grez73

Fantastic :-) looking forward to the music controls then, it's sometimes the smallest things make the biggest differences lol

What does multifunction mean though lol?

Hi, just wondering if anyone knows if the 2017 octavia se has any audio controls at all on the steering wheel please? All the brochures and pictures seem to infer that it has but nothing in the itemised description? Many thanks

Just a quick update on this. The garage paid for a formal inspection a week ago, I attended the inspection and asked a lot of questions. The inspector agreed with what a few others had said about fluid causing damage to the belt and must have reflected this in the report. The garage after receiving the report have accepted responsibility and will therefore be replacing the engine with a replacement one, not a new one but one that's done less mileage. A great result, and without too much pushing have also agreed to arrange a hire car until the replacement engine has been put in. I think that's one heck of a result and I'm happy with this especially after assuming I'd have to battle to get responsibility accepted. Fingers crossed all this will bring it to a conclusion and I'll get my car back in working order in time to complete the part exchange agreement for the new one. As an aside the garage blamed the fuel filter being faulty rather than the fitting being done wrong - but given they are covering the cost I don't mind either way, it was an interesting viewpoint to hear though :-)

Thanks all for your help, I've just had it formally confirmed by the garage now they've got the aux and timing belt on that it no longer works. I'm guessing a fix or a new engine for a car valued at £5k probably isn't worth it. So looks like I'll have to go down a formal complaint route. Garage confirmed that they could only see s small bit of the belt when doing the previous service a month ago - I wonder if that sort of inspection is normal but it probably cost me my car. Anyone think the garage may have a case to answer possibly?

Thanks for the info meta, I can confirm that I didn't pop the bonnet in between the service and then failure a month later, and an interesting possible link regarding the fuel filter leak as that was definitely changed as part of the service. Worst big of this sorry tale is that I agreed purchase of a new skoda octavia literally the day before with this car part x as the deposit - unsure how that will work now.

Hi I'm looking for peoples thoughts on my current scenario. I've got a Skoda Octavia Elegance 2010 (recently valued at around £5k) and it's now currently in the garage when a few days ago I seemingly lost power and had to be recovered. The recovery guy noticed that the fuel filter was leaking so I was hoping that's all it would be. I got towed to what was my favorite garage (will remain nameless for now but not a Skoda dealer) and they had a look and noticed that the auxiliary belt although still on barely was severely shredded. I had plans that weekend so I had to leave the car with them. They subsequently contacted me to tell me that the belt had knocked the timing belt out by 180 degrees and damaged it, may have possibly caused engine damage. They said they won't be able to prove engine damage however until they've fitted a new timing belt and tested it. My concern is that same garage a month ago did a *full* service on the car, looking at what should include it should have included a check on the auxiliary belt as part of it. No comments had been noted on the service however and to me if the belt was fine a month ago why would it shred and cause potential engine damage (to be confirmed tomorrow)? I do recognise that my first mistake was not getting the car serviced at a main dealer, but if the full service was done properly surely an auxiliary belt a month from failing would have been noticed? I don't do much distance driving on the car and the mileage just ticked over 50,000m a few days ago so it's not really done much. Do you think the garage that did the service and potentially did not spot what must have been an auxiliary belt about to fail liable and worth pursuing for costs? I'd very much value your thoughts on this, I'm concerned that if engine damage is proved then this could effectively write-off the car (based on it's recent £5k valuation)

Hi, I'm quite short and not that strong and have a 15kg bike so roofbars aren't really a solution that's best suited to be honest. Ie. the shape, it's not an estate so not sure if my car is therefore either hatchback, or possibly 'saloon?' Problem I have with the Mont Blanc is that I can get it to connect to the top of the boot lid by threading the straps with plastic bumbells at the end, but I can't see a secure way of fastening the bottom of the fully plastic bumper. Maybe possible to trap the bottom ones in the boot itself instead? Doesn't sound ideal really.

