Chemical Matt

Update to the problem. The garage contacted me and informed me that a badly fitted replacement windscreen had allowed water to leak into the car near the drivers side bulkhead and had fried the main control board. National windscreens have admitted that it is their fault and they've refitted the windscreen and will have to pay for the new board and the cost for the replacement car hire. Out of interest the main board was £371 fitted which I didn't think was actually too bad. Will hopefully get the car back by the end of the week providing the windscreen people settle the bill.

Thanks for your replies. Car started this morning but then the immobiliser kicked in and that was that. Skoda assist got to me within an hour but the technician couldn't even get the car to communicate with his computer. He seemed to think it was either the dash pod or steering column controllers that had failed as either could cause the problem. Equally he said it could also be a variety of other problems. Either way he couldn't fix it so it has just been towed away to the dealers.

On my way home today my faultlessly reliable car got less so...... First of all the battery warning light came on, followed by an esc failure alarm, brake failure alarm, reversing sensors came on, low fuel warning, central locking activating and deactivating, needles on the speedo and rev counter dropping to the bottom and coming back up etc etc etc. It was like driving a car possessed by an evil spirit. However, the brakes and engine still worked fine but the lights did keep dimming and lowering themselves. My car is a 2012 1.6 diesel Greenline with 54,000 miles on the clock. I've done a quick search but couldn't find anything in the forums. Has anyone experienced this before or got any ideas? It is a lease car so unless it is an easy fix it will be off to the garage in the morning.

Just been out and checked my four month old 61 plate Greenline and mine is perfectly central.

No, just a cold overcast January day and a rubbish blackberry camera. There is no blue in reality, just the silver / grey base as you describe.

Here is my car in Steel grey delivered in Jan this year. It is a Greenline, not a VRS but should give you an idea:

I agree with mikeholroyd that this sort of thing is annoying but not the end of the world. Easy for me to say though as mine is a company car I try and park next to nice cars as well as I guess thiswill elp to avoid dings. I would never park in two spaces though as I think this is really ignorant and as bad as parking in disabled spaces or parent and child when you shouldn't.

My Greenline II has now covered 7k miles. Did a trip from Leicestershire to near Luton today and got 70.4mpg mainly with cruise set at 70mph (was a long section of 50mph limit on m1 mind you which probably helped). On the way back via Milton Keynes it reduced to 68mpg for the 200 mile round trip which is still very good. The engine seems to have loosened up now and I think the warm weather also helps.

I have just got rid of a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso and that could fit three child seats in the middle bench. It was a very practical car for kids and while it was a good comfortable motorway car it made the kids sick on anything remotely twisty. I've tried getting three boosters in the back of my Octavia and they just don't fit. It seems to be the side bolsters that limit the width available more than anything.

Right, just gone out and checked my nine week old Greenline II and mine does have a yellow dpf light. It comes on for a very short time when the ignition turns on (less than 1 second - the other lights are a couple of seconds before going out).

Here's my eight week old Greenline in Steel Grey. I'm very happy with the colour.

I've just taken delivery of a Greenline II as well. I checked with the dealer for the price of a spacesaver wheel but found out they only supply a kit with the full size steel wheel, jack and different boot insert. Price was £110 from memory. The boot has plenty of space for the full size spare - underneath the floor is a large void with just a can of gunk and a compressor as standard. As I understand it the foam liner isn't designed to take a spare wheel though so that is why is supplied with the kit.

I picked up a brand new greenline II mid Jan and so far am averaging 55mpg(according to computer) after nearly 3k miles. I don't drive like Miss Daisy mind you. Most of my driving is long distance motorway so I'm hoping the economy picks up as the engine loosens off. Having said that I just drove from Leicestershire to mid wales (100 miles 2/3 motorway 1/3 B road) as carefully and smoothly as I could and got an indicated 64mpg which I think is pretty good. It seems that smoothness is definitely the key to economy in this car, but it hasn't dropped below 50mpg even when pressing on which I think is pretty good for any car. For reference I had a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso with the 1.6hdi for three years before the octavia and this averaged 50mpg - this was from a taller car which was about 200kg heavier. However, if you pressed on in this car it would drop to mid to low 40's.

