damianscott71

That's great news JKW! Is this your first Skoda and if so, what did you change from and why? Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Not sure which port the car arrived into, but my dealer is Progress Skoda in Letchworth. I think mine arrived last Thursday. Eddie Stobart took over the transportation of all VAG cars recently, apparently. Word has it that they're still finding their feet and that all dealers are desperate to get their cars registered by the 30th September (today), for the sake of their sales targets. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

I think that the sound insulation in the new Octavia does a lot to mask the engine noise in both the petrol and the diesel vRS. The sound generator is just a legacy part from VW/Audi that is intended to give a sense of sportiness to the drive. As to whether it does that effectively, I'll know better by the end of the week. Interestingly, many on the VW or Audi forums are disconnecting the "Soundaktor" from their cars. I wonder if I'll feel compelled to do the same in a few months? Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Mine is in the country, registered and due for delivery to the dealer tomorrow. Hope to have it by Friday this week! Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Funnily enough, I think the first sound generators were developed by Lotus in the late eighties, early nineties. I believe that BMW use them in their M3 and M5 models. My TDI vRS is due to arrive later this week. Sorry for the slow response to the questions! I've not had any notifications from the forum, maybe I need to check a few settings! Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

It really doesn't happen that a map just reverts back to standard, as the original map has been overwritten. It's entirely plausible that the MAF has failed, but never heard of a canbus fault. Bizarrely MAF's, in the past at least, had a history of failing "out of the box", as new. I'm not trying to defend your mapper, but it does seem a little odd. It might be worth you heading to a specialist for a professional opinion and a fix. Good luck, I hope you get things sorted. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

It would appear that installing a custom ROM onto a phone with Android 4.3 isn't as straightforward as previous versions. I'll report in again tomorrow, hopefully. Quite why phone and car manufacturers haven't got their act together "properly" yet, I'll never know! Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

When you say "working via bluetooth", what do you mean Austin? Can you select directories, playlists and tracks stored on the phone via the headunit? Or are you simply able to play/pause a track, skip to the previous or next file? Thanks for everyone's input on this. I do find it all quite interesting. I'm just downloading the Purity ROM now and will give it a go.

If you double the number of exhaust pipes, won't you also double the back pressure? In turn, this would have a negative effect on the performance of the vehicle and in turn invalidate warranty. Surely? I'd say, save your money. Apart from a minor cosmetic difference, I don't see an upside to what you're suggesting, personally.

Thanks Dirk1978. What I'm trying to avoid is handling the phone whilst driving in order to choose tracks, which I half expect to have to do via Bluetooth. I know that I could just download all my podcasts to the SD card, but the beauty of keeping them on the phone is that they'll always be "up to date". The car is only a few days away now, so I'll try and figure this out and will report back on any findings. One thing, I did note that USB Mass Storage is supported by Cyanogenmod, which I was running briefly a couple of months back, but I went back to stock ROM (4.3) after experiencing battery life problems.

Has anyone got any experience of using the new Amundsen sat nav with an android phone? I'm taking delivery of my new vRS this week and an hoping to select and play podcasts stored on my phone, directly from my stereo, either via bluetooth or USB. I'd be grateful to know your experiences, if you've got the new Amundsen (or possibly new Bolero) in your Octavia III and have tried this already. Thanks, Damian Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Thanks for this, £25 spent inc 10% discount. MORE detailing products to add to my collection!

Personally, I wouldn't buy a car from a company that tried to sneak unwanted extras on the invoice. Progress Skoda, who I've bought my last 4 cars from have been very straightforward, in fact I've had to request extras and options in the past!

For the record, which dealer told you that not having Supaguard would affect the car's guaranteed future value on PCP? I think a bit of naming and shaming is in order! Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

FYI, the £13 32gb card from Ebuyer is a Lexar branded card, which is a brand name of Micron, one of the leading memory manufacturers. All nicely retail packaged, class 10, 30mbps, SDHC. Probably a bit of overkill for what's actually required for the car stereo. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

You can get a 32Gb Class 10 SD Card from eBuyer.com for about £13. It'll be plenty fast enough and you'll be able to fit plenty of music on there too.

Mike, if you feel so bad about the car, take my advice and hand it back to the dealer. You're well within your rights, I believe. If you're already feeling so low about the car, it's unlikely to improve going forward and you'll have paid/be paying a lot for your new vehicle. Apart from your mortgage, it's probably your biggest spend each month and you need to be deeply happy with your commitment. I feel for you, I really do. :-( Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

(Thanks!) Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Oh, ok. That makes sense. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Hi there, welcome to the site! IMHO, you should keep your wheels the OEM colour on a black car, which is Sparkle Silver. If they're looking tatty, get them professionally refurbished. Don't go for black, it'll look like you're running on steelies!

Hello people, is it me, or are the vRS headlight lenses a darker shade than those fitted to the standard Octavia III? Apologies if this has been discussed already.

If you get a new key from the dealer, both your remaining key and your new key will be recoded to the car. In turn the key that was stolen will not start the vehicle. In the meantime, you could just ask your friendly dealer to recode the existing key to the car and remove the coding for the stolen key. I'd say, don't panic, but get this done sooner rather than later.

Smells minty fresh throughout the day too!

From experience, I'd say that the PD170 engine doesn't feel particularly refined after a remap. I had my pre-fl vRS remapped about 4 or 5 years ago by Celtic Tuning and the results, whilst initially being a real hoot, soon became a cause for concern. Firstly, it was very hard to drive the car smoothly. The accelerator pedal became like an on/off switch. Secondly, fuel consumption went through the roof. I lost more that a hundred miles to a tank. And most concerning of all, the engine kept going into dpf regeneration mode, with regular warnings of a blocked dpf. After a couple of weeks of problems, combined with numerous attempts to refine the map, I decided to go back to standard. Celtic were fine with this and refunded me in full, but then a few weeks later the car suffered a exhaust pressure sensor failure. Whilst in the garage, it was also noted that the DPF was blocked and they managed to flush it, then run the DPF regeneration cycle to clear it. Having discussed my experience with other guys that I know who perform remaps (Superchips, Motech & Oscarli), I'm not alone in my experience. No one that I have spoken to has a positive word to say about remapping the PD170 engine. You might say "well, I'll remove the DPF too". This in itself can lead to problems with exhaust manifold temperatures (apparently). Also, with the peaky extra torque that the remapped engine delivers you'll struggle for grip when setting off on a damp road. I found this particularly hazardous when leaving a busy junction as the car struggled for grip on the wet road, forcing traction control to kick in, meaning that I was left floundering in the middle of the road with fast moving traffic closing in on me. My advice, from experience is don't have the PD170 remapped. It's just not a great engine to fiddle with successfully. Sure, remapping it is easy as the ECU isn't locked, but just because something is "easy" to do, it doesn't mean that it should be done. Had you been enquiring about the newer CR TDI, I would have said "go for it" and pointed you in the direction of a remap company as my experience of the remapped CR170 is entirely positive, with none of the Ill effects experienced on the PD. Hope this helps. Damian Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

You'll be just getting used to the "different" sensation that you'll have experienced when first driving your remapped car. This phenomenon is well documented on different car tuning forums and I myself have experienced it on the numerous remapped cars that I've owned. Don't worry, your map is still there and your question is entirely valid! Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4