Redboy

I know the boot is massive but that takes up a lot of space.

The reason I specced my MkIII VRS with Canton, was that my MkII VRS system sounded so weedy. My wife’s Daihatsu Sirion’s audio system sounded much better. Octavia Canton is not bad for the money. I paid £400 in 2015, it’s more now. Canton also gets criticised but to my ear it sounds best when used with Spotify, iTunes.

Which us why I would trade it in and not bother with waiting for experts and timewasters.

I did that with my first car, advertised on here and sold it very reasonably priced, reduced to allow for replacement of the air con comoressor. , not before I got some idiotic omments and frankly wished I hadn't bothered. The buyer test drove it and commented it was in better nick than other Mk2 VRS 2 years younger. Far easier to chop in at a dealership with no worries about payment

Looks good, can't you use the massive armrest, glovebox?

Last weekend as part of my campaign to help local business, I traded in my 2017 SX performance tourer (bottom photo) for its 2020 equivalent. Only now it’s a Ninja SX performance tourer (the name change seems to have increased the Insurance premium). They look the same and are the same weight but ride very differently, it even feels easier to push it it around in the garage. The LCD dash is very clear. Non-riders won’t immediately see (or care about) the differences, apart from the darker green and rather (to my eyes) unsightly single silencer, which will be replaced by an Akrapovic, when it comes in to stock off back order. Cruise control, quick shifter, fly by wire throttle giving an instant smooth response, a slight steering rake change, better confidence inspiring S22 tyres and most importantly lots more metallic flake made this worth trading up to...or perhaps the lighter green bike’s days were already sub-consciously numbered since I’d sold my ralleye green VRS. Shame the weather’s turning. Safe riding all.

Given the increasing amount of congestion, speedcams and citizen dashcam police Shy sensibly treasures his licence and no doubt a hyper-miling thread is about to be born... black cars are also a right pain to keep looking clean

I specced my new 2015 VRS petrol with 18s, front parking sensors, front Assist along with Canton, the for me best options ( in winter at least) of heated front screen and auto-dimming door mirrors. Having experienced it , I realise now that I should also have got ACC. Although when traded in the decent options didn't seem to make any difference in the price. Frankly I barely ever used the FPS and wouldn't ever pay for them as an option. Mind you my father, a HGV1 driver, hauling huge trailers around the narrow roads in Devon and Cornwall, howled with laughter when I paid to have rear parking sensors fitted to a Mondeo in 2004.

Yep, David Coulthard got it right yesterday, asking aloud when Derek Warwick had last raced, after Albon chopped in front of Ghasly. He raced in a different era. I also cynically wondered if the stewards would have penalised Hamilton had he been in "F*$k you to my critics" Bottas's place at the first bend, following the start, where Bottas came from way off the track to push back in front of Hamilton, such is the F1 propensity to try to even the odds/spice up a predictable race. I loved Albon's comment " They race me so hard" err yes that's their job and his spectacular hard-nosed overtakes have resulted to a few incidents, such as Hamiltion being penalised in Austria.

Hang out for a L&K with DCC. I was just lucky with my purchase timing. I have had 2 Octavia VRS and took a bit of self-convincing to look at the L&K Superb, the brilliant options convinced me. Mine is on 18x235x45 profile tyres and a bit floaty on gentle twisting A roads in Normal mode. Switching DCC to Sport mode transforms the handling on the same twisty A roads. If possible test drive one with DCC and one without and you'll see what I mean immediately.

I am sure the MPG improvement will compensate for the increasingly shrinking amount of traffic and pothole-free open roads.

I think coming from an S6 you will find the 280’s response a littke underwhelming. No doubt a DSG and engine map to stage 1 will make it feel a bit more peppy.

My friend's 2 week old 1.5 TSI has been recalled for for diagnostic checking due to juddering and an error with the units distance display. Although his speedo and odometer shows Mph, he is unable to change distance units from Km to Mph. The Satnav is only showing distance in Km but speed limits in Mph. Also Speed units can be changed to Mph but Kmh also remains illuminated. The dealers demonstrator has the same issue, which they only seemed to realise after my friend rang up on the way home from picking it up. The dealers initially thought he couldn't work through the menu but now have the same issue. He also says it judders on pull away when cold. He traded in a 17 reg Octavia 1.4 TSI SE which was butter smooth. Hopefully it will get a quick fix.

I checked the oil properly today ie on flat ground 5 mins after turning off with the oil temp at 90 +C and was a bit surprised to find it was not too far off the bottom of the hatched area after 4400 miles, the last 2000 miles in free flowing rural and motorway miles. I say surprised as my mapped 220 VRS didn’t use a drop in 4 years. 250ml of Castrol SAE 5W-30 VW 504-507 returned it to over 1/2 way up the hatched area. I checked the oil type with a dealership, which stated that the models built from Nov 19 use 0W-30 oil. As mine was built in Jul 19 model it is on long-life service interval using 5W-30. According to the dealer when it’s serviced in October, it will be filled up with 0W-30. He did say if I topped up with the wrong oil, (yes I know it’s just oil!) I presume he means not 5W-30, i.e. 0W - 30 then the warranty would be invalidated if it blew up. It won’t blow up. I presume the 0W-30 oil is VW 508 00.

Just to get away from Politics and viruses, this photo will make all the 50+ guys smile with memories. I rescued this from an old car club years ago. It hangs on my garage wall. There are a lot of the cars that I saw coming through my dad’s hands, when he ran a second hand car business in the 1970’s. If you check out the Simca plugs, you’ll see why I laugh when people ask on this forum if 110 Bhp is enough for a Fabia. Although today’s cars are much faster, I bet you’d be hard pushed to do Bristol to Weymouth quicker nowadays, due to the amount of traffic, than our old Sunbeam Rapier or S type Jag 3.8... which I hated as I wanted a new Cortina 2.0 GXL!! 😄with a blue light like my friends dad had ...( who was a Fire Brigade chief) . My dad had 6 old Jags all in working order, in the early 80’s parked at our house. Here’s a 420 with chrome wire wheels, tinted windows and a E-type engine and the XJ6 4.2 reg that I got to drive as a 19 year old on leave from Germany. The most exotic one I got to drive on my leaves back in the UK was a NSU RO 80 again, mine for a week or so. The best handling was an Alfa 2.0 GTV.

No water squirting out 2 days ago as I was returning home. Sat on drive and suddenly worked. Not used again until today....didn't work. Got home. Water bottle full, only ever use the VAG approved liquid, definitely no sound of a washer pump motor whirring. Checked as far as I could see, there were no loose connections. Tried to check if it was a fuse, the only suitable fuse I could find in the handback pages 228-231, was 19 (windscreen wiper) under the bonnet. Removed, shiny with no oxidisation, so refitted it and pushed all the other fuses to check they were correctly seated. Pulled and pushed the washer stalk, whirring noise and washer fluid pumped out of the front and rear screen jets. 1. Has anybody had a similar experience with the MkIII Octy, if so what was the solution. (Please no stories of 1970's Cortinas etc ) 2. Is fuse 19 the correct one, I didn't see any mention of a dedicated washer pump fuse. 3. Is it easy to access and remove the water bottle via the left front inner wing panel? I think I might have to change /check the pump if this continues to happen. Thanks