old newbie2

Thanks for your thoughts / advice, I'll keep them in mind especially now that my Superb has been sold. I still have a Golf as my runabout but I do miss the space inside my Superb 2. he current Superb is just too big for my garage, the Arteon is an even better to car to drive but it's longer & wider than a Superb 3. Any advice would be welcome........... DC

Thanks for the info, maybe I should consider purchasing a more up-to-date car sometime soon.... DC

Forgive my ignorance, what is "Front Assist" on a Karoq? (My ancient Superb doesn't have such gadgets.....) DC

I've not driven anything the size of a Bentley (in the UK, I've rented a few barges across the pond....), the biggest here would have been a Mk 4 Ford Zephyr &/or an Austin Westminster. One problem for me is that I own a 1965 house c/w a 1965 garage, which means that a Superb 2 is probably the largest car around that fit into it. I have a few inches at the rear for the up & over door to shut, & + just enough space to open the drivers door. When i was running a VW EOS, (much shorter but with a long drivers door) it was easier to retract the folding tin-top into the boot & walk into the car. Back in 2004 our 3 week old diesel V70 died on the outskirts of Dover (injector problem) & it's replacement (a local Rental Car) was a SAAB 9.3, badged as a 1.8 turbo even though it had a 2.0 petrol lump. I didn't enjoy that car at all, & that was after a bunch of varied roads in & around Luxembourg. It seemed to have passive rear wheel steering, which was something of a surprise.... Boredom is no longer a problem for us (probably age-related....) but after 8 years of Superb ownership I still can't find an obvious replacement. The V70 was a bit boring but with no unpleasant habits, so it went after 9 months. I reverted to my previous choice, 2 more Mk 3 Mondeo V6 estates... instead. Much more fun.... DC

Hi, I've found my Superb remap figures, AMD set it up for 95 octane petrol, 'cos higher octane fuels were not in sale in this area. The results were stock, 211.9 bhp @ 5464 rpm & 214.7 lb/ft @ 3119 rpm. After the remap it made 249.0 bhp @ 5844 rpm & 266.8 lb/ft @ 3912 rpm. The power & torque curves on the graph are very linear, just decent increases after the remap. More important to me, before the map 4K & 5K rpms = 160 bhp & 200 bhp, after the map they improved to 203 bhp & 244 bhp. As for the driving experience, it's still quiet & docile to drive, but with a decent amount of grunt when required & good economy too. It won't keep up with my R hatch (of course....) & the 2WD does demand a little restraint when attempting a quick departure, it's still quicker than it looks, 'tis a proper Q-car....... Cheers, DC.

Interesting thinking.... My Superb was mapped about 8 years ago, (AMD Tuning) & all they recommended was a change to a Pipercross ait-filter. Otherwise it's stock, & still the car of choice for everyday driving. It won't keep up with SWMBO's R wagon but it burns less fuel, it has more room inside & it's much quieter... There's money in the bank for a replacement (I've never owned a car for 8+ years before) but there's nothing obvious out there...(& no, I don't want a taxi either).

That's a tad cheaper than the Tiguan R, Autocar quoted £45,995 as the starting price for the R Tiggy. At least it's going to be RHD.... Oh for a decent 4WD vRS Karoq...

My Skoda is serviced annually, circa 3/4K miles PA & is always driven economically..... (It was registered on May 1st, 2012 & has covered 38,114 miles, it's not been used much.... but it's the high-miler in our mini-fleet.)

That's about the UK starting price for a Mk 8 golf R hatch, probably add circa £2k for the estate? Add the sensible options = many more pennies, but it would have 300+ PS to play with, + it's on the same (longer than the R hatch) wheelbase as the Octy wagon. I'd sooner have a Superb Wagon, but R estate residuals are usually quite good.

Thank you, kind Sir. I did try to obtain some prices from Carwow, but the 272 engine is no longer available, from your info I can understand why this is so. DC

Thanks Shy, it will have to be a 272 then. I'd prefer a 272 Passat Estate (shorter) but they are very rare & expensive. SWMBO says "no" to a Cupra ST, (too cramped inside), + all the new VAG cars have dumped the sensible HVAC controls.

See the title..... I'm sure that the 272ps does have the 7-speed but I'm not at all sure if it was ever fitted to a UK spec. 280. Reason for Q?, I considering replacing my old Mk.2 with something newer. TIA, DC.

Supply issues perhaps? It's not always a good idea to buy a new model in the 1st year of production.

