JonCope

Does turning this off enable you to accelerate away from a standing start more quickly or am I just imagining it? Octavia 1.9 TDi DSG

Why should you not use Turtle Wax if 'the surface is hot to the touch' (I assume this means the car's surface? What happens? I have just applied some to my car and the weather is very warm!

My local Skoda dealer tells me that it is not possible to get the jumbo box (with air con?) retrofitted to my 2006 A5 Octavia Estate. Can anyone tell me different? ps any tips on where to get an Octavia leather steering wheel cheaper than the list price? Cheers, Jon Cope

on a 2007 Octavia Estate - anyone give me a rough idea? Thanks

Where I live - in a village at the end of a long, unlit, hilly, winding country lane - the non-Xenon headlamps on my Octavia are way more than ample and I curse every driver coming towards me with Xenons because their lamps are blinding, especially at certain angles coming up or down hill. Can people not see well enough with standard lights?

Sorry, probably a dumb question. The Stream CD/radio unit in my new (used) Octavia Ambiente says on it that it has an MP3 player. Please can someone tell me how this works? There doesn't seem to be any cable to plug an iPod in, or anything near the CD interchanger unit that suggests MP3 functionality.

Hey - does anyone know if rear electric windows are standard kit on an 07 Octavia Ambiente estate?

Also, as the previous poster indicates, in the last couple of years, nearly always the car driving right up your exhaust in the overtaking lane on the motorway is an Audi (and nearly always an A3!). Well, that's what I find anyway. I looked at an 08 plate Audi A3 Sportback on Saturday; low mileage but the asking price was £18K! It felt no bigger than my Polo inside. Picked up a Jan 07 Octavia 1.9 TDi Ambiente with 19K miles for £8K - absolutely no contest. Trouble with cars is there's always loads of whichever one you choose on the road and there's always someone with something better, more desirable, whatever. I like the classless feel of the Skoda, even though I know this just puts me in a different marketing segment at least it is not one where I am significantly out of pocket! (That said, my neighbour swears by his A4 Avant!).

Surely it comes down to what you can afford? Most people would agree that an A4 is a more desirable car than a Skoda, but the desire is created by the brand more than anything else. Skoda cars are deliberately aesthetically downgraded from VWs and Audis to suit different markets - it's basic market segmentation. Having spent time this weekend in Audi and Skoda dealerships, this runs through the whole brand experience. Amusingly (as I was in Cornwall), the punters in the Audi garage were all swanning around drinking their free cappucinos (one group actually 'down from London' to pick up a TT convertible), whereas in the Skoda garage, all I got was a cuppa in a disposable beaker - even after I'd bought the car! Good luck with whatever you choose.

Just ordered a 56 plate 2007-registered Octavia Ambiente 1.9 TDi DSG. didn't check it out all that thoroughly (!) but blurb on website says it comes with 'electric pacl' - anyone tell me quickly what this is? Thanks!