted the DTI trader's guide to the Sale of Goods Act - my dealer has a copy of that at the moment, with the relevant sections highlighted :yes: Steev - Octavia vRS 2.0T - Reg May 2007 - Fail Sep 2010 - 25,200 miles. So far, they've just quoted £1,030 to fix it (including labour, which is actually pretty decent compared to some of the prices on the forum, although I'm clearly not going to pay that). Manager wasn't in when I picked the car up, so I only got to talk to the receptionist (who was very nice, and I did feel guilty saying "I hope I don't have to take you to court" to the lass, but she obviously couldn't negotiate with me). Hoping for a call back tomorrow - hopefully the magic words "File a claim at county court against you" will see to that - otherwise I'll rock up later in the week and demand they fix it. This is Vindis Skoda Cambridge, who used to have a good reputation - I'll let you all know how it turns out ...

Just picked up my petrol vRS this week after seven years of a 150bhp Primera, and it's stunning how loud the loud pedal really is on the Skoda. After owning a <100bhp Focus, you should be grinning from ear to ear :-) Of course, it's actually a very sensible estate car (just in case my wife's reading this) and not a rocket after all ... I'm happy with mine so far, and would definitely recommend one. Didn't try the diesel, though - probably best to have a pootle in both? Cheers, Steev

Methinks you're trading off the value of metallic paint to you (for the first one) against xenons and maxidot (for the second), and the fact that the second is 200 quid more (neglecting the lower mileage because of the worry of it being ragged). I personally would love Xenons, but couldn't deal with having a bright red car, so out of the two I'd go for the first - but what I'd really do is have a think about what's most important to you, and rock up to your local dealer with a list of what you want, exactly as wise VRStu says. If your dealer's any good, he'll be able to find you something near what you want - there's more than two vRSs in the country! Cheers, Steev

That's pretty much true of any car, though, isn't it? My dad always used to say that you should run a car down the motorway in 3rd gear every now and again, and that was 20 years ago in a Vauxhall Viva (with only four gears - blast from the past!). Both my wife's Leon FR and my old Primera GT both sound and go much better after a couple of trips to the redline. Apparently the oil pressure at max rpm opens up the finer capillaries, or something, in addition to the decoking. Dunno, I'm not a mechanic. That said, when I pick up my Octy II vRS next week, I'm going to be itching to bounce it off the limiter every chance I get

I've been looking at some of those mods, Stu - one of the reasons for buying an Octy! Thanks for the tips, though - I'll peruse the forums Having a wee sproglet loses sleep and friends, and I don't have that much hair anyway - so I guess I'm just in danger of losing weight :nol2:

After Dr. Who announced that he owns an Octavia last week, I couldn't resist slapping down a deposit on a used vRS today. Eight-month-old sproglet can easily fill our Leon with all his crud, so we needed an estate, and if it's good enough for a Timelord, well ... So hiyall to the forumites! Now I'm off to read about what's going to drop off my new car first