octavia55

I would have thought there are only two things that can cause wear in a manual clutch due to abuse, the clutch center plate or the thrust bearing, caused by excess slipping or riding the clutch. As due to style of driving would have occurred on previous cars, if that's how you drive. Neither would be applicable to a DSG box as the car does this for you and any abuse would be down to the box itself.

I would have thought there are only two things that can cause wear in a manual clutch due to abuse, the clutch center plate or the thrust bearing, caused by excess slipping or riding the clutch. As due to style of driving would have occurred on previous cars, if that's how you drive. Neither would be applicable to a DSG box as the car does this for you and any abuse would be down to the box itself.

I always thought the full adjustable electric seat would be fantastic but when I sat in a Lauren and clement at the dealers I found I could not get comfortable, seemed the adjustable lumber support just seemed to make the backrest harder rather than giving the seat proper shape. The most comfortable seats I have ever had were in a mercedes c class, no adjustable lumber but the seat just seemed to have proper support just where I needed it. Unfortunately we all different and no one seat will suit everyone's back, I have heard Volvo seats are very good. How many of us take a car for a 5 hour test drive to make sure it's ok before buying.

I was always taught that regardless of toe in or toe out the object is that when travelling straight the front wheels are straight and true, front wheel drive all always used to be toe out because when the wheel were driven they pulled the wheels in, therefore pulling them straight. Rear wheel drive was toe in because the car pushed the wheels out when moving thus pulling the wheels straight. The manufacture will set the tracking so that when their car is driven forward the wheels will be straight. If not one of the edges of the tyre will scrub and wear. Different suspension setups will need differ settings so that when going forward the try's are dead straight, that's why all cars are different. Stick to the manufactures specification, they designed the car and moving away from their specification will cause problems.

I have. Friend with a Passat 2.0 diesel with about 70000 miles on it. The oil pump has drive has just gone and trashed the engine, looking on the forums this seems to be a known weak spot on VAG Engines. Does anyone know if this has been rectified on the latest diesels.

There always seems to be a huge debate about winter tyres, seems to me all tyres are a compromise. the best tyre for Hot dry conditions is a racing slick, unfortunately first drop of rain means they are useless, as soon as you put grooves in them for the water you reduce contact area and make the tyre more flexible, Rain tyres are what is needed but in hot weather they will overheat, best tyre for high mileage will have less grip and so on. Fact is in the south our weather is so variable you need a compromise tyre. This year On my journey to/from work on shifts I have only driven a few times when the temperature is below 7 degrees so would have been disadvantaged by fitting winter tyres. The Bridgestone A001 blurb says it was specifically designed for temperate European climates, covering light snow and slush, rain and not excessive temps so would appear to be a good compromise for those living in the south. It would be so simple if like some countries come November the temp dropped and everyone fitted their winter tyres (or studded tyres if you know there is going to be snow on the ground for 4 months) but the UK is just not like that which is why I think we have never gone for winter tyres. best regards and a happy Christmas regardless of what tyres they have on.

I would love to fit this but at 900 euros its just too much money compared with £150 for a large screen tom tom from amazon/halfrauds, perhaps 300euros would be a more reasonable price.

Unfortunately the lumber support seems to be in the middle of my back and only seems to make the seat hard rather than giving more support.

Does anyone else find the seats in the Mk 3 less comfortable than in previous models. I never suffered backache in my previous Octavia's but for some reason find the back rest uncomfortable, it seems to offer less support for my lower back, I am sure the seats are of a different design.

Unfortunately not all seat suit all people, which why they are adjustable. I think it's a shame car makers don't do more to give more adjustment and they should give as well as the up and down the ability to adjust the squab angle. I had a 1970 Volvo which had this via simply levers, left one raised the back the right one the front. It seems only rich people who buy top of range range cars are allowed to get comfortable, or you have to be lucky that the seat fits you. You could always specify the excellent 12 way vag group seats. Good luck with getting comfortable, I had a Fabia which in the end I had to sell because it gave me back ache, the seat just didn't suit me no matter what I did.

You just need to think about what sort of driving you do, lots of short journeys will clog up the DPF ( I believe VAG group recommend at least 12miles at a reasonable speed). If you do short journeys and low milage a petrol would be a better option. Some vehicles are worse for clogging the DPF than others and as already stated this could be due to where the DPF is located / how hot the DPF gets. I have had diesels since 2003, Skodas, mercs, Hondas and Land Rovers and have never had a problem with a DPF. We bought a Diesel becuase of the milage we are doing (25,000+ per year) but had a 1.2tsi on loan for 24hrs and have to say I was very impressed, smooth and plenty of power, could easily have believed it was a 1.8.

Sorry for my last post, the predictive spelling on the I Pad changed real into earl!

My first reaction on seeing this was it reminded me of the forthcoming Bentley SUV, perhaps the earl one will be a bit more shapely.

Perhaps they need to come up with a new word for this type of light as clearly they didn't have cornering light then when the law was written, but then I remembered the Citroen DS of 1959 had them.

I know Skoda refer to them as cornering fog lights which would make there use illegal when visibility is not reduced, surely they are cornering driving lights, they just happen to use the fog lights for this function when not being used as fog lights, simples.