MarkyG82

Care to share?

The EV life is nice. Cheap running and no gears (even DSG) is a nice feel. The PHEV is not all it's cracked up to be as far as a stop gap. It's a tool for a job and if you are in a position to go EV it's a better solution. With PHEV you still have all the maintenance of a regular car with the added complexity of the EV bits. One plus side is components cost the same as the regular models (just picked up front discs and pads for £120). If your normal running costs can make good use of the EV mode on PHEV then you will also benefit from running a pure EV. You'll also have to charge less often. Plugging in every day wears thin. I often beat myself up for getting rid of the octavia tdi for the passat gte. For the money I out into the purchase I could have got a half decent small EV for daily duties and kept the skoda for tip/weekend/family/bike trips.

Why are they asking for so much? Unless price has shot up it should be just the cost of the key around £150 (€180). Pretty sure the cost for fitting is in the price they charge for the key. It was for me anyway.

I have a set of Audi le mans 19 on my passat that the previous guy had on a superb. Pretty certain if it's MQB they will fit.

As a caveat to my statement above after oots comment is I havne't actually driven an octavia with independent rear suspension. Superb, Passat, Golf, A3 but only rear beamed octavias.

The only thing I would suggest on top of the above is a rear roll bar. This will likely satisfy your need to mod without impacting other areas too much. A stiffer rear bar on a front drive car helps keep it flat in corners and allows the front wheels to stay in better contact. It also helps with a sharper turn in and more predictable return when straightening up after a corner. That last part was the biggest benefit for me. Coming out of a corner and having a car that didn't snap upright from too much roll has made the car feel safer and more relaxing to drive.

Do you have any type of LSD? If so then the controversial approach could be to fit less sticky tyres. With a bit of give in the rubber you should be putting less torque through the shafts. With an LSD you shouldn't lose too much in the way of forward drive.

Also, a gearbox top up on DSG is not usual. There is a process to follow involving vcds to empty and refill the galleries. What determined the need top top it up.

This is a big contribution I think.

Its very difficult to out numbers against it. The difference in stiffness of XL to non-XL will probably depend on pressure, tyre construction, tyre size. Even between manufacturers it will likely differ. You could put an arbitrary figure of 0.5 bar on it (2.8 bar on non-XL comparable to 2.3 bar on XL) but I don't think that is fair to the discussion. Especially as a reduction in pressure will not necessarily have the same effect as changing the sidewall stiffness. My best suggestion is find something that is legal and have a go. Maybe keep the old tyres so you have something to go back to if needed.

The xl sidewall will help support the car under lower pressures and could well offer a better ride. The tyre squish is part of the overall suspension of the car and can be used for tuning the ride. A soft setup may not have the effect you are looking for. Try reducing the pressure but 2-3 psi (0.2 bar) first to give you an idea of what a softer tyre will offer. Also, a soft sidewall will deflect more on bad roads potentially giving less control. For a rough road I would sooner go for more sidewall than a softer sidewall (smaller wheel with taller tyres).

Is that 40 miles each way? Not really worth the added expense of the hybrid car. Better off with a petrol as the battery will drain quickly and then you are left with a petrol car with the benefit of the engine cutting out when coasting. MPG wise it's very hard to tell. Could be 65. Could be 100 depending on ambient conditions, traffic, road type, speed, how heavy your right foot is, etc. they are more sensitive to driving style than a regular car as far as economy goes. But, you have the advantage of remote/programmed preheating to avoid scraping ice off. The ability to pop round the corner knowing you don't have to run the engine. In full power mode they are great. If you can make good use of the electric it can make a real impact on fuel costs. Not worked it out but I fill up one every couple of months instead of twice a month (12 miles commute each way).

As @EnterName says, a trained person with the equipment and knowledge to look at the car will be best placed to offer advice. A quick question on a forum is essentially free so no harm in asking. If the forum response is "go find a mechanic" then maybe that's the route. This specific issue could be a faulty sensor, a miss fuelled engine, a DPF at end of life, the style of driving, or any number of other situations. "my dpf is regenning too often" is too little info for armchair techs to diagnose. But, we help where we can.

It could be a few different parts. I don't have part numbers. With a friend pressing the throttle and your head under the bonnet you should be able to locate the part by sound.

As @EnterName asks, these things don't last forever. Anything you do will be short term and from the sounds of things the period will be very short. Start looking at replacements would be my advice. Unless of course you are just trying to get the car to a certain point. @Paws4Thot suggestion is not advised unless you know a friendly MOT test centre.

Almost certainly a boost pipe leak.

@Millster do you change the distance that is reacts to as above? It very much sounds like this is your issue and it's set too long. Your original post says you have it set to be "late". This is the terminology used in the system to change its behaviour rather than the distance it uses to hold the car in front. I have mine set to "early" or whatever the term is but a relatively short distance. This allows a smooth transition but not too far off the car in front.

Can you describe your typical driving? Or is this quite typical? If so then high mileage but all town is likely the issue. Longer runs are needed to clear things out. Is it all possible that the dog wasn't actually cleaned correctly and is still somewhat blocked? If still blocked but the car thinks it's not (due to coding) then you could see the behaviour you have.

The logic for all VAG DSGs is the same in stock form. In manual mode with the stick to the left it will still change up or down if you drive to fast or too slow for the current gear. It just uses most of the rev range available from the engine. For example it will change up through the gears if you keep your foot on the go pedal but the changes will be very high revs. Likewise if braking in manual it will change gear down. It will also only let you select 1st gear when stationary. Some boxes will let you pull away in 2nd but that is on the wet clutch later boxes. Not on the dry clutch one on the 1.6.

Just so we understand what you have done, you did a service on the gearbox or engine? If gearbox then there is a process you need to follow with VCDS (or similar) to empty out the system and the new oil to refill the system. Doing an oil change on the gearbox with no diagnostic help will not really anything other than refresh a bit of the oil.

I have dug around along with others (far more knowledgeable than me) in SpeakEV forum. Noone has found anything of such interest. It's frustrating because it would influence how many would service their car. If, like you say, the ICE was used for a single tank over 12 months then I would be more than happy to stretch the oil change period. I also try to only run the car in EV on the work bound commute to save the engine firing up and not being used warm. Apart from the couple of times a month we go for longer drives I wish I had a full EV for commuting. Would have been more practical to keep my Octavia for the tip or long drive.

There's not been anything found as of about a year ago when it was discussed on EV forums. This was on the Superb, Passat and Golf.

The rule is that if you make the manufacturer aware of the issue before the warranty period runs out then you are covered for the issue. I think the main assumption is for this exact situation. My advice would be to get it booked in with a good explanation of the issue recorded. That way you have given them the correct information they need to process the warranty claim to VW. Don't just book it in saying "please have a look".

@JR RS Surly a change in wall thickness would be noticeable? The added material is 20% wall thickness. It's on the inside wall of the tube so the difference would be about 14% additional stiffness. How stiffer does it have to be to make it noticeable? Looking at the numbers I suspect 14% isn't enough to make a huge difference unless you were really sensitive to it. So yes a thicker bar (24mm+) is needed.

The difference will be noticeable. I have a whiteline adjustable bar on the rear set to hard and it's a big difference.