skodayouth

ESP has nothing to do with going fast enough to need it. ESP can be very beneficial in keeping control of the car during a sudden menouvre. If you ever do have an experience where you wished you had ESP, it will probably be when you totalled your car

Definatley, I wouldnt want another car without it

I would agree with you, I wouldnt have a car that has been done up like that, it doesent guarantee it's been thrashed but I at least think it increases the chances. When I went to buy my first Fabia it had a Classic FM sticker and a jesus fish sticker on it, played a part in my decision to buy it. Thought it was much less prone to hard driving in the past:D

Never been a fan of the DaimlerChrysler group, perhaps with the exeption of Mitsubishi and some Mercs. I find Dodge/Chrysler to be cheap and nasty, heavy depriciators and rubbish engines (Most have torque really high in the rev band), only ones I would have are those with the VW Sourced TDI's. And I think they are expensive for what they are As for the 300c, couldn't expect more from an old Merc E class underneath. We all know what happens to manufacturers that keep re-hashing old designs (Just think of Rover). i think they should be denied any help whatsoever. Why should we give them another $21.6 billion to waste away when this could provide so many people in the 3rd world with essentials

As Far as I can remember (and thats not far), Skoda called their solid blue "Dynamic Blue" (Which it certainly isn't) or Laser Blue

Does the Launch control feature work with all DSG cars. Iv'e seen videos on youtube of purring it into S, ASR off and holding the brake but as soon as mine hits just over 1krpm it tries to take off, does it only work on petrol DSG's? Also has anyone noticed that if in park the rev limiter on the TDI is 5,000RPM and if in neautral it bounces at 4,500RPM? Got a 19TDI DSG by the way

Weird how the battery is in the boot, I wonder if they didn't have quite enough room to cram the V6 in

Why does everyone say the Insignia is good looking, am I the only person that thinks it's totally fugly. It looks bulbous and overgrown, like the designer just couldnt stop adding bits. I have seen one on the road and I couldnt beleive that this was the car that everyone was saying is great looking True the Superb II looks like a old Megane saloon, but at least it's conservative.

Car got taken to be repaired today, I took some pics of the damage. Hope it doesent take too long as I dont have a courtesy car on my policy. Someone broke my wing mirror while it was parked up too:mad: , good time to get out my bicycle though:thumbup:

It should be getting a new tyre as the existing one was ripped to shreds when it was forced into the wing, should I make the garage put the same one on so they all match, they are Bridgestone Turanzas. To add insult to injury, I left the parking lights on for one day and now the battery is dead, so I had go through the procedures in the manual for taking the car out of park without power :( It's getting moved to be repaired shortly, im looking forward to the estimate. After a thorough look today it also looks like the suspension has been moved out of it's mounting also

Pootling along yesterday round a very icy bend on a hill doing around 15mph, when my Octavia decided that it would understeer towards the edge of a kerb. If i'd been in the Fabia the ESP would have saved me! End Result is a broken alloy and tyre, bent lower arm and a bent steering rack. Because the wheel moved so far back, it also wrecked the arch liner and even the front wing. Had to pay £350 quid excess and loose no claims. On the other hand I am glad I wasnt hurt. I just had to pay £312 the other day for a new oil sump after a pothole incident, so this car isn't very lucky for me right now. The man who recovered it diagnosed all of the above, but told me that there could be further damage. Does anyone know if the car will be written off? It's a 1.9TDI DSG Elegance estate with 17k on the clock. I would have attatched a picture but my phone is playing up too :(, but it seems worse since the guy loaded it onto the towing trolley and the wheel is straight. The wheel is so bent back, that when the front right wheel was resting in the trolley, the passenger side was back and raised in the air

I too would like to know if anyone has done this, I have a 1.9TDI DSG Estate and it is one of the most understeery cars I have ever had, guess it's that heavy diesel up front. Only car Iv'e had where I cant get any lift of oversteer too. Got the standard spec Bridgestone Turanza tyres all round, are they holding things back too?

