POSitality

A few months away from a year's driving and I have about 14,000 miles on the clock. Thought I'd throw in a couple of comments on the experience so far... Brilliant! Defintely (as a works vehicle) the best car I've had so far. Although I'm sure there are cars that are a touch more economical on fuel I don't think there's so many in Estate/Combi style. The only thing I can comment on over my previous posts is faults: I had a minor problem with an exhaust temperature sensor that cropped up twice. I believe by the second time Skoda got on top of it and issued one of their advisories to dealers. Anyhoo, no faults that actually have stopped me driving. A nod to Allams here: fantastic service! If all Skoda dealers were even half as good as these guys I'd wonder why anyone would buy a car from other manufacturers. I've always been treated extremely well and always got the impression they "pull out all the stops" to get things done. Our company will definitely be getting another Skoda soon. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the economy to pick up a bit :( Also, very reasonably parts and service charges. After the main service I said to one of my fellow directors: "This is why I chose Skoda, I'd rather have 3 years of quality servicing than a 7 year warranty that's not worth the paper it's written on!" NB the Kia 7 year warranty I'm thinking of is no such thing. 7 years or 100,000 miles... which I'll probably do in 5 years, maybe 4! Great car, great dealers, great experience! Thanks Skoda

So that's where they've all gone

Wow! Really?! Yes... that would make sense: even though they chuck out more pollution than my Greenline we can't upset the Clapham set :p I see the DVLA re-jigged the charges from 2010 to encourage lower emission cars. Thanks for the correction but I'll still sneer at anyone with a Prius for destroying the planet though, all those rare-earth minerals have to come from somewhere!

Whoa! Been a while... work work work Done about 3500 miles in the Greenline now so I really have a good feel for it. So a few catch-up points: Mileage - I've mostly been doing short journeys around London and hardly any motorway miles. Rubbish for mileage of course but from what I'm seeing you should expect 50mpg as your absolute worst base line, driving like a complete idiot... Performance - it won't scream off the lights and it won't lose you your license doing over a ton (hopefully boredom will kick in before you get to 100!) Fine for me In between though there's plenty of power to do some fast manoeuvring and handles very nicely. Comfort - I spend more time in this car travelling to jobs than actually working it seems and the seats have suited me fine. I do miss the lumbar support my old Chrysler had a little. Glad I don't have the stupid arm rest some have mentioned. Improvements - apart from the stupid cigarette socket placement I've said about before, only a couple of things come to mind. The front styling is lovely but given the bullseye / giant marble headlamps it would have been nice to have the rear light clusters in a similar style. Expecting a bit too much from an estate I guess. One other thing might not yet be important: if the government does up the speed limit to 80 (as has been threatened for the last few decades) this car is really begging for a 6th gear. On a nice flat road you want to be in 5th around 50mph and getting to 70 on the motorway I really itch to change up one more gear. Most of the time I do 65-68 which is fine but if I was doing 75-68... Anyway, as I said before, if you like VAG cars in general this is great. If, like me, you're a service engineer going into the congestion zone this (or maybe the Roomster) is the only thing to get. Fancy getting a ladder on a Prius? And you have to pay £25 road tax on that My father-in-law got a note the other day about his 10 year old VW Transporter. Either he scraps it, rebuilds the exhaust system or pays the £100 per day (yes read that again!) to cross into the Low Emission Zone. And that runs 24/7 365 days a year from January next year. "This, Frank, is why I got the Greenline..." I'd be surprised if the LEZ would affect me in the next decade let alone the time I own this car! Hehe, Greenlines could only be greener if they ran off the rocking-horse **** they're as rare as :p Regards, Andy

Yeah, it's a piece of co-ax about 10mm in diameter... unfortunately terminated with a connector more like 20mm :( I could cut it off and recrimp I suppose.

For a CB radio, so the window aerial is out, soz.

Doh! Forgot to mention that, thanx m8y You can get cheap in-line fuse holders from Halfords or Maplin Regards, Andy

