matt_theforce

I did it over a week, probably a couple of hours a day

You live an learn 👍

Am late to this but my opinion would be the PD140 Scout I've had a PD140 Octavia Estate (non scout) and I currently have a facelift mk3 Octavia Scout 184/dsg. For what you mention (forestry work) I'd avoid the DPF/complicated EGR and DSG where possible. The PD140 is easier to remove/block clean the EGR, you've no issues with the DPF blocking and personally if it was me I'd be less precious about the mk2 octavia in the forest, I can't comment on the capability of the mk2 scout but we did tow a caravan and horse box and in fields it was quite good and find the mk3 scout very capable (when moving, getting going isn't as good as expected due to the gearbox being so snappy). My PD140 was slightly modified but also used for towing, apart from a turbo issue around 85k miles it was faultless. I like the 'auto' driving from the DSG but find it when trying to manouver slowly a bit on/off so lacks the clutch control which isn't such a good thing on lose/muddy/gravel tracks (ask me how I know!!) I currently live in the Peak District and all our cars have had to tow caravans/horse boxes in fields but we're currently in the process of moving to Dumfries & Galloway to a smallholding hence choosing a Scout, no surfaced entrance to our property and quite remote so the ground clearance/haldex will be getting tested properly soon

I'm pretty sure they drain behind the wheel liners/bumper, I do remember seeing them when getting my towbar fitted

I'm now 1 year into my Scout ownership. Forgot to update that I fitted new TRW front discs/pads in March, the old brakes weren't the worst I've seen/changed but I'd rather do them than leave them MOT done (no advisories) Another service (Oil+filter/Aircon/Panoramic Roof) Since having the panoramic roof serviced I've noticed a little less wind noise so it must be closing & sealing better than it did, whilst it seemed costly at a main dealer I'm pleased its done as its noticeably smoother/quieter (for what little I actually use it) Lots of reading done on various topics (oil consumption/oil ash levels) are the most common to see, this car does use some oil but the quantity isn't of concern as I top it up when needed and it ends up with some newer oil!, oil ash residue has increased by 3% since I bought it and is currently showing 32.6g which for a 9yr old car with a little over 75,000miles on I think is quite good. I did look into the juddering folding mirrors so popped out the mirror lenses and outer caps to expose the large spring, cleaned out the spring area & popped a little bearing grease under the spring and now they operate nice and smoothly.

This move has been many years in the planning and now we can't wait to get up there, fingers crossed we should be moving up in September 😀

Having had a vRS 220 and now a Scout (184 / dsg / 4x4) vRS but sat higher, I can't comment on the effectiveness of the VAQ in the newer petrol vRS's but in everyday driving having owned each for a year I'd take the 4x4 any day.

I'm moving to Dumfries & Galloway (Sanghuar to be exact from Barnsley/Sheffield South Yorkshire) in the coming months and wondering who people use for Service/MOT work around there. Park's Škoda (Dumfries) will be about 45min from home and they seem to have good reviews online. Matthew

With each trip to look at houses being approx 500mile round trip the noise from the tyres (what's been diagnosed as the noise above 65mph) saw-toothing is really quite tiring (my mk2 used to do this too). so... I bought 40sheets of the 2mm Silent Coat sound deadening, covered the boot floor, put some in the boot side panels, put some under the back seat and the inner rear wheel arches & also lined as much of all 4 doors as I could (all covered as much as shown), with the little bits I had left I put them on the roof (not much todo as I have the panoramic roof). Its made a huge difference and glad I spent the time doing this (did it on my mk2 too) I bought a mk3 false floor when I bought the car in August '25 as our cocker spaniel can't see out of the boot without jumping up, just wanted something simple as it will either stay in permanently or just get removed (if more space is needed) so didn't bother with the whole kit and made a simple frame out of spare decking (instead of taking it to the tip).

With an impending house move, spending money is hard to justify but this will prove beneficial for the transportation of bikes & allows us to hire a trailer to help with moving and in the longer term allows us to get another horse trailer for the horse. For a lot of years I've used Mobile Towbar Services from Sheffield and today was no different, pleasant/professional team of mobile engineers, well worth considering if you are in the Sheffield/Rotherham/Barnsley area. After lots of deliberation I decided on a TowTrust Swan Neck with 7pin dedicated electrics, I would have liked a detachable tow bar but for practicality this suits our needs much better.

Update, The car has had a whine at speed (65mph upwards) and I noticed a low speed noise starting along with the front wheels breaking traction (some of my driving involves gravel roads and fields) hence wanting the Scout, anyhow the Haldex pump had been diagnosed as failed and fortunately the warranty approved this replacement. While the car was having the haldex pump replaced I asked for new rear discs & pads to be fitted, glad I booked in to get the rears changed as there were multiple issues due to snapped caliper carrier bolts meaning the upper and lower arms needed removing to make it easier to remove the snapped bolts, guess a bonus to this also meant getting a 4wheel alignment done which showed up the front were a little out of alignment. I cant comment on the high speed whine being gone due to the time of day that I left the garage but I'm keeping my fingers crossed its now gone. Long story short, new haldex pump fitted under warranty and new rear discs and pads fitted by DM Keith Wakefield. A fantastic service as usual from this garage.

There's a few of us using Garmin devices here (amongst other brands) : https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/487252-sports-gps-watches/ I've had a Vivoactive 4 and my wife still has her Vivoactive 3, my son still uses my Vivoactive 4 and all is working well with both the watches although as time progresses the battery life has depleted a little in them both. Battery life is very subjective on sport watches (a bit like car manufacturers MPG figures), there are a lot of options/tweaks (ie..pulseox & bluetooth) that can be made to your metrics that will either use more or less battery so once you've made your decision its worth doing a few walks (2-3hrs) and checking battery usage against your metrics to see what can be tweaked to give you the data and battery life you need. I'm now a couple of years into ownership of the Garmin Fenix 7 Solar and its simply great. ie..I charged my watch on wednesday morning, went for a ride on thursday with it running GPS/heartrate for about 5 hr's and almost 48hrs later the battery has only used 16%. The only thing I can't comment on is how well or not Garmin integrates with Apple phones as I'm an android user, my sister however uses a Garmin Forerunner with her Apple phone and hasn't said she has any issues (she does lots of running/hiking)

I'd forgotten about this thread. So in 2023 I moved on from the Garmin VivoActive 4 & bought a Garmin Fenix 7 Solar, this was partially due to the amount hours spent exercising and the amount of time being spent away from home (work and camping). My eldest son now uses my old VivoActive 4 for his cycling/hiking/climbing etc etc in the Highlands of Scotland, his only complaint is the battery life seeming poor but then it is a few years old now. As for the Fenix7 Solar, its an amazing bit of kit

Is it worth taking it to Darkside Developments to investigate as they're a diesel VAG specialist and run many overlanding vehicles? so should have a very good knowledge of the VAG haldex 4x4 setups

Have a look at this thread