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Shouldn't that be EA111 ?

If you push down on the rear of the car and let go how many oscillations do you get?

I'm sure the further away I go, probably north, the more open roadway I'll find, *but* I want to try repeats on the same sections of roads, so don't want to be expending too much time and money getting to and from there. There's no guarantee even if I find more remote open road it won't be blocked again next time by slow traffic or roadworks, so I'll have more of a hunt locally first. At least I'll save time and money in the short term.

If you're getting *better* quality oil pay more, if you're getting the same quality without the advertising budget or dealer markup don't pay more. IIRC VAG aren't an oil company so even their OEM oil is supplied by others.

Probably more 'de facto' ATM. You can still get done here in the UK for using studded tyres in normal weather if they damage the road surface.

I've always done that. It was a tip from a MOT tester when emissions first came in. I also take it to 'test only' places. If anything needs fixing I get recommendations from the same stations, that way I know 'testers' *only* test and 'fixers' *only* fix. Less likely a conflict of interest.

"Those are the rules.....etc." so in Deutschland it's *the law*, but it seems like a sensible consideration:- UK winter tyre benefits consumers - UK car accidents caused by winter skidding But would you go to the hassle of actually swapping tyres per season or get a complete spare set of wheels?

I think fat tyres are better for traction and skinnies better for steering, so probably fatties are better at stopping providing you're not skidding, in which case skinnies are better for steering around objects you can avoid. I remember a firm bringing out a tyre with rubber studs which only became stiff at temperatures approaching freezing. I don't think it was a success as I haven't heard anything more about them.

Do the cars get delivered to the dealers with 37psi? If so I assumed the 32psi would be part of the PDI. Maybe I assumed wrongly?

Did you test drive a TFSI? If so, have you noticed any differences?

It looks like the 2.0 TSI has more torque at lower revs and smoother responses in all conditions compared to the 2.0 TFSI, IOW more refined over the TFSI than the headline spec figures would suggest. I'm still a bit surprised the TSI isn't ahead of the TFSI in any of the headline figures. Maybe it's more capable of subsequent up-speccing than the TFSI? It seems like the 1.4, 1.8 and 2.0 engines have different bells and whistles not just capacity differences. I haven't found any definitive specs of which bell/whistle applies exclusively to which engine.

IIRC they did have some diesel variants. I didn't check them as I have a TSI, but will look next time.

I just noticed a 2.0 TSI engine is an option on the Jetta whereas the vRS currently only has the 2.0 TFSI. The specs seem very similar when in the Jetta and vRS so can't see an obvious reason to prefer one over the other. Presumably the TFSI will be retired in due course and the TSI will be the only option. Other than the published specs is there anything else compelling for the customer about the 2.0 TSI?

I spotted some 5/40 fully synthetic 505.00 and 502.00 spec oil at £3.99 per 1l and £17.99 per 5l at a local DIY/homewares place call The Range:- Shop Online at The Range - Furniture, Arts & Crafts, Garden, Housewares & Pet Care They don't show it on the website but it's definitely in-store. I think it's probably Carlube Triple R stuff. I'll double check next time I'm there.

I hate driving in icy conditions and can now mostly avoid it, but when I couldn't it it was a case of driving without brakes, just using the gears to slow me down. I don't think I could do that with the TSI engine. I'd need to rely on the ABS and other trickery. I think modern cars are also at a disadvantage with the wider tyres. Skinny tires steer better on ice and snow.

I've seen a couple of mentions of 'lifting off' in a corner causing the back to step out, but I can't think why that would happen on a front drive car? Surely that's the classic recipe for *understeer* in a front drive car. I know the car has negligible engine braking apart from 2nd gear and some of 3rd gear, which would help the rear stepping out. On that basis I'd suspect the 'standard' car's balance is always a bit forward of neutral.

I can't think of a car park locally big enough, empty enough or free of obstacles to do that. Snow is probably going to be a different can of worms, but snow, ice, wet and leaves are when I've had some of my more memorable driving moments, so not too keen to revisit them anytime soon. I think there's a difference between driving on closed roads deliberately intending to swing the back around, like rally drivers do in all conditions, and arriving at a bend in the dark a bit faster than you might have intended, facing a drystone wall and an oncoming driver. Not that a bit of that type of driving isn't helpful, especially if you've never experienced a good 'tank-slapper' before.

I think some prefer that as a 'sporty' feel and more like a rear drive car would do, *but* you can power through differently on a rear drive (or 4x4) car in that situation.

I've had understeer on all my previous front driven cars but my early cars, Morris Minors, did tail-wag on the limit.

Completely standard ATM.

On the very few times I've managed to find enough clear road to throw the car around a bit, I noticed a tendency for the back end to step out a bit on bumpier surfaces. Nothing too drastic and I'm quite happy with the overall ride. Is this rear 'step out' fairly standard for the Octavia, or does it depend on what rear springs, dampers and ARBs are being fitted currently?

Skoda current advice in my manual from 1000-1500 km is to gradually increase the revs to the max in all gears, which is 6000rpm and legally and practically not doable, so I've asked them to explain that item. AFAICS it's a clumsily worded version of an 'Italian tune-up', unless they can explain it differently. "FYI I was checking my speeds at 2000rpm in each gear. 2nd, 3rd ,4th, 5th and 6th come in conveniently at 25, 30, 40, 50 and 60mph, but at the 6000rpm limit that would equate to 75, 90, 120, 150 and 180mph! Legality apart, 6000rpm may be achievable on the road in 2nd and 3rd, possibly 4th for some models, but for 5th and 6th I think the road wheels would need to be off the deck!"

Interesting article here:- Puma Race Engines - How to run in a new engine I'm wondering if this item is equivalent to the badly explained item in the manual re using high revs? I've brought the Skoda manual item to the attention of Skoda UK as the 2 dealers I've seen haven't had anything conclusive to say about it. "Over the next 1000 or more miles the friction levels inside the engine will continue to fall as the bores glaze up. The harder you use the engine the faster this will happen. Drive like your granny and it might take 5000 miles before the engine is fully loose. It won't blow up because it's not fully loose if you use it hard but the power will continue to increase as the friction levels drop. Also the combustion chambers carbon up which raises the compression ratio slightly and improves thermal efficiency as the carbon acts as an insulator. You might see another 2% or 3% power once the engine is really loose compared to the first run on the dyno after the initial break in period."

For curiosity I tried some higher revs now I've passed the 1000km mark. I tried 4000rpm in 3rd and as expected 60mph came up. It did sound 'strenuous'. I don't fancy trying 5 or even 6k rpm in 2nd even for 'curiosity'!

The gauge in my previous car seemed to be more linear over the fourth quarter than this.