START STOP SYSTEM ON OCTAVIA?

[kingstonian]

seems that this is the case for the 2011 vehicles...

https://mediaportal.skoda-auto.com/resource/documentation/manuals/en/Octavia/11-2010/Manual/A5_Octavia_TechnicalChange.pdf

poossibility of retrofit?

and how useful actually is?

[PumpeDuse]

errr, that'll reduce the life of the engine.

[MKSkoda]

I had the Stop/Start on my Mini and is very easy to get used to, I liked it and thought it was a good idea. I kind of felt bad when I bought my Skoda and the engine didn't cut out at long waits at traffic lights and Jams. As soon as you touched the clutch the engine fired back up with the help of the beefed up Bosch starter motor as it was in the Mini's and off you went.

I'm not fussed about reduction of engine life as I don't have cars that long, and how much does it actually reduce the engine life by? anyone know?

I'm guessing this only effects Manuals too.

Edited 17 March, 2011 by MKSkoda

[eccleshill]

Don't know about Skoda but my brother has it on his diesel BMW. It only operates under the following conditions:

1. Engine at full operating temperature

2. Battery at full charge

3. Neutral selected, foot off clutch, handbrake on, foot off brake.

4. Stationary for over 10(?) seconds

For him that means hardly ever: short commute - engine not warmed up; long motorway trips - never stopped long enough.

Saving is 3/5 of bu66er all anyway. With maxidot showing metric fuel consumption my 1.8TSI uses 0.7 to 0.9 litres per hour on tickover. So 1hr at tickover uses about 7 or 8 miles of fuel.

Unless a retrofit costs under a fiver you won't get your money back!

[Lou_O]

No chance of retro-fit.

The fuel saving will depend on the type of driving you do. The CO2 saving could be significant though and will help Skoda sell to company car buyers in the UK, for example.

[MKSkoda]

Don't know about Skoda but my brother has it on his diesel BMW. It only operates under the following conditions:

1. Engine at full operating temperature

2. Battery at full charge

3. Neutral selected, foot off clutch, handbrake on, foot off brake.

4. Stationary for over 10(?) seconds

For him that means hardly ever: short commute - engine not warmed up; long motorway trips - never stopped long enough.

Saving is 3/5 of bu66er all anyway. With maxidot showing metric fuel consumption my 1.8TSI uses 0.7 to 0.9 litres per hour on tickover. So 1hr at tickover uses about 7 or 8 miles of fuel.

Unless a retrofit costs under a fiver you won't get your money back!

I had it on my BMW Mini and you didn't need the handbrake on and you didn't need to be stationary for more than 10 seconds. your right about the engine being at the right temp before it works and the battery has to be at a certain level.

All you did at a stop was, Neutral selected, foot off clutch, foot brake on. If you took your foot off the brake and the car started to roll the engine fired back up at about 3Mph

I must say also I found it warmed up pretty quickly and normally worked after 1 or 2 stops but mine was a petrol turbo and when Petrols 5 quid a litre the savings will grow :p

Edited 17 March, 2011 by MKSkoda

[stringbean]

Stop/Start systems tend to rely on an uprated starter motor - this alone would wipe out any potental savings. If you read the rest of the technical changes you'll notice a section on jump starting vehicles with stop/start that states that you need to attach the negative jump lead which implies that there might be some extra sensitive electronics added to the engine as well...

IMHO a stop/start system is more of a bonus than a must have feature. For most of my driving the start/stop would never kick in as the traffic I get stuck in is either at the start of the journey or on a hill.

Full list of shutdown conditions:

• The gearshift lever is in Neutral.
• The clutch pedal is not pressed!
• The driver has fastened the seat belt.
• The driver's door is closed.
• The bonnet is closed.
• The vehicle is at a standstill.
• The factory-fitted towing device is not electrically connected to a trailer.
• The minimum engine temperature is reached.
• The charge state of the vehicle battery is sufficient.
• The vehicle is not on a slope or on a downhill section.
• The engine speed is less than 1200 1/min.
• The temperature of the vehicle battery is not too low or too high.
• The pressure in the brake system is sufficient.
• The difference between the outdoor- and the set temperature in the interior is not too great.
• The vehicle speed since the last time the engine was switched off was greater than 3 km/h.
• The particulate filter* is not being cleaned, see Owner's manual.
• The front wheels are not turned excessively (the steering angle is less than 3/4 of a steering wheel revolution).

