Vroomster1

Totally agree. But ….. I’ve lost count of the cars/vehicles I’ve driven over the last 40 yrs (30 years professionally) and the Roomster’s heads are by a long way the most feeble I have encountered, even running best available (legal) Philips replacement bulbs which I renew every 2 years. I do wonder how Skoda got regulatory approval for these halogen projectors. Been a regular topic on the Roomster forum for years – have a look. What I’m looking for is adequacy, not retina-burning excess.

Noted & thanks!

Hi - currently running a 57 plate Roomster that we've had from new and are quite attached to - but the poor halogen projector headlights are finally forcing us to change the car. Lighting is therefore a key issue (= potential deal breaker) in choosing replacement and as the current Fabias appear to have reflector halogens I'm hopeful of better performance than the Roomster. Can anyone out there running a Fabia provide any opinion as to headlamp performance please? Any other general opinions on the car generally? Many Thanks.

Please see my recent 12y/100k long term Roomster experience post.

2007 Roomster Scout 1.6 Petrol after 100k miles & 12 yrs. Thought a long term report might be of interest! Owned car from new. Slightly wary purchase (I’m old enough to remember the jokes) but favourable careful research has been vindicated by our extended ownership. Would buy another if still in production but only if Skoda sorted the headlights (see later). Dealer serviced until Warranty expired, then moved to local “oil in veins” independent known & trusted over 30 yrs. Had the following issues (normal wear and tear excluded). Early years; Handbrake cable operation “sticky” from new – replaced under warranty. Occasional “flat spot” under acceleration – software update cured (warranty). Leaky rear door seals replaced under warranty. Rear suspension bump stops perished after 5 yrs/60k mls – replaced under extended warranty. Other issues as follows; Feeble headlights! I renew bulbs every 2 years for Phillips Extremes/Racing Visions but only marginal improvement & overall heads are still poor. Safety issue and only real problem with car. I think I have seen later Roomsters with reflector heads – wonder why …. Intermittent failure of front power windows. Seemingly a common fault – ongoing! Heater fan position 1 failed a few years back – not a problem. Fuel filter developed leak at about 8 yrs/72k mls – replaced. ECU bracket failed at c90k miles – replaced. Original brakes audibly rough from new – supplying dealer considered normal but aftermarket replacements have been fine. Original Bridgestone tyres were noisy & harsh – replacement Dunlops and Klebers much quieter. Front seats starting to sag a little now. Intermittent rattle from passenger airbag – franchised dealer failed to fix. Minor irritation, liveable with. Fascia top can reflect into windscreen under certain conditions. A few minor but irritating interior trim creaks for first few years but nothing since. Scuttle trim panel (includes wipers and cabin air intakes) bleaching now but periodic application of bumper/trim gel keeps presentable. General; adequately brisk but outgunned by modern turbodiesels and could do with a bit more power in reserve for overtaking etc. but not difficult to accommodate by driving within car’s capabilities. Nicely torquey at low to moderate revs – pulls well up hills. Excellent gearshift. Excellent handling. Involving drive on “proper” roads e.g. out in Wales …. Very stable on snow/ice for 2wd vehicle. Hugely space efficient and versatile. Large rear doors v useful. 5 star NCAP (unusual at time of purchase) impressed. Some slightly plasticky trim but acceptable & trim generally wearing well. Generally pretty quiet and smooth although low profile tyres can jar over rough roads and engine a bit harsh above 4k rpm although rarely go there. More road noise in back however. Average 40 mpg–ish, can reach 45 mpg on long run. Have never had to top-up oil between services even when clocking 12k p.a. Never used supermarket fuel. Always hand wash using Mer shampoo. Always use VAG screenwash concentrate. Original clutch. Original battery lasted 10 yrs! Still on original exhaust!!! Unaware of any tin worm. Local Skoda dealership is energetically avoided due to poor/dodgy advice in past. Overall, a positive ownership experience with the car having improved over the years - it drives better now than early on (see above ref brakes, tyres etc.) Have considered replacement from time to time but the car looks good, is still going strong and remains ideal for current needs apart from poor headlights. Might do a separate post on this aspect. Drives v well, no real MOT issues so far so still Roomstering!

This is a rather late post but for what it's worth we've had an identical problem, evident intermittently over most of our 3 years ownership. Our friendly Skoda dealer has had a go at it 3 times but it's still there and yes the car will be going in again ....... In fairness it's not actually been evident when the car's gone in (although very evident in the week or so before) but that's intermittent faults for you. I've heard of this before on other Roomsters so seems a general fault in which case you'd think a fix would have been logged on Skoda's tech database. Ours can come and go depending on whether we've climbed or descended a steep gradient. Very strange and a little disconcerting.

No I haven't tried that consciously although I have noticed that accelerator "off" driven wheel slippage, which came as standard on every other car I've driven on slippy stuff, seems to have been absent with the Roomy so presumably that's why. Clever stuff! Thanks for mentioning - I'll have another session later today, all in the name of science of course. BTW I think I meant ESP, not EPS! Sorry folks.

ABS is pretty universal, but EPS ain't and all this slippy stuff has reminded me what a wonderful stability aid it is. As I've said before, the Roomy has always felt stable on snow but although I've occasionally prodded the accelerator to let the system play a little, and even turned it off once or twice to remind myself how tricky things were for the previous 30 odd years I was on the road in my work cars, I've never really tried to unstick it. Until tonight, returning home at minus 3 on a packed and polished snowy road. Loads of space, no hazards m'lud, so I floored it in second, 3 times, at all of 20 mph to see what happened. Nothing. Revs rose a bit and the EPS warning light flashed but that was it. No dramas at all. Brilliant system with a huge safety factor whoever is driving. Do Skoda make enough of this feature I wonder or is it a bit boring for their Marketing guys? Whatever we change to, whenever we do it, it'll have to have EPS. 4wd with EPS would be the ultimate I suppose. Yeti?

