Manatee

Interesting Charles. Maybe you can report back in a week or two and say whether the economy improvement is maintained? 800 miles here, now. No complaints about performance but over two tanks, fuel economy is only 41mpg, driven considerately. A bit disappointing. I did a few miles in 'S' last night to build the revs up a bit - in 'D' it barely gets past 2000rpm.

You are far, far more likely to be held up on an A road now by a Large Goods Vehicle doing its limit of 40mph. There seems to be a view among some LGV drivers that 50 is OK, but some big operators clearly enforce 40mph on their drivers - a Tesco, Sainsbury or Asda lorry will always be at 40 on a single carriageway A road. A Tesco driver will get a bleeping from the Isotrak in the cab if he/she breaks the speed limit, and if he keeps doing it will be disciplined. As with caravans, it's not the lorry that causes the hold up. If you're the one behind the lorry you can probably pass it, but if there is a car or two following closely behind it then there is a rolling road block. Of course it's more fun just to join in the Clarkson-style anti-caravan rant than to recognise the reality that caravanners are just road users, and like drivers of other vehicles can be more or less considerate. When did you last pull over to allow somebody past who had caught you up? (Rhetorically speaking, not directed at anyone in particular.) I can't actually remember being stuck behind a caravan, so if I have been it must have been a while back. I do remember passing one or two, but I have noticed that overtaking seems to be a declining ability - a trend encouraged by the authorities' habit of sticking a speed camera bang in the middle of any decent overtaking spot!

Our 2104MY Scout has the leany-forward ones, non-adjustable except as to height. Neither of us has had any difficulty, but we both have the backrest somewhat "reclined". The back of my head is a good inch off the pad in my normal driving position. I can visualise it being more of a problem for anybody who drives with a near-vertical backrest. I've done 200 miles in the seat and found it comfortable, if anything more so than the 'armchair' in our Outlander.

The best success I've had has been with half covers. Fitting or removing a full one in a wind is awkward and they are bulky to fold. They are all a damn nuisance if you have to remove them when wet. The first half cover I had for my MX5 was held on by two elastic chin straps round the bumpers. It would blow off when windy, and after a couple of years the elastic tape had lost its virtue altogether. The material had also started to tear and had a few bits of duck tape on it by then. Much better, and cheaper, was this one held on by a couple of tabs trapped by the boot lid, and velcro round the mirrors, door handles and wiper arms. Never comes off, and still good at 2 years old. http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop/viewproducts.aspx?plateindexID=10297 Sadly not listed for Roomster! Reason for mentioning that is that it is the same material, judging by the picture, as the 'Stormforce' ones here - http://www.coveryourcar.co.uk/stormforce.htm - about £125 for a full Roomster one. Probably worth buying if you really want a full one. Fitted is going to be a lot better than universal, whatever you go for. Excess material just billows and gets the wind under it. If it doesn't blow away, it's a lot more likely to rip. These people do a half cover http://www.just-carcovers.co.uk/waterproof-half-car-cover-skoda-roomster-i9413.html# but I don't like the sound of the elastic and they don't show the material - I suspect it will be the thin silvered woven fabric, I'd say you might get a year out of it. Maybe the coveryourcar people will make a half cover if somebody asks for it. Half covers are more than half the use if you know what I mean. They cover the windows and roof, the sides of the car don't get super dirty anyway, so the downside is mainly bird carp/tree glue on the bonnet, and boot if you have one.

Found this thread while searching for a solution. 2014 model year Scout, no Maxidot, standard basic panel - there appears to be no daytime illumination, and no adjustment of the rather dim backlight when the lights are on. I can't see any sign that it auto-dims/brightens either, on short acquaintance with it. I suppose it has to be dim, given the lack of adjustment, otherwise it would be to bright in properly dark conditions, but it's surprising on a car with other very useful comfort features such as seat height, and reach/height steering wheel, adjustment. It doesn't help that the numbers are quite small, too. Needles are clearly visible, though I detect no illumination. Not the end of the world, but definitely an irritation. I can't remember the last car I had without any adjustment for the brightness.