I wanted the same as you, i.e a very simple and discreet bluetooth setup with no screen or visible controls. I went for the CK3000 kit and had the controls mounted behind the steering wheel so they weren't visible. As there is only two buttons and one knob it is easy to feel which one to use if you need them. The mic is positioned above the rear view mirror and very discrete. You set the unit to pair with your phone automatically when the ignition is turned on. The call can either be answered by pressing the green button on the control or your by picking up in the normal way with the phone. When answered the unit cuts out the stereo and puts the call over the speakers. The volume is controlled via the volume knob on the control unit but general it only needs setting once. With my Blackberry pressing the green button activates the phone's voice control to let you dial by command which works pretty well. I got the unit fitted by an autoelectrician who told me it's quite simple and it only took him around half an hour. Fitted cost was £160.

I have a new Greenline II hatchback and the pressures quoted on the filler flap are 2.4 bar (35 psi) for front and rear for normal use. This goes up to 3.0 bar (43.5 psi) on the rears for fully loaded. As I said this is for the hatch, not the estate. However, looking at the latest brochure the weights for both are pretty much the same (hatch actually 15kg heavier?) so I should think they'd be the same.

I agree that the Superb is a nicer car and that's what I would have gone for but the emissions are just that bit higher. For this year you'll pay the same rate of company car tax but in the coming years the rate of tax will increase more for the superb than the Octavia. It is still a cheap way of getting a new car but I'm so fed up of the tax man screwing me for every penny I've got that I'm stuffed if I'm going to let them have any more of my hard earned cash My car list had most cars on the market up to the Audi A4 Avant and included the full lineup of the Skoda range. I'd have loved the Superb Estate 4x4 ... but like I said I'll take the cloth seats, no fog lights etc if it means less money to the tax man and more in my pocket.

I picked up my Greenline II company car two weeks ago today. So far I've covered 1,600 miles and I'm really pleased with it. I'm also relieved as I couldn't get a test drive in one before I ordered it The engine pulls strongly and is plenty quick enough and although the gearing is long you quickly get used to it. The ride quality is excellent. The stop start is pretty intuitive although a bit unnerving the first time you try it. It always starts instantly and it is really quite peaceful sat at the lights with no engine on. I've got the car for the next three years and 90,000 miles so time will tell how well it works at a higher mileage. If you don't get on with it there is always a button on the dash to turn the stop/start off. Economy so far is averaging at 55mpg with a maximum of 65mpg on a run back from the lakes to the East Midlands. This isn't as good as what's advertised but it's still pretty good for a car of this size. It will be interesting to see how this changes when the engine loosens up. As I've said mine is a company car and I choose it specifically for the ultra low BIK/company car tax as I'm fed up of giving my money to the tax man. If I was a private buyer I'm not sure that I would find the extra cost of this model would be worth it as I don't think it will pay you back that much compared to a std 1.6 tdi.

I would love to get a fiscon unit but unfortunately work won't go for it at £350 as opposed to about £150 for a parrot :'(

I have just picked up my Greenline with Columbus Sat Nav and the phone function doesn't work. It wasn't possible to choose bluetooth as an option with the Greenline hatchback which seems crackers as it will be mainly business drivers who'll get it. Also paying £1500 and not getting phone connectivity is a rip off. As mine is a company car my firm won't pay the £400 or so to retro fit the oem bluetooth package so I'm going to have to get a parrot instead.

My new Greenline Octavia company car was delivered yesterday. I ordered steel grey despite never seeing it in the flesh on an Octavia but I think it really suits it.

Thanks for all the replies. My dog is only 5 months old at the moment and so full of puppy enthusiasm which means he is into everything and very excitable. That's why I think the cage is the way to go. He might not eat parts of the car, but it will be mighty expensive if he does. We found a vinyl floor tile missing form the kitchen the other day and he'd completely eaten it (I know because I found the evidence a few days later in the garden )Even if he doesn't eat it I'm sure he will scratch the heck out of any plastic surface he finds. Also he might be only be a pup but he already weighs 20kg and like io1901 says I need to make sure he's secure. I think I'll wait till I get the car and then measure up to find a sloping cage that will fit like the ones suggested. Can't afford a custom made one so will probably go for the type sold on various websites. At least I can fold those up during the week when I need the full boot for all my work gear. I'll post it on this message when I've got it sorted out. Thanks for your help.

Hi, I have my new company car, a Greenline II hatchback, coming next week and I am just thinking about how we are going to contain our Labrador in the boot. He is a bit of a chewer so I want to get a crate to keep him out of mischief. Problem is I will also need to keep some boot space for shopping etc. Holidays won't be too bad as I have a large roof box we will use. Has anyone got any experience with a dog crate for the hatch which will fit a large dog but still leave a bit of space? I ordered the car before we had the dog so didn't go for the estate. Doh!