GlenAnderson

Keep forgetting to thank you for this tip. 😀

Can you? Must be a fairly recent development, as you couldn't when I was looking to buy one last year. Agreed. I tried all the big manufacturer's city cars, and the Up!/Citigo/Mii siblings were the best IMHO. Like many, I buy new not only to be able to choose the exact specification I want, get warranty etc., but also to fix my outgoings.

A (hopefully) temporary attack of skint-ness, simultaneous with my good lady kerbing the Gemini alloy that had the puncture repair back in September, saw me fit the 16" steels, complete with the 215/60s they had fitted. If I end up forking out for a new Gemini and tyre, then the winter rubber will definitely have to do another season. If I can get a refurb done then I'll rethink. Why does this kind of thing always happen this time of year?

I'm having to investigate getting a Gemini repaired after my good lady had an encounter with a kerb this morning. I shall post up my experiences.

16" steels will fit on a diesel vRS. Only the petrol versions have the really big discs.

The 90bhp tsi version of the Up! is a considerable improvement, performance wise. A shame that the Citigo and Mii are both only available with the 60bhp engine. Rumors persist of a 113bhp "Gti" version of the Up! on the cards; now one of those would be a hoot.

Exactly this. If I'd not bought a set of winter tyres for my Yeti, I'd have had to buy a new set of summer tyres for it in the year before I traded it in. So I would have spent the same, but sold the car with tyres the next owner was going to get the lion's share of the use from. By happy coincidence, the Yeti's winter wheel/tyre combo will fit our current Octavia, so I will get a couple more winters from them, with luck, or at least one anyway. So, by doing that, they've actually saved me money. :-)

The only thing that irks me about smartlink/Apple CarPlay is that, whilst it's easy to jump from CarPlay to radio/nav/whatever, you have to scroll through the options again to go back to CarPlay. 1st world problems I know, but it would be nice to have a "now playing" button on the touchscreen to let you navigate back in one go. I'll wait for someone to tell me I'm a doofus now, and that I'm missing something really obvious! :-)

When I was selling my late Uncle's Roomster WBAC offered £2,250 for it. I sold it privately for £4,000. The biggest hit in a new car's depreciation is in the first year, slowing through the second and third. Most VAG cars are worth 40-50% of their new cost at 3 years old with average mileage.

I've got a 2016 diesel vRS and can confirm that 16" steel wheels fit over the front brakes no problem. There is 5 to 6 mm clearance between caliper and rim. I'm using the 7J 16 et 45 rims that I had on my Yeti. They're currently shod with 215/60 R16 Falken Eurowinters, which I should comfortably get another winter out of. Maybe two. Ideally I'd have 215/55s, as they're closer to the 225/40 R18s, but they're close enough for me to be happy with them.

Interestingly, chatting to my tyre fitter mate today, he was adamant that a 205/55 on the 16" rim would give by far the best winter performance. As well as giving a far wider, and cheaper choice of tyre. I shall have to speak with my insurers and Skoda now. I shall report back.

Thanks Gents, much obliged. I have found 5x112 steels in 17", but nothing wider than 6.5J. 225s need to be on 7J as a minimum, and the only 7J steels I can find are the 16" ones I already have. I shall keep looking.

Do you know if there are any steel rims available to take those sizes? Part of the attraction for me, as well as the added grip in the cold, is keeping the original alloys off the car through the winter. As I've already got the 7J 16 steels, paid for them to be painted and got some centre caps, I don't really want to be buying yet more wheels, particularly alloys. If the factory recommend 225s though, then that would steer me toward 225/50 R16...

The Nokian D3 is on my list. Next time I'm near the dealership I'll call in and see if there's an official wheel/tyre combo for the Vrs; if not I'll have to make a decision.

Michelin's 215/60-16 may be a hair's breadth bigger than their 225/40-18, but my tyres are from Bridgestone and Nokian. My O/E 225/40-18 Bridgestones are 637mm diameter, the Nokian 215/60-16 winter tyres are 664mm diameter - according to my tape measure, measuring the circumference and working it back. That's a difference of 4.25%. Like I say, when the time comes, I'll take my tape measure to my local friendly tyre fitter's place and get measuring, rather than relying on quoted figures as anything more than a guide. Given that the 215/55s are significantly cheaper than the 225/50s, and that a narrower section tyre is likely to be a better performer in snow/ice/rain, then I think that'll be the way I jump. We'll see.

