Zetec-S

I've seen that as well, I think it was a model year change but not sure. The wiper arm on mine looks a bit old fashioned, especially compared to SWMBO's fabia, which has the nice plastic cover. Going back to my original query I think I'm going to go to the dealers and see what price a rear wiper is. The Bosch one is still untouched in the box, so Halfords should take it back.

Sounds just like mine, which I've had for 6 months with no problems (2003 '03) Just makes you want to drive with the window down, which given the climate control is something I thought I wouldn't be doing

Cheers for that. I'll be working near a dealer on Wednesday so I think I'll pop in on my way home and see if they have one in stock.

Searched for this and can't find any info. I noticed the other day that my rear wiper blade is falling apart, so thought quick trip to Halfords. Get there and Octavia rear wiper isn't listed in there little book, and I didn't realise the Bosch book was there. Anyway went home and had a search on here and the rest of the internet and it seemed to say that a Bosch 13in blade would fit. Then went out and measured the blade on mine and it is 16in. Now really confused?? I have bought a Bosch 16in from Halford but having second thoughts now. Any suggestions?

I don't think they are. But I seem to remember someone on here saying that they are only about

I think the problem is that when VW first took control of Skoda and starting to dictate the model program, they continued to sell Skoda's relatively cheaply, and as such they were a bit of a steal. However since then VW have been upping the prices of Skoda's, but can do this because the cars are just as good as the Ford and Vauxhall products that are around the same price. They are still vfm, just not as good vfm as they used to be. If you compare a Skoda to a Ford or Vauxhall (i.e. a car cheaper than the VW equivalent) you will find that they compare very favourably, even at the prices that are now charged. Basically it is no longer a cheap brand but a main stream brand, and VW has been moved further away from Ford, Vauxhall, Peugoet etc as a competitor.

As someone who was brought up with always at least one Ford in the family (even after my Dad decided a 5-Series was the car to have, we always had a least one Ford around the place), the decision to get our Fabia was just that it appeared to be better value than the Fiesta and also better built. After that when changing my car the choice was between Focus ST170 and Octy vRS, and again the decision came down to the overall air of quality. I knew the Focus would be better to drive, in terms of handling, but I also knew it would need new bushes every year, after the Fiesta Zetec-s I had before. Now as a two Skoda household I'm pretty impressed, and when changes need to be made to either I'll definitely be looking at other Skoda's although I'll also look at Ford's and probably other VAG cars as well.

2003 03 vRS 28,000 miles, had six months. Much better reliability than three previous Ford's.

My girlfriend's Fabia, has this problem where the rear drum brakes seem to lock on after the handbrake has been taken off. You try to set off and the car just won't move, sometimes you even need to get out and give it a bit of a push to get going. This morning I was reversing it off the drive to get to my Octy and I managed to drive back for a while with one of the wheels not rotating at all. (the might of a 1.2!!). Seems to be worse when it rains, and then the car sits overnight, or for a couple of days. Is this normal? Have to admit the only car I have ever had which didn't have rear drum brakes in my Octy, so I not think this should be happening. Did a search on here but couldn't find anybody else with a similar problem. Car is in for annual service next week, so any suggestions welcome.

I booked SWMBO's Fabia into Grasmere Skoda, Macclesfield (Used to be called Sylks) for its annual service, first MOT and to have the re washer pipe repaired under warranty, about two weeks ago, for today. Even had a chat about the excess on the courtesy car. SWMBO turned up this morning and they have no record of the booking!! They basically told her, that they'll have to do it next week. Only problem is SWMBO is a teacher and is back at work next week. Meaning that I'll have to work from home that day and drop it off myself. The garage has just been taken over by the people behind the Vauxhall garage in Crewe (the one is Macclesfield is a Vauxhall dealer as well as Skoda). The last few times I have gone there, the Skoda desk isn't even open and you have to go through to the grotty Vauxhall dealership to speak to anyone. I'm sure that someone at Skoda UK wouldn't be too impressed with the level of service being given here. When I last went to pick up my Octy vRS after a bit of warranty work I was made to wait 1 1/2 hours while they waited for a jubilee clip to be delivered. What made me mad was that there is a VW dealership (admittedly different owners) right next door, that probably had a 50p jubilee clip in stock. I felt like going to the parts desk there myself.

Being a auditor, I've seen the books of quite a few independent franchised car dealers and they usually have a margin of about

The RS that ford use does stand for Rallye Sport, and I believe they still use that branding for their Focus WRC car rather than the more obvious ST branding. At the recent motor show, they had items of clothing on sale showing both logos.

I think the new dealership in Basildon is called JCB, they are at the old MG Rover dealership on the old Yardley's site, next to the Outback Steakhouse. People on here have only had good things to say about them so far. Don't know where you are in Essex, but Transcity Autos are a good dealership in Walthamstow. Got SWMBO's Fabia there and was very impressed. One of the good older style family dealers.

