Today my new (to me) scout arrived.

As some on this forum will know, I've been looking for some months for a manual diesel skoda wagon. 4wd preferred.

I couldn't buy a new one as production of the 4wd's had stopped and only DSG cars were in the country. I test drove a Superb and loved it except for two things. The DSG and the lack of bottle holders in the front doors. The bottle holders I could get over, the DSG I couldn't.

So I started the hunt for second hand ones. Not only are these rare, but ever rarer is to find one for sale. Ironically two weeks ago two cars were listed and both contenders. A white FL scout with 70,000km listed for 3/4 of new price (ouch) and then a black pre FL scout listed for under half new price. Took me a whole half an hour to make the call.

Once again I managed to buy a car not only sight unseen (photos were shown on the advert), but completely blind. I had never driven an octavia, let alone a scout or the BMM engine. The closest it got was driving a 2008 Seat Leon with the 1.4 petrol and 5 speed through Czech several years back.

I've heard people knocking the BMM for engine noise and a real short sharp torque peak.

I've read of significant road noise.

I've read of significant body roll.

I've heard the magic black is the worst colour in the entire world to keep clean.

But I don't care.

The 6 speed is as slick as any other manual I've driven. First is low enough for all the offroad crawling this car will do, 6th is 1800rpm at the national speed limit which is the perfect blend of pull and economy.

The BMM may be archaic in layout (reverse flow head anyone) but it's perfectly matched to this car. Lots of low down torque and it pulls strongly through 4000rpm. Peaky? Only if you're used to a torqueless petrol. My scanguage shows max boost to be around 22psi.

Body roll? I may be alone in this regard (I own a rangerover or two), but I prefer my cars to have suspension soft enough to feel your way in and out of a corner. The Audi S-line ride is one I find too harsh and devoid of feel, this one takes more skill to thread smoothly from bend to bend and I like it that way. It's a ride that won't give you a headache over 5 hours of rippled roads.

It's not all perfect. I did want heated leather seats and a PTC or Webasto heater. I also wanted white to not only stay clean, but to stay cool in the summer sun. it needed to be black or white for the signwriting to come. The Magic Black will be labour intensive and it will need to be parked with windows down in summer. I've got a Stream radio which will need at a minimum bluetooth added. There is road noise, but the car is shod with Bridgestones which I have found to be the noisiest brand of tyre. I'd like to fit some good 16's to get snow chain clearance anyway. The road noise is a shade more than an A4 on 18's. A double layer of boot matts (carpet and rubber) should help some, but that's getting picky. The "full service history" is a bit of an unknown right now. Apparently 2,000km ago they changed both the oil and the spark plugs. I should call them on that.

The real problem, it's completely killed my opinion of the other work car (a nissan).

Highest boost pressure I've seen on my vRS TDI was 22.3PSI, with an ELM327 (eBay bluetooth scanner) and Torque Pro for Android.

I test drove a Scout before buying the vRS... They're a bloody nice car.

Enjoy it.

Thanks, I think I'm very lucky to have found this one and got it for the price I did. Longer term there are a few minor changes to make, PTC heater, tinting and handsfree being the main ones. So far there is nothing mechanically about the car that I want to improve on. Even the power levels suit the car so well.Your VRS will have a 16v engine so can develop a little more power and torque from the same boost.

Spark plugs, I hope not on a diesel, glow plugs perhaps!?

We NEED pictures before we can believe you've finally bought one

Pictures will come, I'm still trying to sort out why this forum is disagreeing so badly with my computers. 2 different computers, three different browsers, can't edit, use smileys, quick reply or quote reliably on any of them.

Yes the "spark plug" box is ticked. I think I'll get the skoda workshop an hour away to put it up on their hoist and check all fluid levels/condition along with alignment and swap the tyres around. Just in case there was no service history, just a muppet with a stamp who ticked every box he could find.

It's got Bridgestone RE002's on the back which are almost new so I'm happy winter has just finished. The other bridgestone potenza's on the front are half worn but with a treadwear rating of 140 they won't be with us long.

Rough spec list:

Xenons.

No headlamp washers.

Stream radio with 3.5mm aux in inside the centre console.

No window tints.

Steering wheel with radio controls.

Low boot floor with 205/55r16 steel spare underneath. Might need to get a cushion for the dog, he's just a bit low.

NZ fitted flat tongue towbar and 7 pin socket.

First modification was throwing away the green valve caps which say "I got suckered into paying money for slightly concentrated air in my tyres".