AFAIK, the UK spec for the new vRS omits the electric memory drivers seat. 'Tis a pity, since we both use my ancient Superb, any replacement car needs to have said memory seat.

Well, I can't agree with you there, I unlocked her car, (2016 Mk7 Golf Wagon), switched on the ignition (new phone to be synced with the car), released the electric parking brake, (it's a DSG car so it was left in park....) & locked the car. The parking brake did not operate....... (No light on the switch + no noise from the motors.) The car is garaged on a level floor but I did then reset the brake, just in case...... If I hadn't laid up my Golf for the winter (circa 20 miles away....) I would have repeated the experiment.

The electric parking brake works (for us...). but I'm not sure if it does activate when the car is locked. (You can't remove the key if it's not in park.....) I'll check just how it behaves in the morning, it's too late to open the garage door right now.

Why did they keep the Tonka Toy wheels? For me, a quick Octavia should look unassuming.

We used Motability for circa 10 years, until my (1st) wife passed away. We really needed decent-sized estate cars, to carry her scooter & wheelchair, + luggage & small dog......... Never fancied a people carrier, too high to lift her into the front passenger seat, but we were quite happy with 3 Mondeo Wagons + her last car, a V70. It was quite interesting to return the car ownership world, as in obtaining personal car insurance & deciding what I wanted, rather than meeting the requirements for a disabled person. FWIW I still dislike small cars, a Golf is a shopping trolley in my mind, anything smaller just won't work for me. As for the Skoda "Driving Gods" concept, the 3 cars I/ we've have owned (I.E me + wife No. 2) have been / still are quite nippy ( helped by AMD remaps) & can surprise "quick" car drivers, as & when we can be bothered to play. Madam's grey R wagon is also a nice"Q" car too.... Happy Motoring, DC.

Maybe someone who's crazy enough to buy a T-ROC R & lives in the West Country? I'd sooner have a Superb or Arteon, at my age I need the comfort (+ 4WD & 272 ps.....).

It's been reserved......

Not really, the R wagon was cheaper than the T Roc R, bigger boot, nice to drive & not so nasty inside. The T-Roc interior is cheap when compared with a Golf 7.

Probably, wheels, seats & head/ tail / etc lights are bespoke but the oily bits are shared around VAG.

That could be a problem, my humble shed only makes 361 Nm & a swift departure on said wet, greasy roads usually provokes axle-tramp. The solution is to get the car moving before flooring the gas pedal......... Of course, the Golf's don't suffer from these problems, they just scoot + they are great fun to drive, but they are a tad noisy for us. After two weeks in Germany last year in the R wagon we got used to the drone, but it then it's always been quieter than my hatch. I could swap the hatch for a late Superb 272, but the only one that I'd fancy is in the New Forest, not a fun journey from here.

Totally unrelated to the above, but re. your Cyprus Holiday, if you don't rent a car but want to wander around Paphos, there's a decent bus service passing your hotel. Google for "Pafos Buses" for times, etc. I'd recommend the 611 from your hotel, connecting at the Harbour Bus Station for the 615 to Coral Bay. It's a nice seaside ride & decent restaurant in the Hotel at the terminus. The Sunday Carvery is worth sampling.... The bus timetables & routes are all on the website, & an all-day ticket is only 5 Euros. PS, enjoy your new diesel.....

My ancient Mk.2 Superb 2.0 TSi was purchased when it was 9 months old, ( Feb. 2013) & was treated to an AMD Stage 1 map about 6 weeks later. I still own the car, it gets more use than our Golfs & it hasn't shown any sign of distress yet. AMD set the car up to run on 95 octane petrol, ('cos that's all that was available in this town), the before figures were 215 PS & 291 Nm, after the map it made 252 PS & 361 Nm. A decent & noticeable improvement, but probably not enough to to damage the engine & transmission. FWIW, we've also had AMD map 2 x VW EOS's & 2 x Octy vRS's. again all of them optimised to cope with 95 octane, no problems with any of them. The (very conservative) nominal 200 PS TSi's that Skoda used in the vRS & Superb were (& still are) very engines to live with, if they weren't my Superb wouldn't still be my daily driver............. (The last EOS was sold to enable the purchase of a Golf R hatch (mine) & the last vRS was swapped for a Golf R Wagon (her's), neither of them tweaked at all, both are nice cars but when driven on the same roads / speeds. they burn more fuel the the Superb, Not a problem given our low mileages but quite amusing.