Currently driving a Mk5 Golf GTi, waiting for vRS. Originally the car had Continental Sport Contact tyres (205/45 17) & on bad surfaces (A50 Uttoxeter!) I turned the radio off cos no use trying to compete with the tyre noise.Have now fitted Continental Sport Contact 3's all round and the difference is huge. The same piece of road just fades into the background & the radio stays on. Tyre choice does seem to make a huge difference.

My first Octavia test drive was in a 1.4 tsi Elegance hatchback. One of my almost instant impressions was of excessive road/tyre noise. I drove the car for an hour on different road surfaces and at different speeds and came to the conclusion of "Nice car, shame about the noise". On a follow up I went for another test drive in a different car; this time an SE 1.4 tsi hatchback. This was totally different and road noise was about what you would expect for this price and type of car. Apparently it did not have standard wheels on and I was told it had been upgraded to 16 inch wheels.

I believe the first car had Bridgestone tyres and I have no idea what the second car had. However, my test drive experience taught me that yes it is a potentially noisy car, but doesn't have to be that way. Both cars had very low miles on them - only weeks old - and I don't know if tyre pressures were correctly set.

Conclusion? Well, I have ordered an Elegance Estate so fingers crossed it will be like the second car and if not I will have to sort it - bearing in mind that Estates are usually noisier than their saloon counterparts.

Bone of contention is why the Skoda is so much cheaper than an equivalent VW or Audi. Personally, I believe it's small things like available option levels/extras, ie. Recaro seats, BBS alloys, but another big factor IS the refinement: buy an Audi, you get, for example, more soundproofing. Ergo, I opted to pay 10k less, get a slightly noisier car on which I can soundproof it with the MASSIVE wedge i'd just saved!!

Also, if you think the L&K seats are snug, you should try the VRs for comparison! Having come from Recaro fitted golfs, even the wife thought they were overly snug! Would probably give in time, but didin't like them and was a large factor in buying an L&K. Octavia seats should be interchangeable, so why don't you test drive a few models and if you like one, source a 2nd hand pair of fronts: gotta be cheaper than changing cars, even with a retrim?

My mate's mk5 standard golf gti seats are one of the comfiest i've ever sat in; i'm hoping even THEY migh swap into my octavia directly!

I have been driving my 1.4 TSI Elegance Estate since 30th April. It is on Bridgestone Turanza ER300 tyres and in my opinion the level of road noise is extremely low and the whole car is just sooo refined. A couple of weeks ago Autocar referred to their long term test car (a 1.4 TSI hatchback) as 'being more akin to a Mercedes than a Ford or a Mazda' - which certainly doesn't suggest that the Octavia is at all bad when compared with all the other cars that Autocar get their hands on. I wonder how much difference the variable boot floor makes - but it seems odd that opinions vary so much.

Bone of contention is why the Skoda is so much cheaper than an equivalent VW or Audi. Personally, I believe it's small things like available option levels/extras, ie. Recaro seats, BBS alloys, but another big factor IS the refinement: buy an Audi, you get, for example, more soundproofing. Ergo, I opted to pay 10k less, get a slightly noisier car on which I can soundproof it with the MASSIVE wedge i'd just saved!!

Also, if you think the L&K seats are snug, you should try the VRs for comparison! Having come from Recaro fitted golfs, even the wife thought they were overly snug! Would probably give in time, but didin't like them and was a large factor in buying an L&K. Octavia seats should be interchangeable, so why don't you test drive a few models and if you like one, source a 2nd hand pair of fronts: gotta be cheaper than changing cars, even with a retrim?

My mate's mk5 standard golf gti seats are one of the comfiest i've ever sat in; i'm hoping even THEY migh swap into my octavia directly!

I would agree on the tyres issue and as I have posted many times the seats are rubbish in the Octy 2

I really cannot agree on that one at all.

The seats in our 4x4 are probably some of the best I've sat in. Totally adjustable and good support. Maybe the squab is a tad short but I've had no problems after many hours at the wheel - which is more than I can say for many other cars I've been in.

Personally I think many of the problems are how people set the seat up in relation to the wheel - ie too far back and too upright or to the pother extreme so low and laid back. It takes time to get a good position but once you have the seats are comfy.

Have you checked out www.drivingergonomics.com? - It's a website by Loughborough University that gives a suggested procedure for getting a seating and wheel position set correctly.

Have you checked out www.drivingergonomics.com? - It's a website by Loughborough University that gives a suggested procedure for getting a seating and wheel position set correctly.

Nice find skomaz, I look forward to using this guide when my 4x4 arrives in 3 weeks :yes: