Real shame that you have lost faith with the car, I had a few niggles at the start and the rear suspension still irritates me but it is still a great car for the money. I hope you find someone who can prove you are right and you get the ammunition to either put the car right or get a replacement.

To Summarise my issues:

Car pulls side to side when gently applying / removing power.

Feels very wobbly.

Heavily affected by sidewinds. 

Can feel every undulation in the road, almost as though it's amplifying it. No such thing as a smooth road in my car.

Steering Dead in the centre

Steering 'clinks' either side of centre (engine off no power)

Moving wheel slightly either side of centre whilst driving causes vibration whilst not necessarily affecting direction.

Rocking nearside front wheel causes similar clinking on that side.

Rocking offside wheel also agitates the same clinking on nearside.

Gearbox very notchy when cold.

Still a bit graunchy when warm but not as bad.

Edited 20 April, 201412 yr by Leonblue

Have you been able to compare to another equivalent Octavia?

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Yes I have driven 4 different cars including the exact same spec and an estate.

It says it all when the Fabia Monte Carlo with 17 inch low profiles / sports suspension was a lot smoother and handled much better than mine. I had that car for two weeks while they were 'repairing' mine.

Edited 20 April, 201412 yr by Leonblue

Presumably none of those exhibited the same symptoms.

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The weird thing is that it was obvious they were the same car and had a similar overall 'feel', but none felt as rough or as loose as mine.

You know, instead of wasting money on independent inspectors (Scotia was the company I used as recommended by Honest John). It may be worth getting your guy to look over my car, although it's a long way off, a long drive out would still be cheaper than paying for another inspection.

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Why not give him a call or send him an email and ask his advice, to begin with?  That will cost you nothing.  (I have no connection with the company except as a satisfied customer)

http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/wheels-alignment.php

By all means feel free to say that Stuart Edinborough (the bloke with red Mazda MX-5) recommended him to you.

 

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Why not give him a call or send him an email and ask his advice, to begin with?  That will cost you nothing.  (I have no connection with the company except as a satisfied customer)

http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/wheels-alignment.php

By all means feel free to say that Stuart Edinborough (the bloke with red Mazda MX-5) recommended him to you.

 

I'll do that this week, thanks. At least that will give me a fighting chance.

I'll do that this week, thanks. At least that will give me a fighting chance.

Why not go to somewhere local?

 

Try Drury Lane Auto Services in Oldham for a starter........... full Hunter set up, expert in setting up suspension

 

http://www.drurylaneservices.com/

Why not go to somewhere local?

 

Try Drury Lane Auto Services in Oldham for a starter........... full Hunter set up, expert in setting up suspension

 

http://www.drurylaneservices.com/

Hmm now spoilt for choice. I have to admit Oldham is a lot closer. But which is best......fight!

Late in the day I know, but I'm going to chime in on this one.

I've done over 3k miles now in mine and the more I drive it the more I hate the steering. On the way back from Scotland on the motorway yesterday, it was an effort keeping it in a straight line. It seems to follow every bump and undulation. Plus it's effected by acceleration/ deceleration too.

It is a bit better in sport mode, but not great still.

Mine is a 1.6CR Elegance estate.

Late in the day I know, but I'm going to chime in on this one.

I've done over 3k miles now in mine and the more I drive it the more I hate the steering. On the way back from Scotland on the motorway yesterday, it was an effort keeping it in a straight line. It seems to follow every bump and undulation. Plus it's effected by acceleration/ deceleration too.

It is a bit better in sport mode, but not great still.

Mine is a 1.6CR Elegance estate.

It's never too late to join in! Is yours also on the Dunlops and 17 inch wheels?

It's on 17" standard wheels, with Pirelli tyres.

It's not a nice feeling at 70 - 80mph.

That's interesting as it possibly rules out the tyres. I honestly think something is loose or has excessive play in my car.

Often worth experimenting by dropping the tyre pressures about 3 psi all round as this sometimes helps to make a car feel more planted. The obsession with economy these days means IMO vehicle and tyre makers tend to err on the high side in what they recommend. I ran a BMW M5 for six years at lower pressures and am running a Cayman similarly. I've found no evidence of unusual tyre wear on either. If it doesn't work, then nothing's lost and you go back to the standard figures.

I think this can be passed as normal behavior for the first phase of the MQB platform. Maybe they will correct this on the face lift version.

Mine fells too that is tending to go side ways and it gives me the feeling that I have to fine adjust left-right. But I've observed that if I put it on straight line and I put no correction it is not going anywhere at the end. I think that all this comes because of the decrease in weight and due some aerodynamic reason, or wind or the road undulations.

Mine is also sensible at wind but the steering software comes fast and give some help. I think this work ok. And some times on highway is doing some wind noise.

Over-all is not so bad...I tend to think it is normal. First I was about to go at the dealer to check my angles, but I was thinking that factory setting should be the reference and  the dealer will solve nothing as with my previous car.

Once again, is not a big deal for me...I will let it like this and maybe at a time I will go to check the geometry.

 

PS: 16" wheels, Michelin Energy Saver, 1.2TSI - the lightest.

