In the past when buying a new "secondhand" car I have always purchased the Haynes manual. Although these threads have been helpful when working on my newly aquired Octavia II 2.0TDi L&K estate 2006 (which is excellent) I would still like a manual. Has anyone bought and used any of the manuals available on sites like ebay (in hard copy or as a DVD) and found them it useful ?

Edited 5 August, 200916 yr by Gordonp46
did not like some bits

Most ebay items are knock off versions of Etka or Elsawin, which are usefull but as a warning they are illegal, so we'll not discuss these on this thread.

However a legal route to go is https://erwin.skoda-auto.cz

halfords sell the haynes manuals and I any sure that they sell the octavia ones as i got one for my fabia there

The only haynes manuals available for Skoda are;

Skoda Fabia 2000 to 2006 (W to 06 reg) Petrol & Diesel

Skoda Felicia Petrol and Diesel (95 - 01) M to X

Skoda Octavia Petrol & Diesel (98-04) R to 04 reg

Sadly Haynes manuals have fallen in quality over the years - now have poor quality phtos with a lack of decent exploded diagrams. Not a patch on earler ones from the 70s and 80s. Plus whole sections are missed out on account that its too difficult for DIYers to mess with. Its not all Haynes's fault; modern cars require alot of special tools, some of which you can buy , some you could make if the details were included in the manual.

I'll not discuss other sources of infomation except to quote auroan ..."Most ebay items are knock off versions of Etka or Elsawin, which are usefull..."

When I had Discoverys I gave up on Haynes and bought genuine Landrover manuals - much more helpful - especially with fault finding. Expensive but worth every penny and they have a resale value too if kept in good nick.

Another route maybe the Haynes manual for the mk5 Golf/Bora, I think this maybe a route i will follow.