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.

I don't think it would make much difference if it's not a heated screen, if there is a fault with the glass the windscreen company will fix it and they should come with a years warranty. The heated bit in the screen will come with a three year warranty as the rest of the car. If a heating element goes or the screen de-laminates after eighteen months and it's not genuine Skoda won't cover it. It happened with a freelander, many of which have heated screens, it stopped working landrover said it was the screen, the screen company said it was the car electrics, result car owner stuck in the middle and having to pay for investigations to establish where the fault was.

Some advice from a freelander forum, if you have a heated windscreen and it's in manufactures warranty insist it replaced by a genuine Skoda screen, if it's replaced by a pattern part and there is a problem with the heating bit Skoda will say its down the glass company, who will say its Skoda leaving you in the middle until it's proved who fault it is. Apparently you can insist companies like autoglass fit a genuine windscreen rather than their own.

Yes the Honda I was referring to was a Honda jazz I was given as a courtesy car, so bad I took it straight back only to be assured by the service adviser that they are all like that and yes they are an awful gearbox, this surprised me as Honda have a reputation as very good engineers. I am sure the engineers wouldn't have put it into production but were ordered by the marketing people as Honda needed small auto. on a technical point the torque converter on a conventional auto is there to provide the equivalent of clutch slip to enable the car to pull away, the actual gear changes are done by clutch packs within the gearbox.

Been using prestons for over 20yrs (started with an almost new Estelle) and must have had 20 Skodas between my wife and myself. Always got a good deal and found them to be honest, knowledgeable and fair. Currently have two Skoda's (yeti and octavia) both bought there.

Not sure I would agree that a DSG box uses a conventional clutch, it uses 2 multiplate clutches which work in sync with each other, and in effect with two seperate gearbox's, (wet clutches in the case of the 6 speed). I have driven cars with so called robotised clutches (Fiats and honda's) and they are horrible, very slow gear changes and the need to lift your foot off the throttle when it changes gear. Conventional Automatics still use clutches to change gears.

"The DSG dual-clutch gearbox features two driving programs: normal mode and sport mode. In Sport mode, the DSG holds on to the gears for longer, as well as shifting down earlier as necessary." The above is copied from the VW technical site.

Not sure if the DSG box is the same in S mode but in my freelander putting it into S not only held the gears longer but also changed them down sooner, altered the throttle response and and gear change speed ( quicker vs smoother). Again with the freelander, also fitted with a Hadlex diff, in normal drive 90% went to the front wheels and 10% to the rear, if slip was detected then it would send power to whatever axle had grip! I believe up to 100%.

briwy,s comment about remote start being illegal is interesting as a lot of police cars are fitted with a system where you hit a switch and can then take the ignition key out and the car keeps running (so as the battery doesn't go flat when all the lights are on at an accident ect). if any one gets in and touches the brakes/throttle/clutch the engine immediately stops. I can't see the difference between a remote start and this system. Having said that, manufactures say just sitting with the engine ticking over is the worst way of warming the engine up.

I have had 6 speed Octavia's and now a 105 diesel with a 5 speed. I do think think it could do with slightly higher top gear and note the passat 105 has a 6 Speed. Still it's one less gear change, But the 5 speed box is still a good cruiser and fairly flexible.

Very interesting, I thought mineral oil was old fashioned and genetically engineered synthetic oil was the best thing sliced bread and the way forward, you're not allowed to put any thing else near a modern Diesel engine. So why the change to old fashioned oil?