Just found this thread and would like to add my own appreciation of Simpsons Preston. Have dealt with them for 2 years and the whole experience (purchase, service) has been excellent. Good to deal with and Recommended. The new premises are just a bit smart too ....... complete contrast to the original temporary establishment and worth a look.

Has the "movement backwards" you originally mentioned gone? Not sure what this is - assuming it's not creep or wind-up against the handbrake and that it is definitely in the suspension or steering (is it perhaps movement inwards rather than backwards?) it sounds excessive to me and whilst any noise needs investigating personally I would not want to use the car until this "play" is properly sorted. Presume you're using a Skoda dealer? Worth a second opinion perhaps? Ours has done 20k miles (over 30k km) in 2 years without any similar probs. in spite of the increasingly poor state of the UK roads.

Just a bit of info - our car has suffered from a flat spot after restarting on a cool engine eg after moving it on/off the drive. Problem cleared after a couple of miles or so and never ocurred under any other conditions. Dealers (Simpsons, Preston) couldn't trace as intermittent and no error codes showed. At recent service however they were not to be beaten and did a search of the Skoda world database (or something) and turned up a possible fix, related to lean running at ambient temperatures below 15 deg. which sounded promising. Software fix was duly downloaded. Problem solved! Top marks to Simpsons. Mentioned for info in case anyone else has a similarly elusive glitch.

No clunking with ours but re mpg we got just over 45 mpg on a 300 mile round trip recently, 3-up, almost all motorway at the legal limit and calculated off a brim to brim fill. Not bad for a 1.6 petrol RoomWagen I reckon.

The previous post's reference to "sporty" engine noise is interesting - our 1.6 has a not unpleasant hint of growl to it when pushed. Engine notes can sound "good" or "bad" and if it's audible then it's always better to have something intereresting to listen to! Contrast the awful drone of the Mondeo tdci diesel which I had to endure for 70k. Orrible.

Just out of interest, does anyone know how many of us there are on the UK roads? PS for Salut - so it was you then!

Suppose I should contribute a view to my own thread ................. In a nutshell, it's all good fun and entertainment, even (groan) the time-warped treatment of the speed test. At least JC's dog liked it, and I suspect The Man himself might not be too badly disposed - his earlier Times road test wasn't bad at all. Re underpowered cars and fuel efficiency, many many years ago I read a road test report comparing a Mk2 Escort 1.1 Popular (how many of you remember them?) with the RS2000 of the day. The RS won hands down 'cos its big torquey engine just loped along, burning much less fuel than the weedy Pop which was always footonthefloor. My own RS (sadly missed) was a hugely effortless drive and returned about 40 mpg on the m'way. Sigh.

OK Roomy Briskodians, what do we make of tonight's Top Gear test of the Roomster?

Saw a reference on another thread to waving to another Roomster. In the past we've had a Mini Cooper, a Triumph Spitfire and (brace yourselves) a motorhome all of which generated numerous waves (well, we think that's what they were) from other similarly equipped drivers. Yesterday I involuntarily waved at another Roomster. Question is, how many of us do this? And should we? And if not why not!

Last weekend I had my brother in the passenger seat for the Takeaway Run. He drives a new Mondeo Diesel btw. Bro gets into Roomy, clutching food. I operate starter, engage first, am about to release handbrake when Bro says, in animated tone, "Hold it! It's not started!!!! I hear no engine!" Roomy had started, of course. He's quiet, though, being a spirit burner of refined habits. Normally you can only tell he's idling by checking the tacho. Bro, a complete badge-ist, has in past ribbed us most cruelly about going Skoda. Roomy wasn't the only quiet one on the run back, though. There are no words, only an emoticon.

All very reassuring and Thanks Decron for the post - ours is coming up to 17k in about 18m without any significant issues so let's hope it stays that way!

Went down to S Wales a couple of days ago and managed to explore the handling a bit more than usual on the twisty A483 between Newtown and Builth - no discernible body roll, and no scrabble or scrub. Just very nimble with loads of grip and very well mannered. It's always handled well but now I'm more impressed than ever. As someone said, it's not what you'd expect from a tall-ish car although I suspect the low profiles help.

I share the dislike of the no-spare approach. Our Roomie's fitted with the Tyre Pressure Monitor and I was initially a bit sceptical, but expereince has proved it works and is a valuable upgrade.

Well done for choosing a Roomie! I've used roof and tailgate mounted bike racks on other cars and never really liked the latter - even using extra straps and being careful over set-up it just never inspired confidence but maybe I'd been spoiled by my roof racks. Mine was a high-mount version (keeps number plate and lights clear so no need for light board) which probably didn't help. I think strap-on racks may be illegal in some countries - Portugal perhaps? Skoda do an internal 2 bike rack which is good but pricey - there's some relative posts on earlier threads somewhere. Otherwise I would personally prefer a roof rack (fork-mount version). Pity about the absent towbar - racks which fit these seem pretty good although I've never used one.

Our 1.6 Scout is OK. See separate post (somewhere....) re road noise on some surfaces at m'way speeds but mechanical noise low otherwise although engine becomes more noticeable above 3000 rpm.

Can't help with your specific queries but, and I don't mean to be a bore here, if you go ahead don't forget to tell your insurance company! I do sometimes wish for an extra 30 bhp or so......