Stevoraith

Great to see so many people keeping their Octavias for a long time. In my case, and I think it's probably true for a lot of people, it's because there isn't really much out there that will do the same job for anywhere near the money. We bought our Octavia when Skoda were doing the VAT free deal which meant we saved nearly £5k on the list price. Since then obviously they don't do deals like that any more and the list price has increased meaning Skodas aren't the bargain they once were. List price for ours with the options we specced back in 2011 was around £23500. We got 20% off that. Adjusted for inflation, the price we paid in 2011 equates to around £24k now. The cheapest vRS diesel today will set you back £32k. That's a big difference. I now have a 2017 335D Touring for family duties but we can't quite bring ourselves to get rid of the Octavia yet- it's like it's part of the family!

15 years with one car is impressive! Coincidentally, 1st September 2005 was the day that my wife picked up our first Skoda- a Fabia vRS. Kept that 5 and a half years and replaced it with the Octavia. So currently we can say I've not owned my car for the longest on here, but so far I've owned it for the longest from brand new.....

This is excellent, thank you. If I had seen that topic when I originally searched I wouldn't have had to start this one! Sounds like exactly the symptoms I'm seeing. I have a manual so it sounds like there's just the one thermostat to change. Also since the car isn't being used much just now with lockdown I'll just leave it until the cambelt water and pump are being changed in a couple of months as it sounds like that should save some labour and the cooling system will be being refilled and bled anyway. As a matter of interest, I paid closer attention to the oil temperature gauge in my 335d on my way home from work tonight. I was aware it generally sat around the mid-point (which is 100C) but I can now confirm that it fluctuates around that (maybe +/-5degC) dependant load. Thanks once again for your help.

Is the oil temp reading low? I genuinely have no idea, I never look at it. I assumed because it wasn't fluctuating like the water temp it was probably ok. Any idea what normal operating range is for the oil temp? My BMW has an oil temp gauge, I'll make a point of looking at that on the way home from work now!

Not been on here for a while but popped on today for some advice and started to wonder, has anyone had their car from new for longer than us? We bought our vRS new in April 2011 so it'll be 10 years old in 2 months. It's not going anywhere for a few years at least. How long have you owned yours for? Can anyone beat 10 years from new?

Thanks mate, similar symptoms when you replaced yours?

Any idea which sensor is most likely? A quick search on here previoulsy threw up a number of sensors in various places, some of which were apparently a pain in the backside to change.

Coolant needed a small top-up (less than 100ml) but otherwise looks in good condition. That was last October when I first noticed the issue, haven't checked it again since

On a recent long journey in the wifes car (first time I've driven it far in about a year) I noticed that the water temp guage which normally sits rock solid in the middle at 90degC was fluctuating between 70 and 80C. The car is a 2011 vRS TDI (so 2.0 TDI CR 170). We've had it since new, cambelt and water pump replaced April '16 so water pump is 5 years old and will be replaced when the cambelt is due again in a couple of months. I took it to work yesterday so I could pay attention to the temps on a decent journey. I was able to check the oil temp as I have maxidot and it rose steadily to around 77C and stayed there throughout the journey. The water temp rose to around 75C, then fell again to 70 and then just sort of oscillated between 70 and 80 while I was doing a steady 70mph in 6th (~2k revs). I then did a couple of miles in 4th at 70mph (around 3k revs) which didn't make much difference to the temp so I put it back into 6th.... at which point the temp increased to around 85degC before falling back down again. Towards the end of the journey (30miles, 35minutes) I gave it a bootfull of revs off a few roundabouts and then after a long uphill section the temp had finally risen to 90C. On the downhill section of the same hill it started to cool down again. Ambient temp was around 2degC. Has anyone experienced anything similar? I was hoping it is just a sensor/sender rather than a real issue but I have no idea. Obvioulsy cannot tell if the water genuinely is cooler than normal or if it just thinks it is. I mention the water pump but I would assume if that was failing that it'd be hotter than usual, not cooler. Keen to get it diagnosed ASAP as it will be getting cambelt and water pump done in April so if it is something which needs changed in the coolant loop then I'll save a bit in labour/coolant if I get it changed at the same time. I had my local specialist 'check it' when it was in for a service in November but all they did was read the codes and said nothing came back. Any help/thoughts would be appreciated.