Have missed a few replies on this one, but I've only ever heard good things about Wheels In Motion.  There have been the odd bad experience, but that's been later proven to be down to the owner of the car thinking he was on some sort of money making mission.  I have also heard that (on older cars, at least; > 10 years old) owners haven't been happy with his recommendations that certain components need changing - even though the parts were past their best (although not an MoT failure which some people still feel is a healthcheck that everything must be fine as it just passed one..).

I think this can be passed as normal behavior for the first phase of the MQB platform. Maybe they will correct this on the face lift version.

Mine fells too that is tending to go side ways and it gives me the feeling that I have to fine adjust left-right. But I've observed that if I put it on straight line and I put no correction it is not going anywhere at the end. I think that all this comes because of the decrease in weight and due some aerodynamic reason, or wind or the road undulations.

Mine is also sensible at wind but the steering software comes fast and give some help. I think this work ok. And some times on highway is doing some wind noise.

Over-all is not so bad...I tend to think it is normal. First I was about to go at the dealer to check my angles, but I was thinking that factory setting should be the reference and  the dealer will solve nothing as with my previous car.

Once again, is not a big deal for me...I will let it like this and maybe at a time I will go to check the geometry.

 

PS: 16" wheels, Michelin Energy Saver, 1.2TSI - the lightest.

 

Same experience here. I drive on the M25 to work and back everyday and I noticed that I have to do alot more fine corrections of the steering than I did in my old Nissan Qashqai. Not so much as I would call it a problem or unsafe though. Mine is a week old 1.6 TDI estate on 16" wheels, continental tyres.

Edited 22 April, 201412 yr by Dan25730

Well guys thanks for your suggestions. I have it booked into Blink Motorsport as they are much nearer for me and I can go from work. I can't wait for the results..

Well guys thanks for your suggestions. I have it booked into Blink Motorsport as they are much nearer for me and I can go from work. I can't wait for the results..

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Bear in mind that your problems may or may not be due to the suspension geometry not being correct and/or may not be curable just by adjusting it accurately.

But a really good, experienced technician with state-of-the art equipment should be able to say either "There is no alignment problem which this machine can detect" or "This equipment is telling me that something is not as it should be - something may be bent / twisted / distorted / misaligned / loose / slack / worn out / wrongly adjusted"

Tony Bones of Wheels-In-Motion told me of one case where the owner of a Ford Mondeo was not quite happy with his car.  Tony's aligment machine indicated that a suspension arm was bent.  The arm looked fine and they adjust the car to the appropriate settings but machine still insisted that the arm was bent and the owner still felt that the car somehow did not feel "right".  So a new arm was obtained, and examining the old and the new arms side-by-side showed no discernable difference between them.

Nevertheless the new arm was fitted, the alignment checked again and this time the machine said all was fine.  And the driver was also, at last, satisfied with his car.

So it's just possible that a similar alignment check might find what, if anything, is wrong with your car.  Worth a try anyway.  Good luck!

   

 

 

Edited 22 April, 201412 yr by Stuarted

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Bear in mind that your problems may or may not be due to the suspension geometry not being correct and/or may not be curable just by adjusting it accurately.

But a really good, experienced technician with state-of-the art equipment should be able to say either "There is no alignment problem which this machine can detect" or "This equipment is telling me that something is not as it should be - something may be bent / twisted / distorted / misaligned / loose / slack / worn out / wrongly adjusted"

Tony Bones of Wheels-In-Motion told me of one case where the owner of a Ford Mondeo was not quite happy with his car.  Tony's aligment machine indicated that a suspension arm was bent.  The arm looked fine and they adjust the car to the appropriate settings but machine still insisted that the arm was bent and the owner still felt that the car somehow did not feel "right".  So a new arm was obtained, and examining the old and the new arms side-by-side showed no discernable difference between them.

Nevertheless the new arm was fitted, the alignment checked again and this time the machine said all was fine.  And the driver was also, at last, satisfied with his car.

So it's just possible that a similar alignment check might find what, if anything, is wrong with your car.  Worth a try anyway.  Good luck!

   

 

The way it's been driving today they simply MUST find something wrong with this car. I chose these guys based on the fact that they have a very similar setup to WIM but are obviously a lot closer. The dead spot on the steering is getting wider all the time. I have also noticed that you can feel movement as you press or release the accelerator, not an audible 'clonk', but the feeling you would get if a gear was very worn with a lot of backlash being taken up / released. I'd be astonished if nothing is found this time.

I had a Citroen BX years ago. That had some movement when either the accelerator or brake was applied. It also had a steering dead spot (though you'd be hard pushed to notice as steering was typically French and imprecise). After having garages look and change a suspension arm, I discovered that the front subframe was loose on one side. A bolt, accessible under the carpet in the driver's foot well needed a good tightening and the car was sorted.

I'd hope that Skoda build quality in 2013/14 is better than Citroen in 1987!

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That description does sound like a sub frame issue....

Sent from my phone so please excuse brevity and spelling

I had a Citroen BX years ago ...

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[Thread hijack alert!]

Another victim!  I'm on my third BX, with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock.  Don't rate Citroens generally, but the BX had various wonderful features - cheap, huge internal space / compact external dimensions, gloriously comfortable, amazing economy for its period ... I love mine.