Kiwibacon, the car sounds great. enjoy.

Earlier tonight,I was watching 'Passport Patrol'.(one of my Favourites)

One of the MAF Officers went on exchange to Japan, & you got to see the used cars being prepared for Export to NZ.

180,000 a year he said.

Some cracking looking cars there.

george

I know ANZ Scout's don't get the headlight washers as standard but are you sure it has xenon's?

I'd imagine the anti-dazzle benefits of the headlight washers for the xenon's would be applicable which ever market the car was built for?

The best way to check for xenon's on the pre-FL is the lack of the headlight height adjuster knob next to the headlight switch, xenon equipped cars just get the dash illumination knob.

Sounds almost identical to mine!

George, yes the Japanese import cars were big here. Not so much at the moment because the earthquake and tsunami's put a large dent in japans car surplus and our tightening emissions laws puts a limit on how old the cars can be. Euro 4 currently. Japan also has no domestic diesels.

I've owned three used jap import cars and I'm completely over it. It's impossible to get any english documentation for them, they can't be fixed easily by people who don't have japanese sized hands (I need to remove the battery and coolant reservoir to change the light bulbs in my Nissan) and things like fuses being labelled in Kanji only get old after a while.

But there are a lot of unique and often very fast cars that came through very cheap.

Silver, have you got a definitive ID method for Xenons?

So what's the expected operation of the electronic diff lock and traction control?

Today just for kicks I cross-axled the car (drove into a dip on a diagonal so one of the corner wheels left the ground. I was expecting and EDL light and the car to pull itself out. As the Seat Leon I once drove did when dealing with a lot of snow. Instead it felt like it just kept cutting power. The wheel marks showed one back tyre was kicking up dirt, but I did have several goes applying more and more throttle so something had to be working.

Does the ESP off button affect EDL and haldex operation? This car is pre-FL so I think it has a second generation Haldex, no ability to prevent rear axle spin and reactive rather than proactive clutch engagement.

It is easier to check for xenon's on the facelift Octavia's as they have the cornering function which means that the part of the headlight around the projector lense is different - which can be seen from outside of the car.

On the pre-FL the only way to tell without actually turning them on is the missing headlight levelling knob on the dash. As the xenon's self level using sensors underneath the car the manual control is removed from the dash leaving just the knob to the adjust the brightness of the dash illumination.

At night when you start the engine and with the lights on the xenon's perform a self level check so you can see the beam rise and lower. They also flash on - an almost instantaneous light. There is also the colour of the light output too which is much whiter (almost blue) than compared with standard halogens.

Popping the bonnet and looking at the back of the headlight will allow you to check for the big and bulky ignitor and ballasts which will have a big yellow 'high voltage' warning sticker on it.

The easiest and simplist way to know for sure is the 'missing knob' on the dash to the left of the headlight switch.

Edited 20 September, 201213 yr by silver1011

So what's the expected operation of the electronic diff lock and traction control?

Today just for kicks I cross-axled the car (drove into a dip on a diagonal so one of the corner wheels left the ground. I was expecting and EDL light and the car to pull itself out. As the Seat Leon I once drove did when dealing with a lot of snow. Instead it felt like it just kept cutting power. The wheel marks showed one back tyre was kicking up dirt, but I did have several goes applying more and more throttle so something had to be working.

Does the ESP off button affect EDL and haldex operation? This car is pre-FL so I think it has a second generation Haldex, no ability to prevent rear axle spin and reactive rather than proactive clutch engagement.

I was advised to turn the ESP off when wanting the maximum benefit of the 4x system.

When the ESP detects wheel spin is moves power from that wheel to another wheel - one that still has grip.

The problem with this is that when you are really struggling for traction and all wheels are spinning the ESP keeps cutting power which when stuck will prevent you from getting free.

Turning off the ESP returns power to the wheels.

Still no piccys of the Scout in the outback then!?

So what's the expected operation of the electronic diff lock and traction control?

Today just for kicks I cross-axled the car (drove into a dip on a diagonal so one of the corner wheels left the ground. I was expecting and EDL light and the car to pull itself out. As the Seat Leon I once drove did when dealing with a lot of snow. Instead it felt like it just kept cutting power. The wheel marks showed one back tyre was kicking up dirt, but I did have several goes applying more and more throttle so something had to be working.

Does the ESP off button affect EDL and haldex operation? This car is pre-FL so I think it has a second generation Haldex, no ability to prevent rear axle spin and reactive rather than proactive clutch engagement.