I have an 1.8 MX5 Mk2 and a Mitsubishi Outlander turbo diesel. My wife's 1.2TSI 105ps Roomster has nearer driving characteristics to the Outlander than the naturally aspirated MX5, which needs some rpm. The turbo gives the 1.2TSI maximum torque from about 1500rpm through to 4000+ so shouldn't need high rpm to feel nippy. I'm impressed with the Roomster, which is saying something as I drive all three fairly regularly. It has 600 odd miles on now, and I can't say it has ever felt sluggish (picked it up with 11 miles on it) or that it has got noticeably nippier. Unless the OP was going uphill, or into a serious headwind, it doesn't sound right. The first trip in the Roomie was from the dealer in South Yorkshire, to home in Herts, via Cambridge. No problems keeping up to speed on the M1, A1, A14 etc. and no high rpm required.

There's an oft stated factoid that it's a good idea to run the air con at least weekly to "keep the seals lubricated" or somesuch, and that if you don't then you're more likely to have problems. I incline to the use-it-all-the-time view - I ran a Scorpio to about 80,000 miles without aircon problems, and a CRV to 95,000, and we have just sold my wife's 12 year old Civic, owned from new; she has had the automatic air conditioning on for 12 years and it still worked. It had a top up last year because it didn't feel quite as cold as it had, and it was still good when it went. The aircon will no doubt stay on in the Roomster too. It certainly helps in winter to keep the car from misting up.

That's very encouraging George - always good to hear about the cars that don't break! John.

Thanks George. I think I might be stressed if I didn't look after it properly - we like to keep cars a long time (this is replacing a 12 year old Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC auto, owned from new) and I think for that term of ownership a bit more maintenance pays off. The two UK Skoda dealers I have dealt with recently both set the servicing to fixed (12 months or 10,000 miles) by default, and that is OK for us - I'm not a fan of variable servicing/longlife oils. Maybe it is OK for high mileage users doing long journeys, but the Scout will probably do less than 10,000 miles per year and mainly short journeys (5-10 miles). The extra oil changes must have some benefit although I accept it may be small - intervals are a compromise between wear and cost/downtime and I am just trying to shift the balance. I hope I can do it almost without getting my hands dirty using my Pela extractor; happily, the filter is very accessible from the top, too. Cost is minimal at £12 for a genuine filter and £15 for just under 4 litres of this stuff http://goo.gl/yL7Hwq . I am certainly not going to pay the dealer £100+ to do it. I would have extended the warranty, that was my plan, but the dealer refused as the car was pre-registered (a week earlier) and therefore technically second hand (9 miles on the clock). I did buy this 3 year New Car Fixed Price Service Plan http://goo.gl/CjIOFL for £479 which the dealer also said they could not sell me until I drew their attention to the Skoda website which clearly says it is available for cars up to one year old! I take your point about the DSG being robust enough to tow - interesting that Skoda does not reduce the towing limit for the DSG as most manufacturers do for a TC auto. The car is certainly 2014 model year, not sure about the build date - the latest date I can find on any parts is 11/13. Apology for the thread drift. The main thrust of my last post above was really to get views on the potential value of recognising that whilst a DSG can be used like a TC auto (and almost certainly is by many drivers), depending on the driver's habits that could be a risk factor for the clutches and, through excess heat, for other parts especially the control unit. I am mindful that the dry clutches are single plate. What seems like 'normal' use to an experienced user of traditional automatics may in fact be tantamount to abuse. Fortunately most auto users I know use the footbrake to hold the car. I'm surprised I haven't heard more about this, although of course the last thing we want is dealers blaming customers for creating a problem. A rather frightening benchmark of a kind is the memory of an old colleague who insisted that holding a car on the (conventional) clutch was a perfectly valid way to drive. His clutches lasted as little as 8,000 miles.

