silkysteve

That's correct. Auto boxes by their very nature can only ever be reactive.

It will be worth the wait.

Changing gear IMO is more about technique and timing than speed. In a manual, you can read ahead and be in the correct gear before the DSG computer knows there's anything wrong.

I've now had my new Octy for nearly 2 weeks and have covered nearly 1,500 miles, so it's now almost run in and time for a quick review. My Previous car was an Octy L&K 2.0 PD DSG, and I had no choice but drop a spec and lose DSG in order to get the new 1.6 CR. The promised better economy and lower tax was just too much to resist and dropping to the Elegance meant I could save a bit of money by leaving out all the little toys I could do without. I also don't miss DSG - it was a nice toy to play with, but I'm a manual man at heart and prefer the control of a manual. I can also change gear much smoother than a DSG, if not as fast. I was a bit aprehensive about having to have a less powerful engine, but I needn't have worried. As soon as I started the car and drove it away from the garage I knew I'd made the right choice. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the engine is - I've driven plenty of noisier petrol cars and you'd have a job to tell it was a diesel from the passenger seat, even on tick-over - It's by far the quietest diesel I've ever owned, really, it's that good. Also, the power delivery is much more even and less peaky than the PD. Now, what is it like to drive? Well, it's going to be difficult to be objective as it's my new pride and joy, but I'll do my best. I'm sure it won't come as too much of a surprise that it's not the fastest car ever made. Pulling out of junctions, joining the motorway and overtaking require a bit more planning than they did with the more powerful car it replaced, although a lot of that was down to the DSG taking the strain out of changing gear. Some would say it needs to be worked harder, I would say it just needs more skill to get the best out of it - well I would, wouldn't I? On balance, I prefer the smoothness of the CR over the more powerful but very agricultural PD and in no way does the car feel underpowered. I do have two criticisms for now: The gear display on the maxi-dot tells you to change up far too early in my opinion. very often I'm still in third when the display is telling me it wants me in fifth! In other words, it's a complete waste of time. The other, far more important, is it really could do with 6 gears. The gearing is on the tall side as it is, meaning first gear is required more times than would be necessary in most cars. They seem to have gone too far to get the economy up and the emissions down at the expence of refinement. There's also pretty much nothing below 2,000 rpm, so you have to bear this in mind, although this will come as no surprise to drivers of turbo diesels. Now on to the economy: I've only had one oportunity to check the accuracy of the trip computer. I did one brim to brim test that indicated an average of 50 mpg over around 600 miles compared to the maxi-dot indicated 51 mpg, although the maxi dot was over a longer period, so it's not that scientific. I'll have to do a few more tests first. The indicated 51 mpg was over all kinds of driving including heavy stop-start traffic and all the bad weather we've been having. In contrast, this Sunday I made trip from my place near Bristol to Bournemouth, Southampton and back home on mainly motorways and A-roads showed an average of 60 mpg on the maxi-dot, so it looks as if things are losening up a bit, but I'm guessing it still has a way to go. It may have also helped that the wind and the rain had died down a bit. All I can say is, it's far better than my previous car even now and When you pay £400 a month for fuel, every little helps. In short, most people would find this car plenty powerful enough. In the end, do you really want to pay double in fuel for those rare occasions when the extra power would come in useful? If you do, then this car isn't for you.

I think you already know the answer. For the benefit of those of us who know how to drive, what is "wheel hop" anyway?

Fewer, but classier.

I've had mine since Wednesday now and, whilst I agree it's not the fastest car in the world, it's smooth enough and nice and quiet. I've just gone from a DSG PD140 and I certainly notice the lack of oomph, but it's not as bad as I thought It'd be. You'll get used to the fact that you'll have to use first gear a lot more than you'd like and will need to keep the revs up if you want any kind of performance. All I'll say is, when all the boy racers on here go on about how great the petrol vRS is, it's costing them around twice as much per mile to drive as your "humble" diesel just so they can get away at the lights a bit quicker:P. And at 70 with the cruise control on, there is absolutely no difference in performance.

Do you know if it takes SDHC cards? That would be the icing on the cake.

Yes. As long as this information is stored in the file.

At the moment, it does still feel a bit tight. By the end of the month, I'll have a few thousand on the clock and I'll have a better idea. Plus I'll have remembered how to drive a manual properly by then having just come from DSG.

I assumed no one would want to see any pics of a bog standard Octy;) I can confirm it's very nice. Much smoother and quieter than the PD 140 it replaced. It isn't as quick, but it certainly doesn't feel underpowered. It just feels slightly "spongy" in comparison to the more powerful engine, if that's the correct term to use.

Yes, I know it's not the most powerful Octy out there, but I'm still looking forward to it. I know a few people are still interested in this relatively new engine so, hopefully, I'll write a short review when I've had chance to have a play.

The most I've done in a year was 65,000. I work as a Service Engineer and I had a lot of work and a large area to cover that year. It was in a poverty spec MKII Vauxhall Astra, so that's the equivalent of 1,000,000 miles in a MKII Octy.

I'm trading mine in tomorrow - 3 years, 3 months, 145,000 miles, 2.0D DSG. Apart from the aircon compressor failing a few weeks back, no problems. Still runs like new and only uses 1/2 litre of oil between services. Apart from a few minor scuffs, it still looks like new, especially inside. At least it puts any DSG reliability issues to bed. Do I win a prize?

It seems that institutional incompetence is affecting all industry, Skoda UK included. As far as I'm concerned the above is simply not true. The confusion, as I've said before, is down to the fact that DSG and non-DSG use different steering wheels. It couldn't be more clear in the brochure that bluetooth is available on manual cars.

I was offered it as an option on my new non-DSG car. I declined because of the cost.

This is not and, as far as I'm aware, has never been the case. It's just a myth that came about due to people not reading the brochure properly. There are two different steering wheels depending on whether or not you have DSG. Both come with a bluetooth option.

When I spoke to the dealer yesterday, he said could I make the call quick as he was with a customer. Like, hey! I'm also a customer. Complete plonker. It seems once they have your order, you're just another annoyance until you collect the car and get out of their life. All he needed to do was get the hang of using email and just send me across regular updates as things changed. Would take all of a few seconds. I'm definately going to check it has the right engine. I'm begining to wonder if it'll be the correct model at this rate.

Dealer, phoning us?

The race is on. My dealer is a drippy waste of space. I have to keep phoning him up to remind him of stuff. I doubt he'll tell me when the car is there. I'll have to call him to go and check. If it wasn't for the generous part-ex deal, I'd have gone elsewhere. But there you go, you can't have everything. I was told last time I called that it would be next week.

My car is now in Blighty, waiting for a transporter. Good job it's not being put in the post and the journey hasn't invloved France.

I think they'd have a job as the contract hasn't been completed. I would guess they could sue for damages if they end up with a car they can't sell, but I think they'd be on dodgy ground if they simply kept the deposit, especially if they managed to find another buyer reasonably quickly. But then, what do I know? I'm not a lawyer.

Yes, it's November. My dealer told me the same. He seems to think there'll be no problem getting my car for the first week of November - I had to rush through the order back at the end of August with this in mind. My car's been at the port for over a week now, so it's unlikely to take another 2 weeks to get to the dealer. My dealer is in Bath, so a bit further to travel than some. The only problem I have is I have to go through a finance company due to company rules and I have to make sure they'll pay up in good time - hopefully, the dealer will be able to get the invoice faxed over before the car actually shows up as in stock, but that's another issue that I shouldn't be boring everyone with on here.