4x4 advice

[Scottish VRS]

Hi all, been a long time since I've been on here! Must be 4 years since i sold my old vrs octy. Anyway, I'm currently running an e39 m5 which i tryed to use through last winter and staying in the North of Scotland I'm sure everyone can guess how well that went... although I did get it up the cairngorms to go snowboarding once believe it or not! I am however not going to attempt another winter with it though so I'm in the market for a winter car. I am very tempted to get another vrs as I see you can pick up high milers for a little over 2k these days but Ive always fancied the idea of building a 4x4 vrs. My old vrs was running 240bhp and I felt this was right on the limit of what the chassis could handle without spending a truck load of cash on an lsd. I was just wondering if someone could shed some light on the haldex system the 4x4 octys run. Is it the same system as s3/r32? Can it be be re programmed for rear bias? Im not even sure if its permenatly 4x4? I'm slightly ashamed of my lack of knowledge because I generally know my VAG stuff but I've never been in the market for anything with the haldex system so Ive never really bothered to do my homework on it!

Also if anyone has had or driven a vrs and a 4x4 how did the compare and how easy have you found it to get parts for the 4x4? Are any s3/r32/4motion parts transferable?

Any help will be gratefully recieved, hopefully I'll be back in the skoda club before long!

Cheers Iain

[chicken_eyebrow]

The 4x4 uses a Haldex system similar to the S3 and R32, it can only send part of the drive to the rear wheels and it only does this when you lose traction. IIRC it can send up to 30% of the drive to the rear wheels. 90% of the time it is operating as a front wheel drive car.

You can buy an uprated haldex controller for about £600 which allows the drive to be split more evenly, and whenever you accelerate, not just when the front wheels start to lose traction:

http://www.wak-tt.com/mods/haldexpp/haldexpp.htm

I've driven a 4x4 on standard map (150bhp) and it was much faster than my VRS out of corners and from a standing start. The parts can be bought from a Skoda dealer, I think you have to pay attention to the oil in the Haldex and change that every so often though.

Edited 21 July, 2010 by chicken_eyebrow

[Borderspeed]

Buy a 4X4 and tune the engine and suspension to suit, biggest improvement I made to the car in the winter was fitting decent snow tyres, and if you switch off the traction control in the snow and ice you will make progress, leave it on and you will spin to a standstill.

Mine coped in some appalling waeather conditions and was only beaten once when the snow drifts were that deep I had to go home and get my Discovery!

You will probably pick up a high mileage 4X4 for about the same as a VRS of the same age mileage.

Ideal for what you have in mind.

[snow_muncher]

The Octavia 4x4 is basically an elonged R32 chassis, so potentially handles better than the R32 ... after lots of uprating

My 4x4, last winter,was mapped to 200+ bhp. I use KW v3 coilovers with H&R ARB and S3 Lower/Upper Struts. The winter tyres I use are Vredestien WinterTrac Extreme @ 225/40R18. At the time I had a Brembo 4-pot front brake setup on too.

I recon the traction control/esp/abs system are pretty damn good. Could safely maintain the speed limit on snow & ice covered roads, pull off from a standing start on the steepest sheet-ice covered roads.

I've been driving 4x4 cars a while, and this is the easiest yet to drive in the snow. I'd let my mother drive it in the snow !

In terms of summer driving, on real roads ...

I've a few further mods underways, including the blue haldex mentioned and uprating both the front and rear LSD's to geared LSD's (that requires a 6 speed gear box, in which to put the LSD too)

In terms of engine tuning potential; In execss of 400Bhp if you're willing to spend the $$$

Don't know what I'm looking forward to most next winter, driving or skiing :p

So in other words: Sell the M5 and buy an Octavia 4x4, and tune it

[karlbar2k]

even on summer tyres in the bad snow last winter I had shedloads of fun when all around me were getting stuck. We were out in swmbos passat when the snow started and at an inch of coverage on an incline the passat was wandering (with traction control as well)!!!! 2 hours later I drove swmbo to work in the octavia in 3 inches it was fine, 4 hours after that when I went to collect her and there was 5 inches I was doing donuts in Asda's car park as it was empty. The car never felt like it was going to get stuck and I had no problems getting going ever on a steep hill start. Obviously at the standard ride height it is reasonable but if you lower it you will have problems as it gets deeper.

