jdan

Perhaps we should start a 'Me Too' regarding fuel consumption!! We remain at 40mpg (and after 1600 miles since acquisition) 'real world' against an advertised 55mpg. It surely contravenes the Trade Description Act!? But welcome to the site, from which you'll doubtless already have noted that we're mostly hopelessly addicted to Skoda, despite all the vagaries. Hope your experience will be as good, overall, as mine. (And Merc are just as bad with their mpg fibs. Over the years 3xSLK and (existing) SL both at least 25% more 'thirsty' than advertised)

Last week we changed our silver 2010 Octy Scout 1.8tsi to a silver 2017 Octy Scout 2.0td1 DSG. First, you'll note I'm seriously boring about cars and colour, the motto being: 'If it ain't broke....'. So why change? Well nearly 80,000 fairly trouble-free miles and some impending chunky bills (eg Brakes had needed no work in the entire 80K miles, but would soon.) and a VERY tempting deal (£11K off new cost!) for a car with 2+years manufacturers warranty to run did the trick. So what's different at early sight? Negs first. No closeable 'cupboards' in the 'boot' space. Nowhere to store the umbrellas atop the rear seats; the compartment is no more. The rear seats do not drop to give a flat floor. The centre glove box has shrunk, as has the front glove box. The seats and the steering wheel do not have such a wide range of adjustment so to get semi comfortable requires me to give up any hope of seeing the top of the dashboard dials. The chrome 'bits' around the front side air vents reflect in the outside mirror and the moulding across the top of the dashboard reflects on the windscreen at night. The 'repeater' indicator lights on the exterior mirrors are distracting to the driver and do not help night-time vision at all! There is no CD player. The 'ride' is harder and the standard wheels look a bit forlorn in the wheel arches because the new car appears to ride higher than the old one. There is no provision for 'rubbing strips' along the doors because the shape of the doors probably make strips redundant; so look for big car park spaces to avoid 'door rash' in the supermarket car park. There is no protective top surface on top of the rear bumper/below the boot lid. Enough! Perhaps I should take the car back to the dealer......?! Well, no, actually. Because the car redeems itself in many other ways. For instance some of the Skoda 'twiddly bits' have got better. There are TWO bag hangers on each side of the boot space. And next to those are two catches you can tug to drop the rear seats forward without all the former scrabbling about in the passenger cabin, moving front seats to allow the rear seats to drop into 'big boot' position. There is, indeed , an ice scraper tucked away inside the petrol flap (must stop saying that. This one's a diesel!!). The standard music system is much improved, even over the old one, which was, anyway, no slouch . The 'media system' is a revelation. Want to play all your music on an SD card in alphabetical order? No problem! File access in comparison to the old car is lightning fast. The (standard) Sat Nav. seems to work adequately (although I still prefer TomTom's way of post code entry) and the various volume control options and steering wheel based controls are very clever. Blue tooth connections are fast and the telephone system works well (there were none of these conveniences in the old car). But the important changes are 'on the road'. The car handles very well indeed, is (a bit) quicker off the line and the brakes are first class. Even with the change to a diesel engine the car is quieter and the 'ride' is as comfortable as the previous model. The 6 speed auto DSG box is quick and smooth. The passenger space seems 'cavernous'. We swapped a MK1 Octy 4x4 for the old Scout and the rear leg room improvement was vast. The new Scout is even better. The seats are (standard) leather (and whatever), comfortable and do look posh! The fuel consumption seems to be about 15(ish)% better (40 mpg v 35 mpg) but not, I think, a very impressive improvement. Road tax is reduced by a third (ish) and Insurance (in these, my Saga years) is also cheaper despite the car being worth maybe 4 times as much as the old model. I would be very interested to hear about the experience of any other members of this august forum with their Mk3 Octy Tdi DSG Scout. Meantime; good luck and good driving!