Why have you done three changes? If yours is a 61 (late 2011) it should have had a change in late 2016 and be due another change late this year (2021). Ours is a 2011, we did the first change in 2016 and it's due another in April this year (only on 82k miles so purely time-based).

I've used the Dunfermline branch since it opened 10 years or so ago. I feel it's gone downhill quite a lot since it's changed from Chathams to West End. Daft things like telling me the car needed timing belt, coolant and brake fluid because of the age of it..... even though they had changed all of those things 5months before. Writing in the service book that the next service is due in a year or 10k miles even though it's always been on variable. Not huge things but annoying. I feel it's lost the family run feel it had when it was Chathams.

My wife's Octavia vRS was done last week while in for a service. Hadn't had a letter so was surprised when they said it was available. I drove it and didn't notice a difference..... she did however say she thought it felt a bit more sluggish/heavier on the motorway. Jury is out.....

I own my car with no outstanding finance so I'd get no 'compensation' but you'd get several thousand pounds? Sounds fair...... Were you complaining that the emissions/ fuel economy your car was getting was not what you were expecting BEFORE the emissions scandal broke? Thought not.

People make me laugh!! Let's just for a minute ignore the fact the government have promised that affected cars won't be re-banded and therefor have to pay more tax. And let's pretend that the sole reason you bought your Fabia was for the free road tax. Do you really think it would be reasonable for Skoda to pay off the remaining balance of your finance!? Or might it be slightly more reasonable for them to pay you and amount equivalent to the rise in tax every year? Completely moot point as tax won't rise but the things people come away with sometimes are ridiculous. My Octavia is 'affected' but do I care? Not in the slightest. It's given the fuel economy figures I expected of it so as far as I'm concerned the 'cheat' software has had no adverse effected on my ownership. Would I refuse any compensation offered? Of course not, but if none is forthcoming I won't lose any sleep.

The battery on my vRS CR needed replacing at about 3 and a half years old and 38k miles. Can't say if the symptoms were exactly the same but it started taking an extra turn or so to start, both hot and cold starts. Eventually when it had been sat for nearly a week in the garage without moving it just would not start. New battery (extortionate from Skoda!) and all was well with the world. I have never had to replace a battery on a car either, let alone a three-year-old one, but I had put it down to our car having heated seats which were used a lot and also automatic xenons which I have set to come on with unlocking- since the car stays in the garage the lights come on every time we lock or unlock and I wondred if this was putting more load on the battery than usual.

It'll be hard work getting those marks out with a DA unfortunately. I have one and they are great machines but I can't help feeling you'd have been better letting a pro tackle your car. It will take you far longer than a day to get a good improvement on the whole car. I suggest that you have patience and aim to tackle a panel or two at a time, at least to begin with. If you head over to detailing world, look at the guides that DaveKG put together. I did a tuition class with him a few years back and what he doesn't know isn't worth knowing. He's also now a school teacher so has a good way of explaining things. Good luck!

That's the way I read it to be honest, but I know it can be a little tedious when the same topics come up again and again! As you say, the more evidence the better. And if people don't have to read through 14 pages of "My car have 165,000,000km and be 94 year- CAMBELT NO SNAP YET!" "But my dealer said you have to change it if it snows in winter" then all the better!

