bob corb

It's not a new idea either. Can anyone find an older example???

Mine started dibbling oil out of the undertray too. I dropped the undertray off myself as its only held on with a few screws. The undertray was indeed full of oil so I mopped it all up and got underneath to see where it was coming from in the hope that I could just nip something up. Alas it was coming out of the flange for the oil pipes on the turbo which is obscured by the DPF/cat/EGR cooler. I called Skoda and as it was friday night beer o'clock I scheduled an appointment for the following day. The chap turned up and had a look but couldn't get to it so I dropped in into Skoda in Northampton. They changed the pipes but it didn't fix it so they changed the turbo! My usual tamed spanner man says he see's loads of these going wrong on Seats and VWs too and the pipe is just too short and stiff to accommodate movement of the turbo and it could do with a Dowty seal or suchlike...

My 2.0 diesel does 43.6 mpg and the 1.6 TDI I had for a week did 53+mpg IIRC. I didn't hang around in either. The 1.6 is very easy to get decent mileage out of. The 2.0 takes a lot more will power

VAG = Volkswagen AG. AG is the German equivalent of a PLC. Meanwhile, the OP doesn't say he's buying the car. How about just leasing it instead, then you know all the costs are fixed and if the car needs to go back then (by the time they're worked out what to do) you'll be so far through the lease it wont matter if you loose a bit of deposit. Plus, if the car is a bag of poo post re-work it wont matter as you wont be keeping it.

The car has to do a measured coast down in order to determine the rolling resistance figures which are then dialled into the rolling road. Polished smooth cars on bald tyres, taped up, one windscreen wiper, probably no interior etc etc will coast much further

What happens when VW take the car back and find the ECU has been modified and the DPF removed??? Could they leave you high and dry? Also, if NOx emmisions are now under scrutininy are more stringent tests going to beome part of the MOT or random roadside testing is used to prove the CAT/DPF is still in place? The EGR system is there to reduce NOx after all. Are all modified cars in for a rough ride???

There is actually. Google VW California and you'll find a lot of the early models were registered and classed as M1 Diesel Car. VW realised the mistake, recalled all the V5 log book and got them all changed to Motorcaravans with lower VED.

It appears to be only diesels fitted with SCR systems but Skodas appear to be meeting present regs with EGR instead so not an issue for us yet...

Could you elaborate on how you compare the lubricants technically? I would've thought the fixed interval lubricant would be superior technically in terms of its ability to flow and maintain oil films as more of the product is oil and less detergent/acidity control etc? I'm working with a few oil suppliers at the moment so its good to gather a bit of info so I can load a few questions. I've got a visit to an oil blending facility coming up too (I doubt they tel me too much about their blends for 502/504/507). If you want to look after your engine I'd say 502 in the 5W30 spec for an everyday car in northern europe. If I'd chipped the car and was using it enthusiasticly then go for the 40. The 888 TSI engine was laid out as a 1.8T and grew later in its development but fuel economy is more important than high power optimised bearing design and they wont want to have too many different spec parts for varying power levels. Back in the days I was working on these things the only engine which I saw using 5W40 was the 4.2 V8 in the RS6 (possibly the R5 Turbo in the TTRS too?).

A friend of ours bought a Superb recently without sat nav and he says they got it retrofitted. I can ask him who did it but he did say it was about £800 IIRC...

Just to update - 6 weeks since they replaced my turbo and oil pipes and I've never smelt anything on regen since. If your car really pongs on regen then take off the undertray (easy 5 min job) and have a look up at the DPF. I bet it'll have oil dripping off it like mine did!

Over the summer various places have been doing personal lease on a Golf R Estate DSG for about £259 a month for 10k a year with £2500 down compared to the £210 / £1800 I'm on for the 2WD limey weasel. I cant see the point of a super Octavia when the Golf is so close in price.... I suppose the Octy is bigger and less chav.

Google Octavia and Rotiform and there are thousands of amazing looking combos and yet this thing looks rediculous. They tried really hard to make a mess of it.

I dont do it every time I drive the car and I do use the oil temp gauge so I wait for it to warm up. I was told by a colleague that at Neckarsulm they take customer Audi R8s off the end of the line, get them hot and take them up to full power for a shakedown. The engines we build at work are ran on dyno at mixed speed and load for 10 hours and finish with a power curve usually before being signed off. I've ran many engines through piston butch tests where you fire the engine for the first time ever, spend 30 seconds and no more checking for leaks and then pin it at max power for 30 mins (while its still cold). I never broke one.

I got to 400 miles and then started banging it on the limiter and realised what I'd been missing...grrrr.