Full list of startup triggers:

• The clutch is pressed. The max./min. temperature is set.
• The Defrost function for the windscreen is switched on.
• A high blower stage has been selected.
• The “START STOP” button is pressed.
• The vehicle moves at a speed of more than 3 km/h.
• The difference between the outdoor- and the set temperature in the interior is too great.
• The vehicle's battery is not sufficiently charged.
• Insufficient pressure in the brake system.

Note that changing the climatronic settings can trigger an automatic restart - not good in the middle of winter or summer!

[silver1011]

Start/stop is to reduce CO2 emissions.

Fuel savings are two parts of sod all.

A bit like the DPF (Dust Particulate Filter), forced upon us by legislation and EU pressure.

Luckily my car has an ignition key which allows me to turn my own engine on and off as I see fit.

[PumpeDuse]

it's the big end bearings that worry me.

[eccleshill]

Start/stop is to reduce CO2 emissions.

Fuel savings are two parts of sod all.

As CO2 emissions are directly related to burning fuel the CO2 savings are also two parts of sod all.

And don't forget that having fired up the starter the battery will require charging - the added load on the alternator will burn more fuel reducing the saving to 1.8 parts of sod all

[Lou_O]

As CO2 emissions are directly related to burning fuel the CO2 savings are also two parts of sod all.

The savings may be small but even small savings in what is a very competitive market place will move the car into lower tax bracket, with the resulting benefit in sales.

For those that buy used cars it's fairly irrelevant but for company car buyers it's very important.

[eccleshill]

The savings may be small but even small savings in what is a very competitive market place will move the car into lower tax bracket, with the resulting benefit in sales.

For those that buy used cars it's fairly irrelevant but for company car buyers it's very important.

Guess so - if taking the spare wheel out reduces CO2 by a worthwhile amount then start-stop must help on the urban consumption test.

From a broader perspective:

Just did a quick calculation - my 1.8TSI on tickover for 1hr will burn 0.7litres of fuel and emit about 1.7kg CO2 or around 30g per minute. Multiply that by every car, sitting at every set of traffic lights in every city of the world and...

Makes yer fink dunnit!?!

[MKSkoda]

Guess so - if taking the spare wheel out reduces CO2 by a worthwhile amount then start-stop must help on the urban consumption test.

From a broader perspective:

Just did a quick calculation - my 1.8TSI on tickover for 1hr will burn 0.7litres of fuel and emit about 1.7kg CO2 or around 30g per minute. Multiply that by every car, sitting at every set of traffic lights in every city of the world and...

Makes yer fink dunnit!?!

Defo! It's the bigger picture, not just a few people who thinks abit here and abit there isn't going to make a difference. Open your minds

[RS3100]

You can always switch off the start/stop function

[stringbean]

Defo! It's the bigger picture, not just a few people who thinks abit here and abit there isn't going to make a difference. Open your minds

Agreed for new vehicles. But for existing vehicles most small gains will be wiped out by the cost (financially and to the planet) of retro fitting the improvements.

My mind is open to anything that will realistically improve economy and reduce emissions. If I was driving a large distance each day I would have ordered a Greenline model (something that we are considering for the missus). Much of my driving is down narrow poor quality roads that tend to wreck the paintwork of normal cars :( - hence the order for a Scout .

[MKSkoda]

You can always switch off the start/stop function

you'd have to turn if off every time you got into the car and started the engine as it turns it back on again each time you start the car

[xman]

I notice a few other changes:-

1. Climatic (standard) a/c is no longer automatic temperature control. This was muted some time ago - apparently VW want Skoda cars to be more basic so not to compete with them so much.

2. Petrol engines now requires 98 RON to achieve full performance (ouch!)

3. 1.4 Tsi emission up slightly to 149g/km

[silver1011]

As mentioned earlier 'start/stop' reduces CO2 emissions which is one of the many different ways manufacturers use to strive to make their cars more attractive to the largely profitable fleet sales, as by doing so they can drop into lower government set tax brackets.

Great if you run your Octavia as a company car. Longer variable service intervals combined with lower tax bills is the aim of the game.

Private buyer? Then stop/start really is unnecessary. If being more environmentally friendly is important then doing 58mph instead of 60mph on your way to work will make much more of a difference to you’re your CO2 output and fuel economy.

[RS3100]

you'd have to turn if off every time you got into the car and started the engine as it turns it back on again each time you start the car

...and you turn it off again each time