hugothebear

bored with it now...

LOL... Great wind up... each to his own, I guess its is a good sign that we (some of us anyway) are so enthusiastic about our car choices :-)

Pull yourself together.... what is "real" about a Civic Type R.... no they aren't right at all and I don't suppose half of them would benefit from the "real" driverness of the thing anyway....

Tell them to grow up... the old Skoda sneers are so way out of touch that they aren't worth a second thought... I am not going to be "brandist" in return about Hondas ... Skoda is a long established distinguished company, their cars during the "bad" years were no worse that most others ( where to start... Allegros Marinas Avengers were all tin crap and at least Skodas were cheap !!!! ). I chose to go back to driving a Skoda after a Merc which was an over priced unreliable bloated barge... the Skoda is well made, honest and a darned sight nicer to drive :-)

Having just seen on Watchdog the item about problems with DPF filters on modern diesels I am so glad I went back to petrol, we seem to have adopted diesels in this country and it is often the case that petrol is more economical in terms of maintenance and just good behaviour if you do a low to moderate mileage - in the end I am happy to put my hands up and admit I just didn't like driving a diesel, the petrol Vrs is wonderfully "long legged" responding over a wide rev range and I will never make the mistake of going back to diesel.... just at the moment aren't all trade ins awful and isn't everybody struggling to sell everything ? I have noticed that many dealers in my area have other make cars on their forecourt which I suspect is because they can no longer shuffle trade ins round to the correct brand dealer.

It is always possible to find early examples of failures, of cambelts and associated parts, on newish low mileage cars, it happened to me on a one year old volvo after only 9,000 miles and on that occasion the engine was wrecked but rebuilt under warranty of course. As a precaution on a 4 year old car I will be having it done, have I given in to scare tactics... ? possibly but what is the alternative ? Save the money and take a chance on much greater expense, nuisance value etc... the cost of the belt and pump replacement seems to have come down a lot anyway and my bigger concern is going somewhere where I can be confident that the work will be done properly for a fair price... and don't garages etc always look at you as if you are insane if you presume to know more than they do about faults, servicing requirements ??? Even if there were complete statistics available showing actual cambelt failures on any particular engine, driving use, temperature blah blah which gave a statistical likelihood of cambelt failure on your own engine and it was... say 1 in 120.... would you take the chance, or spend the money once in four years to be safer ?

Withams has become a Chavrolet dealer ? Not sure where to express this but, whilst on evening walk with the dog, I just passed Witham's who's Skoda Dealership has been a feature of Hersham for many years and it has become a Chevrolet Dealership... always seemed an excellent bunch in there so not sure why they appear to have jumped ship !

No accounting for taste...

I do hope not... shapeless boring blob devoid of any sense of style... urghhh... urghhh and thrice urghhhh... It is so mind numbingly dull that it can only be a "spoiler" put out by a rival manufacturer....

Watching the spanner is annoying - best to get a dealer to check that it is set for variable in the first place, wouldn't be the first time they got it wrong, with a car still under guarantee better not to tempt fate just in case you need to invoke the guarantee for any reason.

Four years because of possible age deterioration regardless of mileage - Also many suggest you change water pump at same time as cambelt - I believe the reason being that it can eventually seize up and cause the cambelt to jump teeth but I am prepared to be corrected on the reason - but if you look on here most have cambelt and water pump done at same time.

Variable servicing means that you will never quite know when the bl***ming thing needs servicing until the spanner and service warning appears, this is almost guaranteed to happen when you are short of money. It is a great idea for drivers clocking up high annual mileage but I have gone back to old fashioned fixed intervals so at least I can guestimate when a service will be due

Unfortunately the reason is because it uses the same chassis layout as all the Golfs Audis and Seats which suffer this type of tyre wear - it is a horribly common phenomenon and there are many many threads on here about it. Uneven tyre wear is pretty much always due to alignment issues. When you replace the tyres make sure the tracking and alignment is checked and set properly by properly trained mechanic so that you avoid your new tyres going the same way. Check other threads for suggested tyres too... Michelin PS3, Continentals, Hancock seem to find favour.