I think it depends where you get the figures from. The 215/60R16 I have already is considerably bigger than the 225/40R18 on the car, much more than 1.15%. At the end of the day, I'll get my tape out and get whatever the closest my wallet can bear.

An unfortunate encounter with what looks like a stray brake shoe securing stud resulted in a puncture on one of the front tyres of our MY16 Vrs diesel today. Being on late shifts, and not wanting my wife (who's daily it is) to have to travel any distance on the space-saver spare, I had the joy tonight/this morning on my return from work, of swapping the tyres around and fitting one of the aforementioned steel wheels on the back so she can go to work this morning and I can get the offending puncture repaired before work and swapped back after I get home again tomorrow morning. One good thing though, is that the tyre deflation warning system picked up the issue with the tyre at 2 bar versus the other three at 2.4 bar, so then tyre wasn't run flat, the rim wasn't damaged and SWMBO wasn't left stranded at the side of the road - all of which are things I'm keen to avoid! All, I can happily confirm that a 7J x 16 ET45 steel wheel, with 215/60 R16 tyre will fit over the caliper of the diesel Vrs with no issues, and the tyre doesn't rub or scuff anywhere either. I think I will be able to get another winter season out of the current tyres, but 215/55 or 225/50 would be a better match for the rolling diameter of the 225/40 R18 summer tyres, and either size would be OK on the 7J rims. I'll have to see what the differences are in cost between the two sizes, as well as speed rating availability/requirements, to be able to make a proper decision, and weigh up the outlay now for four new tyres when I could claw a bit back for the 215/60 ones whilst they've some life in them, versus running them to the point they have no value... First world problems!

I've just done 1500 miles across France in our Vrs, 600 of them in one go for the punch home, and I have to agree with everything you've said; it's an effortless motorway mile-eater. 50mpg average over the whole trip too, although French autoroutes have a much more rigidly enforced 130 kph limit, and I was very careful to keep a self-imposed maximum of an indicated 135 to avoid the unwanted attentions of les flics. I'll also echo the comments about Calais. Across and back without any issues.

Not in an Octavia, but my wife ran over a bit of pallet on the motorway in our old Yeti (unavoidable) and it punctured the air-con condenser radiator, resulting in a £600+ bill for a new one, its replacement and a re-gas.

We test drove the 230 petrol, and it was quick, flexible and refined, but chose the diesel because ownership over time would work out cheaper and we both like the way modern performance diesels drive (we had a GTTdi Golf before the vRS Octavia). I'm not sure that in real-world driving conditions the diesel is any slower; the 380NM of torque makes the 50-70 (or 70-100) sprint effortless. It's probably only one extra gearchange from a standing start to 60 that costs the diesel that extra second; you win that back when you need to accelerate from 70 and you can do so without changing down...It's horses for courses though, the diesel gives us an enormous amount of performance per pound. If I could afford a little more I might have plumped for the petrol instead, but then if I could afford a little more maybe I'd have bought an Audi...

True. A steady 56, over a distance, with uphills balancing out downhills, should see much better than the low 40s. I'm not trying to have a dig at your driving style, but some people (like my wife) seem unable to grasp that harsh acceleration and braking, together with being in the wrong gear, has a huge impact on economy. I regularly get 10-15% better economy than my wife, and that's after taking into account that it's normally just her and a bag in the car when she's driving, and all the family and luggage when I am (it's her "daily", I run a 1959 Land-Rover as mine). Maybe one of the forum economy experts lives near enough to see if their driving style improves things with your car or not? If you've satisfied yourself that your right foot is not to blame, then the next logical step is the car.

Now sold.

Now sold.

This would be my solution to the problem. Peace of mind, both of the knowledge of an extra oil change, and the safety net of an unaffected warranty too.

I would humbly suggest that there is either something wrong with your car, or your driving style. My wife isn't the best at looking ahead/reading the road, and she's a heavy foot; but she still manages 47-49 on the maxi-dot without trying. I got 51 over a 100 miles of mixed driving whilst still enjoying the performance...