Interesting thread, and I have read the survey responses, now over 100. Anders, you have clearly been looking for a common factor in the type of use that the cars have had, and none is apparent. A lot of respondents also say they are gentle drivers. My wife and I have just bought a Roomster 1.2TSI 105ps 7 speed DSG Scout. Since the launch of DSG I have been wary of the complexity of these gearboxes; even now I would not use one for towing, and I have not yet decided whether the risk of owning one outside warranty is acceptable. I hope that I can change my mind, because we usually keep cars for a long time. With that in mind, I have given some thought to what we can do to improve the chance that we have a trouble-free car. So I have set out to find out as much as possible about how DSG (and especially the DG200 version) works, and what sort of problems can arise with that and the 1.2 TSI engine. There seem to be two recurring issues with these cars - - DSG problems, to which your survey relates; and - problems concerning the timing chain. Regarding the DSG: The handbook gives very little information about how it works, but it does say among other things The vehicle must be held on the brake pedal in D, S or R modes if the vehicle is halted and the engine is running. Even when the engine is idling, power transmission is never completely interrupted – the vehicle will creep. Never try to hold the vehicle using the accelerator pedal when stopping on a hill – this may lead to transmission damage. The "creep" warning would apply to a normal epicyclic torque-converter-equipped transmission (a "TC auto"), but surely we don't need to be told to brake if the car is moving and we don't want it to? Why the footbrake, and not the handbrake, which does not appear to release the clutch? I investigated, and found that the car still tries to move, even with the handbrake on, if in gear. Clearly the clutch must be slipping - if it was fully engaged, the car would be moving. On the other hand, pressing the footbrake seems to back off the clutch from the bite point. The second, "do not hold on the accelerator" warning seems to have the same point behind it - if the car is stationary, in gear, on a hill without brakes, then the clutch is slipping, heating up, and wearing out. Holding a car on the clutch is very bad practice, whether we are controlling the clutch with a clutch pedal, or just using the accelerator as with DSG. This is pretty serious, because many DSG drivers will have come from old-style automatics (as has my wife). Leaving a TC auto in D with the handbrake on, or holding it on the accelerator, will usually do it no harm. It does not wear the brake bands in the gearbox, it just churns the fluid, and provided that it is adequately cooled then there is no problem. DSG seems to have the potential for drivers to adopt a bad habit, possibly carried over from long and trouble-free experience of a TC auto, that will kill the gearbox through clutch wear/overheating. The point is that it appears possible to drive a DSG in just the same way as a TC auto, but with far more destructive results Although the warnings are there in the handbook, there is no explanation of the reason for them, or of the possible consequences. We intend to use our DSG with full awareness of what the clutch is doing, as far as possible - just as we do our manual cars. I do not, for example, reverse my caravan uphill with my manual Mitsubishi Outlander - it is just too hard on the clutch pushing a 1200kg trailer uphill without the clutch being fully engaged, which is usually impractical in a confined space. Regarding engine longevity, I intend to do the same as I have with my other turbo cars - change the oil and filter in between scheduled services i.e. every 5,000 miles in the case of a Roomster on a 10,000 mile/annual servicing regime, and ensure there is always enough oil in the engine. I hope that will also have benefit for the timing chain wear. What do the VAG/Skoda experts say? Is it possible that owners are unknowingly shortening the life of their DSGs by driving in a "normal" manner that is incompatible with DSG? Intuitively, this would also account for the dry-clutch DQ200 boxes exhibiting more problems than the wet-clutch versions, on both higher and lower torque engines. I have searched this forum and the internet for specific guidance on how to look after these gearboxes and found almost nothing. I'm trying to work it out for myself, but it would be good to have some practical guidance from someone who knows the workings of these gearboxes.

On the spare wheel thing...our new pre-reg Scout (16" wheels with 205/45R16 tyres) came with a spare and I was surprised to see it is a 15" steel wheel with a 195/55R15 tyre - i.e. a "full size" spare, not a pram wheel. OK, so it's not the same size as the other four, but it is within <1% the same overall diameter and in fact would be the standard size for an SE. Much better than I was expecting. Nevertheless if has a "temporary use/max 50mph" yellow sticker on it. Have you hoiked yours out and looked at it? I bet it's the same...must be what Skoda describes as " temporary spare steel wheel/"Space Saver" steel wheel ". EDIT - all is explained here, and in an earlier thread linked from it... http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/311512-07-roomster-full-size-spare-wheel-and-tyre-speed-restricted/

I posted some questions on a general forum and it was suggested I ask the Skoda experts... In short - - we have a test drive booked in the mechanically similar Fabia 1.6 auto - is this going to give a reasonable idea of what the Roomster is like to drive? - is the "Tiptronic" a conventional torque converter automatic apart from the tip bit? Any reason to think it will be anything other than reliable? - any information on the engine and its strengths/weaknesses? - is climate control a worthwhile upgrade on these or does it just introduce something else to go wrong? I have a vague recollection that VAG climate control can be a source of trouble? - are there any common problems with these cars that I should be aware of? Thanks in advance for any contributions:)