iann

I made the mistake when I bought my first new car in years, of "Running it in gently". The 105PD engine always needs oil between services. Our other car a Superb 130PD was purchased as a 6 month old "Demonstrator" and was probably thrashed from new. Needless to say this doesnt need topup oil between services.

I have had an 05 from new with 106,000 miles now on the clock. No problems as yet, so with half that mileage you should be OK.

Like previous replies I try to read the road ahead and not use brakes very often, also do mainly motorway driving . I got 90,000 out of the fronts and a couple of thousand more from the rears.

Not sure if this is the same problem but it is very similar ( I have posted this on another thread). My engine management light came on, (2005 Octy 105 BHP with 85,000 miles) the independent garage thought it was the known glow plug issue, but reset the fault temporarily. Because the car ran perfectly, when the light reappeared I ignored it for 3 months. Then the Glow plug light came on and the car would be very difficult to start, was using more fuel, and the engine stopped if I let it go under 1100 revs. This happened even when hot and it would still be difficult to start. The garage replaced the crankshaft sensor to no avail. The problem was eventually traced to wires that had rubbed through the insulation, low down on nearside front of the engine. The garage then checked a taxi he had in, and found it had got the beginnings of the same problem.

Hi Mike, not sure if this is the same problem that I had with my 88000m 05 reg but the symptoms are exactly the same. Crankshaft sensor didnt fix it nor did a engine management flash update. Turned out to be a wire rubbing and then earthing. As you look into engine bay on right hand side, low down and below the air trunking there are a few wires going across the engine. One of these had rubbed the insulation away. Its difficult to see with the air trunking in place. It took the garage 6 hours to find and fix. When I went to collect my car the mechanic showed me a taxi that had the start of the same problem but the wires hadnt yet gone right through the insulation, he said it looks like it may become a common complaint.

Similar story, mine has done 78,000 in 3 years the smoke reading was .58 and nothing needed attention. Got them to change front pads though as still on original and getting low . I had tried to change them but couldnt shift the wheel nuts. Gorrilla tightened at last tyre change.

I carry a lot of heavish equipment both in the boot and in the car. My first two sets of rear tyres wore out at around 12,000 miles. I had only inflated them to 35ish. I now run them at 48 and rear tyres seem to be lasting very much longer. Fronts have gone 30,000 miles each time.

This has happened several times on our superb. The first time it happened the dealer said it was a bad connection under the seat. However on the two or three times it has happened since, I found that there is a plastic cover on the floor roughly at the front edge of the seat next to the transmission tunnel which must house a plug or plugs. I "wobble this around " and hey presto the seat works again. The car has only done this at inconvenient times so I hadnt got around to examining the connections further. Seems to get over the problem for 6-12 months at a time hence I keep putting it on the back burner !!

Yes My Octy2 is two years and 48,000 miles from new but is running better than when new. The engine has stopped using oil and runs smoother. Had a succession of Renaults before but never again.

Strangely enough putting the disk on a radiator and heating it up sometimes works as well.

Spray the webbing with silicone polish and pull it in/out a few times. Has always worked for me.

I would suggest looking at the owners problem pages on Parkers price guide forums. Laguna diesel engines are a big problem. I got rid of our laguna and bought a Superb a few months ago as I had the start of the escalating spiral of problems.

Check driveshafts for damaged /split gaiters or excessive up/down play. I had similar experience with a Pug 205 caused by this.

Our Laguna (now replaced with a Superb) had these as standard, but Renault charged £12 for a set. We had them pinched a couple of times before I gave up and used plastic. Shame because they did look nice. Incedentally the first set went walkies when in France so the probem is not just here.

This may be a shot in the dark, but the cruise control went intermittant, then stopped working on our Superb. I was going to wait until next trip to dealers as its less than a year old. However I unscrewed and pulled away the lower right side of the dash to checkout the relays. One was only half plugged in. Problem solved. I also have a year old Octy without cruise control but remembered seeing the relays in the same place when I fitted the phone kit.

Remove the black surround, rub it all over with fine steel wool to allow paint to stick. Wash over to remove fine dust. When dry, spray with silver paint spray can. Finish with clear laquer spray. If you dont laquer it, the silver seems to wear off very quickly. I did this a year ago when my car was new, and it still looks good. Dont go for chrome effect paint, I tried this at first but it didnt match. I just sprayed it over again with different paint. I believe the silver spray came from Wilkinsons. If you dont like the effect you could always spray it over with mat black to look origional again.

Hi again Pete, I still have the Michelin Primacy Pilot tyres that were on the car from new. The self centering is very good whereas my Octy has weak self centering. This seems to be improving, so probably loosening up with usage. Is it possible that your tracking is out, as that affects the steering and self centering noticably ? Dont like the sound of the "slight shuddering" you experience though, might be worth a trip to the dealers. Ian

Our 55 plate 130 bhp Superb has had only 1 minor problem when the drivers seat electrics failed. Caused by a loose plug under the seat. However I had noticed what I thought was exhaust resonance at certain speeds, but will check the air intake now having seen the previous posts. I bought the Superb to replace a Renault Laguna ll. Nicer car to drive but reliability and cost of repair are attrocious. Look at Parkers Price Guide site forums. There are more entries for the Laguna than any other car. Not one entry for a Skoda. The party trick for the Renault 1.9 diesel is to have turbo failure, this causes the engine to suck up engine oil into the intake, the engine then revs uncontrollably until engine explodes !! If you are quick enough, and stationary, the advice is to try and drop the clutch in top gear with brakes on, to try to stall engine. This will probably save major engine damage but probably wreck the clutch/gearbox. The engine and turbo costs £7000 to replace. Stay with Skodas

I bought my Octy just two weeks before the change to 55 plate. I got £2000 off the price as the dealer had just two steel wheel cars left and wanted to shift them. Spec was same as newer version apart from the wheels. I could have bought alloys and still had money to spare with the discount !

Pete, I have a superb 1.9 130bhp and the steering is very good. None of the vibration you experience. Incidentally I also own a 1.9 105bhp Octy which unlike the Superbs conventional power steering uses the newer electric motor assistance. I dont like it as much. The self centering is not good, but it is lighter for parking.

I didnt like the drivers seat at first, the sides seemed too tight, but either I have got used to it, or it has loosened up. I had forgotton the problem until I read this post.

Bryamp, there is an adjustment that you could look at first. The springs that pop the cover up, have adjustable mountings. My cover used to fly up and banged against the stop. Very cheap sounding. Having removed the ashtray and moved the springs to a lower setting its much better. The ashtray glides up slowly and quietly. Is it possible that yours has too much pressure and is overcoming the catch?

The setup is all in the handbook, you have to do more than just memorise the seat to get the mirror to dip. To be honest the seat memory can be a nuisance. We both use very different settings, and depending on which key is used, the poor seat motors go through a lot of wear and tear, even if Im just unlocking the car to retrieve something.

Dont forget, if you dont like the look of it on arrival, you can always change it. You see "Baby changing" rooms all over the place !! When on holiday in Florida recently we saw "Baby swap" on a door. Dont think they will take back our 13 yr old though.

The reason being that diesels are more efficient and so waste less energy as heat. Hence more miles to the gallon. Some cars have an auxilliary electric or diesel burning heater to help warm the interior whilst the engine is still warming up in cold weather.