Hi, I've now covered the grand total of 350 miles and the daily commute has improved from 40-41mpg to 44-45mpg so things are looking better already with only a fistful of miles on the clock. It's taken me this long to "interpret" the owners manual - it contains a number of errors and can be very confusing in places. That said, I now have only two questions.

1. The car comes with the raised boot floor which is held in place with a couple of quick-release fasteners. O.K - No problem, I can just lift this out but what about the two side pieces?? Can these be removed so that I end up with a single low floor without the runners up each side? I wouldn't have thought these are standard fit and assume they are part of the raised floor kit but for the life of me, I can't work out how to remove them, or indeed, if they are removable???

If they come out, could someone please enlighten me

2. I want a workshop manual just for bread and butter jobs like oil and filter, disc and pad changes etc and was intending to put the car into the dealers for the big stuff. There are loads on e-bay but most seem to come on DVD and cover a whole spectrum of cars going back years. Would this give enough detail "specific" to my car??

Any recommendations gratefully appreciated.

Very pleased thus far and am learning to chill out with the DSG. The combination of this with cruise control definitely makes for a less frenetic driving style and dare I say, I even pay more attention to speed limits now. Hmm!! . . .I think I need a few outings on the Triumph Tiger:D

If you look towards the rear of the boot (towards the back of the car) in the left and right recesses at the outside of the vertical 'walls' that support the removable floor, you will see two large looped retainers (the things you attach the luggage nets to). These are probably black plastic although on older cars there were nice shiny chromium. Twist these through 90 degrees (usually quite stiff) and they will pull off. These trap a flange that retains the walls. The walls can now be pulled back and upwards. The front end of the walls have a metal spigot that locates in a sort of socket. Make sure you remove the boot floor first! It's all a bit difficult to explain - if you can't work it out I'll post some photos tomorrow. BTW if you remove the false floor you will have an area of bare metal around the spare wheel that will probably need a bit of old carpet to cover it.

AFAIA there isn't a conventional (i.e.Haynes) workshop manual for the Mk2

If you look towards the rear of the boot (towards the back of the car) in the left and right recesses at the outside of the vertical 'walls' that support the removable floor, you will see two large looped retainers (the things you attach the luggage nets to). These are probably black plastic although on older cars there were nice shiny chromium. Twist these through 90 degrees (usually quite stiff) and they will pull off. These trap a flange that retains the walls. The walls can now be pulled back and upwards. The front end of the walls have a metal spigot that locates in a sort of socket. Make sure you remove the boot floor first! It's all a bit difficult to explain - if you can't work it out I'll post some photos tomorrow. BTW if you remove the false floor you will have an area of bare metal around the spare wheel that will probably need a bit of old carpet to cover it.

AFAIA there isn't a conventional (i.e.Haynes) workshop manual for the Mk2

Thanks for that - I half suspected the rear cargo net hoops as I can see that there is some connection between those and the sidewalls. I tried turning them anticlockwise by hand but didn't want to force them incase something broke - that said, I used quite a lot of force and they didn't budge.

I don't think I will need any extra floor covering as the felt up the sides of the boot space extends down and under the side walls and protrudes into and over the boot floor by a few inches and then the "felt" covered hardboard spare-wheel cover lies on top of that. When the sidewalls are out, it will just look that same as my old Octy boot.

The rearmost loops holding down the sidewalls are too big for the cargo nets to attach to properly, I would guess that small diameter units are fitted into cars without the raised floor so that the nets attach. Not that it matters cos I probably won't use them.

Loads of manuals on e-bay. I get the impression that some of it is pirated main dealer stuff. Will sit tight and see what others have to say before I go for it. Thanks for your advice - much appreciated

Been looking at these 'workshop' manuals too. Reading back through the forum someone emailed Haynes a while back asking about a Octy II manual - the deal from them is still the same (I emailed them a couple of weeks ago to see if things had changed) - there are currently no plans in the immediate future for a manual for this model (at least according to their CS people)

They turn clockwise on mine and are very, very stiff. The plastic retainers locate on the original metal hoops that the cargo net attaches to on cars without the false floor.

Just a note for the future:

Make sure you keep the flooring - if you wish to sell the car in the future not having the flooring may cause some questions. This is advice given by my local dealer when we were contemplating estate/hatchback. The reason for this, if I remember correctly, is that imported cars don't have the raised boot floor and so doubts will be caused of the cars UK heritage.

Just a note for the future:

Make sure you keep the flooring - if you wish to sell the car in the future not having the flooring may cause some questions. This is advice given by my local dealer when we were contemplating estate/hatchback. The reason for this, if I remember correctly, is that imported cars don't have the raised boot floor and so doubts will be caused of the cars UK heritage.

Thanks for that. I will keep the floor and probably have it installed most of the time. I just wanted to know from the off, how to remove it if necessary. I'd better ring the dealers to double check on removing the sidewalls - I wouldn't want to turn the things the wrong way and risk any damage:(

These manuals on e-bay are less than a tenner so it might be worth a punt. Will question a few "sellers" to see if I get any sensible replies and then bite the bullet.