Hi all, after looking at the cost of getting a tow bar, a bike rack and a lighting board I'm wondering whether I'm just best finding a suitable high rear mounted one that doesn't need a tow bar and doesn't get in the way of the number plate. I used a Mount Blanc one on my previous car (Fabia) but it's not a stable fit for the Octavia though so I'd be interested if anyone knows of a high rear mounted bike rack that works with Octavia 2010 ? (or is a classed as saloon but certainly not an estate) Big thanks in advance

Thanks all for your replies, I called my local dealership this morning, they originally quoted me £290 for installtion of a detatchable tow ball,and £100 for one that wasn't - they then amended the quote to £530 just for the fixed tow ball - suffice to say it won't be going to them for that kind of charge! That's more than the actual value of the cycle so certainly not what I'd be prepared to pay. I've seen the Thule and it looks great, which is the reason why I'm looking at getting a towbar but I'll ring around tomorrow for the towball installatoin as £530 just for a fixed towbar sounds a bit far fetched.

Hi.I'm looking to get a rear mounted cycle rack for my Octavia. I'm not a fan of the purely strap connected ones, and my previous strap only connected one I used on my previous car (Fabia) doesn't connect as 'happily' to my Octavia. I'm therefore looking to get a tow bar connected so that I can get a bike rack that clips solidly onto a tow bar. I'm just wondiering if anyone can recommend any particular cycle racks for this car that they've had experience of? I'd also be interested to know whether there's any tow bars that can be got that do not confuse the parking sensors given it's a permanent fixture and I really don't want to have to turn off my sensors when I'm not using my rack. Thanks in advance

Quickie question for all your Fabia experts out there. I've got an 04 reg 1.2 Fabia and it's the only car I've noticed so far that gets frozen windows inside as well as outside first thing in the morning. Just this morning I scraped the windows outside and inside too. Previously I've owned 2 Fiat Punto's and my first baby was a rover metro for my sins, can't remember any of them icing inside though? Is it normal? Thanks in advance,

Hiya, I'm new here but felt I had to join to contribute my 2 pences worth (I am a Yorkshire customer after all....) in the Fabia car self locking fiasco from my own personal experiences. I had a problem about a month ago with my 2004 reg 1.2 Skoda Fabia with the central locking going on and off between 7 to 10 times continously every few minutes. When parking it would also wind down the windows and lock and unlock the car at random intervals. (anyone ever seen the film Herby goes banannas?) I took it to a dealership, they blamed it on 'water ingress' in the front doors that probably got into a locking mechanism. I read a bit online before contacting the dealership so knew that this was a known problem with Skodas but also read about drainage hole at the bottom of the doors that need checking every now and again to make sure there's no blockage. The dealership managed to look into it a few days later (after kindly letting me leave it in their lockup which to be fair to them I did appreciate) and the mechanic manager concluded that the sealant on the doors which held the waterproofing on had worn off after four years, and that one of the locking mechanisms was a writeoff. They concluded that a fix would be to reseal *all 4 doors* and replace the locking mechanism. After a bit of online research afterwards I decided that sealing all 4 doors was overkill given that I only have central locking/electric windows in the front of the car (therefore no electrics in the rear doors?). So I asked the garage to just to the front doors - the job was completed, problem solved after £200 worth of resolution or so I thought. This evening I noticed the car locked itself as I was driving, I thought I'd knocked it by accident with my arm usually placed along the door so I unlocked it, same thing happened a minute after. I parked up and whilst the engine was running ran outside around the car under all the doors to make sure the above drainage holes were unblocked! doh! big mistake, and as per first poster on this thread - it locked me out! After a phonecall to the wife, she got a taxi and was able to bring the spare key down for me, like another contributor has also commented the centrallocking wouldn't unlock until I used the key in the lock. Anyway I'm uncertain if this problem is related to the first problem of water ingress or if it's related to the problems others have had with it locking but I'll be calling the dealership tomorrow - on the assumption they say it's nothing to do with them I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of the car. Shame though, it's very fair to say that the first four years of this car has been trouble free, ok it doesn't handle well in snow but we all have our problems I guess.