Hi All

 

A Scout has come up and I was considering purchasing it.

 

What are owners thoughts on the Scout?

 

What is a realistic MPG?

 

Whats a sensible price for a clean 61 plate?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

A very good all rounder the Scout- comfortable, feels quick, load lugger, nice smooth ride, feels planted but the higher driving position is nice. I'm very pleased with mine, I think the high second hand values speak for themselves, its a desirable car. Yesterday on my 50 mile commute to central London I averaged 54 mpg but I drove like a nun and it was 4am so no traffic. A more normal figure for an average tank full is 46-48 mpg, pretty good I think. 

I have a '13 Scout TDi. Its basically the same as any other Octavia inside- the seat cloth is slightly different. It has lots of toys as standard (self-dimming mirrors, cruise, dual climate, hill hold, auto lights and wipers, tinted rear windows etc.

On the outside it has protective cladding, and under body protection. The ride is (slightly) raised and it has Haldex 4x4.

I've only got about 5k on the clock and I'm expecting it to loosen up further. At the moment I'm getting an indicated 52mpg on the way to work and about 48mpg on the way back. I get just around 550 miles on a 60l tank which works out to about 42mpg average for a tankful.

I have a 2010 2.0PD TDi, and have owned it since new.

 

I second what Nomads and Paddypaws say, I would further add although it is 4x4, it can be caught out, as I found out to my cost on 6 Dec 2010, when stuck on the M8/M73/M74 for approximately 16 hours.  I would strongly recommend fitting winter tyres, I have Nokian WG2 fitted and the damn thing is near unstoppable now.  The one thing I do find frustrating is, even though I have 4x4 and winter tyres, you will be restricted by the limits of the vehicle in front.  During the M8 debacle, there was a Fiat Stilo with two red space savers fitted!

 

I have the following extras fitted, front parking sensors, full width side airbag, spare wheel kit and rubber boot lining.  I replaced the Scout floor mats with the rubber items, they are more up to the task when it snows.  The only item I miss is Maxidot, I have had to pay the dealer to activate front cornering fogs, one press all doors opening and the anti hi-jack facility over 15kph, all of which you can do free of charge with maxidot.

 

The car has not been without its problems, I am on my second set of Proteus alloy wheels which are also delaminating, I have had my DMF replaced at 45k, one of the front parking sensors replaced, the drivers seat cloth and bolsters replaced due to premature wear, rear central arm rest replaced due to defective mechanism, both front doors realigned due to water ingress, rear differential replaced, off side coil spring replaced due to shearing, front and rear Skoda badges replaced due to delamination and finally, the underside of the front grill repainted due to rust.  All replaced under warranty.

 

The DMF, rear differential, coil spring, Skoda badges and grill all happened over May/June of this year.  The coil spring defect actually caused the car to fail it's MOT.  Things got so bad I actually thought of trading it in.  However, the cost to change was too much, so I have resorted to taking out a 3 year after market warranty.

 

Despite all of the above, I still love the car!  I recently completed a 17 day, 4000 mile road trip around Spain and France.  And apart from the black bolt that is used to secure the headlight in place shearing, it behaved faultlessly, fuel consumption on that trip ranged from 45 to just under 50mpg.  Even when driving around town, my mpg has never been below 40mpg.  Apart from the usual brake, A/C etc maintenance, you also have a Haldex oil change to take into account as well.

 

Finally, I have enclosed a link to a review by The Scotsman, http://www.scotsman.com/motors/reviews/skoda/scout-s-honour-1-2929918, there should be a video review attached to it, unfortunately Windows 8.1 won't let me view it, however, my Samsung SIII does, go figure!

Wow Fin69 - what sort of mileage do you do? I've had my CR140 Scout since September 2010, and other than an oil and brake fluid change and a new set of tyres, its been problem free. I've done just over 29K miles.

 

I agree with the posters above, great car, very versatile and generally (for me) problem free. My wife loves its take anything go anywhere appeal.

Fin69, do you drive your cars hard? That's a long (and very unusual) list of faults for a Scout.

 

Either that or you've been unlucky?

 

Our 2008 Scout is 5 years old now (50,000 miles) and the only fault we've had is a dodgy rear electric window (in addition to the alloys which plagues all Scout's).

 

FatblokevRS, a clean late 2011 (61) plate diesel Scout with average mileage (12-15K per year so approx 30K) will set you back between £18-19,000 from a main dealer...

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201303195836850/sort/pricedesc/usedcars/model/octavia/make/skoda/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/page/1/keywords/Scout/radius/1500/postcode/yo325zs?logcode=p

 

Dealers very rarely budge on price with Scout's as they know they'll sell - especially at this time of year with winter approaching.

 

Also stock is thin on the ground. Production stopped late last year so choice will reduce until the MkIII Scout arrives next year.

Wouldn't a '61' plate be a CR as (I believe) they stopped the PD engines in early 2010?

I've been thinking about buying one myself and test drove a 61 plate CR Scout and (coming from a lowered - due to excess body roll - Octavia PD estate) was impressed.

Engine or sound deadening made it a bit quieter than mine, but not as much as I'd hoped;

Drove smoother than a PD but again not massively;

Biggest difference was the lack of body roll over standard set up and I'd say comparable to my lowered estate;

Smoother ride than mine in general driving.

these last two were both noticeable and enough to make me overcome my prejudice about the ride height being all wrong.

I'd look for one with Xenon lights, but that's a personal preference (no idea if the one you have seen does or not).

From my research auto lights / wipers, privacy glass, auto dimming rear view mirror, maxidot all come as standard on that age Scout.

Xenons, leather, Columbus are additional cost options.

I'd be expecting to pay £13-15k for one with under 30k miles and possibly up to 12 months older.

Just my thoughts from another potential owner. HTH.

Thanks everyone. I think I will get a test drive.

Keeping the VRS so will maybe trade my Astravan in.

I am currently in the middle of writing a letter to SUK reference the list of faults, and my overall disatisfaction with the reliability of the car. 

 

Up until August last year, most of the faults were either well known Octavia or Scout faults; whistling from misaligned front doors, delamination of Proteus alloys, faulty individual parking sensors.  All fairly mild and trivial.  My mileage up to that point was around 8 - 12k a year.  In June 2012, my work routine changed and I went from driving 200 - 300 motorway miles to work per month to 2000 miles a month, currently approaching 50k.  Most of the major jobs were all detected on the last service, coil spring, dmf et al.  What compounded matters was the coil spring causing the car to fail its MOT.  As far as I can remember this is the first car I have owned in the last 15 years to fail an MOT, never mind its first one.

 

The car is serviced every 10k, 90% of my journeys are motorway (M8/M74).  I just think I have been unlucky.  On the plus side, none of the defects have cost me anything, apart from the 3 year extended warranty.  WIll see what the response is from SUK.

 

Still love the car, especially after the road trip, and am currently looking at getting a leather retrim for the seats and door cards.  The seat cloth is fine, but the passenger side door card is wearing through, even though for majority of the time it is just me in the car, and my wife doesn't slouch on it or hang one off on the door handle!! Explain that to me!

Just had another thought - 17" wheels on them as far as I know. Will 18" fit and will 16" steels fit for winter? (I could of course use the 17" for winter and have 18" for summer.

Dave

I've just ordered 16 inch steel wheel and tyre combo from MyTyres. After searching through various posts, I decided to go for Nokian WR A3 205/55/16.

For the last few winters I was using 225/50//17 Nokian WG2, which I was well impressed with. Even after 3 winters, there is still over 6mm of tread.

With the steelies fitted, I can finally get my Proteus alloys refurbed.