HotVRs

Another thing is that I've never found any advantage to MPG by using 99 RON. I lob in the E10 from my local Tesco and it performs exactly the same as far as I have been able to tell.

I drove Reading to North Manchester last month in a 1.5 Tsi eco. One person in the car and set cruise to 65 and over the 210 miles the trip computer showed 66.4 MPG because it spent so much of it in 2 cyl mode. With the inevitable jams around Birmingham and Manchester my average journey speed was barely affected. Was one of the faster journey times of late ironically. What is interesting though is that increasing the speed by just an indicated 5MPH the consumption will drop to high 50's, and at indicated 75 it goes to low mid-50's at best. Journey times barely affected by lowering the speed, it's just the psychological boredom and staying out of the way of faster vehicles that tire.

Yes a software update, but it was only a partial fix and VW/Skoda aren't releasing anything else. If you have one you are stuck with the issue. Speaking to Skoda UK they said other people also complained it didn't fix it. It's the reason why this Skoda (the 6th I have) will be the last. Good enough cars but too many issues, and usually not resolved.

I've run a 1.5TSi eco on a 68 plate for 40K miles, and it has always used a litre every 4K miles. Never had a car use so much or flash the add oil warning before. With the kangarooing it makes it all in all the worst engine I've ever had, which is a shame because out of town it runs well and I like the quietness of it.

I've been using a 2018 1.5TSI eco Octavia 3 from new to its current 37000 miles and it has used a litre every 4500 miles or so consistently. It's the only car I have owned or used that has done this. My previous Skoda's (1.9 TDi PD, 2.0 TDI PD, and 2 CR 2.0 TDI's), have used a litre max every 10K miles, if that. Even my near 15 year old Toyota 2.2 D4D engined Corolla only uses 0.2-0.3 litres max every 10K miles. Like said already, the 0-20W oil is very thin. The only positive is that if you get caught out at least the add oil warning is before it reaches minimum. Shame it doesn't have a oil level display on the dash like some French stuff does on start up. It's also the only car I have ever owned that has almost zero engine braking effect on the motorway when I let off the accelerator. I guess that's low friction for efficiency.

I'm not comparing other cars in terms of mileages they can achieve or what maintenance they need once they work properly - they can all do good service provided they are good in the first place, I'm talking about cars delivered with faults. Specifically 1) the current 1.5TSi that drives like crap, worst car I have ever driven. As the 'fix' doesn't properly resolve it they should be recalled as defective and replaced. 2) a previous Octavia (2013) 3 that had to be taken back by Skoda after it was rejected by my company as unsafe because Driver Assist kept performing emergency stops for no reason, the most memorable of which were one which almost caused a skip truck to rear end it with my children in the back of it - on a wide empty road with no vehicles, debris, nothing in front of the car, and another where a client was being driven along another completely empty road at 7am on a Saturday. Another Octavia 3 with a panoramic sunroof that opened 3 times before motor failure, then spent another 7 visits to dealers over 2 years trying to stop it banging, crunching and seizing, which they never did so after that 2 years of wasted visits it was left closed for the remaining 2 that I had it. Oh, and last but not least there was the Fabia delivered with a faulty ABS control unit and a (manual) gearbox that wouldn't engage 2nd once warmed up. People don't have time for this rubbish, as much as it upsets people on this forum who are oddly emotionally invested with their inanimate object cars.

Mine is same. Less jerking and kangarooing but not by much, cold and hot. It's a bit crap really, never had a car that needed the concentration of a brain surgeon to drive smoothly in traffic. It feels like the flywheel is the wrong size and weight for the engine. After 6 Skoda's, all of which have been problematic in one way or another, it'll be time to say goodbye at the end of this company car lease. The 13 year old Toyota on my driveway that has had 2 faults from new is leading me towards a Corolla estate/Tourer (whatever it is called). I don't like it as much as the Octavia but at least it should work properly.

Mine isn't resolved. It had the software update which made it less bad but it certainly isn't fixed, not by a long way. If you are in heavy traffic you can pull away slowly by just letting out the clutch with no accelerator, that works, if you are on a steepish hill or can pull away quite quickly that works, it's every day pulling away that is the problem. It pulls away, then the power just disappears and it lurches. I spoke to SUK about it and they couldn't even narrow it down to a specific cars, some do it, some don't (I don't believe this, there has to be batches that have subtle differences in config or parts supplier, or variable quality on those parts). They did say that other owners who's cars had the fix also stated it didn't work. It doesn't seem to be a particularly difficult thing to make a car that can pull away cleanly, but VW Group have done just that. I've had 6 Skodas (2 Fabia vRS's, an Octavia 2 L&K, 2 X Octavia 3 Elegance and now an Octavia 3 SE Technology 1.5 TSi) and I don't rate the quality at all. The last 4 have been company cars which I got because they are so useful, practical, comfortable, flexible on options, cheap to lease and low on BIK. But, they have all been a PITA for quality. From the current Octavia Super-Kangaroo, to the previous one with a Panaromic sunroof that never worked properly (motor failed after 2 weeks, then constant seal issues, gave up on it after 6 dealer visits and never opened it again), and an early Octavia 3 which kept doing emergency stops on empty roads, and which was eventually returned to Skoda under my companies duty of care obligations after it did it with a client as a passenger on a totally empty road early one morning near Luton Airport (the dealers could never find a fault). I've had a Toyota for the last 12 years and it has had 2 faults the entire time and even now drives better than the 12 month old 1.5 TSi. If (Prius aside) Toyota were company car CO2 friendly and and something as useful as the Octavia I'd have had those instead. The 1.5TSi, kangarooing aside, is a good engine, is company car tax friendly now that diesel is the devil, and can be economic if you take it easy, and it is so quiet after a decade of diesels. But the kangarooing, and VW Groups inability to properly fix affected cars is unforgivable and shows either incompetence or utter arrogance. Either way I won't be bothering with another VW Group car.