I can sympathise with you to some extent. Over rough and rutted roads ABS can actually make things worse or be overly sensitive In Britain it's great because we have smooth tarmacced roads (well smooth by Indian standards). Over loose surfaces and snow it's better to be without ABS as when the wheel locks it can dig in and obtain more grip I had an Alfa Romeo that decided to kick in it's abs over some gravel at the end of a junction leading to a large main road. I ended up right in the middle of the road (Fortunatley nothing coming). Difference is the Alfa had front wheel ABS only and not all round I have been certain that on occasions my ABS has kicked in, had I been without it the wheels would not have locked. The way the brake pedal feels is also disconerting If the ABS comes on though, you are exceeding the limits of the cars grip regardless, but I can see what you are saying

I think you are right, thanks for your advice and re-assurance, it's a great car

TBH the car is in great nick (xcept swirly paint) but the turbocharged engine and the trick gearbox concern me. The main thing is there is 2 years warranty left on a 3 year lease, do you think Skoda might give me another years warranty so I have peace of mind?

Okay here's another one of my "where do I stand?" threads I bought a used Octavia II Elegance 1.9TDI DSG estate (07 Plate with 12k) for just shy of 12k which I got on PCP (18k PA allowance and 3 year agreement) I was told by the dealership that it had one previous owner. I got the logbook through the other day and indeed the car has had one previous owner, however that owner happened to be europcar (Which for those who dont know is a car rental firm). I called europcar to check if it had been owned by a manager or such, but it was part of their fleet car for cusomers to hire. My concern with this is that though the car has had one legal owner it's potentially had hundreds of different drivers. I rang the dealership (who are most helpful and courteous) who told me they were aware that it was an ex-skoda fleet car, but unaware of it's actual previous owner. He enured me that the car had had a thorough mechanical inspection and all should be okay. Im still no hppy though, if wish to sell the vehicle after purchase it will have the stigma of being an x-rental, what can I do in this situation, is it likely I can cancel my agreement or choose a similar vehicle?

The 6 speed gearbox is the first DSG gearbox, that the Octavia uses, the 7 speed on the superb II is the new 7 speed box. The main difference is that the first DSG gearbox used wet/submerged clutches, wheras the new one is dry, probably more efficient. The 7 speeds will aid economy by reducing cruise RPM's. Iv'e just got an Octavia II 1.9TDI DSG elegance estate, and I love it. The DSG does not pull away from a standing start as fast as a torque converter auto, but the gear changes are amazingly quick!

I'm not having a go at you at all, just wanted to make a point People who smoke, yes they are a waste of the NHS's time and money. I am a smoker myself (400 a month), and I will fully accept any illness that comes about because of that without sponging of the NHS, because there are other people that deserve it more. I am happy to pay taxes to help people with drug problems however, people make mistakes, and that one mistake can get them hooked, in general drug addicts are not bad people, it's the drugs are bad My Nan and Grandad are in their eighties, and my grandad is still working (taxpayer) to this very day, even though he is 82. This means they get no financial help with most stuff, because their income is too high (my grandad has 2 major pensions) he just had to pay £300 for her new glasses. Typical of this country, the more you put in, the less you get!!!!

Yes, people like Hyundai and Kia offer these warranties because they are confident that they are fairly bulletproof. After owning a 7 year old Skoda at one point, and reading many threads on here, Skoda would be very silly to have such a long warranty However, theres plenty of customers who want a car with road presense, a long company history and just some good old fashioned charachter rather than some asian knock off with a long warranty, not to mention residual values. While i'm ranting, I think the Superb is marketed all wrong. The watermelon thing is ridiculous to start, but the main thing that gets me is in the driving pictures, it's some old guy in a grey suit with his misses (or probably his secretary) alongside. Skoda, I don't want to see charles and camilla wafting along in a carr like this. I want to see a black 4x4 V6, at night, in an empty car park meeting a range rover for a drugs deal, I really think that some more spicy hollywood advertising will get people in rather than just catering to the tena-lady crowd!

