Octavia VRS Blackline - terrible in bad weather?!?

[thehulkster699]

Only had my Blackline for a few months, but as we are hitting the colder icy weather I am shocked at how poor the car manages itself.

I'm not one of those driver's who pushes to the limits on bad roads, I drive very slowly when conditions are dangerous (I am up and out at 5.00am when the roads are worse than later in the morning) and never take any risks.

However, I am really shocked at the almost non-existant levels of grip from the front tyres, with the traction control wanting to constantly cut-in.

Am I the only one experiencing this? My tyres are almost new having only done under 2000 miles from buying the car!

Edited 11 December, 2012 by Thehulkster

[Jockdooshbag]

Icy roads afferct all cars. Certainly the wide tyres of the VRS wont help but mine is no worse than other front drive cars ive owned. My beemer with RWD coped better in the wet but it was worse in ice and snow. Even a low powered car will light up the front tyres in the wet. You really need AWD to stop this type of thing or maybe winter tyres.

[mattytemp]

Personaly I think its the conti tyres. I have never rated them my mate has toyo proxies on his vrs and I had them on my old car they are a lot better tyre.

[diveslob]

Tyres rather than the car I suspect, we have just swapped to Winters.

[TeMpTeD]

Personaly I think its the conti tyres. I have never rated them my mate has toyo proxies on his vrs and I had them on my old car they are a lot better tyre.

I had Proxes on my MKI Leon Cupra and they were great in the wet and dry. However, they were absolutely diabolical in the snow!

[Aspman]

Yup VRS is crap on ice but so is every car without winter tyres.

I got the Octy through a bad winter up here with -17C and 2' of snow that sat on the ground for 6 weeks on a set of new summer tires since I couldn't afford winters. Never got stuck once although there were a few moments pulling away from lights on a slope.

[Scribbler]

Mine seam ok so far but not got the really ice stuff yet. Ithink yours should be Conti's like mine but can you confirm the tyre? It will be the tyres though.

You can get tyres that aesthetically look almost the same yet massively different in different conditions. I know this because i made the mistake of having cheap 'sunew' tyres on my red vrs once. The tread pattern were an almost exact copy of toyo proxies which i used to have on my cliosports. However the grip in the rain was scary bad or should i say lack of and if it was slightly frosty you couldn't get off my drive. These tyres didn't last even six months they failed them in the summer MOT as there were stress cracks in the sidewalls. I Learnt my leson and will never fit cheapo tyres again. I now have Falkens on which are a mid range tyre and the improved grip in the wet is excellent and i can easily get off the drive now in 6 inch snow. If i had the money and time i would buy another set of wheels and fit winter tyres as it really makes a difference in this country. Don't worry it will be your summer tyres that are the problem not the car.

[brownfox]

The current trend for wider low profile tyres are one step forlward two steps back, ok they may be better roadholding in the dry but in real world motoring the difference to your average driver is not noticable. However in all inclement weather conditions they are worse,and the road noise generated is now becoming a major issue unless your deaf.You need to ride a motorcyle to appreciate the massive difference tyre/wheel size does to handling in shall we say slippery conditions.Low power small narrow wheels narrow tyres good. High low down power big wheels low wide profile tyres are allways going to be crap on slippery surfaces.With regard to the Blackline or vrs the road noise is excessive because off the wheels/tyres. The power you cant change but i would imagine you can fit in winter much narrower and smaller diameter skoda wheels and winter tyres this will be a big improvement over stock. Because im bloody tight i will drive mine carefully,and for snow i have purchased my second set of snow socks,only because i imagine it will be useless if it snows.

[IMT]

Yep my fronts slip on frosty roads. They're factory fitted conti's too.

[mr_awol]

You think you have issues - my VRS came with Dunlop sportmax crap on the front and is an absolute nightmare.

The bridgestones I had on my last one were better but unfortunately the fatter the tyre and the more grunt a car has, the worse it'll be in the ice and snow.

[Ben Jk]

If you've got DSG that won't be helping either. Best managing the gears yourself with paddles etc in bad conditions.

[cheezemonkhai]

Afraid it's probably time to get some winter rubber on (16" 205/55/R16 with steels is cheaper than 18" rubber alone).

Most cars are rubbish on ice and non-studded winters, while much better, don't magically stick you to it either, just make it a lot more predictable.

[rob_e]

My old Golf Gti (mk5) was the same - its the tread pattern and compound they use for summer tyres unfortunately, nothing to do with it being an octavia..

That's why i have winters on mine - although tbh in icy, slippy conditions I can easily spin my winters too if I'm too aggressive.

OP - are you comparing with your other car (kuga?) if so you know the answer!

[littleade]

I'd take the ford and leave the Blackline in the garage

[Longdog]

As has already been said the wide 18" tyres of the front wheel driven Octy (and all cars with a similar set up) don't really work during the winter, winter tyres are a must as far as I'm concerned if you rely on your car.

[Perc]

From a Finnish point of view, I find it a bit amusing that so many brits are confused by winter weather. :p You have freezing temperatures and sometimes snow, and yet you don't seem to have figured out how to deal with it. Be it lack of heating, insulation, or putting adequate rubber on your cars.