Had mine done (68 plate 1.5TSi manual) and result so far is that the kangaroo/flat spot is gone when cold, but still there when warm, though not as bad. The fuel economy has markedly deteriorated. On journeys I was seeing low 40's, I am now seeing about 34. You would expect VW Group to be able to make an engine work properly. Then again, then don't exactly have much positive history.

1.5 TSi is crap. Mine had the supposed SW fix and it still kangaroos about when warm (though not now when cold). Mine is a company car, have taken to parking it outside on the street in the hope somebody drives into it.

Last time I was in the back of a new(ish) Mondeo I thought it was a Focus because it seemed smaller inside than I expected. The Octavia 3 benefits from the magic packaging of the MQB platform that makes it so roomy inside relative to exterior dimensions.

Not really. It's a lease company owned company car. If it was my own car I wouldn't be buying some poxy 1.5TSi for sure. It's outside the house only because it's cheap on BIK.

The same (or a very similar issue) affects some manuals too. In my case, a irritating flat spot when you try and pull away gently or slowly irrespective of engine temp or anything else. Makes you look a proper bellend when it starts jerking. Traffic jams are a 'mare. I have an open case with SUK for it on a 1.5TSi Octavia. There is meant to be a software fix at some future point in time...

I've had three Octavia 3's, all with torsion beam, and on 18's 17's and 16's, and various Continentals, Goodyears and Dunlops. All can be surprisingly noisy on some motorway surfaces. It's just the way they are. My solution to it is to take out our old Corolla Verso for some journeys after which the Octavia has the ambiance of a limo.

I had something similar (though not as severe) on an Astra a good few years back. Front disks kept warping, without heavy braking and I went through about 3 sets in less than 10,000 miles. I was using upgraded disks and pads and so went back to standard, and I heavily cleaned up the hub-disk interface points with a wire brush. It went away then.

The 1.5TSi is a great engine, apart from that power drop off when you pull away. It makes my **** boil.

Probably should as the vRS got written off in 2011... But I'm too lazy.

Had a 2013 2.0 TDi Octavia 3 Elegance on 18" Golus's. It was awful. On typically awful UK urban streets it used to make me wince hearing the thumping and banging, then after hitting a pothole on the M5 (a hole in front of a metal expansion beam on the elevated section near the M5/M6 interchange) and it smashing a chunk out of the wheel I never got 18's again. My current 2014 Car (same spec) has 17's and is way better. Handling not as sharp, but the ride makes up for it. My next Octavia is a 1.5 TSi SE Technology and staying on the standard 16's. Yes it won't look as good, will be a bit more squishy, but sadly I spend time in traffic, slow motorways, and bad urban roads rather than belting round fast winding roads.

I just went through all this, started off looking at BMW 330e and the Kia Sortage Tourer PHEV, but the high list offsets the low emissions. In the end I got so fed up with the whole 'being turned over by HMRC' I went for a Octavia 1.5TSi SE Technology, and added heated front/rear seats, tables, USB in the rear, the additional air bags. The standard spec is good enough too. The 16 inch wheels were a minor negative at first but beyond the visuals the ride will be better. It's quite low BIK too all in all.

I have variable boot floor and a 'standard' size (not space saver) steel spare. All came as delivered new. It's a 16 inch IIRC.

Variable boot floor is great. I hide all my stuff under it, picnic blankets, shopping bags, wellies, all that stuff which would make the boot a mess.

I was surprised too at the spec of the vRS versus Elegance, especially considering that (back in 2014) the vRS was something like £2K more. I did a balance of the vRS good parts, the suspension and extra 30BHP over a 2.0TDi elegance, but the lack of standard Satnav, folding mirrors etc made me turn it down. I also hated the ride. It's horses for courses I guess, If I lived somewhere where the handling of the vRS would matter I might have had one, but using a car for 30,000 miles a year in heavy motorway traffic the Elegance made more sense to me.

I have the pano roof, wouldn't have another. The good: It isn't warm as expected in summer as it (apparently if IIRC) used heat reflective glass. I had a previous MK3 without the roof and it was no cooler in summer. The light is lovely, and opening it on long drives keeps me alert. The children like watching aircraft flying. The bad: Mine has been a problem since virtually new. It packed in altogether within a month and needed a new motor, and has been back 5 times since because when opening it it generally groans and graunches quite badly. Not always, but often. It's a lot of money. Was looking at this when optioning a company car last week, and Skoda charge over £1K now, yet on the Seat Leon Sports Tourer it was £600 and something. I don't know if it is a smaller unit, but it isn't nearly half the size for sure. You get small, old-fashioned looking reading lights in the back. You lose the sunglasses holder in front of the rear view mirror.

It does work. It (in my empirical experience) is less sensitive than early MK3 Octavia's which were silly sensitive. It will eventually tell you if you have been lazy and let pressures drop (usually by 3-4 psi). My only gripe, is that after a tyre change or other wheel change, it will often then repeatedly trigger for no reason. I had 3 warnings on a 200 mile M/Way journey, I stopped twice to check and then ignored it, next day I checked with a gauge and the tyre was fine. So all in all, it works in my experience, but once unsettled it can be a little sensitive for a while.

Never knew that, every day is a school day