matt_theforce

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

I'm no stranger to Octavia's & not to Skoda's , since 2005 I've had x2 mk1's / x1 mk2 & this is my 2nd mk3 Octavia, they've been a mixture of diesel/petrol/elegance/vrs/hatchback/estate/manual/dsg and all but 1 have been modified, this however is my 1st Scout, I've also had a mk1 fabia vrs and a Yeti SE 140 4x4. Having had this Scout for 2 months now it is by far the best suited car to our needs and one that we intend to keep for the longer term. A little more about the car. 2017 Facelift Scout 2l 181bhp diesel DSG Full Skoda Service History Optional Extra's Panoramic Roof Rubber floor & boot mat We live on the edge of the Peak District & have horses & enjoy an extremely outdoor lifestyle so our car's need to be functional (the Yeti was very close to perfect for us). Since collection I've done over 3k miles (2 trips to Fort William/1 trip to Perth) and many trips to family around Yorkshire, so far its proved to be just what we needed. We bought it from Marshall's Volvo and they were very easy to deal with and despite getting a usual DSG P lever error they booked it straight in to Marshall's Skoda who rectified the fault without any fuss. I do find the engine a little clattery (perhaps its because our last car had a Volvo 5cylinder diesel engine) but this VAG engine performs really well, nice and smooth, economical & works well with the 6sp DSG. Things done so far swapped the coolant tank for a non silikat tank Upgraded the Amundsen firmware Cleaned out the panoramic roof drain holes Had it serviced Oil + Filter/Fuel Filter/Haldex/DSG/Air & Pollen Filter/Brake Fluid Used it and enjoyed it Bought a raised boot floor (going to make a frame as I don't need it to be adjustable) Rear bumper protector fitted A couple of VCDs tweak's Front/Rear dashcam's fitted Things I'd like to do Towbar fitted Paint work correction Compared to my last mk3 (2015 220bhp vRS Estate DSG) I do find I miss the vRS seats a little bit but the ride comfort is so much better in the Scout This won't be much of a 'project' but odd bits and pieces will be getting done but mainly enjoying and using it

I hope all is well Rob and you're still enjoying what looks to be an amazing life, imagine if you hadn't taken the jump to leave Leeds? think of all those experiences you would have missed! The Quattro was just another stepping stone and I'm sure greater adventures will come your way (just different kinds of adventure). Matthew

I've just bought myself a mk3 facelift Scout. Here are the things I've found through research and what I've looked for when buying This is my 2nd mk3 Octavia with a DSG, I'd not go back to a manual gearbox & this is our 2nd Skoda with the Haldex system (1st Yeti 140bhp manual), I live in the Peak District and tow caravans and a horse and found the haldex to be very effective in muddy/snowy/icy conditions but have always run Michelin CrossClimate tyres too (no point in having the haldex system if you don't have the tyre quality to grip). Euro6 Diesel engines only have adblue from 2018 onwards (approx) but all years have DPF's Service History for me is an absolute must. One thing to note is some cars will have a service book and others just have a print out, my car came with a print out from Skoda, don't be afraid if you only have a print out, contact Skoda UK and ask for Service confirmation DSG - Pre 2018 I believe you have the 6speed DQ250 (mine has this on a 2017 plate), newer ones I think have the DQ381 7speed? Check for servicing of this DQ250 - 40,000miles / DQ381 - 80,000miles) Cambelt - 2l tdi Cuna 184bhp engine has varying recommendations usually 4-5years or 60-80k, if its been changed check for the water pump being changed too (I'd always ask for this to be changed at the same time) Brake fluid - initial 3year then every 2 years Haldex - 30k or 3years Tyres - What have been fitted can tell you if little faults will have been fixed (in my opinion), how much tread is left? if less than 3mm budget to replace Brakes - how much of a lip is there on the discs, how much pad is left? if well worn budget to replace Check panel gaps and sign of paintwork Scouts are not off-roaders but are very capable, with that in mind check underneath for damaged sills/broken panels etc Take it for a good test drive, there should be no knocking, the gearbox should be smooth. Check everything works (windows/sunroof/radio/android auto/aircon/heated seats/lights/central locking/check for spare wheel or tyre gloop kit). If it has a panoramic roof look for stains on the roof liner & damp foot wells, the front drain holes are easy to see and clean but the rears are a little more awkward Known Issues DSG - Error service: leave vehicle only when selector in position p. I'm not sure if this is limited to the DQ250 or not but both of my mk3 Octavia's have had this, it doesn't affect the drive but can be costly to repair Panoramic roofs - drain holes become blocked and leak into the cabin (check rear and front roof liner/footwells and boot floor) DPF - not limited to the Octavia but if you don't do enough higher speed miles this can block and cost a lot of money to replace I'm sure there are many more known issues but you can become too fixated on them, every car has known issues! Don't be in a rush, take your time when looking, I've been on the lookout for the last couple of years since we sold our Yeti & it paid off, our Scout has had a very fastidious owner, @64k (2017) it has had Cambelt & waterpump / x2 DSG / x3 Haldex / x2 aircon services, it even came with all the accessories that I would fit (Skoda rubber mats/boot liner/spare wheel). To me all these little things show it has been very well looked after, I also saw it before dealer prep as it came from the previous owner. Just to wet your appetite here's mine

Had a real blast yesterday. There has to be a joy to working a late shift! Warm up going up the TPT to Woodhead Pass, then down the Northern HorseShoe Loop, back along the Longdendale trail, up Woodhead to the Old Road, down the Old Road, around Langsett Res then back across to the TPT and home in time to go to work

I'm no stranger to cycling but for a lot of years have been mainly Road/Gravel focussed after falling out of love with hike a bike MTB climbs here in the Peak District. My son is almost 15 and I have no chance keeping up with him now on the up-hills & as he is getting into MTB racing (XC and Downhill) I need to be able to keep up with him/challenge him on his training rides. I test rode a 2021 Trek Rail 5 at Dalby Forrest and the geometry was so close to my Trek Top Fuel (but with extra suspension travel) it felt so familiar but so much more capable so I took a trip to my local Trek dealer (only 8miles away) & bought a 2022 Trek Rail 7. Its a great spec & doesn't need any upgrades although in time I may change the Bosch Purion screen for the Kiox (I don't need the mapping but would like a better battery gauge/clock & info on my energy used vs power provided) I've only had it for a week & its fantastic, I forgot how much I actually enjoyed mountain biking & now being able to climb stuff I've never been able to before its giving me a whole new world to explore Matthew

I cycle those lanes often, the camera's don't do the steepness and the terrain justice (especially the 1st climb from Riding Wood Reservoir & the last one at Hill Top).

Yes, I know the driving instructor so he has been giving me guidance so I don't teach my son bad habbits from the start. It's my sons birthday today and he is in a similar position, doesn't want to go out for a drive as he has so much A level work to do. There's no rush & I'm not going to pressure him as I want him to enjoy his experience.