Does the scout have an electronic diff lock? I think i read somewhere that you could specify it on the yeti but it wasnt fitted as standard. I know bugger all about scouts but maybe is only an option on them too.

Centre diff lock wont stop you being stuck if cross axled anyway. You need a locking front or rear diff to prevent that. Even a centre diff lock on my landy leaves me vulnerable from getting cross axled so if i get stuck i hold throttle and pump the brakes. This allows some power to transmit to the wheels on the ground and is usually enough to free me.

A centre diff lock only ensures the power is split front to back not side to side.

Thanks Silver, I've got a manual levelling dial for the headlights and it looks like my high beams are halogens. Bloody good lights though.

After a bit more reading it sounds like the EDL light was removed on later cars, it was quite reassuring on the seat to know the car was trying to do something to get you through the snow.

Jock, what VAG call a EDL isn't a difflock in any sense. It's simply traction control rebranded where it brakes the spinning wheel. But it looks like I need to turn off ESP next time to stop it cutting power before it brakes the wheel.

It's not a diff-lock in the LT230 sense at all. I'm a big fan of more-momentum in my solihull machines.

These Scouts drivetrain is basically like your VRS but with an electronic clutch to get the back diff pushing when the front slips. Another car I have runs a viscous 4wd system that's quite similar, fronts always drive and when they slip the backs start to push. On my other 4wd car the front is so heavy and the back so light that it only picks up a back wheel and carrys on. I haven't weighed the scout yet, but I'm expecting it to be a lot closer to even.

My understanding is the Scout has EDL on the front axle with an open differential and none on the back, so losing traction on both front wheels and one back wheel would be enough to completely stop any progress. Cross-axled the EDL on the front should pull you out by transfering some torque to the one front wheel on the ground. That is provided the traction control doesn't cut the power. On later Octavias the ESP button only turns off the TCS, not the ESP, which is ideal for that situation, snow, gravel, etc.

Right, what should I do with these wheels?

Like everyone else, my Proteus alloys are delaminating. But they are doing it very slowly. I'd like to get a plan together and get them tarted up at the next tyre change.

I did have plans for 16" alloys and 205/60R16 rubber. But I can't find any I like that will fit. So I'm taking the easy way out and importing some all-season rubber, when winter hits I'll get some one-sided chains.

Car is magic black, what colour should the wheels be? What finish have others gone for?

This is the current plan for tyres: http://s1.aecdn.com/...hed-48870-7.jpg

Right, what should I do with these wheels?

Like everyone else, my Proteus alloys are delaminating. But they are doing it very slowly. I'd like to get a plan together and get them tarted up at the next tyre change.

I did have plans for 16" alloys and 205/60R16 rubber. But I can't find any I like that will fit. So I'm taking the easy way out and importing some all-season rubber, when winter hits I'll get some one-sided chains.

Car is magic black, what colour should the wheels be? What finish have others gone for?

This is the current plan for tyres: http://s1.aecdn.com/...hed-48870-7.jpg

Mmmmm black wheels on a black Scout would look very utilitarian, bit like the grey wheels on my grey Scout

Summer Wheels

and winter wheels

and the pre-refurb condition

Jeepers, my wheels are still in showroom condition compared to yours. I've got two that are almost still perfect, the worst of the other two has started at a scratch across one spoke.

I'm wondering what athracite or other lighter shades will look like? I do like your grey, but I'm thinking a bit lighter. All black would look fantastic clean, but looks terrible when dirty. This car spends most of it's time dusty.

To be honest my summer wheels are a pretty light grey (Although supposedly anthracite) so much so they almost look like plastic and seem to match the plastic wheel arches (Pics don't do them justice)

Mmmmm black wheels on a black Scout would look very utilitarian, bit like the grey wheels on my grey Scout

Summer Wheels

and winter wheels

and the pre-refurb condition

Dam i liked your scout the last time you posted photos. Now i see your grill it looks even better. I love the look of the standard scout but making it look more utilitarian is definately the way to go. I still think steelies would look good on it with slightly aggressive / offroad tyres.

Dam i liked your scout the last time you posted photos. Now i see your grill it looks even better. I love the look of the standard scout but making it look more utilitarian is definately the way to go. I still think steelies would look good on it with slightly aggressive / offroad tyres.

It gets a few looks as well due to the badge on the grill being a "Scout" badge rather than a "Skoda" badge.