This is absolutley shocking mate- what a state your car was left in! The above quote makes it obvious that the company are 'valeters' pure and simple and have absolutley no knowledge of detailing. I share your disbelief that someone who washes cars for a living can have no knowledge on the techniques that are frequently used by professionals and private individuals to not only correct imperfections such as the ones on your car but also to prevent them happening in the first place. He's obvioulsy totally clueless and for this reason I would not let him anywhere near your car to 'polish and wax' it. If you go to detailingworld.co.uk and have a search you will no doubt be able to find a detailer near you who comes recommended. You might be able to get him to go with you to the dealer and explain what can be done to rectify the situation? I would then say that the best course of action would be to pay for a full paint correction yourself. Make sure you get it in writing that they will reimburse you if all the marks are removed and how they will judge that. Any detailer worth his salt will get 95% of those marks out. Worst case scenario is you end up paying £300-400 out of your own pocket and they don't cough up but at least you will have a shiny car! But I get the feeling if nothing is done about it you will always be annoyed when you look at the car. Best case they pay up and you have a car which is in slightly better condition than before for not much outlay. I really would avoid the legal route as I can't see it ever getting to court, never mind you getting a result. It's a pity you are so far away- otherwise I could drive my car to them and show them how swirl/scratch free a 4 year old race blue Octavia can be :p

Sorry if this was 'yet another' thread about the same thing. I'm not on here all that often these days and upon a quick search I found it difficult to find a definitive answer so I thought I'd stick up an unambiguous statement so that people who are searching in the future can get an answer without having to trawl through a million replies stating different things.

Can you define what 'new' means above? What age of car? And on what engine? What Skoda manual do you refer to? This is the problem I find with this issue, there are so many different sources of information. As I said above, giving my reg no to Skoda I was advised that as my car was built after september 2010, it was a 5 year interval.

My winters were refurbed anthracite (I actually asked for gunmetal which is a bit lighter but he did the wrong colour.... I like the antracite though) Edit: I've just realised how bad these photos are- I'll try and get some better ones in the next few days- I think they look darker in the metal

Just for a bit of info really, for anyone who may be searching for an answer in the future. I have a 2011 Octavia vRS TDI CR which is coming up for 4 years old but only on 38k miles. I thought it may be due a belt change at 4 years but unable to find a definitive answer for the time interval between cambelt changes, I contacted Skoda Customer services. The very nice man there informed me that in September 2010 Skoda changed the design of the belt fitted to these engines and were therefore able to extend the recommended interval from 4 years to 5 years. So build date before sept 2010 = 4 year interval. Build date September 2010 or later = 5 year interval. I'm not sure if this applies to any other engines (it probably does) but it certainly applies to the 170bhp 2.0 TDI CR as used in the MkII Octavia vRS. As it was not applicable to me I did not ask about the milage interval but I think most people change their belts on time rather than distance so hopefully this is some help to someone

Just to add some useful info here; The attached document in the first post shows milage intervals for cambelt changes but as we all know it should be distance OR time dependant, whichever comes first (as material degrades with time regardless of use). I have a 2011 Octavia vRS TDI CR which is coming up for 4 years old but only on 38k miles. I thought it may be due a belt change at 4 years but unable to find a definitive answer for the time interval between cambelt changes, I contacted Skoda Customer services. The very nice man there informed me that in September 2010 Skoda changed the design of the belt fitted to these engines and were therefore able to extend the recommended interval from 4 years to 5 years. I'm not sure if this applies to any other engines (it probably does) but it certainly applies to the 170bhp 2.0 TDI CR as used in the Octavia vRS.

Yeah, the pictures Lee posted are of a pre-facelift instrument binnacle so are of no use to you and the headlight he posted is actually a halogen facelift headlight, not a xenon (both types have projector lenses on the facelift Octavia). Countryboy has mentioned the easiest way to tell if you have Xenons and maxidot. The other easy way is to tell about xenons is look at the headlight and look closely around the lens- if it's xenon it'll say AFS Xenon or words to that effect on the bezel. Also I'm 99% sure that the only way to get headlight washers on a vRS was to spec Xenons so if you have them you probably have xenons (although I could be wrong there).

Just phone your local dealer- that's the best (and sometimes only) place to get parts like that. I had to replace mirror casing, indicator and the plastic part you need and got all the parts from the dealer for a price which wasn't too extortionate.