[Scottish VRS]

Thanks guys. What I meant parts availability was upgraded parts. Ive had a bit of a dig and off the shelf parts seem to be a bit thin on the ground. What sort of options are available for suspension, brakes and exhaust systems? I'm not a fan of the elegance spec which is why I'd be attempting to build a vrs rep of sorts (bumpers, spoiler, wheels, interior etc but probably not the daft white carpet!!). I'm just trying to figure out the cheepest way of doing it because the idea is to run it as a winter car! I've tuted a few 1.8t engines in various cars over the last few years so I know the potential is there, with the 4x4 there seems to be a decent chasis there to make the power work and I loved my old vrs and its ability to **** off the subaru brigade. The aim I reckon is to get a 4x4 looking like a vrs and running 250ish bhp for under 5k. Challenge! The other problem of course is trying to find a 4x4 in a vrs colour! Ideally black or red but so far all I've been able to find is silver which would work but I always felt the silver VRS's were a bit non discript... Never mind, hopefully got a few months before the snow comes so I'm sure something will turn up!

[snow_muncher]

Ive had a bit of a dig and off the shelf parts seem to be a bit thin on the ground. What sort of options are available for suspension, brakes and exhaust systems?

Basically, anything that fits the R32, fits on the Octavia 4x4

Just search for R32, not Octavia 4x4

My KW v3 are the R32 kit, my H&R ARB set are the R32 uprate kit, R32 rear brakes direct bolt-on, etc, etc.

The upper and lower strut braces from the Audi S3 are a direct bolt-on too.

I'm not a fan of the elegance spec which is why I'd be attempting to build a vrs rep of sorts

vRS front bumper is pretty easy to fit; does have reduced ground clearance though

The Octy has the standard mk.4 seat rail, so will take a seat from VW Golfs, Jetta/Bora, Seat Leon/Toledo and Audi A3/S3.

You probably wouldn't want to use the vRS seat, cos they don't have airbags :(

The steering wheel again will fit anything mk.4.

Those elegance stickers come off with a hairdryer and a some cleaner

Edited 22 July, 2010 by snow_muncher

[chicken_eyebrow]

The aim I reckon is to get a 4x4 looking like a vrs and running 250ish bhp for under 5k. Challenge! The other problem of course is trying to find a 4x4 in a vrs colour!

Definately going to be a challenge! Even cheap 4x4s are almost 2k and to achieve 250bhp you would have to change the turbo, you won't get 250bhp with just bolt on mods and a remap :no:

AFAIK the only VRS colours they made 4x4s in were black, silver and white. The red ones are metallic burgundy, not rally red like the VRS's. You might be better off just buying whatever colour you can then spraying up a set of VRS bumpers and spoiler to match.

[JackDeath]

From the logbook this is red lol

But the paint code is some sort of gold

[karlbar2k]

with a budget of 5k you should have no problem getting what you want. You could possibly even go LPG in that price as well. I am sure with an initial buy price of 2k for a base vehicle and some lucky ebaying it can be done .

If you did not need it as a daily driver you could get the K03s turbo "hybridised" I believe there have been a few threads £500ish? someone has the proper cost somewere.

007P DV and mapping £500

FMIC or TT twintercooler with Pikey wheelarch mod X2 should be good for 250bhp. Ebay fmic £200ish (sometimes cheaper if your lucky) or TT twintercooler (I missed one the other day for £5.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

coilovers, Weitech's although they seem to be a good bit more for the 4x4 £600ish or Koni FSD's on standard springs £450?

Seats from a Golf GT TDI £100ish (after 51 plate have the lumbar adjustment)

Brembo's on the front £200-600 depending which ones and how lucky you can be on ebay (you would need a set 17's or 18's though as they will not fit under the 16's)

If you have managed to shop carefully you could have £1000-1500 for LPG conversion as well :D then its like having a 250bhp diesel :D

don't bother with the looking like a vrs though as its much better as a sleeper ;-)

[Scottish VRS]

to achieve 250bhp you would have to change the turbo, you won't get 250bhp with just bolt on mods and a remap :no:

Like I said, i may not know much about the haldex but I've tuned a few 1.8t's in my time and with the correct mods and a quality custom remap 240bhp is acheivable with a stanard k03 and 250 with a k03+ I know it can be done because I've done it Its not about the quantity of mods but the quality and picking parts that work well together. I also have a few choice parts stashed in the loft from a long since forgotten mk2 gti 1.8t conversion which will reduce my cost a bit.

Spotted a couple of silver 4x4's now and I'm warming to the thought, Still prefer black though. Got a couple of weeks before I'm home from sea so mabey something will crop up. If anyone knows of anything coming up for sale then please let me know, distance is no object as long as its in the uk!!

[karlbar2k]

Silver is the best colour and LPG is the best conversion on mine as I do anywhere from 15-30K a year