pueseso

I have it. It is a very good engine and I usually average 7L/100km, not excellent but not bad since I do high town driving. I dont have lead in my feet too... I am really satisfied with it, it is not a racing car but I drove it 5000km filled up to the top (really) and I never felt like needing more bhp. Mine is from 2009 though.

I have my 1.6MPI (not FSI) and as other guy said, my best car so far. Recently drove my A4 from 2000 and in the Skoda you feel more quality (it is new and the A4 is old but....). Making between 40-46mpg in mixed driving (with light foot). 40k km so far.

I have a hatch, but my vote goes for the Scout....

+1 ;-)

Yepp, one gets used to this behaviour and can forget that physics laws cannot be avoided..... better be careful.

At least in Spain you have to use all 4 of the same type by law (u can use different brands though). I guess it is one european law applicable to all EU countries

Im afraid there is nothing like this. Buy a decent set of winter tyres. you will safe money (no crashes) and a lot of scary drifts.

In different magacines this engine has gone through a dynamometer test and as almost all VAG group turbo engines it delivers more bhp than advertised. Have no clue why this is like this, but I guess it is related to homologation stuff, CO2 and who knows, even marketing strategy.

Hi I have the old 1.6 with almost the same theoric bhp and I just arrived after doing a 3500km trip fully loaded up to the max. The car behaved expectacularly well, even during my trip cross Germany it reached 188km/h (gps reading, around 196km/h from the dash) and I could have gone further without problems. This is beyond the theoric max speed I think. It is not a car to do rallies but it will not dissapoint u if you are looking for a car just to go from A to B. BTW, the 1.2T has 125 real bhp. Hope this helps.

I remember one Golf III GT-TDI 110cv that I had some time ago stated very clearly in the manual that it could run with bio-diesel, but later in my Audi A4 B5 (TDI-115cv) it does not say anything about it.... strange.

Well, almost all current diesel cars can use bio-diesel without any problem at all. The only reason not to use bio-diesel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel) is because it destroys natural rubber so some inner joins built of this component may be affected. However most cars starting from 1992 have changed natural rubber with KTM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FKM) so it is completely safe to feed them with this bio-diesel. May be there are other reasons (political and or economical) but afaik this was the only drawback of bio-diesel. If anyone has any other info about this it would be great to hear about it.

I recon each one has its own tastes but for me SEAT cars are UGGLLLLYYYY. Also the interiors are usually much cheaper looking. This does not mean they are bad, not at all, actually they are at the same level as the rest of the group, but their looks kill all their good bits. Today the only one which is worth looking at is the EXEO. The rest is :sick:. If you can live with its looks Im pretty sure you will find a very good car under it.

From other threads, the usual bits to check when u get low mpg is: - Tyres pressure - Filters (all of them) - Belts

Before giving up may be you can check in any scrap yard, I guess it is a not very usual part to change so there should be a couple of them available.

Loctite?

You all are completely right, I mainly use the car for 2 daily trips of 15km each. I will try to get the whole set changed before facing next trip.

THX! may be I am becoming a bit paranoid, but I am in love with my Octy and a 4k km trip is driving me crazy

Hi I have to start a quite long trip (around 4k km) in the next weeks and while reviewing the general condition of the car I have found two "strange" bits. My car is an Octy FL 1.6mpi (petrol). 1.- The oil cap has some strange oil, looks like oil mixed with rust. Is this normal? Could it affect the rest of the oil somehow? Looks lke the rust comes from the metalic part in the cap. Oil cap photo 2.- According to the manual my car has gone through the 30k km service (It has 28k km now ), but I have found what looks like a filter with some rust in its body. Does anyone know which filter is this and how to change it if necessary? Filter photo I am moving from one country to another in three weeks so there I find no point in pursuing the guy who sold me the car, and I just want to know if the service was performed and if not how to change those filters (to change the oil is rather simple). Thanks in advance

Well, in the next weeks I will be doing a "small trip" from Stockholm to Madrid, 3500km in total and from those I will make 1000km with ethanol and 2500 with regular petrol. I know that using ethanol the mpg is reduced around 30% so I would expect to see 40mpg at least while on petrol since I have seen similar figures on relaxed driving for long distances even with ethanol. Anyway I will post my results here. Thanks!!

WOW, 40 mpg is really good for a petrol one, my 1.6 mpi using ethanol goes to 25mpg easily in urban-half urban driving (still have not tried regular petrol since ethanol here in Sweden is 40% cheaper)

Mine is usually between 18 and 22 (with a predilection to 18)

Check the tires pressure, it makes an incredible difference when they are out of the specs. BTW, I prefer to have them in the higher recommended levels (not the highest but almost).

The confusion comes becouse usually VAG cars have the ESP and Traction Control linked and they (sometimes) can be de/activated with the same button with reads "ESP". In reality what we all are talking about is the Traction Control. I don´t know in the Octy but in my old A4 (B5) the TC only works below 80 km/h since it is Quattro, otherwise with only front wheel drive it would work only below 40 km/h. When I push the "ESP" button it will deactivate the ESP and the TC, and this TC deactivation is what may be interesting when you are stopped in a sand/snow/mud situation. My Octy also has a ESP button and it should work in the same way but I really have no idea even if it has TC (I guess it should), may be I should read one manual for a change.... May be VAG should change the button reading or just spare it.

Hi, probably the 1.2 may look a bit "small" but far from reality, in other VAG cars tests it develops really around 125 bhp and is more frugal than the 1.6 it replaces. I can tell you that the 1.6 is enough for any use (may be not to tow a caravan though) and quite lean in fuel use. Of course don´t expect any sport feeling in those engines.... Best thing to do .... try both of them in a dealer

The only rare occasion when the TRACTION Control has to be turned off is when you are stopped in sand/snow/mud/whatever. In this occasions it is better because it will allow you to spin the wheels at will, of course this is not for the average driver because it may worsen the problem, but may be helpful if used properly. The rest of the gadgets is better to have them on all the time (unless u r Michael Schumaquer)