Hi Octyal, Many thanks for that informative posting regarding the chassis number assist toward establishing the model year. I hope to acquire a 2017 (March registered) Octavia Scout 184 DSG in the very near future. Should I expect the 10th character of the chassis number to show 'H'? And are there any other matters of note, as I migrate from a 2010 MK2 Scout Tsi?

Well, after all this time, and having failed to find some 'new-ish' wheels at a reasonable price, I have found a good local refurbisher. WheelWorks in Carmarthen brought all four wheels back to life with a complete tyre-off respray for £60 per wheel and they look immaculate after several thousand miles including a lengthy trip to Lyon.

At first I thought you'd been sneaking photos of my wheels! The refurbs look very nice. Well done.

Thank you, folks, for the prompt advice. The 'squish' effect is the consequence of inattention, incompetent parking manoeuvres ,and idiocy on the part of the pilot... Basically, the wheels are a mess. Fairly minor chips, when left untreated, turn into the deadly delamination. All four wheels look like they have the pox! I have toyed with the notion of getting them refurbished. But I tried that route with the other family runabout a couple of years ago and it was not a success. Doubtless picked the wrong bodyshop. Needed some intense and litigious negotiation before they became convinced about doing the job for the second time. Even then it was not very good. It was good to hear from you there are some craftsmen still around. Pity they're not to be found around here!!

Hi Guys, My dear old Scout has 'squished' wheels after 56,000 happy miles. Have seen some decent alloys for sale, which posed the question shown above. Any help would be very much appreciated.

#So sad to watch good love go bad.# Shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater tho'.. Hope your next wheels will be kinder.

1.8 TSI Scout. About 15,000 miles since new in March 2010. 40ish mpg on 'normal' country roads. 36 ish on motorways with cruise set at just about an indicated eighty. Drop that to 70 and the mpg gets better; 40 ish again. Still love the car!!

My 1.8 TSi has now done 4,600ish total miles since March 2010. She (being a Scoutette) tells me we've averaged 34.1mpg for the last 553 miles. That includes some short (6 mile) 'commutes' and a motorway journey of about 200 miles. Best ever to date was 115 miles from North to South-West Wales (so mostly downhill!) at just over 40mpg when the car had about 3500 miles on the clock. The mpg depends very much on whether she gets hustled along (and she will hustle very satisfatorily when pressed) a country road or skipped along a motorway. In those conditions 35 mpg is about par for the course up to now. I'm pleased to hear that 40 mpg might become more standard when the engine is 'run in' at around 8,000 miles. Oil consumption worried me early on, when the oil warning light flared into life during a trip to Ireland. However, after a dose of the approved Shell el(helix)ir (about two thirds of a litre) there has been no need for any more. My old Mk1 1.8 turbo Octy 4x4 used to average around 32 mpg, and never used a drop of oil in 117,000 miles. Fingers are crossed for a repeat Skoda performance. The Scout is bigger, taller and heavier. But she's quieter, much more comfortable and, curiously perhaps, feels better around corners. The monster tyres probably help a lot. And did someone mention snow? Well, last winter this place was littered with Audis, BMWs and Mercs going nowhere while the old Octy just cruised up hill and down dale. Snow? Bring it on.....

Hi Folks, I've just brought my 1.8tsi Octy Scout (new in March 2010) back from a trip in Ireland. We've now done 3500 happy miles together. But... isn't there always a 'but'!? While away, a little light began shining to tell me that the engine oil was low. The dipstick (Yes; the one in the engine, not the one doing the measuring..) indicated mid point. The warning light goes out after you check the level manually, but comes back on after about 60 miles ish. As I couldn't find a garage with the recommended Helix Shell oil, I waited until I got home to top 'er off. It took 0.70 lt., to get up to the top of the mark, and the light's out. So far so good. But here's the question (s). 1. My old 4x4 Mk1 1.8 t Octy did 117,000 miles and never required a 'tween service oil top up. Has anyone please got any history for the new(er) 1.8tsi engine? 2. Should the warning light interrupt proceedings when the dip stick indicates well above minimum? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. ps Fuel consumption is starting to improve now. Got 40+ mpg from Fishguard coming east down to the start of the dual carriageway at St Clears. Of course then the right foot gets heavy(er)....

