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Many thanks to Ross Clarke fot fitting cruise to my old Octavia this weekend. Done in just over an hour and a half, worked first time. Cheers Ross!

I guess the novelty may wear off, but the car is really flying. Maybe a turbo upgrade one day I take the point implied elsewhere about variation in dyno readings, but what really counts is how the car drives. And on top of the smooth delivery of loads more torque, the engine is now actually more refined in normal driving. I can't praise Mike enough.

Had to post this, the guys at Jabbasport did such a great job today on my 4x4 estate. Mike worked his magic and achieved this, approx 229bhp and 247 lb-ft of torque. Car has standard engine/air box with a customised Hayward & Scott cat-back system and a Haldex Performance controller. The upgraded Haldex was already a big step up but with the remap the 4-wheel drive under any sort of acceleration glues the car to the road. Also had Mintex Extreme pads fitted all round and have to say they are much better for road use than the Ferodos I was running, and they are very quiet too. thanks to everyone at Jabbasport. Adam

I wonder if lowered cars are at more risk. My 4x4 was fine on original high suspension, think this summer was the first very heavy rain I'd driven in since switching to KWs. Car is not at its lowest setting, but fairly close. Mind you, this summer's rain must be some of the heaviest since I bought the car 4 years ago, so who knows. Adam.

my 4x4 also had a fit in monsoon rain back in July, vibration under the car was terrible, but gradually eased off. Thought the car was dying on me at the time. Found some discussion of this on a Golf R32 forum, and the idea of 4x4-specific issues with the exhaust seems a common theory. Have just had a custom Hayward and Scott installation to replace the exhaust pre-remap, and the pipe work is now well clear. May have to wait a while though for another monsoon to test it, fortunately there are other benefits of the new exhaust I can enjoy every day. Adam.

Any thoughts on this one: I hit some standing water the other day, not that fast, on emerging the car felt as if the engine was digesting a bag of nails, as I accelerated car gradually seemed to sort itself out. Thought nothing more of it. Few days later, same thing happened again, except the car complained a lot more: lots of vibration, hard to place where from, felt like it was under me and around, the vibration was terrible. Managed to limp the car home. Really had to push on the accelerator to keep the car moving. Took the car to my nearest dealer, no fault codes, and they weren't that interested. Car continued to misbehave on the way home from the dealer in heavy rain. Problem never happens in the dry. Car is a 4x4, mods mainly in the suspension department, still running original exhaust and engine components. Any ideas? thanks Adam.

one option is to get a head-unit with an iPod adapter, and forget about the CD changer. I have a Becker headunit with bluetooth phone and an iPod lead running in to the glove box. The Sound Gallery of High Wycombe did a beautiful installation. With the Becker you get a near factory fit look if you are interested in that sort of thing, the display is a close match to the climate control. Phone book functionality is pretty poor, otherwise it's great, with a discrete microphone in the light cluster above the rear view mirror, and no wires anywhere. I had my front speakers replaced with JL components, not that expensive, had the door trims heavily stiffened by the Sound Gallery, greatly improves bass and avoids upgraded speakers rattling the doors. No doubt there's loads more you can find in the ICE forum Adam

It's a no-brainer that if you are going to buy a brand-new Haldex controller then you buy the Performance version. Some say save the money for other upgrades, but I still remember the huge grin I could not get rid of those first few days when I had mine installed, you will realise just how far away from proper 4-wd the standard set up is. Adam.

I've literally just got back from Hayward & Scott to discuss options for my 4x4. For the cat back only, they quote

I am completely confused. Is it being suggested that the rear courtesy lights can be made to come on by opening the door in a Mk1 Octy? I don't get how. Adam.

I had similar intermittent limp mode problems recently that were cured by removing the induction kit and fitting a new MAF. You may want to get a read out of the fault codes you probably have.

When the kit first went on one of the things I liked was the change to the acceleration note, which is why I pondered for a while on whether to keep it in spite of the cabin sound effects. But, recently it had started to sound rough and loud, now you mention it. I'm not looking to start a blame game here. This is just the experience I had, and noone will ever know for sure whether the MAF was on the way out before the kit was fitted anyway. I don't have any ill will towards Jabbasport, they're a very helpful bunch but at a 5 hour round trip, too far away for just popping round to look at these things, AmD are much closer.

I ran Jabbasport's induction kit for a few months (no other engine mods yet). To be fair to Jabbasport, when I expressed concern immediately about the loud "Darth Vader breathing" sound effects you get in the cabin, they did offer a refund if I went back straight away, but I decided instead to run it for a while. Meanwhile I've also been having some work done by AmDTechnik outside Oxford. On a visit there late last year they warned me about the high likelihood of the induction kit killing the MAF (I could not begin to repeat the technical explanation given to me by them about how - they seem to be in a different world of technical knowledge), then just a couple of days ago I started getting some very odd behaviour from the car with interimittent but massive loss of power. Yesterday's visit to AmD diagnosed 5 fault codes, with a common root in a dead MAF. On taking the MAF out, it was found to be utterly full of sooty dirt! The standard airbox went straight back on with a new MAF, and the car feels much better sorted for it. I can't comment on whether all induction kits are the same. If you like lots of wooshy sound effects in the cabin (for me, so tedious on a motorway run) and it's reliable for you, then fair enough, but for me, never again. I don't regret trying it, but would never recommend it to anyone else.

I just reverted to standard airbox today after the grief that a well-known tuning house predicted I'd suffer, duly happened. So now I know why they don't sell these.

I'd have thought that the heat build up when braking at motorway speeds would be pretty instantaneous. My own experience with Ferodo DS2500 is that they are fairly unimpressive and squealy around town but come in to their own when you suddenly find that the traffic in front of you on the motorway has stopped. A different class then to the standard 4x4 set-up.