Just to share my experiences with you, I had a Fabia 1.48v MPI that was as economical as it could be for the first few months of ownership (Got 42 MPG on a run), and anyone will tell u that is really good for a 1.4MPI (They were thristy) Suddenly it dropped to half that MPG if i drove economically! I ran a vag com scan and lo and behold it was the lambda sensor, the engine management light didnt show up because it was an intermittent fault, and the intermittent faults get cleared every few times the engine is restarted, but it would always be there as a falt code. So basically it was stuck in a loop of being in an intermittent status, think it was a signal implausible error code I never got to find out if that resolved the issue, as the car was returned to the dealer network rather shortly after!

A Review Iv'e read of the Fabia say it's easy to "Catch out" the Power steering servo, whereby during rapid movements of the steering wheel the servo assistance isn't going in the direction your going, I can say for sure if iv'e ever experienced it, it could be a load of ****** that some bored auto journalist came up with

It has anti-stall, it will try and maintain idle speed even if in gear with the clutch up

1. Yes, it's a very good gearbox, it's smooth, shifts quickly and the tiptronic mode works well 2. The 6th Gear is an overdrive (Where the gearbox spins faster than the engine), meaning you get good fuel economy when cruising, but top speed (If desired) is acheived in 5th gear. The downfall of most small auto's is they only have 4 gears meaning they are all too long causing poor fuel economy and performance, 6 gears eradicates this issue 3. Not tried towing, but in theory it should be fine, you will be able to use the tiptronic mode to hold the gears for extra safety 4. It's a sealed unit and there is no dipstick for the torque converter fluid, this ca be disconcerting but as I am leasing mine for 3 years it'snot a concern I have, but It maybe for yourself or someone elese, the only thing I can really say it that it's an Aisin AW gearbox, so it's build to last 5. Performance and fuel economy are excellent in my opinion, not much performance loss against the manual. I have timed mine at 10.1 secs from 0-60MPH and had 124MPH on the GPS. The shifts are smooht and quick as well, it doesent leave you feeling frustrated like some auto's 6. Go for it, aside from the Ibiza which has the new 7 speed DSG, you probably wont find a better autobox on such a small car If you do a search there are quite a few threads, it seems much more popular that the previous Fabia Auto (Very deserved too), if you got any specific questions, bar towing I will probably be able to help

I had a sport 1.4 TDI 80 as a courtesy car, and like yourself I have a 1.6. Like JSJ I actually like the noise the 1.4TDI makes, and the mid range torque was missed greatly when I returned the car. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get below 50MPG. I get 47-48MPG on a long run in my 1.6 Tiptronic which I think is very good, and considering the initial lower list price and lower fuel cost, I am better off with the smoother and quiter petrol. If I did more miles I would go for the 1.4TDI, especially considering the tuning potential

Acoording to wikipedia (Which can be as reliable as an alfa) this is the only 3.6V6 that VAG produce, so I can only assume it's a de-tuned version. 20 horses have gone missing:( 3.6 VR6 FSI 206kW Configuration 3,598 cc (219.6 cu in) 10.6° VR6 engine Cylinders Bore x stroke: 89.0 x 96.4 mm, iron block Head aluminum, chain-driven double overhead cams, 4 valves per cylinder, hydraulic lifters, variable intake- and exhaust-valve timing, 12.0:1 compression ratio Fuel system FSI direct injection Output 206 kW (280 hp DIN) @ 6200 rpm, 360 N·m (266 ft·lbf) @ 2750 rpm, 12,57 bars MEP, max 6500 rpm (20.9 m/s piston speed) Applications 2006 VW Passat (US), 2008 Passat R36, 2006 Audi Q7 references "Volkswagen Passat 3.6". Car and Driver (December 2005).