And me; and me!! My 1.8 TSI Octy Scout is the biz. Maybe not quite as smooth as the Mrs' 320 SLK, but then, it probably won't rust like it either!

My Scout came from CarQuake. They didn’t get the part exchange deal, maybe because they were nervous about the mileage (112,000) and the distance meant they couldn’t get to see the old car. But their price was very good indeed, and as I don’t intend to sell the car for a very long time, the fact that I’ll be number two in the log book (on a car which had 6 miles on the clock when it was wheeled off the delivery transporter onto my driveway) does not matter to me. John Gee was good to deal with and all went as well as I could wish. Petrol or diesel? Well, I did the sums, and over a looong time (8years ish) and a lot of miles (+8000 per annum) you might find that a diesel engine will make up the cost increase (around £1500) over petrol. Chop-in/ resale value differential over that period is buttons. The financing cost of the higher-priced diesel engine, coupled to a suspicion that the UK Treas/Usury might hike even further (Remember when diesel cost less than petrol?!) the relative tax-take on the better mpg diesel, sent me down the petrol route. Time alone will tell if I got it right. My new 1.8 TSI Octy Scout has now done 300 miles and I'm very happy. The ride is much smoother than the old faithful Octy I 1.8 turbo 4x4 it replaced. This is probably to do with the increased ride height. My concern about the increased height affecting road holding and body-sway has, so far, proved groundless. Jeremy Clarkson was right. The standard 225 Pirellis on the Scout are doing their job rather better than the 205 tyres on the previous model, so the Scout seems happy enough around corners. I don’t know what size tyres come with the standard Octy II 4x4. The Scout comes with kit that would cost money to ‘accessorize’ on a standard 4x4. I wanted park assist at the rear and was instructed by She Who Must Be Obeyed that a centre rear arm-rest was REQUIRED. The Scout has both as standard. As far as performance is concerned, I come from the ‘Old School’ of ‘Runners-In’, so the car hasn’t revved above 3,000 RPM yet. We haven’t tested the cornering to the point of excitement and the brakes are being ‘gentled’ until they acquire their run-in glaze. However, when the turbo kicks in there is a noticeable get-up- and- go feeling. And the brakes are actually quite sharp, even ‘sudden’ at times. So far, so good..... and it does look good!

Hi Folks Took delivery of our new Octy Scout 1.8tsi on Monday. It replaced our previous dear old Octy 4x4, which we bought new in 2001 and which had carried us over 112,000 miles. I've only driven the new car about 100 miles to date, and I'm being very gentle with it initially (because I want it to last as long as the previous Octy!). It feels bigger and more imposing than the old car. It's quieter on the motorway, dispite being 'taller'. In fact I find the ride is very comfortable. Not as firm as the old car maybe, but it seems equally as capable around bends, and especially roundabouts, so far. The six-speed gearbox (the old car was 5) is very 'slick' and reduces the engine revs, and hopefully the fuel consumption in due course, but, now there is more choice, it's requiring me to concentrate to decide which is the 'right' gear for each situation. The car actually suggests a gear, but I think its over-confident of low-rev 'grunt' up hill (and we have a lot of hills) so I'm sticking to my guns. The audio system is very good. Unlocking the passenger doors was a bit of a mystery until I worked out that it needs two presses of the key pad: one press only will open the drivers door. If the key pad is held down for several seconds then all the windows will open! No more roasting in a sun-toasted car for me!! So far, then, I love it. Should read the instructions I suppose, but it's great fun 'discovering'!!

This may be tempting fate but..... 2001 4x4 (that's a 1.8 turbo in case you're interested) with 108,000 miles and NO oil needed/added between services (to date!) Hope the new Scout, due in a few weeks, will be the same!!!