Very interesting thread! I've had a little play around with this so I'll try and simplify it as much as possible. Props to previous posters, especially gsp... What you need 1.8" or 2.5" low power hard drive (3.5" or a drive needing a double USB connector are out) A Windows PC (someone wanna write a Mac guide?) Winamp (free download, I recommend looking for the "lite" version) Things to know MDI will show folders and files on the root of the drive and then let you browse folders and generally navigate the contents of the drive. For ease of use while driving I suggest having all your playlists in the root of the drive and all the music stashed in a subfolder. E.g. Root: MASTER FOLDER Playlist1.m3u Playlist2.m3u ... Playlist9.m3u With all the album folders under the "MASTER FOLDER". This way you just skip past the single folder then scroll through the playlists rather than scrolling past all your album folders to get to the playlists. MDI will display things in this order: FOLDERS, PLAYLISTS, FILES with each group displayed alphabetically. (Actually, this is only true if you use M3U playlists and MP3 files as M3U is before MP3 in the alphabet.) As a side note, if you don't want to use playlists and just play folders save the files as "01 - Artist - Name.mp3" "02 - Artist - Name.mp3" etc. so the files are at least sorted by track. Notice I've gone with 01, 02, etc. rather than 1, 2, etc. to avoid confusion in order. You may end up with tracks being played in this order 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Okay, so now we know a little about the structure. Dump all your favourite tracks to the drive, I suggest in this order: Master Folder -> Artist Folder -> Album Folder -> Tracks. All done with the music? Now onto making the playlists. Fire up Winamp and make sure the playlist editor is shown (click on the tiny menu icon in the top left of Winamp and make sure "Playlist Editor" is ticked.) Make sure you have an empty list to start by clicking "LIST OPTS" and "NEW LIST" down the bottom right of the editor. Next, bring up an Explorer window and navigate to your first album on your external drive. If you have Vista or Windows 7 it will probably already show the music in a handy detailed list, for Windows XP you may need to go to the "View" menu and click details. Hopefully XP already thinks this is all music. If you need to explicitly tell Windows you have music there is an option on folder properties to customize the view as music. Try just changing the properties of your master folder and hopefully Windows will do the same for all the folders underneath! Now the reason we want this detailed view is to get some of the ID3 tag information, specifically the track numbers. Windows will let you click on a column and sort by track instead of the default sort by name. Dragging and Dropping There are some quirks with lists when you drag and drop. Whichever item is clicked on when dragging the list always ends up first so don't do something like click on the first item, hold shift, click on the last item then drag. Easier to go to "Edit" -> "Select All" and then drag the list from the first item. Oh yeah, and we drag the list to the Playlist Editor in Winamp Okay, hopefully the order looks good in Winamp. You can drag and drop items within the Playlist Editor to get things right. Now we can go to "LIST OPTS" and "SAVE LIST". Save the file with a suitable name to the root of your external drive. Phew! That was easy Not quite... I've found a little bug in Winamp. If we take a little peek inside one of these M3U files we get something like this: #EXTM3U #EXTINF:250,Kinobe - Slip Into Something More Comfortable Master Folder\Chilled Ibiza\Chilled Ibiza - CD1\Kinobe - Slip Into Something More Comfortable.mp3 #EXTINF:346,Groove Armada - At the River Master Folder\Chilled Ibiza\Chilled Ibiza - CD1\Groove Armada - At the River.mp3 ... Those "EXTINF" lines give a length in seconds and the track title to display. If you lob a massive list at Winamp it doesn't always seem to add these info lines, only around the first 20. I guess it only analyses the tracks as needed. So, just for completeness if you want to join a 2 CD set together you might want to check the contents of these M3U files. If you spot a problem you could, like I did, save a playlist for each CD and then manually stitch them together with a text editor. Just make sure you only have one "#EXTM3U" at the top and the file extension is still M3U. **Edit** Winamp only saves the full information for the files on screen, i.e. missing out the ones that "drop off" the bottom of the list. So drag the Playlist Editor down to fit in the whole album! Notice the playlist stores the relative paths of the files, this is why I chose Winamp You may wish to check out the Wikipedia article on the M3U Playlist Format which should make more sense now I hope! Feel free to ask me any questions. Regards, Andy

Hi guys, I've not found much info scouting around but I'm interested in fitting an external antenna (magnetic base type) and I'm wondering how to run the cable through the car. I can't see any other way than drop the cable through the boot door - short of tearing out the radio aerial! - but where do I go from here? Maybe you lads with your boom boxes can help :p Best Regards, Andy

Even easier, tap into the fuse panel under the steering wheel. There are several power buses and definitely one or more are only on with the ignition. You can connect to one of these buses with a standard blade connector pushed into an unused fuse socket. Regards, Andy

I've done around the 1500km running in mileage. Nice long run to Manchester and back, then off to Dover I'd have to say the engine seems to have plenty of go for 1.2l and 3 cylinders. Certainly enough to avoid scraps in town. There isn't alot of umph @ 60+ mph but I'm too old for that now I wouldn't recommend it for towing a big caravan though. Nice to know the mileage improves, I think the computer gives an average of 60mpg which is still pretty impressive but I take the point the computer is only making an estimate. Next time I'm near empty I'll fill up and see how far I can get on one tank. Obviously I'm very happy with the car but I'll try and think of the absolutely worst features just to be objective... Cigarette lighter socket - terrible spot right by the hand brake. Fine for charging a phone but not nice with a Sat-Nag cable draped across the dash. Absolutely no doubt you have a diesel engine when starting. However, cruising down the motorway engine noise isn't noticeable. Pouring rain - the wing mirrors seem to funnel the rain right at the side windows... car doesn't like me smoking it seems! Regarding the cigarette lighter problem: I bought a cheap double adapter from Maplin, cut the plug off and added a 5A inline fuse. For the earth I crimped on a ring and bolted it to the chassis (I found a spot where a plastic air vent is screwed to metal right under the steering wheel.) For power I crimped on a standard blade and jacked an unused fuse spot. Ignoring the mini-fuses on the right side of the fuse panel, the bottom right fuse (from the standard size ones) is for the heated seats. The third one in from there is unused though. The bus behind is 30A cable so my 5A doodad won't be a problem. This bus is only active with the ignition on unlike the cigarette adapter which is always on. After tucking the cables out of the way I stuck the double adapter on the plastic to the right of the accelerator pedal with a double sided sticky pad. Voilà! Now I can run the Sat-Nag cable around the outside of the dash and back up into the foot well. More on the mileage later

