Having driven my new Skoda for just over a year and 20,000 miles I thought I would post my musings!

Basically it has been a great car to drive for the past year - lively, flexible engine, superb gearbox and confident handling.

On the downside, road noise from the Bridgestones is pretty awful (but they will be replaced in the next few thousand miles), and I occasionally get middle back ache after 2 - 3 hours at the wheel.

Fuel economy has improved – I can easily get about 55 MPG according to the OBC.

A persistent boot rattle appears to be finally sorted after 3 attempts by the dealer and an intermittent resonating from inside the car could be due to my wife sticking a bottle of water in the passenger door bottle holder!

Over all I am really pleased with my purchase one year on – more than can be said for many of the previous cars I have purchased!

My car is a 2007 Elegance 2.0 TD in Anthracite Grey.

Thanks for these useful comments.

I agree about the Bridgestones, not keen on the Turanzas, although the Potenzas are OK.

And also agree about the back ache - whilst I found the seats comfy enough, after about 2 hrs I was ready for a good walk...

I too get back ache even though i play around with the lumbar support.

ive suffered back ache recently, but normally the seats with lumbar support are comfty.

is yours on the 20k variable service?

Hi SMSTEXT

Yes, it's on variable service, which was done at about 18.5K. The supplying dealer said to just bring it in every 20k miles for a service but I wasn't comfortable with this as I wasn't sure if the warranty would be affected.

Glen

how much was it for the service if you dont mind me asking?

I've an infuriating rattle/sizzle from the boot area, maybe the tailgate. How did you fix yours?

Fit Michelin Pilots to it. They are great, good performance, good wear rate, decent noise level, but not the cheapest.

I've an infuriating rattle/sizzle from the boot area, maybe the tailgate. How did you fix yours?

The dealer adjusted the boot catch and lubricated it - the boot now needs a firmer hand to close properly but at least the noise has gone. I also tried jamming small rubber strips between the plastic tailgate trim and the metal - that seemed to help.

I've now got a resonance when coming off the throttle from - what seems to be - behind the dash.

Hope that helps!

Glen

My L&K TDi has just done 20000 miles since september , interesting to see that you guys are suffering with the same backache problem i thought it was me :(

Glad it's just not me that has problems with the Octavia seats. Most days I'm glad to be getting into the Vectra for the journey home. THOSE are how seats should all be.