Roomster Scout

[warley]

Just a few comments while on my lunch break. While waiting for a new car to arrive I have been loaned a Roomster Scout 1.6TDi - the Scout is 2WD though it has a sort or 4WD appearance. Looks very nice but it has low profile tyres - to enhance it's 'street' credentials to the youth(?) of today I suppose so while it is fine over normally undulating roads it is quite harsh over speed bumps and potholes. Worse in that respect to my old BMW 320D and I thought that had a firm ride. I think on more normal tyres a Roomster would be a good choice. The 1.6 seems to have plenty of grunt and is definitely quite 'nippy' if pushed. I think it is slightly noisy compared to the Yeti and to a Golf Plus that I tried a few weeks ago but the engine quietens down nicely on the open road though there is a fair bit of wind noise. Lastly it will pull remarkably cleanly from quite low revs and so it is crying out for a 6th gear!

[Jonny5ive]

Nice little review that.

I own a 1.9tdi Roomster Scout. I found the PD105 to be a bit "strangled" especially when loaded so opted to add a PD160 intake, K&N filter and a Shark remap. Now running circa 140bhp it is much more sprightly and pulls like the provrebial locomotive.

I'm with you on the 6th gear, I always look for 6th when driving it, it's almost as if it lacks that "motorway cruising" gear that is there on the MK1 fabia.

One day I'll turn my Roomster into a 200bhp family wagon by transporting the fabia's front end and gearbox.... **dreams**

Ride wise mine runs factory fitted 17" rims, and it is quite crashy in comparison to the fabia running 16"s.

[stratosg]

Mine is 1.2Tsi 77Kw and 195/55/15 on steels are factory fitted. I think its the ideal tyre size, very good handling and less noise on cracked tarmac

[dieselV6]

Originally, I wanted to get a Scout, but when I saw that ground clearance was same as normal Roomster, tyres are lower profile/bigger rim and the underbody has same plastic protection (the "metal" on front bumper is just silver plastic), I decided against it as the only bonus would be black plastic bumpers for a lot more money.

Plus my kids really wanted the panoramic sunroof...

To address ground clearance, I have a steel skid plate on (back)order, will put it on the car at some point and then low ground clearance will not be a problem anymore.

Not sure I am with you on the gearing, Roomster in 5th it is same high gearing as in 6th on 6-spd 2.0TDI Octavias etc., about 33mph/1000rpm. It used to be much worse on 5-spd boxes, 27mph/1000rpm.

Unless gearing is now any higher on the Octy/Golf? (doubt it)

It is a 4-cyl engine, only 105bhp, maxes out at 112mph, which means 3400rpm at max speed in 5th, and 2200rpm at 70mph. This engine is already gearing limited, not power limited. Unless you chip it, but that's another story, plus you'd have to add another 50%+ power to run out of rpms in 5th.

Like most 4-cyl TDI units, this engine shudders and vibrates under heavy load around 1600rpm +- 200rpm, so any further gearing increase won't serve much purpose, you will just lose comfort and acceleration. 100mph which I think is going to be optimum fast cruising speed on autobahn (I will test it at beginning of June) is around 3000rpm so not excessive.

However, if you want a modest 4.3% gearing increase, you can put 185/65/R15 tyres. They will fit (they must fit if 185/60/15 described in Skoda brochure for use with 12mm snowchains fit), and will give a drop of 150rpm.

They also fit in the spare wheel well (I actually tried 205/55/R16 and that still fitted in the well, though would not fit on wheels)

I plan to get taller tyres once factory tyres are worn down, but more for increased 12mm ground clearance than aything else, plus extra cushy ride . Kevlar brake pads are a good idea if you go down the larger tyre route, as braking force will be reduced by 4%.

[Lorenzo]

Just a few comments while on my lunch break. While waiting for a new car to arrive I have been loaned a Roomster Scout 1.6TDi - the Scout is 2WD though it has a sort or 4WD appearance. Looks very nice but it has low profile tyres - to enhance it's 'street' credentials to the youth(?) of today I suppose so while it is fine over normally undulating roads it is quite harsh over speed bumps and potholes. Worse in that respect to my old BMW 320D and I thought that had a firm ride. I think on more normal tyres a Roomster would be a good choice. The 1.6 seems to have plenty of grunt and is definitely quite 'nippy' if pushed. I think it is slightly noisy compared to the Yeti and to a Golf Plus that I tried a few weeks ago but the engine quietens down nicely on the open road though there is a fair bit of wind noise. Lastly it will pull remarkably cleanly from quite low revs and so it is crying out for a 6th gear!

Totally agree with your impressions, +1

[dieselV6]

^{I guess I forgot to add that I agree too except for the gearing}

[warley]

Coming back to the subject of gearing, I understand why the ratio is the quoted 33mph/1000rpm and that one will never use all the RPM in fifth gear. However the low speed torque characteristics of the 1.6TDi are such that in a lightly loaded situation one could certainly take advantage of a higher gear even if one had to change down to accelerate. I did a rough test on the way to work this morning and this was in town but the 1.6 seems quite comfortable poodling along doing 35mph on the flat in 5th which whas showing about 1000 rpm (yes, almost ridiculously low) to tie in with the above gearing figure. I did not notice any uncomforable vibration that I would have had if trying this in my old 320D beemer. I would not expect to accelerate from such low revs but for minimising fuel consumption higher gearing would have something to offer. Loading up with family and camping gear would of course have some adverse bearing on all this! I would like to see a sixth gear even if I used it like an old school 'overdrive' and probably never used it much over 2000 RPM.

However, the manufacturers would probably say that to fit higher gearing would mean that many drivers would spend more time in the wrong gear. However, we may see higher gearing in future if Autocar were correct in their 22 Feb issue which predicts that auto 'DSG' style gearboxes will be fitted to nearly all new cars within a few years as an means to meeting efficiency targets. Inexperienced drivers might well not use a sixth or seventh gear correctly bit if a computer is controlling the box then higher gearing is fine as the computer will immediatly correct when conditions dictate. The computer will probaly beat most inexperienced drivers and a few experienced one when it comes to efficiency. Big brother may be driving for us sooner than we think!

[dieselV6]

Fair points here, however it is not 1000rpm that is a problem, even an old 1.9TDI could do it. It is around 1400-1700rpm that vibration really kicks in, so around 50mph for the 5th. I agree that for pottering about you can do it in 5th, but up to 50mph 5th is geared high enough to coast, so you've got all gears you need already, while at higher speeds the load on the engine is high enough for rpms to be less of a problem for fuel efficiency (at least up to around 2500rpm (works out to 80mph) where diesels start losing efficiency.

DSG gearboxes are a really good idea... in theory. Yes, they change gears fast and yes they remove many of old tiptronic drawbacks. But they also introduce problem of slipping clutch before the vehicle really starts moving, (no crawl mode as with hydrodynamic torque converter). If you look at gearing of most recent DSG boxes you will notice that the extra gears that have been added increased the mostly the low-speed gearing range, and only moderately the high speed range. So the 7th on DSG is still not much taller than the 5th in a manual box, but you do get the 1/2nd gear before the first gear

Edited 11 May, 2012 by dieselV6