I'm in need of an domestic alarm installation company that covers N.Cheshire/S.Manchester. The other night the alarm went off at 1 in the morning. Went down to the control box and the alarm wouldn't switch off. After 30 minutes it was still going and no matter if I turned off the mains, or removed numerous fuses the thing was still going. As you can imagine, by that time some of the neighbours were a little upset. In the end at 1.30 in the morning I was leaning out of the bedroom window unscrewing the covering on the bell box and then ripping away at any wire I could find. End result is that we now have a non working alarm. Called one firm that have come out and said that we would need a new control box as well as bell box and it'll set us back

Just noticed on the business section of bbc.co.uk, a small 2 minute video about how Skoda has successfully managed to change its image in the UK. Goes on to say that Skoda has probably been too successful, as buyers have chosen Skoda over VWs, and that Skoda owners now feel a sense of superiority over other car owners!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business then go down the page a bit and the video link is on the right hand side.

When I moved from Essex up to Manchester and lived in Didsbury for 4 months, my insurance seemed to almost double, on a 5 year old Fiesta Zetec-s. Worked out that at the monthly rate I was paying it would be equivalent to

Just for piece of mind, what is the usual cost of a cambelt change? I'm going to have a second variable service in Jan on my vRS, but don't fancy

Sad as I am I was reading the handbook for the HU on Saturday, and it is in there somewhere. Mine does switch off when you remove the key. It's somewhere in the settings menu on the HU.

A bit of an update on this. I took the car down to the local dealers on Saturday, having booked it in initially for them to check if it had been set to the correct service intervals. Surprise, surprise it hadn't. The car was set for fixed intervals. As the previous owner had kindly left the sales invoice from the first service done at 2 years old as a variable service, the techinican was happy to conclude that the car should be on variable servicing, as it clearly stated long life oil and 20,000 mile variable service on the invoice. They then gave me the option of either resetting the computer for variable or fixed, in order to get the service indicator to turn off. Seemed no point in setting it to variable as this would reset everything, I wouldn't have a clue when the car needed a service, so instead decided to have it reset for fixed. In any case the car is due for an MOT in January so I will probably just have a variable service down then and have the computer set back to variable servicing. A bit of pain though as it took 30 minutes in the garage and a small charge of

Cheers for the help Denis. I just have a nagging doubt in my mind that this might have something to do with work that they did last week on my car. I instructed them to carry out the work detailed in technical bulletin 56, which I believe was just the replacement of a hose, which has much improved low down acceleration. Is there any change that the car is using more oil as a result? Also if the service indicator has been reset incorrectly, would a dealer be able to tell now. Could it just be a simple case that it has been set to fixed rather than variable? When I bought the car (from a non Skoda franchised dealer) I did actually contact the previous servicing dealer Alex Lawrie (who also originally supplied the car), to check that the car was set for variable servicing and they told me it was. However I had previously contacted Skoda UK which told me it was on fixed servicing. V Strange.

Cheers everybody for the help. I do know when the last (and only service) was done as I have all the paperwork for it from the previous owner, would that help the dealer to reset the computer? I definitely never saw the service countdown though, as I noticed 'service' flash for a while this morning. Is there just a chance that I am low on oil or something similar?

Got in my Octy vRS this morning and noticed for the first time that Service was flashing up on the mileage display. I thought I was meant to get a countdown from 1000 miles? Has it skipped this, because there is something more seriously wrong? What also puzzles me is that the car was last serviced by the previous owner at 2 years old and 16,000 miles. This was done on 31 May 2005. In the last year the car has covered just under 10,000 miles, so shouldn't be showing a need for a service, as it's on variable. Now I don't know what to do. The car was only in the garage last week to have a warranty fix put right, and I was expecting it to need to go back until sometime next year just before its four birthday. Is there a chance the computer has been set up for fixed rather than variable servicing? I don't really want to pay

Just read on Autocar.co.uk, that the new Leon FR is going to cost only £16,995 when it arrives in the UK, that's £500 less than the list price of a Octy II vRS. Same 197bhp 2.0 TFSI engine. For an extra £500 you will also be able to get a 2.0 litre turbo diesel, which is the same as the TD now confirmed for the Octy. Wasn't the Octy I vRS cheaper than the original Leon Cupra (the lesser powered one, at least)? Is this a sign that VW are trying to position Skoda more up market than Seat, with Seat taking over as the cheaper brand?

I bought a key from what I believe to be the same source (Poland - via e-bay). Once you have the key cut, you need to get the key coded to the immobliser. My local dealer did it for me for 1/2 hour of their normal labour rate, which was about £35. I was surprised that the engine started before I had mine coded, but as with you I had the little key symbol showing. Still cheaper than sourcing a key from Skoda.