My first Skoda was SWMBO's Octy estate in Ambiente trim. Good capable 90bhp TDI. When I went to replace my car I wanted another octy.

The first one I went to look at was at Dennis Horton in Lincoln. It was an Elegance hatch (I think; it had the spoked alloys? Not the usual elegance wheels) On test driving it, I noticed immediately how much quieter it was on the road than my wife's estate. This would obviously make sense - you'd expect more road noise from an estate than a hatch or a saloon wouldn't you?

However, my car (hatch) is just as noisy as the estate was. Do you think I might be missing some soundproofing from somewhere? What was standard? Any other ideas?

Tyres can make a huge difference to road noise. I can't remember what were fitted to my car when I got it, Goodyears of some description. The Michelins that replaced them made a big difference.

I do wonder about sound proofing though. My experience of Golf Mk4s is that they're a good bit quieter. As we're talking about the same platform I'd guess Skoda's budget for proofing is perhaps smaller than VW's.

You can effect a temporary cure though... drive to Dover, put your car on a ferry and when you drive off into France and onto an Autoroute you'l find your road noise has almost disappeared. Unfortunately it'll return as soon as you get back to the UK.

As SILVER ROCKET says, some makes of tyres can be very noisy especially if they're getting low on tread.

I've owned 3 mkiv Golf's & 2 Bora's & my VRS is definitely quieter than any of them. Maybe there's more soundproofing in the VRS than other Skoda models though?

Might be a lack of underbonnet soundproofing. Installed it on my 1.8t (£25 from Skoda so not bad) as I recollected the Elegance 1.9's we had as pool cars came with it. Aside from cutting a chunk out the back to clear my top strut brace, fitting takes a couple of minutes. It made quite a difference at cruising speed, even SWMBO who doesn't like it "because it's noisy" noticed the difference.

the diesel should have sound deadening material under the bonnet as standard, iirc. Certainly my 2001 elegance does.

As above, the Elegance (So presumably L&K, and I think Ambiante) have under-bonnet sound deadening as standard. Different tyres, and road surfaces, can make quite a difference (up to 10dB so doubling the noise level) though, so I'd want to compare cars on the same tyres and road.

Seems worse some times than others, but I can only describe some of the noise as like the rumble of distant thunder. It's quite different than the noise that a knackered wheel bearing makes. Wishbone bushes, or maybe shock top mounts?

It's always done it, so three different sets of tyres.

Are the symptoms of worn wishbone bushes more in the feel of the steering etc, rather than the sound of it?