silvermog

So, how often does a little monster get rated as 4/5 by EVO and acquit itself so well against their Car Of The Year winner in a head to head "Most impressively it bubbles with the enthusiasm, chuckability and infectious spirit of a well-executed hot hatch, yet deftly avoids the pitfall of trying too hard to be overtly sporty. It's this amazing versatility and bold execution that ensures it manages to fell 'right' so much of the time, and is why we're such big fans." One of the most glowing write-ups for a while, SUK must be beside themselves with glee ... especially as its praise from an odd and I guess unexpected corner for them for any model, let alone their 'soft-roader'. I'd be minting new adverts if I were SUK just now ...

I see mention that this is being released as a VAG specific targetted solution, probably due to the F900BT sales ... Pioneer Navigation Centre coming to VW, Skoda and Seat The perfect high-spec Navigation and Multimedia Centre for your Volkswagen, Seat or Skoda - Pioneer UK Should be interesting (and pricey!)

Fantastic info ... cheers! Hopefully will be able to hack about with this next weekend, I'm off on business for the next few days, but it gives me some time to get all the bits together! Thanks again

BTW, regarding the Parrot MKi9000, does the ISO connector just plugin to the VAG Dance unit or is this a rewire job ... couldn't find any obvious "kits" yet. Looks like the CPW offer is still on BTW, site is pants tho ...

Excellent, looks like I might be spoiling her again then ... Brodit phone holder for Valentines Day huh ... ;-) Thanks for the part numbers Fluff, will order those tonight!

So I can recognise the Brodit Proclip, but who makes the iPhone 3G cradle? That looks like the ideal solution for the missus' Roomster ... she's moaned like hell about me not sorting a permanent mount for her Garmin, so this setup would solve all the issues ... especially with the iPhone handy ... don't understand the 9200 repeating the display when the iPhone has a better display than them all!

Jalopnik (US) even picked up on the new Octavia ... 2009 Skoda Octavia - Jalopnik

Second vote for the Toyo's ... when the OE Dunlop's disappear, it'll be one of the two Toyo designs that will go on. Great tyres, ended up with various types on last 4 cars (4x4 stayed on BFG), mostly Proxes of some description and can't fault them for grip, longevity (even tho they seem to have a rep for short-living) and all-round behaviour. Good value too ... Just my 2c worth!

More photos at Roomster photos, they're still not amazing, but at least they are taken with something better than a phone camera ... and yes, it does need a proper clean, bugger is that madam has just kerbed the offside front alloy beautifully HTH

Anyone have any experience, good/bad with this unit? By the time I've fitted a BT kit, iPod/iPhone cabling and updated the missus' Garmin c550 to a newer Nuvi, it might be easier to just swap out the whole shooting match for one integrated unit. The Pioneer looks an ideal candidate, good quality, reasonable components ... just wondered if anyone had any real hands-on with one ... TIA

Same here ... iDA-X100 equipped with a BT adapter to run an iPhone 3G and cabled so that you could hide the iPhone out of sight in the glovebox as an iPod , would be pretty much an ideal for the Roomster, but I can't bring myself to stick a high colour front-end in a sea of green. ;-)

I'd second mdk1's experience ... Its heavily tinted (UV resistant?) and therefore even in direct sunlight its not really a problem, the standard air-con seems more than adequate to cope with the large volume interior and sunroof (and we have an all black interior-Scout), the blinds would block some more light, but we've never seen fit to draw them. We've got a Skoda dog guard in the boot and carry two dogs (rear seats on forward settings), one labrador sized and one slightly smaller, no problems so far. We did purchase some wind deflectors over the top of the rear door windows, with the intent of cracking the rear windows open if the dogs spent considerable time in there, as I was somewhat surprised that the rear 'C' windows didn't have cam latch openings (a previous Scenics did!). Our rear windows are also vanity tinted, that may help, but not spent too much time in one without this, so can't say really. I really don't think I'd consider buying the Roomster without the sunroof if I was beginning the search again now, given our experience. The benefits far outweigh any issues in my opinion ... Good luck with the 3 ...

Yeah, spent quite a bit of time in the Roomster over the last week or two and even in the heat of last weekend the blinds seem to do little to add shade to the existing roof. I'm sure in very hot climates they're quite necessary, but in the UK I think its more that they "enclose" the interior when drawn. Certainly I love the open effect, but someone travelling in the car with us at night wasn't keen on the feeling. Might just be the "doesn't feel like travelling in a cage" effect (I ride a motorbike whenever feasible ;-) ... Certainly wouldn't be without them ... Blinds are manually operated and located fore and aft and drawn to the middle of the roof where they meet. HTH

I think the item you need from Maplins would be: Multi Purpose Silicone Grease > Maplin Particularly the 50g tube version (£4), which looks a little expensive compared to RS Components version of the same at the same price for double the quantity (100g). rswww.com | RS Silicone Grease, 100g Tube, 494-124 ... but then you don't need much and Maplins might be on a high-street near you. HTH

Yeah, must admit ... the Scout 1.9Tdi on 17" alloys handles very well and no where near as crashy over the bumps as I predicted. We live out in the sticks and have some poor road surfaces to cover. Not really convinced by the Dunlop tyres (prefer Toyo), but with ESP it seems perfectly manageable. What I am amazed by is the overall handling package, quite taut, quite flat in a bend, good grip, very sharp turn-in ... great, great fun to drive ... missus now refuses to drive my Allroad (it can wallow without the ARB on), have to prise the Roomster keys out of her hand! Anyway, think I've convinced her to "loan" me the keys for a day soon, so can feel the second trip to Will coming on ... extra torque and 140bhp in the Roomster will be very interesting ;-)