Anyway. Any car will be useless and dangerous in snow and ice if it's wearing summer tyres. That goes without saying. All wheel drive will get you going, but it won't help you stop or turn any better.

That said, I too have noticed that my Octavia lacks a bit of drivewheel traction compared to the car I'm coming from. a 2004 Volvo V70 turbo automatic. Same winter tyres on both, Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 which is one of the best studded snow tyres on the market right now. I don't know if it's the lighter engine (1.4 4-pot vs 2.5 5-pot) or VAG's traction control behaving a bit differently, but I see considerably more of the blinky ESP light in the Octavia than I ever did in the Volvo.

As for the DSG being a handicap in slippery conditions... well, I don't know about that. It's a bit easier to get accidental wheelspin from a standstill in a DSG than in a smooth torque converter automatic, but other than that I see no difference at all. I've certainly never felt the need to use manual mode, and that goes for any automatic I've ever driven.

I certainly prefer a conventional automatic over a conventional manual in winter because of the auto's smooth and even power delivery. DSG is somewhere on the scale between the two.

[blueR36]

Factory fit tyres have not the same depth as the same tyres bought over the counter( fact ) Peter at ABC in Pudsey pointed this out to me and showed me the codes, the evolution of each Tyre brand can make a big difference, the Continental sport contact 5s are really good on mine, aftermarket, but when it is really cold I use my bike with cyclecross tyres.We Brits are sometimes confused Perc, because we can have a 25 degree change in the temperature of the weather in a week, this year was the driest spring , the wettest summer and Autumn since records began, If you lived here Perc you would be swapping your tyres every month, Sunday it was 10 degrees, the next day a maximum of 1, and by the weekend heavy rain and 12 degrees again

[cheezemonkhai]

I've got Nokian WR A3 on this year after G2 etc.

They make a huge difference, but actually we're kind of handicapped by legislation in some ways.

Winter rubber is much better than summer, but we suffer a lot from ice and compacted snow on untreated roads.

The winter rubber helps, but we can't run studded tyres in this country, so you still end up with a lot of accidents on polished ice.

Another issue is that the high performance summer tyres have replaced the blocky rubber of old.

These have no chunky blocks and so have no chance of any grip as soon as it gets slippery.

The difference between summers and winters even just when it gets cooler is sufficient that both of our cars are on summer tyres for the summer and proper winter friction tyres for the winter.

Another issue is that because it's not mandatory or a system like Germany where the accident is your fault 100% if you didn't have the right tyres, then it's taken a long time for people to do it.

Not helped by the stupidly high price of steel wheels, the lack of storage facilities by tyre dealers and in most UK homes and some insurance companies playing silly beggars and increasing prices if you fit winter tyres.

Hopefully some sanity will come to the UK, certainly a lot more people are buying winter tyres.

If they can make pre-heaters, webasto devices or aux heaters options here even if they are not standard fit, that'd be great.

[Scribbler]

From a Finnish point of view, I find it a bit amusing that so many brits are confused by winter weather. :p You have freezing temperatures and sometimes snow, and yet you don't seem to have figured out how to deal with it. Be it lack of heating, insulation, or putting adequate rubber on your cars.

Nah we know, we're all just too tight to buy winter tyres. On the plus side through years of practice we are all great at controlled 4 wheel drifting cars. Although i seam to remember a few Fin's are pretty good at the old drift aswell. Infact i think it was called the 'scandinavian flick' from my old rally training days.

[Perc]

Yeah, I think we're producing the highest number of rally drivers per capita of any western nation.

Seriously though, summer tyres on ice and snow, of course it'll suck.

[sly200sx]

Only had my Blackline for a few months, but as we are hitting the colder icy weather I am shocked at how poor the car manages itself.

I'm not one of those driver's who pushes to the limits on bad roads, I drive very slowly when conditions are dangerous (I am up and out at 5.00am when the roads are worse than later in the morning) and never take any risks.

However, I am really shocked at the almost non-existant levels of grip from the front tyres, with the traction control wanting to constantly cut-in.

Am I the only one experiencing this? My tyres are almost new having only done under 2000 miles from buying the car!

Your needing a set of these. I bought these before i even got the car. £300 (slightly used) from ebay fitted with Goodyear Ultragrip 8

[furn]

if i remember right the blacklines are fitted with conti sport 2s , these are an old tyre now there has been 3s and now 5s so they are old technology anyway.

but as mentioned above winters tyres are really needed now im running maragoni meteo tyres £85 from mytyres on my standard 18" rims and they surprised me for a cheap tyre how good they are in the wet cold conditions.

[dunc69]

Your needing a set of these. I bought these before i even got the car. £300 (slightly used) from ebay fitted with Goodyear Ultragrip 8

Looks just like mine does now - except mine's the estate. Where did you buy the centre caps? Thanks!

[sly200sx]

@ dunc69 I got them from this seller on ebay. Although I asked him for caddy ones.. Had them in stock but was not advertised. Send him a message.

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1439.l2649

Edited 12 December, 2012 by sly200sx

[Perc]

Why is "everyone" using black naked steelies for their winters btw?

Edited 12 December, 2012 by Perc