Taken the Greenline on a nice long run from South London to Manchester yesterday. 500 mile round trip so it's almost run in, nice consistent motorway driving too. Fiddling with the MPG thing on the computer is easier on a long wrong. There's the "live" version which drops like a stone accelerating or up steep hills but checking the average I got around ~65mpg which I'm really happy with out of the box. I kept at around 70 for most of the journey. If you're on a nice piece of long, flat road you might want to experiment with where between 60 to 70mph you want to sit. This isn't the car to be cruising at 80 in - legally or for fuel economy! Couple of tips I read on "Fuelly" I'll pass on: 50/50 rule - at low speed, wind the window down. Over 50mph keep the windows closed and switch on the A/C only if absolutely necessary. Wind resistance does make a difference! On the subject of A/C, it's worth running it at least once a month otherwise you tend to get that mildewy smell. Gradual acceleration and changing gears early are best on this sort of engine - dull but the power output over the rev range is almost the exact opposite of a 16v petrol lump where it all sits in the high revs. Try to cruise at a consistent speed. Accelerating around someone doing 68 when you were doing 70 is a complete waste. Just dial down the cruise control a couple of notches instead. Patience! This car is about saving money (or the planet I guess!) I'm already doing better than twice the mileage than my Passat could ever dream of. Don't be scared of the STOP-START in town. Diesel engines reach peak efficiency once warmed-up. Restarting them doesn't waste fuel, like a petrol engine, just battery power and you're getting that back from the regen-braking. The game has definitely changed. I see a lot of different business people with my job and I've mentioned the car to most. When I talk about the zero road tax, zero congestion charge and possibly doing 80mpg... jaws drop "I do 0 to 60 in blah blah..." is dead, mileage is the new king. Long live the King!

Hi everyone, As mentioned in the infamous "Blackhole" post I am now in possession of the following: Stock Fabia Greenline II Estate in Blue + reversing sensors Initial Reaction @ the dealers Personally I prefer the more proportional shape of the estate over the hatchback (which seems a little scrunched up!) Body work was obviously fine for a new car but more importantly the exterior glass and plastics all looked fine - no wonky bits Interior is only cloth and plastic but the finish doesn't seem cheap. All fitted together as well as the exterior. In the front Seat has the usual adjustment - just missing tilt to be perfect - steering wheel adjust has a surprising amount of range. All the dials and controls were instantly familiar as I also own a Passat Pockets everywhere! I love the double glovebox: receipts in the top, phone chargers etc. in the bottom one. Nice to have so many cubby holes for everything, even the cup holders in the Passat are rubbish. Waiting on an MDI lead for my music :( However, the Swing radio is more than adequate for anyone over the age of 25 :p In the back Nothing beats a PT Cruiser for leg room but it's fine for such a small car. The seat folding thing threw me for a bit but I noticed the swabs? (the bit your bum goes on!) are just foam covered in cloth. I suspect these may be susceptible to damage when upright. Time will tell. The back parts of the seats are solid though. In the boot Again, lots of handy storage bays. Very easy to keep small items from rattling around. Nice to see a 12V outlet. Damn... one of those inflation kits, I suppose it keeps the weight down. The first drive Bearing in mind I've been driving mostly a Ford Ka with a crippled lawnmower engine for the last 8 months for work and then the Passat with its 20 valve 1.8 turbo petrol engine, the Greenline II engine was bound to be a little odd! First I felt like I should give it a lot more throttle but I've driven diesel before and know there's a surprising amount of torque at the low end. Anyway it's still running-in so I can't boot it yet The STOP-START feature should really freak me out but to be honest I didn't notice it much. I tend to either switch to neutral and apply the hand brake at traffic lights or have my foot on the clutch and the brake (lazy!) say at a roundabout and the STOP-START fits my driving style perfectly. There's also a brake-assist for hill starts and again it just fitted in quite nicely as I rarely apply the handbrake on all but the steepest hill anyway. I'm glad of the gear change indicator, coming from the petrol cars, as I have to get back into "diesel mode" again. One thing I didn't notice: any issue with steering, braking, clutch or gears. What I mean is if you're used to any previous VW/Audi/Skoda the driving feels natural. I shall update when I'm over the initial running-in period about the fuel economy and performance. So far I'm very happy! Please feel free to post questions. Best Regards, Andy

My Greenline II Estate - Update! Get it on Tues 16th Aug, over 7 months after initial order. Finally

Hmmm, so you ordered in February and get build week 27. I ordered in January and have only now got week 28. Maybe I shoulda ordered white :p My money's on seeing hundreds of BT or Sky engineers driving around London in white, Greenline II estates. I hope so or Skoda really have lost it :( Regards, Andy