You say paid below book but you also said you just picked it up from the dealer and the spanner is flashing when you switch on.... was that part of the deal on the low price ? If you end up now paying for a service sounds like it will wipe out any saving you might have made on the purchase price unless it was a lot below usual price for age mileage... At 4 years as well as any schedule servicing it will also need cambelt and water pump done.

Yes I saw that too... I agreed that Jag seemed to have missed the point a bit... what got my attention was the 9.0 litre RR Phantom Coupe which Rowan Atkinson drives in new Johnny English movie... every footballer and chav will want one too, the people with taste will still drive the Skoda Vrs

LOL.... what were you thinking.... one of those "half timbered" effects for the Octavia Combi... like a Morris Traveller...

Not too keen on the stick on kits... on my Mk1 Octavia you could get a replacement set of ash tray, gear lever surround and dash plate made as wood effect parts, I used those and thought looked smart because they looked like original parts (probably from L & K version) The kits look a bit "stuck on" and there are too many pieces... if you go for it stay on the centre console area avoid all the bits around the vents. On the general subject of interior finish I have gone off the plastic silver and would prefer a gloss finish, black or perhaps a dark dark maroon... have been tempted to remove console panel and spray it myself. Maybe I better experiment first to see if I can get a good finish !!!

Just shows how individual experiences vary.... my '08 car is silver and has only a very few chips in the lacquer layer from road stones grit etc... I do take care when washing it not to scrub grit into the paint from dirty sponges and cloths but aren't you supposed to take that precaution anyway ? I do use Autoglym polish and resin glaze though so perhaps that has helped. I never put it through automatic car wash. Probably kiss of death actually saying this and when I get it out later the paint will have all flaked off an be lying in a heap on the ground

You have to see the £17 a month in relation to the potential total servicing cost over the term of the contract not just the first service, its like any other financial gamble, Sorry I mean insurance :-) you wont know if was good value or not until the end and you have those precious dealer stamps in your service book just in case you have a warranty claim. Worth making sure they do what they are supposed to though.

Sounds very odd... so the fan etc actually stops running when you pull up ? It should all keep working to keep the screen clear or it would be pretty useless on a wet day... You say in the summer months... is the misting up happening when the weather is dry ? Is there possibly water somewhere leaking into interior somewhere which mean car is unusually damp inside... sorry so many questions but I just wanted to be clear that the system is actually stopping rather than it runs but can't cope. Mine never does this so something is a little odd... perhaps best to have a word with dealer, you are still well in waranty p[eriod with 59 plate.

Gloss black looks very smart.... I would also get gear gaiter surround and ashtray lid refinished to harmonise whole area... I am planning to change mine to piano gloss finish but in a really deep red

I drove to Avignon rather than use TGV just so I could drive over the Milau Bridge.... was so wet and misty couldn't see the ground from viewing point but was like driving in the clouds.... mine will give 40 mpg over long steady motorway journey and agree pretty good for a performance car..

Mine has Michelin Sport PS3 - nice drive and no undue road noise. These cars are not best in terms of road noise supression anyway,a complaint which applies to all VW group cars, Audis Seats etc which use this chassis. Your old tyres may have developed the all too common saw tooth wear which adds a nice drone. At 28000 miles your present tyres may have lasted a long time but there is a view now considered that tyres are past their best at about 3.00 mm tread depth long before they reach the current legal limit which will exaggerate road noise too. When you chose new tyres get alignment checked properly as incorrect camber and alignment can cause exaggerated road noise as well as damaging your new tyres.... ps if they tell you that they cannot adjust rear camber go somewhere else :-)

They can stop it shouting at you every time you switch on ignition - I got fed up with the whole saga of fixed and variable they never seem to set it right, usually find it is fixed when you thought variable etc.... same on all 3 Skodas I have owned...

Tyre wear is problem in all Mk2 Octavias and much of the output of the VW group so don't panic about it.... get the alignment checked properly and on used car you may be looking at new tyres anyway. If the wear has developed the tell tale sign is a droning noise from about 25 mph which fades out about 35 mph. The design is not the quietest so will always be aware of road surfaces etc...